The Timucuan Trail Parks Foundation

Preserving “Old Florida” and helping to establish our “Sense of Place” are the primary reasons for our existence. The sounds of bulldozers, chain saws, and dump trucks can strike chords of fear and sadness as we look out over the salt marshes and realize they can be lost so quickly – filled-in and paved over with strip malls, condos, mega-chain stores, and fast-food restaurants.

The vision of one man ignited passion among a small group of individuals who all agreed – at least part of “Old Florida” was going to be preserved and revered so that their children, and their children’s children, and great-grand children could walk upon the same earthen paths and smell the same fragrances of the salt marsh and paddle along the same waterways as the ancient indigenous peoples who settled here thousands of years ago.

The City of Jacksonville has the esteemed honor of having the largest urban park system (over 80,000 acres) in the United States – through incredible partnerships with the Florida State Parks, the National Park Service, The Nature Conservancy, The Trust for Public Land, and the North Florida Land Trust, approximately 50,000 acres have been acquired and placed into conservation parklands. Local municipal communities, such the City of Atlantic Beach and City of Jacksonville Beach have also partnered with us to secure the acquisition of vital salt marshes that meander through the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.