The project, which by 1982 included a planned 2806 units, ran into opposition from environmental groups and by 1984 had ground to a halt after one of the investors withdrew a $54 million investment. in 1983 already, the administration had intervened and declared the Key Largo woodrat and the Key Largo cotton mouse (Peromyscus gossypinus allapaticola) endangered on a "temporary emergency basis"; the developer of a golf course, for instance, was ordered to restore the area he was illegally developing, to preserve the woodrat's habitat. Since 1984, the Key Largo woodrat is on the United States list of endangered species, along with the Schaus swallowtail and the Key Largo cotton mouse.
