Connecting Everyone to the Outdoors in Florida
From Miami to the Panhandle, from Jacksonville to the Everglades, Trust for Public Land is working with community and public partners to preserve natural treasures, connect schoolchildren to the outdoors, and create a healthier, more resilient Florida.
Our most ambitious effort is the Florida Gulf Coast Trail, an audacious 400-plus-mile multi-use path extending from Tampa to Naples. In Miami-Dade Public Schools, students are reimagining asphalt and vacant land around their school as a nature-rich hub for outdoor learning, community health, and climate resilience—and as a park open to neighbors during non-school hours. And this year, we partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to create America’s newest national wildlife refuge, the Everglades to Gulf Conservation Area.
Across the state, we work with communities and elected officials to mobilize support to preserve land and build parks in Florida. We’ve generated $11 billion to date. For Election Day 2024, residents in Clay, Lake, and Osceola
WELCOMING
TPL’S NEW CEO
We are thrilled to welcome our new President and CEO, Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser. She brings a wealth of experience in public policy, philanthropy, the outdoor industry, and community engagement, making her an ideal leader for TPL’s next chapter. Most recently, she served as President and CEO of Colorado Mountain College. She has served on numerous boards including the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission, Great Outdoors Colorado, and American Rivers. Carrie’s leadership will be instrumental as we amplify our efforts to expand outdoor access through equity, health, climate, and community commitments.
counties will vote on TPL-backed ballot measures that have the potential to generate $165 million to acquire land, protect waterways, and promote climate resilience. All three counties are part of the Florida Wildlife Corridor.
Your support makes all this possible. Together, we are not just dreaming of a healthier, more equitable, and more climate-resilient future—we are making it happen.
George Dusenbury VP Southern Region, Florida State Director
180,000+
$11 BILLION in new state and local conservation funds in Florida
Reimagining Schoolyards as Climate Heroes
Miami Beach is at extreme risk of flooding; roads across the city become unusable due to tidal flooding caused by King Tides, and extreme flooding occurs during major storms like 2005’s Hurricane Wilma and 2017’s Hurricane Irma. The city is actively adopting and implementing climate adaptations to protect residents and infrastructure.
In 2024, the city asked TPL to help launch an innovative climate resiliency project at Biscayne Beach Elementary School . Surrounded by the intracoastal Tatum Waterway, the school regularly floods. The land around the school building—currently a grass lot and basketball courts— can be part of the solution.
TPL’s national Community Schoolyards® program ensures schoolyards play a vital role in mitigating the impacts of climate change. In fact, our schoolyards can capture, on average, 1 million gallons of stormwater annually to reduce flooding.
In fall 2024, we will invite the entire school—students, teachers, parents, and staff—as well as neighbors and local partners to make their voices heard. Our process is fun and educational; students gain valuable experience in team building, problem-solving, and critical thinking as they design their schoolyard. At the end of our
signature participatory design process, we will provide a final design to the school district and city.
Each Community Schoolyard site is uniquely designed by the community to meet their needs and aspirations. Typical features include outdoor classrooms, accessible playgrounds, pollinator gardens, and public art.
The transformed schoolyard will provide an inviting, healthy place for the school’s nearly 600 PreK–5th grade students, 66 percent of whom are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. According to teachers and school administration, attendance, behavior, and test scores all improve after schoolyard renovations, and we look forward to extending these benefits to students across Florida. The schoolyard also provides community space to the over 10,000 people who live within a 10-minute walk of the school, 65 percent of whom are Hispanic.
JOIN US
Help us bring more nature-rich schoolyards that improve student health and educational outcomes to Florida communities by supporting TPL’s Community Schoolyards program!
PHOTO BY ERIN CLARK
PHOTO BY JOE SORRENTINO/TPL STAFF
Building a Visionary Trail
A regional destination in the making, the Florida Gulf Coast Trail is designed to meet the challenges of rapid growth and deliver life-changing results for generations. From Tampa to Naples, this transformative linear park and trail will build a vibrant hike-bikerun trail community distinctive to Southwest Florida, creating a healthier, safer, and more connected region.
The signature trail will touch 52 rural, urban, and suburban communities and benefit the region’s more than 4 million residents, including 2.2 million people living within a 10-minute walk of the trail. The Florida Gulf Coast Trail will serve at least 9,000 low-income households and attract more than 50 million annual visitors by harnessing the power of a single shared connection to the outdoors.
FGCT will bring transformative outcomes:
• Improved physical and mental health
• Access to destinations & transportation alternatives
• Safe conditions for pedestrians and cyclists
• Stronger local and regional economies
PATHWAYS TO COMPLETION
Nearly half of the FGCT exists in some form. But existing segments limit users to “out-and-back” trips, where the origin and destination are the same. A continuous trail will ensure people can access gathering places and amenities in their communities and the region. TPL is working with local partners to transform isolated segments into a connected network. We are currently focusing on four key sections:
• Howard Frankland Bridge - 9.82 miles: Connects Tampa to St. Petersburg.
• Manatee-Hillsborough Connector - 19.8 miles: Connects the Manatee River northeast to Hillsborough County.
• Legacy Trail Connector - 4.76 miles: Extends the Sarasota Legacy Trail to Nathan Benderson Park.
