DEP Partners With The National Park Service To Promote Greenways & Trails

TALLAHASSEE – A partnership between the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Greenways & Trails, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and the National Park Service will enable a series of workshops to be presented promoting advocacy for greenways and trails in northwest Florida.

Each year, the National Park Service’s Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance program (RTCA) assists selected communities in the Southeast with projects that place emphasis on preserving important land and water resources, developing new greenways and trails, creating new open spaces, or expanding outdoor recreational opportunities. RTCA staff selected nine projects in the Southeast for fiscal year 2002; four of those are located in Florida.

In addition to providing assistance with the Northwest Florida Greenways and Trails Workshops, the RTCA program will work with the following communities/projects in Florida:

• The City of Hollywood - the Hollywood Rail-with-Trail, a 5.8-mile shared-use trail along the FEC Railroad/Dixie Highway corridor.
• The Florida Keys and Sea Trust - the Rachel Key Restoration and Blueway project, to restore Rachel Key to its natural state and to develop a water trail for recreational use.
• Sarasota County - develop a trails master plan to identify new opportunities for trails in the county and the initial implementation of the first segments of the countywide system.

"We help citizens work with local agencies and organizations to create new parks and trails and to help protect important water resources," said Chris Abbett, who heads the RTCA Program in the Park Service’s Southeast Region. "We do not provide money for projects, but we do provide staff who have technical design and planning expertise. They can also assist local sponsors with public workshops, educational materials, identifying funding sources, development of community-based visions, and recognizing realistic strategies for new trails, greenways, protected river corridors and open spaces."