TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. — The push to save a 14-acre plot of preserve land in Pinellas County is coming down to the wire, with organizers having until Sept. 15 to come up with the remaining $450,000 needed for the purchase.
For years now, a group of neighbors have been working to raise millions of dollars to buy West Klosterman Preserve off Klosterman Road in Tarpon Springs. The area is home to a number of species of plants and animals “of special concern.”
“This is their ecosystem and that's why we want to save it,” Tex Carter, president of WK Preservation Group, says. Carter’s nonprofit has been raising money and pushing back against potential developments on the plot of land currently owned by Pinellas County Schools.
“The trees, the animals, all that lives here, benefits the people that live around it in ways that we don't even know, but we can feel it when we walk by here,” Carter added.
At one point the school district had plans to build a school on the land, but changes to demographics changed those plans as well.
“It laid essentially unoccupied for 30-plus years until the state legislature said, 'Sell your properties.' They put it up for sale. It went to a public sales site, and developers bid on it to put bulldozers on the property, level it and put condos on it,” Carter explained.
That’s when Carter and his crew’s push began. Over the years they developed relationships with local leaders and through advocacy were able to strike a deal.
Last year, Pinellas County commissioners approved a $1.5 million matching grant, the group would then need to raise $1.5 million privately to acquire $3 million total to purchase the land from the school district. They were also given a deadline, Sept. 15, 2024.
Over the last several months, they’ve been hard at work raising funds. Outside the preserve are more than 8,000 green ribbons representing $20 donations. Other generous givers have provided upwards of six figures in funds to help reach the goal.
However, nine days out from the deadline they’re still $450,000 short of where they need to be. Carter is hoping more folks hear his calls and understand the importance of preserving as much green space as possible.
Carter says when they purchase the land, they will donate it back to the county which will use it as an addition to the existing 76-acre Mariners Point Management Area preserve land it sits next to.
“The animals and plants and trees that live on this property don't know anything about that fence between the two pieces of property. This is their ecosystem, and that's why we want to save it. We want to keep that ecosystem for the neighborhood, for the plants and animals that live on it and the people that live around it,” Carter added.
If you want to learn more or help them reach their goal, click here.