The four-year, ongoing saga to save 14 acres of old Florida
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Tex Carter, president of the West Klosterman Preservation Group, walks through the West Klosterman Preserve. Photo: Kathryn Varn/Axios
Four long years into an effort to save a piece of old Florida from development, Tex Carter knows his way around the land.
- He can point out the largest gopher tortoise burrow, or take you down an overgrown path to a rare colony of Florida rosemary that, without dedicated land management, is dying slowly in the shade of an oak tree.
Why it matters: The nonprofit WK Preservation Group is just weeks away from a critical fundraising deadline in its bid to convert the parcel off West Klosterman Road just south of Tarpon Springs into a nature preserve.
- The odds of making it, according to Carter, the group's president: "Not good."
Driving the news: Under an agreement with Pinellas County, Carter's group has until Sept. 15 to raise $1.5 million toward the $3 million purchase price. County officials will pay the other half — if the nonprofit group holds up their end of the deal.
- The group was short about $500,000 as of last week.
Why they want to save it: The 14-acre parcel, known as the West Klosterman Preserve, represents less than 1% of original Florida scrub left in Pinellas County. The ecosystem is bursting with native and imperiled wildlife, including longleaf pines, gopher tortoises and giant air plants.
- The property shares a border with the 76-acre Mariner's Point Management Area, an area of coastal uplands preserved by the county.
- Together, they've "been part of one ecosystem forever," Carter said.
Catch up quick: Pinellas County Schools has owned the land for decades but couldn't find a use for it. School board officials put it up for sale in 2020, and developers circled. The highest bid, Carter said, came in at $3.3 million to develop condominiums.
- As word spread, residents organized and approached the school board, which eventually agreed to give them time to raise $3 million to buy the land themselves.
- Twice, the group thought they'd secured state funding for the effort:
- A $3 million allocation in 2022 was axed in a veto by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Later that year, $2.5 million was lost after the governor let a grant program lapse.
New hope came last year when Pinellas County commissioners partnered with the group to buy the land. By that point, the nonprofit had raised about $700,000.
State of play: Under the agreement, the county would own and manage the land and add it to Mariner's Point.
- While that area has no public access, the deal leaves room for the county to turn the West Klosterman property into a passive-use park with walking trails, informational signs and benches.
What's next: The saga may not necessarily end at the Sept. 15 deadline.
- County Commission Chair Kathleen Peters told Axios the commission "will continue to work with them until they reach their goal."