A Florida congressman’s proposal to stitch together a patchwork of springs in North and Central Florida into the country’s 64th national park won’t help protect the state’s outstanding, and crucial, freshwater resource, springs advocates say.

U.S. Rep Randy Fine’s Path to Florida Springs National Park Act would direct the federal government to conduct a study on how to make the springs located across 2,800 miles of land into a national park . The land encompassing the various springs is south of Jacksonville, north of Orlando and east of Gainesville and includes the Ocala National Forest, the Lower Wekiva River Preserve State Park and the Rock Springs Run park that spans Orange, Lake and Seminole counties.

“We are the Yellowstone of springs,” said Fine , R-Melbourne Beach , at a p

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