Georgia
CONNECTING EVERYONE TO THE OUTDOORS IN 2025 AND BEYOND
Connecting Everyone to the Outdoors in Georgia!
The smell of freshly mowed grass in the hot, humid air as friends picnic at a park. The chatter of birds singing in the underbrush. The crunch of rocks and cool wind whipping hair across your cheeks as you bike faster and faster. These simple, yet profound moments in nature are vital.
In our fast-paced, ever-changing, and sometimes uncertain world, publicly accessible outdoor spaces are essential. They nourish our well-being and remind us that each day holds the promise of renewal. That is why, like you, Trust for Public Land is standing up for the outdoor spaces that bring us joy.
In Georgia and across the nation, YOU empower us to advance our mission to create, enhance, and protect the outdoor spaces that uplift and connect communities.
At a time when communities are more fragmented than ever—by race, income, and political identity—parks are vital bridges. Closing the park equity gap in metroAtlanta and across the state of Georgia remains a top priority for TPL. That is why TPL works hand-in-hand with residents and local partners to overcome barriers to build the parks, trails, and playgrounds necessary for healthy, thriving communities and ecosystems.
When we unite to achieve our goals, the possibilities are endless. Together, we are shaping a future that prioritizes resilient communities and access to nature for all. Thank you for standing with us today as we create a greener, healthier, and more sustainable tomorrow for everyone.
Sincerely,
George Dusenbury, Georgia State Director
Chattahoochee Riverlands.
PHOTO BY BEN WHITESELL
Community Schoolyards
TPL is dedicated to building community and improving health, climate resilience, and education outcomes in Georgia’s schoolyards.
Using lesson plans that align with state curriculum standards, we spend a semester working with students to reimagine the land around their school as a naturerich outdoor learning space. TPL then works with our school partners to make our students’ imagination reality. These schoolyards serve students during school hours, as well as the community on weekends, on school holidays, and after school hours.
According to teachers and school administrators, attendance, behavior, and test scores all improve after schoolyards are transformed into nature-rich spaces for recreation and outdoor learning.
This year, TPL and Atlanta Public Schools (APS) celebrated the ribbon-cutting of the newly transformed Fred A. Toomer Elementary Schoolyard in the Kirkwood neighborhood. To date, we have completed nine schoolyards, expanding nature access for more than 20,000 people. We anticipate opening three more schoolyards in fall 2025, including Continental Colony Elementary, Fickett Elementary, and Usher-Collier Elementary, with another eight Atlanta, DeKalb County and Fulton County schools opening in 2026.
The success of our program to date has proven the value of schoolyard greening to the community. Now—
thanks in part to TPL’s years of facilitating conversations between the school district and city officials—APS and the City of Atlanta have signed a joint-use agreement that opens all elementary school playgrounds and playfields across the district for public use outside of school hours—providing tens of thousands of residents additional close-to-home access to the outdoors.
The expanded schoolyard park access has boosted Atlanta’s standing in TPL’s ParkScore® Index , an annual assessment of park systems across the country. Atlanta’s ParkScore Ranking has moved from #51 in 2016 to #21 in 2025. Today, 82 percent of Atlanta residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park. In addition to expanding park access, the city continues to outperform in park investment. Atlanta currently invests $272 per person on parks, more than double the national ParkScore average of $133.
By opening schoolyards and athletic fields for public use after hours, we are turning underused spaces into vibrant community assets. This is a game changer—particularly in neighborhoods that have never had easy access to green spaces.”
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens
Scott Elementary School.
PHOTO BY LEAH OVERSTREET
Chattahoochee RiverLands
The Chattahoochee RiverLands is a visionary plan to create 100 miles of parks, paths, greenway trails, and riverfront amenities, connecting 20 cities across seven counties, and nearly 1 million people to the river.
RiverLands Showcase
The RiverLands Showcase serves as our proof-of-concept, demonstrating the transformative potential of the RiverLands plan. The Showcase project covers a 2.7-mile section of river with three distinct segments: Smyrna’s RiverView Landing , Discovery Park , and RiverLands Gateway Park at Mableton Parkway.
In 2024, we celebrated the opening of the first section of the project, a 0.6-mile section of greenway trail through Discovery Park, just north of Nickajack Creek. We began construction in fall 2025 on 0.5-miles of the 14-foot-wide, paved greenway trail through Smyrna’s Riverview Landing and Riverview Park. It is scheduled to open in summer 2026.
