Gateway Communities Program

Trail Program Highlight

and I am the new Gateway Communities Coordinator for the Florida Trail Association (FTA). I am a recent Wildlife Ecology graduate from the University of Florida (UF), and I’m excited to be back in my college town with the opportunity to work on expanding awareness of the Florida Trail and its impact on local communities. My passion for outdoor recreation was kindled throughout my youth while camping and hiking with my dad in the swampy areas of Southwest Florida. In college, I worked for UF in two different research labs, one working with tropical lizards in Puerto Rico and the other working with blue crabs in a marine ecology lab. Whether hiking, swimming, or hammocking, I try to be outside even when I am not working. I look forward to working across the state in the coming months to expand the Gateway Communities program. The goal of the Gateway Communities program is to designate towns and cities in by Austin Tezak, Gateway Communities Coordinator

Our newest passport stamp located near the

Gaining New Ground

Hello to all, my name is Austin Tezak southern terminus of the Florida Trail

22 Florida Trail Association close proximity to the trail, and market their resources to outdoor recreation enthusiasts. Examples of these resources include restaurants, grocery stores, lodging, laundry, outfitters, local attractions and much more that are of interest to hikers. You may be familiar with similar programs on other national scenic trails, such as the Appalachian Trail’s Trail Towns program. In 2017, the FTA received a grant from the Partnership for the National Trails System to hire an intern dedicated to launching the revitalization of its Gateway Communities program. This grant is designed to give young people, like me, an opportunity to gain professional development within the competitive outdoor recreation industry. In just three years, having a dedicated Gateway Communities intern has allowed FTA to designate 11 communities, partner with over 100 businesses, and create a companion Passport program with 30 stamp locations within the communities. FloridaTrail.org Our passport program features unique stamps housed at businesses and attractions along the Florida Trail and in established Gateway Communities. Hikers simply purchase a passport from the FTA store, then present it at participating locations. The layout of the passport is a simple accordion fold that will allow for easy display of the stamps. The stamp designs are created by the business owners and leaders in the communities hosting the stamps. The design of each stamp depicts an image or slogan that somehow represents the business, town, or section of trail where the stamp is available. A completed passport makes an excellent souvenir after your hike! Our newest stamp location is at the smallest post office in the nation. This quaint post office is located 16 miles west of the southern terminus of the Florida Trail, in the town of Ochopee. This historic landmark is a fully functioning post office and a common stop for thru hikers arriving from out of town, starting their journey on the Florida Trail. We have also added four new stamp locations around Lake Okeechobee— they can be found in Moore Haven, Okeechobee, and two in Clewiston. You can visit floridatrail. org/passport to learn more about the stamp locations and incorporate the Florida Trail Gateway Communities into your next adventure. There are an abundance of opportunities to grow and strengthen the Gateway Communities program. I am focusing on the reestablishment of the Gateway Communities that existed in the FTA’s original iteration of the program from the early 2000’s. This was the goal of the recent visit I made to

Austin meeting with the Mayor of Moore Haven.

The Florida Trail passes directly through the Gateway Community of St. Marks

the southern region of the Florida Trail. It was a pleasure to experience the charm, history and culture that the region has to offer. I visited Okeechobee, Moore Haven, and Clewiston to meet with community leaders and business owners, and have successfully added these cities back into the program. Other goals that I have for my time in the position include adding a local volunteer liaison for each Gateway Community, adding new signage, creating a toolkit to help participating businesses learn how to accommodate and incentivize visits from hikers, and more. One of our biggest projects planned for this fall is the installation of four Gateway Communities kiosks. These kiosks were funded through an REI grant and will be placed in four Gateway Communities along the Florida Trail in effort to spread awareness within these communities. These kiosks will provide information about the segment of trail that goes through that community and about the community itself. COVID-19" has changed our society for the forseeable future, making travel to communities to meet chapter members and community leaders challenging. However, I am eager to meet, whether in person or through a video conference. Our hope is the Gateway Communities program will increase foot traffic to small businesses who are increasingly under pressure due to the constraints of COVID-19. I look forward to sharing what the FTA and the members of its community have to offer everyone seeking a little more adventure. In Florida, outdoor recreation generates $58 billion dollars per year, so it's clear that Floridians and those who visit our state want to connect with the outdoors. The communities we designate play a crucial role in providing the gateway to Florida's wild, rural, historic and cultural landscapes, via the Florida Trail.