Mr. and Mrs. Barnes at their home
From the family collection

 

Tootsie Barnes also recalls a boating trip with Mr. Troutman so Troutman could explain his proposal for developing the Estero Bay area. During this outing, Troutman offered to set Tootsie up in a fiberglass boating company if he helped to get his proposal passed. Troutman also offered another associate of Tootsie's who was in the plant nursery business, a guaranty that all plants and trees would be purchased from him for the development, if he would support the proposal. Neither Tootsie nor his associate took Troutman up on his offer.

Tootsie Barnes and all the other people in the Estero Bay Conservation Movement were able to defeat Troutman and his development company. This court case decision affirmed the first acquatic preserve formed in the United States and a big sigh of relief for all of those involved in the movement.

Tootsie Barnes has fought many battles in his life as a Lee County conservationist. Tootsie feels that his greatest victory he has won is not the battle with Troutman, but the awareness that he and others like him have sparked for Southwest Florida's natural wildlife and fisheries.