Duke Foundation Funds Florida Panhandle Initiative

Foresight, Spring 2001 -- A $500,000 grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation will support a four-year project aimed at preserving critical natural resources in an economically-viable manner in the Florida Panhandle. The funding will enable 1000 Friends of Florida to work with business, government, and environmental interests to develop partnerships and identify tools and strategies to achieve this twofold objective.

Project partners will conduct local workshops with citizens, business leaders, and local governments to discuss some of the planning issues facing their Panhandle communities. By year's end, three pilot communities will be selected for more focused participation in the project. According to Charles Pattison, Executive Director of 1000 Friends, "With Florida's Panhandle under increasing development pressure, we look forward to working with willing communities to accommodate this growth in a manner that is sensitive to significant natural areas while providing for a sound economy."

The grant is just one component of a larger Duke Foundation commitment to the North Florida - South Georgia region. The Duke Foundation also awarded $9.8 million in matching grants to The Nature Conservancy and The Conservation Fund. These monies will be used to protect, through acquisition and easement, more than 90,000 acres of environmentally sensitive land in an area that stretches from the Red Hills surrounding Tallahassee to Eglin Air Force Base and Southern Alabama. An additional $580,000 grant to The Georgia Conservancy will support the development of planning strategies for South Georgia.

The Duke Foundation is also awarding a total of $4.2 million to several national research organizations to be used for planning tools and public awareness. Recipients will be developing technology to integrate ecological data into planning and visualize alternative future development scenarios, and disseminating information to communities on how to grow while conserving their rich natural heritage. 1000 Friends will share all results with our Panhandle partners as soon as it is available.

1000 Friends of Florida is gratified to have this opportunity to work with the Nature Conservancy, Conservation Fund, and Georgia Conservancy in this important undertaking. "The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation conducted an analysis of the most environmentally sensitive yet threatened regions in the nation, and felt they could make the most meaningful difference here," said Pattison. "We believe we can build on our successes with similar collaborative outreach programs, such as Waterfronts Florida, the Palm Beach County Green Initiative, and Florida Greenways, to promote community-based planning in the Florida Panhandle." In addition, 1000 Friends has briefed the Florida Department of Community Affairs on the initiative and hopes to partner with DCA on providing technical assistance.

Governor Jeb Bush commended the Duke Foundation, saying that this gift " . . . will help protect natural areas in the Florida Panhandle like the Apalachicola River and Bay, the Blackwater River and the Red Hills."