Paving Paradise ─ Florida's Vanishing Wetlands and the Failure of No Net Loss

“Draws readers into its difficult subject by resorting to the dirtiest trick in the journalist’s bag of tricks: great storytelling.”—Creative Loafing

“Uncovers what ought to rank among Florida’s most notorious development scandals—and that’s something in a state infamous for swampland scams and subprime sprawl. . . . An infuriating, all-too-familiar tale of how powerful developers, shrewd lobbyists, and callow politicians shape public policy for private profit.”—Miami Herald

“This is an exhaustive, timely, and devastating account of the destruction of Florida’s wetlands, and the disgraceful collusion of government at all levels. It’s an important book that should be read by every voter, every taxpayer, every parent, every Floridian who cares about saving what’s left of this precious place.”—Carl Hiaasen

Florida possesses more wetlands than any other state except Alaska, yet since 1990 more than 84,000 acres have been lost to development—despite presidential pledges to protect them.

In this hard-hitting book, St. Petersburg Times investigative journalists Craig Pittman and Matthew Waite explain how taxpayers who think they’re paying for wetland protection have been stuck with a program that creates the illusion of environmental protection while doing little to stem the tide of destruction.

?A potent combination of groundbreaking historical research and no-holds-barred reporting, this book portrays a landscape that has been compromised by greed, fear, and incompetence.

?

Craig Pittman, a Florida native, is a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times, and Matthew Waite, who hails from Nebraska, is the Times’s news technologist. Their reporting on wetlands has twice earned the top investigative reporting prize in the nation from the Society of Environmental Journalists as well as the Waldo Proffit Award for Excellence in Environmental Journalism in Florida.