A still from ‘Choke Point,’ a documentary about Tampa’s USF Forest Preserve and the effort to save it. Credit: Luke Myers/YouTube

On Nov. 13, Save USF Forest Preserve will host a concert to benefit the group’s continued efforts to protect University of South Florida land that has been explored for development by school leaders. During the event—which will be held at 6 p.m. at Shuffle Tampa, located at 2612 N Tampa St.— the group plans to discuss its future, including its upcoming designation as a nonprofit.

Save USF Forest Preserve has named its nonprofit “Friends of University Natural Areas.” The organization is now incorporated and awaiting IRS approval.

"Our goal is to use this organization to help protect other conservation areas owned by universities that may come under threat of development as well as fund education, outreach, and land management within the USF Forest Preserve (USFFP),” Dr. Jeannie Mounger, a biologist and environmentalist who has been one of the key players in protecting the USFFP, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.

To celebrate the progress, the group has booked a concert featuring electro-pop duo Fantastical Tigers, Best of the Bay-winning emcee Psych Montano, rapper Sir Perf and DJ Jet Fuel. Mounger and other USFFP activists will also discuss more details about Friends of University Natural Areas’s nonprofit status, the USF preserve, and environmental struggles going on elsewhere.

The activists have seen similar attempts by other universities, both private and public, to sell or develop conservation lands. Mounger points out that The University of Miami sold off imperiled pine rocklands habitat a few years ago, which were destroyed to build a Wal-Mart. Earlier this year, students at the University of Florida successfully prevented the school from developing McCarty Woods next to Lake Alice. And faculty at Orlando’s University of Central Florida are concerned about losing some of their conservation lands, which they use for teaching, research and development.

Mounger now sits on the USF Forest Preserve Steering Committee, which oversees the land. Recently, it was found that much of the preserve is unsuitable for development.

At the benefit concert, Save USFFP will have hand printed t-shirts and posters created by artist Leslie Peebles, as well as a new t-shirt design from Anna Jano and bumper magnets created by Brenna Robe.

“The proceeds from these sales will benefit our cause as well as the wonderful artists with whom we've partnered,” Save USFFP wrote in its concert announcement. The event was organized by Ryan Hurley— a Save USFFP activist who started the petition to protect the forest (which now has over 23,000 signatures)—along with DJ Jet Fuel.

Save USFFP’s concert and celebration comes after seven months of turbulent news surrounding the preserve, which started when USF accepted several submissions in response to the college’s Request for Information (RFI) for potential development on the 769-acre preserve. The Claw golf course was also considered for development.

Activists say that the development of the site would compromise the health of Tampa’s waterways, along with several endangered species in the preserve and a federally protected Native American burial site.

Save USFFP pushed back against this exploration into development through a variety of actions including protests and the “Choke Point” documentary now destined for the big screen as part of Tampa Bay’s Underground Film Festival later this month.

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