FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                   

Contact:   John Yarbrough, Lee County Parks & Recreation
         (239) 461-7410

LEE ONE OF NINE SOUTHEASTERN U.S. COMMUNITIES TO RECEIVE RIVERS, TRAILS AND CONSERVATION ASSISTANCE

FORT MYERS, Fla. (October 4, 2002) – Lee County has been selected by the National Park Service as one of nine communities and organizations in the Southeast to receive planning and technical assistance in developing new outdoor recreation opportunities and preserving important local open space.

The assistance is through the Park Service’s Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) Program, which helps communities preserve their important local resources, protect river resources, develop new trails and greenways and create new open space.

Recent county efforts in this area include:

• Conservation 2020 program – more than 10,000 acres bought and set aside to date.

• Great Calusa Blueway – paddling trail from Bonita Springs to Boca Grande (www.greatcalusablueway.com)

• Renewed effort to develop the Ten Mile Canal Linear Park from Fort Myers to Estero Bay.

The program provides staff who have technical design and planning expertise and who can assist the local communities with public workshops, development of educational materials, funding source identification and development of community-based visions and realistic strategies for new trails, greenways, protected river corridors and open space.

“Each year we help community leaders accomplish their local visions,” says Chris Abbett, who heads the RTCA Program in the Park Service’s Southeast Region.  “This year, we helped the Tennessee River Gorge Trust in Chattanooga plan and begin developing a water trail long the Tennessee River.  This successful effort could eventually lead to a network of paddling opportunities and, thus, eco-tourism opportunities in Southern Tennessee.”

A Park Service project manager will be assigned to the county primarily to help in the development of a trails master plan for the county.  Work will include developing a network of greenways, trails and blueways throughout the county with connections to adjacent counties.

Lee County’s Parks & Recreation Department maintains and operates 3,500 acres of developed park land, 14 centers, 9 pools, five boat ramps, three Gulf beach parks, one lakefront beach, 76 beach accesses, 60 tennis courts, 73 ballfields, and 13 preserves.  The department also manages the more than 10,000 acres of environmentally sensitive lands the county has purchased in the last six years through its Conservation 2020 Program.  Its fiscal year 2003 operating budget is $18.3 million.  The Parks System gained national accreditation last year and is a 2002 National Gold Medal Award Finalist.