RiverLands Gateway Park, the downstream anchor of the Showcase and a regional trailhead, will break
ground in late 2025. In partnership with Cobb County, TPL will transform the former industrial site into a vibrant 12-acre park.
Having raised more than $40 million in public and private funding to date, TPL is raising the last $2 million to bring the Showcase to fruition.
Camp + Paddle Trail
The Chattahoochee Camp + Paddle Trail is officially open to explorers! The 48-mile, four-day, three-night river experience invites visitors to paddle down the Chattahoochee River and rest overnight at the campsites along the way. More than two dozen metroAtlantans joined us on the inaugural Camp + Paddle Trail adventure in April 2025, paddling down the Chattahoochee and resting overnight at the new campsites.
The Camp + Paddle Trail currently features improvements at five sites:
• Atlanta’s Standing Peachtree Creek Greenspace—the river experience launch—including restoration of
New RiverLands Park in Chattahoochee Hills
PHOTO BY ATLANTA EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY
wildlife habitat and visitor improvements like an ADAaccessible kayak launch and a scenic ramble trail along the creek.
• Buzzard Roost Island—a remote, riverine campsite accessible only by watercraft in South Fulton County— where we partnered with Birds Georgia to enhance the island’s natural features, making it a welcoming stopover for both people and wildlife.
• Campbellton Park and New RiverLands Park—both located in Chattahoochee Hills—now offer camping spots, restrooms with showers, picnic pavilions, hiking trails, restored woodlands, interpretive signage, and secured parking areas for both daytime and overnight guests.
• McIntosh Reserve—the final stop—including a new restroom pavilion with showers, a parking area, ecological restoration, and three pollinator gardens.
Looking Ahead
We look forward to celebrating with you in 2026 for the grand opening of the RiverLands Showcase. This milestone will not only mark the opening of a greenway trail and park, but the realization of a bold idea: that the Chattahoochee RiverLands can connect communities to the river and each other.
In the coming years, we will focus on the next 20 miles of the RiverLands from Atlanta’s Peachtree Creek to Douglas County’s Boundary Waters Park and Campbellton Park in Chattahoochee Hills.
Protecting Land
Dog River Reservoir Expansion
TPL helped protect more than 766 acres of forest and 1.6 miles of riverfront along the Dog River and Chattahoochee River in Douglas County. This newly conserved land will help expand the Dog River Reservoir, safeguard clean drinking water, and open opportunities for outdoor recreation along the Chattahoochee. TPL is partnering with the community to determine desired uses for this new acreage.
Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park
TPL protected over 21 acres of land at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, one of the most visited Civil War sites in the Southeast and a beloved hiking destination. This acquisition builds on decades of effort by TPL to expand and protect the park. In 2008, we acquired 34 acres of critical forest and field areas to expand the park. This critical addition ensures the land will be permanently protected for public recreation, historical education, and conservation.
CORE FELLOW
TPL’s Community Outreach with Resident Experts (CORE) Fellowship program is a two-year program for early-career environmental leaders in the places where we work. CORE Fellows are full-time salaried professionals dedicated to community engagement and green infrastructure project implementation.
Jordynn Wright is a certified Community Archaeologist and currently pursuing her master’s degree in Africana Studies at Georgia State University with a concentration in community empowerment. In her role as a CORE Fellow, Jordynn is working to connect residents to the Chattahoochee River.
PHOTO BY JORDYNN WRIGHT/TPL STAFF
The Beltline Emerald Necklace 2.0
The Atlanta Beltline has redefined the city’s geography. The historic railway corridor that once divided the community now unites it. This 22-mile loop of trails and parks connects 45 neighborhoods to green spaces and transit options, enhancing community, economic mobility, and cultural connections.
Today, the Beltline is one of Atlanta’s most celebrated destinations. Children can bike to school, adults can walk to work, and seniors can exercise their minds and bodies by taking full advantage of the amenities that the Beltline offers. But just two decades ago, it was only a dream. In 2005, TPL released The Beltline Emerald Necklace: Atlanta’s New Public Realm, an actionable and transformative urban redevelopment plan to build this defining public space.
This year, TPL published a twentieth-anniversary update, The Beltline Emerald Necklace 2.0, to take stock of how far the Beltline has come over these two decades and to draw some lessons from key insights to guide the continued expansion of the Beltline across our city. The success of the Beltline provides a template for how similar investments might be made throughout the city. The Beltline has taught us that building interconnected trails and parks can extend and democratize access to the city’s most valuable assets. The new report looks to what comes next as we seek to expand the success of the Beltline to all of Atlanta.
