In October 2017, Gulf Islands National Seashore Superintendent Dan Brown announced that backcountry camping in the Perdido Key section of the National Seashore would be indefinitely suspended "due to increased resource damage by irresponsible campers oberserved [sic] over the past several years." These campers had left large volumes of trash which damages the ecosystem and negatively impacts the experience of all who visit Johnson Beach.

The Superintendent's notice went on to mention nudity on the beach as another cause for the suspension of camping on the beach. This despite the fact that Johnson Beach is a well-known, albeit unofficial, nude beach and has been known as such for decades.

Following in the successful footsteps of Haulover Beach in Miami, the time is ripe to make Johnson Beach an Official Nude Beach within the National Seashore. Just as was the case with Haulover so many decades ago, Johnson Beach is a black-eye on the National Seashore's beautiful white beaches, but under the stewardship of naturists keen on having a legal and well-defined nude beach, the trash and other inappropriate behavior could be eliminated.

This is not speculation because Haulover Beach and, more recently, Blind Creek Beach have proven the formula. If Superintendent Dan Brown and the National Park Service would consider designating some portion of Johnson Beach as a legal nude beach wherein naturists would be free from prosecution and persecution then those same naturists could be organized as Beach Ambassadors who, in exchange for the cooperation of the Park Service, volunteer their time and work tirelessly to ensure that Johnson Beach remains clean and pleasant for all who visit.

Further, Johnson Beach is a natural fit for a nude beach here in the Pensacola Bay Area because it is situated on a section of beach which is lightly trafficked and far out of sight of parking lots, roads, or condominiums. Only those who want to bathe nude are likely to find their way to this beach and, with the help of proper signage, no one is likely to be caught unaware.

Help me achieve what has been absent for so long here on the Emerald Coast: a legally recognized nude beach close enough to be accessible, but remote enough to be out of sight. Johnson Beach has long been a nude beach in the minds of those who know it, but now we can make it official!