• Bonita Estero Rail Trail (BERT) - 14.82 miles: Transforms existing rail into a scenic greenway through Lee and Collier Counties that connects the John Yarbrough Trail south through the cities of Estero and Bonita Springs to the Paradise Coast Trail.
Left: Ringling Bridge Causeway Park.
Opposite: Cyclists on the Roberts Bay Bridge.
PHOTOS BY MELODY TIMOTHEE
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The FGCT is TPL’s top priority in Florida. We are seeking philanthropic investments totaling $2.5 million—$500,000 annually for five years . With your support, we will connect millions of people to the benefits and joys of the outdoors— for generations to come.
Creating a More Equitable Future
Rosewood was once a thriving community of predominantly Black citizens. But 100 years ago, a racist mob terrorized and razed the town to the ground, murdering five residents and forcing many to flee their community for good.
Lizzie Robinson Jenkins, founder of the Real Rosewood Foundation (RRF), sees recognition and remembrance of painful events as a way to heal trauma—and learn from the past. Jenkins’s aunt, Mahulda Gussie Brown Carrier, was attacked during the raid. But she survived.
TPL partnered with RRF to complete the design for the future Rosewood Museum in Archer, Florida. With grant
support from the State of Florida, we developed designs for an interpretive trail and a welcome center pavilion that will lead visitors on a journey through the history of Rosewood and its connection with the broader American story. The completed design provides a roadmap for the future construction of the site by RRF.
The future museum will elevate the story of the massacre and the resilience of the community and its now far-flung descendants. It will be located near Gainesville in Alachua County (where Carrier and other survivors rebuilt their lives) and managed in partnership by the county and RRF.
Conserving Florida Lands
From shimmering coastline to productive forestlands to the enchanting Everglades, Florida’s landscapes are known for their diverse and stunning natural beauty. But we love these places for more than their beauty; they also provide a range of critical benefits: clean air and water, recreation and jobs, and improved quality of life. That is why, since 1974, TPL has helped protect land and create parks across Florida. In the last year, TPL completed several exciting land protection projects that are connecting more people to the outdoors.
EVERGLADES TO GULF CONSERVATION AREA
In March, TPL helped the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) create the Everglades to Gulf Conservation Area by donating the initial cornerstone parcel for the newest addition to our national wildlife refuge system.
Covering 12 counties and over 4 million acres across the heart of Florida, this new conservation area will catalyze the protection of working landscapes necessary to combat climate change, safeguard habitat and wildlife, and increase access to the recreational activities Floridians know and love. USFWS is also working to create opportunities for the regional tribal
nations to use the conservation area’s resources for traditional cultural and medicinal purposes.
While this plan will take decades to complete with multiple partners across the state, TPL is proud to have worked diligently with landowner Paul Gray to facilitate the initial donation needed to establish the refuge.
In March, TPL joined Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and USFWS leaders at Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge to commemorate the 121st anniversary of the refuge system. The celebration included adding a plank to honor each of the three new wildlife refuges created since 2020—including two TPL projects: the Everglades to Gulf Conservation Area in Florida and the Lost Trail Conservation Area in Montana.
Left: Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland and Acting Deputy Secretary of Interior Laura Daniel-Davis laying the new refuge’s planks down at Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge. Right: TPL Project Manager Sine Murray and landowner Paul Gray. PHOTOS BY ELIZABETH GIGUERE/TPL STAFF
FOREST
For the past ten years, TPL has been working to expand Blackwater River State Forest in partnership with the Florida Forest Service, the U.S. Forest Service, Naval Air Station (NAS) Whiting Field, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Longleaf Alliance, and Santa Rosa County. Together, we are preserving and restoring vast swaths of longleaf pine forests to protect wildlife corridors and safeguard water quality. Blackwater River State Forest also buffers NAS Whiting Field from rampant development and provides residents with outdoor recreational opportunities.
Expanding Blackwater River State Forest not only protects the largest contiguous longleaf pine forest ecosystem in the world, it also preserves critical habitat for endangered animals like the red-cockaded woodpecker and eastern indigo snake. Residents and visitors also benefit from quality outdoor recreation activities like kayaking and hiking.
In 2024, TPL was awarded the Longleaf Alliance’s Nonprofit Conservation Partner Award for our work protecting over 14,000 acres to expand Blackwater River State Forest.
In May, we hosted 55 people—including county commissioners, project partners, donors, and friends—on Big Coldwater Creek for a day of paddling. PHOTOS BY MELISSA HILL/TPL STAFF AND ELIZABETH GIGUERE/TPL STAFF.
JOIN US
Thanks to our cost-effective methods and long history of forming productive partnerships, every $1 you donate will save $11 worth of land
Make a tax-deductible gift today and protect the future of public lands.
George Dusenbury VP Southern Region and Florida State Director george.dusenbury@tpl.org
Elizabeth Giguere
Florida Director of Philanthropy elizabeth.giguere@tpl.org
1834 Hermitage Blvd., Suite 100 Tallahassee, FL, 32308
tpl.org/donate/fl
COVER PHOTOS BY, TOP: MELODY TIMOTHEE; MELODY TIMOTHEE; JASON FLOWERS; LARGE : JACK GARDNER; THIS PAGE: TPL STAFF/MELISSA HILL.