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A four-year push to save an undeveloped piece of land in Pinellas County is reaching its final deadline, and a nonprofit organization continues its fight to save the land.
The West Klosterman Preserve spans 14 acres of upland scrub habitat in Tarpon Springs. It’s home to an active gopher tortoise population and a variety of endangered plant species.
WK Preservation Group agreed to a deadline of September 15th to raise one and a half million dollars towards purchasing the land from Pinellas County Schools . As of Monday morning, they were at just under 400,000 dollars raised.
Tex Carter is president of the preservation group.
“Pinellas County, most of us who live here know that it’s 98 percent developed, and one percent is under development to become condos, high rises, shopping centers, etcetera. There’s only about 1% of undeveloped natural habitat still left,” Carter told WMNF.
Pinellas County offered half of the 3 million needed to buy the land, with the activists agreeing to raise the other half.
WKPG plans to immediately donate the land to Pinellas County for eternal preservation alongside another county-owned preserve: the 76-acre Mariner’s Point Management Area.
“Both Pinellas County and Pinellas County Schools really do want this to become a preserve, so I’m optimistic that they will continue to work with us, but we do have a deadline, and that deadline is real, and we do want to make that happen,” Carter said, “We want to make sure that this preservation, this environmental habitat is available for our grandkids who live right up the road here, and other families and friends that are out there that want to have a quality of life and slice of paradise in their neighborhood in Pinellas County.”
Carter says he saw an outpouring of support, especially after Governor Ron DeSantis reversed course on a controversial deal to build pickleball and golf courses in state parks.
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