Trust for Public Land in Florida - 2023

Florida THERE IS SO MUCH TO BE PROUD OF IN 2023 AND MORE TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN THE YEAR AHEAD

Celebrating 50 Years of Impact, Thanks to You!

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This year, TPL celebrates 50 years of connecting everyone to the joys and benefits of the outdoors. What started as a bold idea in a small office half a century ago has blossomed into a nationwide movement to ensure that everyone, no matter where they live, can experience nature. At this pivotal moment, we celebrate the incredible network of TPL advocates who make our work possible and catalyze our future efforts.

Thanks to the generosity of supporters like you we have created vibrant parks, preserved iconic landscapes, and built trail connections all across Florida. These are now places that are bringing neighbors together, fostering a love for the outdoors, uplifting local economies, and delivering critical, nature-based solutions to change.

This year in Florida, we celebrated TPL’s 50th anniversary in March with a special bicycle ride. We joined trail enthusiasts, Friends of the Legacy Trail, and Sarasota Manatee Bicycle Club at the historic Venice Train Depot for Tour de Parks, a bicycle ride to support the Legacy Trail.

We also added another 2,780 acres to the Blackwater River State Forest in northwest Florida, protecting longleaf pine forests, buffering the Whiting Field Naval 2 |

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Air Station from development, and enhancing recreation on Big Coldwater Creek. And, thanks to our partnership with the State, National Park Service, the City of Jacksonville, and others, we conserved 345 acres of pristine coastal hammocks and marshland on Black Hammock Island. In Alachua, Nassau, and Indian River Counties, we partnered with local governments to raise more than $684 million in voter-approved funds for parks and conservation.

And we are just getting started! With your enduring support, we will continue to build parks and protect land, making Florida a healthier and more equitable place for everyone. Thank you!

Florida Gulf Coast Trail The Florida Gulf Coast Trail is a visionary greenway effort.

Spanning 420 miles and seven counties, this game-changing linear park will serve more than four million people living in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, and Collier Counties.

Although nearly half the trails already exists, there are gaps between many sections. To complete the trail, TPL is convening an advisory board of local partners, sharing data-rich tools, and providing technical and real estate assistance to bring the greenway to fruition.

The 420-mile-long trail will: • Improve public health and offer residents of all abilities an easy way to be active outdoors.

• Reduce auto use, alleviate road congestion, and mitigate air pollution.

• Enhance property values, increase tourism revenue, and attract businesses looking to expand or relocate.

• Establish a sense of place and community connections.

We are working with enthusiastic community and government partners to refine their desires for the trail and make it a reality. Our work includes acquiring lands

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for the trail and trail-adjacent parks. As the "keeper of the vision," we will support partner organizations and lead signature capital projects that unlock the potential held within this bold idea.

Progress is already being made. In the past year alone, our partners have completed 23.6 miles of the trail and 13.5 more are under construction. An additional 13.75 miles are in design, and 40.5 miles are under negotiation or will be designed in the next year. There is strong support to advance the remaining segments of this visionary trail thanks to the hard work of our partners across the seven counties.

Additionally, TPL and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection are sponsoring a design contest and public vote to emblazon this epic trail with an epic logo. The winner will receive $5,000 and their logo will be displayed up and down this monumental pathway. The public will vote on the top designs in October 2023 during Florida Greenways and Trails month.

TPL has a proven record creating trails in the state. Our work includes portions of the Legacy Trail in Sarasota County, the Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail, and the Dinky Line Trail in Orlando. And we have already completed three acquisitions of rail corridors now open for use along the Gulf Coast Trail route.

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Ensuring water access in the Panhandle America’s iconic landscapes evoke a sense of national pride, splendor, and adventure. Our national and state parks, national forests, and public beaches provide a range of critical benefits, from clean air and water to recreation and jobs to improved quality of life. We envision a future where every community enjoys equitable access to public lands for healthy outdoor recreation, natural climate benefits, and social, cultural, and historic representation.

Tarpon Beachfront Park Located along the northwest panhandle of Florida, Destin is known for its white sandy beaches, incredible ocean views, and superior salt-water fishing. It is no wonder that during peak tourist season, the population of the city can double as visitors flock to the emerald green water and busy resorts. The city relies on this tourism revenue, but beach access—even for locals—is diminishing.

Most beaches in this area are private and many public beaches are physically blocked by private owners and beach chair vendors—even during the off-season. Residents and tourists alike experience the disappointment of limited and restricted access. That is why TPL has teamed up with the City of Destin and Okaloosa County to better beach access by creating new spaces for everyone to enjoy.

