The Trust for Public Land is Giving You A GoPro!
Today’s post is brought to you by The Trust for Public Land. I’m in no way affiliated with the organization (nor am I receiving compensation), but I appreciate what they are striving to do.
If y’all have read my blog for a day or a week or a year, you’ve probably noticed one glaring characteristic: I like to play outside! I grew up car camping with my parents and that evolved into more adrenaline-filled activities the older I got, but my love for the outdoors has always remained.
Because of this, I admire the work that The Trust for Public Land is doing! Since 1972, they have protected more that 3 million acres and completed more than 5,200 park conservation projects. In short, the peeps at TPL have been protecting the land that I love to frequent in my spare time!
Fortunately, I was able to take a hot minute to chat with Carrie Gotch, the social media and digital production manager for The Trust for Public Land. Take a look at what she had to say if you’re interested in what TPL is doing.
How does The Trust for Public Land help preserve these areas?
We have two major initiatives: “Our Land and Water” and “Parks for People.” The“Our Land and Water” initiative is focused on helping communities balance the demands of growth with the protection of wilderness, waterfronts, and working farms and forests. We use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to identify and prioritize conservation goals—then we employ our finance, legal, and transaction expertise to accomplish them.
Through our “Parks for People” initiative, we work with cities and communities to ensure that everyone has a park, garden, trail, or other natural place within a ten-minute walk from home. In many cases, we guide the community through the entire park design process from inception to creation. We help communities raise funds for parks, conduct conservation research and planning, acquire and protect land, and design and renovate parks, gardens, and playgrounds. We lead communities through a greenprinting process to help them identify where parks should go; we campaign to raise public funding for conservation of the parkland; and then we guide the community through a “participatory design” process to create the park of their dreams, and make sure it continues to service residents for years to come.
Can you tell me a bit about Fitness Zones? I love this concept!
The Trust for Public Land’s Fitness Zone ® Program provides free outdoor fitness equipment in local parks—often in neighborhoods where gym memberships are too pricey to be practical. People adore the Fitness Zones and you never know who will take advantage of them and what amazing goals they may be working towards.
How can the average person help The Trust for Public Land?
Get involved in the Never-Still Life contest to share your love of the outdoors and help spread the word that our public lands are worth protecting. It’s easy, you can submit your photo on Facebook or simply upload and tag your photo with #NeverStillLife on Instagram or Twitter . Our public lands give us places to play and connect with nature outdoors—Trust for Public Land members make sure they’re available for all to enjoy now and for generations to come. Follow us on social media to get the latest updates on projects in your area and fun ideas for enjoying the outdoors.
Do you have a specific conservation project that is dear to your heart?
It’s so hard to play favorites! However, I recently went to Los Angeles and met a senior citizen exercise group including several octogenarians who were using the Fitness Zone we had installed to train for a 5K race. It was heart-warming to hear the stories of personal transformation that were happening because these folks had this Fitness Zone close by. Sure the equipment is great, but the people who use them are so inspirational. One woman attributed the Fitness Zone to helping her rebound from cancer , which struck a chord with me because my mother is also a cancer survivor. I felt honored to get to know them and their stories and am happy to report they recently completed their second 5K as a group! In the process they have inspired me to have a healthier and more active lifestyle—I’m now training for my first marathon. Getting fit is contagious and if we had a Fitness Zone in every community we would all be a lot healthier.
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If you’re interested in helping out The Trust for Public Land, head over to their social media sites (mentioned above) and enter your photo in the #NeverStillLife contest. And if you win the GoPro, I wanna see your sweet videos!
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