I was so inspired by my colleague Lisa's recent article on tpl.org, I wanted to share some highlights with you. So much of the work we do here at Trust for Public Land is made possible by member support, and these three projects represent the best of what we do.
From Lisa:
Across the United States, communities are embracing the power of the great outdoors to revive or bolster their economies and attract residents. This is especially true for rural towns and urban cities where once-prevailing agricultural or industrial industries have declined.
Trust for Public Land has partnered with many such communities in recent years, helping to install mountain bike trails, convert defunct railways to multiuse paths, buy and create town-owned community forests, and reclaim brownfields for new green space.
Life After Agriculture on the Florida Gulf Coast Trail
Passing through eight counties, the Florida Gulf Coast Trail, when completed, will stretch roughly from Tampa to Naples. Decades ago, the entire region was dominated by agriculture, but farms have given way to suburbs. While sections of the trail already exist, many gaps remain.
Trust for Public Land is overseeing a regional effort with public and private partners to complete the trail and connect communities along the corridor. One city that is already reaping the benefits of the Florida Gulf Coast Trail is Dunedin, a waterfront community just west of Tampa. There, the so-called Pinellas Trail, which connects to the Florida Gulf Coast Trail, has energized the downtown, with new restaurants such as the Black Pearl and new shops like Thistle Boutique and Gallery.
People riding bicycles on the Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail in downtown Dunedin, Florida. Photo: iStock
Breathing New Life Into Klamath Falls
Trails are also a lynchpin of the future in Klamath Falls, Oregon. The city of 22,000 was once a thriving timber town, with dozens of lumber mills busy cutting fir and pine. The industry thrived until the 1990s, when changing forest policies and a severe earthquake took a toll on the town's economic and built environments.
Trust for Public Land has since helped Klamath Falls divine a new future. Just 10 miles outside of town rises Spence Mountain, where a private landowner had allowed the community to create 50 miles of trails on 7,500 acres. Working with the Klamath Trails Alliance, TPL and other partners bought the property in 2022—to ensure all that trail work will continue to benefit the community for generations to come.
A person riding a bike on a dirt trail on Spence Mountain. Photo: Flickr.
The Greening of Pittsburgh
In 2020, Trust for Public Land provided the City of Pittsburgh and community partners with a grant to launch a pilot program for ecological restoration on a 183-acre site known as Hazelwood Greenway. TPL's support enabled the partners to remove abandoned appliances and invasive species such as knotweed, as well as plant trees and improve access.
Doug Hattaway, TPL's southeast regional conservation director, notes that communities are sometimes motivated initially by a desire for recreational opportunities and economic development. But the ripple effects of that can be even more serendipitous.
"If you give people a place where they can visit and exercise, they are going to use it," he says. "Exercise is vitally important. We are creating safe routes to work, to play, and to shop while fostering a sense of community. If you are walking on a trail or in a park, you are more inclined to say hello than if you are driving in a car."
Sunset on the river in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Photo: iStock
These few stories don't show the breadth of what we accomplish together, but they speak to the heart of what we do, and why we do it.
You can browse all of our projects on our website, where you can filter by topic, location, and project status. I'm particularly excited about the fact that we have more than 150 projects currently in the works. You can view all of those by filtering for "Status: Coming Soon"!
Thank you for spending a little time reading about our work, and thank you for contributing whenever you can.
Take care,
Josh VanDavier
Trust for Public Land
P.S. To read the full version of Lisa's article, visit our website.