Our hope is that the 20th anniversary report will have a similar impact as the original Emerald Necklace proposal—that it will extend the Beltline’s success throughout the City—turning the Emerald Necklace into an Emerald Brocade that creates a single, thriving, and unified Atlanta.
DID YOU KNOW?
TPL helped acquire 33 properties to kick-start this transformational project. These properties are now part of Historic Fourth Ward Park , Enota Park , Westside Park , and Boulevard Crossing Park
Top: Louise Howard Park. PHOTO BY DARCY KIEFEL; Bottom: Enota Park. PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER T. MARTIN
Celebration of Land Connecting Communities, One Schoolyard at a Time!
Every year, TPL friends come together to celebrate the Celebration of Land and TPL’s work in connecting people to the outdoors and preserving the public spaces that make Georgia exceptional.
In 2025, we celebrated the tremendous impact that we have made, highlighting our work reimagining schoolyards across the state. Attendees helped stock outdoor “little free libraries” so K–5 students at community schoolyards can discover the joy of reading in the fresh air. We presented TPL Georgia’s 2025 Conservation Trailblazer Award to Elizabeth “Liz” Blake. She was recognized for her role as an early champion of our Georgia community schoolyards efforts, recognizing its potential to transform underutilized schoolyards into vibrant, welcoming green spaces for students, families, and neighbors that offer educational and health benefits.
Prince Hall Masonic Lodge
Thank you to all of our TPL friends who make this special annual event possible.
JOIN US
Black History and Culture Initiative: Join us as we create, protect, and activate public spaces of historical and cultural significance to Black communities across the country.
Chattahoochee RiverLands: Help us connect residents and build community across the Atlanta region through a reimagined Chattahoochee River.
Community Schoolyards: Donate today to grow our community schoolyard efforts in Georgia and help us create engaging, inclusive, nature-rich spaces for outdoor recreation, exploration, and education.
Leave a Legacy: Make 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 in Georgia and beyond.
Prince Hall Masonic Lodge is most famous for housing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Madam C.J. Walker Beauty Shoppe and WERD, the nation’s first Black-owned and operated radio station, were also based in the Lodge. The Masons and TPL are beginning restorations that will save one of the most historically significant, unprotected buildings in metro Atlanta. Construction is scheduled to be completed in December 2025, and National Park Service (NPS) will make the building available to the public as part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park in the years to come. As part of our Black History and Culture Initiative, TPL created the Alliance for Civil Rights Historic Sites and partnered with NPS to restore sites like the Lodge to tell the vivid and honest history of America’s failures and triumphs in the struggle for civil rights.
Centennial Academy.
PHOTO BY LEAH OVERSTREET
THANK YOU for doing your part in ensuring communities across Georgia can connect with the outdoors. We could not accomplish this crucial work without supporters like you!
GEORGIA ADVISORY BOARD
Virginia Almand, Community Volunteer
Patricia T. Barmeyer, Community Volunteer
Anna S. Callaway, Keller Knapp Realty
Tres Carpenter, ZWJ Investment Counsel
Jackie Cushman, Community Volunteer
Jocelyn Dorsey, Community Volunteer
Natalie Giurato, Cox Enterprises
Chris Graham, Koch Industries
John Hardman, Woodleaf Partners
Helen Hart , Norfolk Southern Company
Paula Hennessy, Community Volunteer
Bob Kinney, Community Volunteer
Alison Lathrop, Delta Air Lines
Trey Loughran, Board Chair, Purchasing Power
James H. Morgens, Morgens Property & Investment Co.
Alan S. Neely, Community Volunteer
Carlos Pagoaga, The Coca-Cola Company
Amy Phuong, Atlanta Hawks
Michele Reale, The Shopping Center Group
Suzanne Sackleh, Community Volunteer
Christopher Glenn Sawyer, Community Volunteer
Jeff Seavey, Community Volunteer
Sally Seeds, Community Volunteer
Markham Smith, Smith Dalia Architects
Emily J. Sweitzer, Rangewater Real Estate
Alex D. Watts, Merrill Lynch
Shelli Willis, Troutman Pepper Locke
Eric W. Wilson, CBRE
Jennifer Winn, Georgia Power Company
Chad Wright , GDP Holdings
Dusenbury
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. tpl.org/donate