Activists fighting to preserve a slice of one of the world’s rarest forests lost what was likely the last legal battle to stop the imperiled ecosystem from turning into a Walmart-anchored development.
One of the last remnants in Miami-Dade of pine rockland, a forest that is home to the endangered Miami tiger beetle and more than 20 protected species of animals and plants found no place else, is being reduced to two small preserves within Coral Reef Commons, a mixed-use project spread across about 140 acres next to Zoo Miami. A 2017 lawsuit challenging the project’s zoning process was struck down last week, clearing the way for the big-box store to replace plants like the deltoid spurge, a tiny endangered herb that is only found at that spot.
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