New Jacksonville (FL) Park

Jacksonville, 3/21/02 — Working through the City of Jacksonville’s Preservation Project, the Trust for Public Land has acquired and conveyed to the city a 35-acre parcel of land on Ribault River, a tributary that flows into the St. John’s River. The property will be maintained as a passive riverfront park that will serve a minority neighborhood and provide a location for hands-on environmental education for the public school system.

Located in one of Jacksonville’s older neighborhoods, the property is within just a few blocks of Martin Luther King Jr.Elementary School, as well as Ribault Junior and Senior High and the Community Connections center (formerly the YWCA), which offers day care and after school programs.

“You don’t often find large pieces of land like this in the older parts of the city,” said Gwen Yates, City Councilwoman for District 8. “It’s a beautiful area with old trees, surrounded by homes. The park will provide green space for the neighborhood and access to the river for those who don’t live on the river.”

This is the fifteenth land acquisition project TPL has completed with the City of Jacksonville’s Preservation Project, helping to preserve more than 2500 acres in northeast Florida. TPL and the city have been working together since 1999, when TPL entered into a contract with the city to help implement Mayor John Delaney’s “Preservation Project,” Jacksonville’s $362 million “greenprint” for growth management. TPL opened a Jacksonville office in March 2000 to carry out this program.

About TPL: Founded in 1972, the Trust for Public Land is a national nonprofit organization working exclusively to protect land for human enjoyment and well-being. TPL helps conserve land for recreation and spiritual nourishment and to improve the health and quality of life of American communities. Operating in Florida since 1975, TPL has helped save more than 240 sites as community parks, waterfronts, historic sites, greenways and trails. The Wall Street Journal’s Smart Money magazine recently named TPL the nation’s most efficient large conservation charity for the second year in a row, based on the percentage of funds dedicated to programs.