By improving access and investing in well-designed parks, we can build more spaces to play, support the tourism economy, increase climate-resiliency along the coastline, and connect more people to the physical and mental health benefits that make these beaches so special.

Tarpon Beachfront Park is TPL’s third project to help create equitable beach access in Destin—Captain Leonard Destin Park opened in 2022 and the Gateway to Crystal Beach is also underway. Located along Crystal Beach, a popular gulf front neighborhood, the future three-acre park will have over 345 linear feet of beachfront—that is a foot shy of the length of a full Olympic soccer field. It will also be adjacent to one of the city’s beach trails, offering something for everyone to enjoy. The Tarpon Beachfront Park will include amenities like restrooms, free parking, and incredible views of the Gulf of Mexico to ensure a quality space for all. Parks at both Crystal Beach and Tarpon 6 |

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© ANDRY WR AITHMELL /COURTESY OF FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE

Beach are expected to be open to the public in May 2024 with construction starting after this tourism season.

St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is one of the oldest refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Extending over 83,000 acres across Wakulla, Jefferson, and Taylor counties, this refuge is a massive habitat for more than 300 species of birds, including the bald eagle, red-cockaded woodpecker, Wilson’s plover, and peregrine falcon. Each year, over 300,000 people visit to catch a glimpse of their favorite bird, hike along countless trails, or fish from the abundant coastline.

We are excited to share that in June 2023, TPL acquired a Dickerson Bay parcel near Panacea and added 81 acres to St. Marks NWR. The acquired parcel will buffer the NWR and the neighboring community against storms, and will provide recreational opportunities for paddlers, hikers, and wildlife lovers. The protection of this bayside site will prevent development in a vulnerable coastal zone and preserve prime habitat for species such as black bear, roseate spoonbills, and gopher tortoise. This acquisition is the last in a series of seven projects that TPL completed using $45 million in early restoration funds from the Deepwater Horizon settlement, a 2010 oil spill which affected 68,000 square miles of the Gulf Coast.

TPL has helped add over 1,080 acres to St. Marks NWR since 1990.

Project Flashback: TPL in the Everglades In 1978 TPL opened our Florida office and began working to connect more Floridians to the benefits of nature. To date, 448,798 people enjoy close-to-home public lands that we helped protect.

One of our earliest projects was in the Everglades. As the largest wilderness east of the Mississippi, the Everglades is one of the world’s most impressive and important outdoor havens. It is home to multitudes of unique plant and animal species, including the last remaining Florida panthers, endangered American crocodiles, and threatened West Indian manatees.

The Everglades once spanned 3 million acres across Florida. But draining wetlands, development, and agricultural uses had diminished the Everglades to 1.5 million acres.

the benefits that the Everglades provides for plant and animal species, it is a recreational staple in the American fabric. Alongside passionate recreationists, local governments, and like-minded organizations, the fight to protect the Everglades is ongoing and essential.

In our 50th anniversary year, we are celebrating some of our proudest moments—all achieved with the support of donors, partners, and advocates like you. Together, we will have an even greater impact moving forward.

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Over the past 35 years, TPL has helped add over 50,000 acres to Everglades National Park. In addition to

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THANK YOU for helping improve the health, equity, and climate outcomes for communities in Florida and beyond.

We could not do this without you.

CURRENT FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES Our work in Florida and across the country is made possible thanks to the generosity of foundations, companies, and individuals like you.

and making a gift through your will, trust, charitable gift annuity, charitable remainder trust, beneficiary designation, or appreciated assets.

Trust for Public Land: Give a gift to connect everyone to the outdoors.

Florida Gulf Coast Trail: Support our work to partner with nearby communities, local governments, and private partners to bring this transformative vision to reality—and we will leverage your gift 2:1 to unlock public conservation and transportation funds for construction.

Leave a Legacy: Create an even bigger impact by demonstrating your commitment to outdoor connections

Elizabeth Hennessey Florida Director of Philanthropy elizabeth.hennessey@tpl.org

Join us Help ensure everyone has access to the outdoors. Every park we create, schoolyard we transform, trail we extend, and landscape we protect is thanks to supporters like you.

George Dusenbury Vice President Southern Region george.dusenbury@tpl.org 306 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, FL 32301

tpl.org/donate/fl

COV ER , TOP: © MELINA ME Y ER; © MICHAEL WR AY; © JACK G ARDNER; L A RG E: © JACK G ARDNER; THIS PAG E: © CHARLOT TE K ESL