PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — From the gopher tortoises to unique plants, Tex Carter has fallen in love with an untouched, unspoiled piece of Florida wilderness, which is located just south of Tarpon Springs on West Klosterman Road.
“You hear the birds, the ospreys, the eagles — occasionally,” he said.
However, there is a real possibility the land will be sold to developers.
Pinellas County Schools, which owns the 14 acres, announced its intent to sell the property back in 2021.
“If it’s gone — if it’s bulldozed and gone — we won’t have anything to look at except concrete and condominiums,” said Carter, who helped found the WK Preservation Group to prevent that from happening.
So far, with the help of hundreds of others, Carter has shielded the property from development through a grassroots fundraising effort.
He and his allies need roughly $3 million to purchase the land and preserve it forever.
According to Carter, Pinellas County has agreed to cover half the cost, but the community is responsible for the rest of the funding.
So far, Carter’s preservation group has raised $600,000 toward that goal.
“We still have to raise $900,000,” he said.
According to Carter, a newly-drafted agreement with the county sets the fundraising deadline as Sept. 16, which means time is now running out.
“We need another couple of thousand donors at that rate to try to close the gap between now and the September 16th deadline,” Carter said.
County Commissioner Chris Latvala hopes the community will get it done.
“The community needs to come together and raise as much of that goal as possible,” he said. “Living in Pinellas County, you know, we can’t just build everywhere.”
Marie Eide, a board member of the WK Preservation Group, hopes so too.
“There are developers who are about to pounce on this — this property,” she said. “They’re waiting.”
She and Carter say that with Pinellas County almost completely developed, losing natural land like that on West Klosterman Rd. would be a huge blow for their generation and the next ones. That’s why they keep fighting.
“We brought our grandkids out here and have shown them nature, and they all say, ‘This is what you should be doing with your time, grandma and grandpa,’” Carter said.
To learn more about the fundraising effort, click here to visit the WK Preservation Group website.
