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Press
Room
PRESS INFORMATION
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Don Lesh, 850/984-0661
NEW NONPROFIT GROUP SEEKS BALANCE OF ECONOMIC PROGRESS, ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP, AND QUALITY OF LIFE
 Florida Foresight, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in
October 2002, is small in size but big in aspirations and
accomplishments.
In just one year, Florida Foresight has undertaken several projects
with positive impact well beyond its base of operations in largely
rural and forested Wakulla County just south of Florida's capital city
of Tallahassee. Its achievements already include:
- Completion and distribution of a 27-minute broadcast
quality video entitled "Success in
the Sunshine," under a contract with the Office of Sustainable
Development in the US Department of Commerce/NOAA, featuring case
studies of Floridians who are leaders in community planning, green
construction, nature/heritage tourism, recreation and sports,
ecosystem restoration, and water and energy conservation. Selected
by Florida Public Broadcasting, Inc. for transmission via satellite
to all state and national PBS stations, the video, which is
accompanied by a 90-page viewer's guide entitled "Signs of
Success: A Leadership Guide for Coastal Communities," was
shown on many Florida PBS stations in connection with Earth Day
2003. The guide is also designed for use of educators in planning
classroom and field activities related to issues posed in the video.
- Service as a facilitator and consultant to local citizen groups
supporting the
designation of the Big Bend Scenic Byway, a 248-mile corridor
which, if approved by
the Department of Transportation as proposed, would become
Florida's longest Scenic
Byway, running through portions of Wakulla, Franklin, and Leon
Counties (and
incorporating the existing USDA Forest Service Apalachee Savannahs
Scenic Byway
in Liberty County). Experience with the national Scenic Highway
program,
administered by the Federal Highway Administration, as well at
other Byway sites in
Florida, strongly indicates that success in this initiative can
bring significant expansion of local revenues through expanded nature-based and heritage
tourism.
- Proponent of and catalyst for the establishment of
a Florida Gulf Coast Maritime Center, to be located in the fishing village of Panacea in Wakulla
County, featuring the distinctive local history, coastal resources and environment,
traditions, practices, life styles, crafts, and skills of the men and women whose labors
created Panacea's identity as a working waterfront community and supported (and
continue to support) generations of local citizens. Still in its initial phase, this
project is specifically designed to serve not only Panacea but other coastal regions and
institutions, by cooperation with, for example, the St. Marks
 National Wildlife
Refuge, Florida State Marine Research Laboratory at Turkey Point, Apalachicola National
Estuarine Research Reserve, Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory and Aquarium,
Florida State Parks, Wakulla County Historical Society, Tallahassee's Museum of
Natural History, Museum of Florida History, and Museum of Underwater Archeology at
the University of West Florida. Conceived as an active, working display of sites
and restored buildings, connected by attractive permeable walkways, the Maritime
Center is also intended to serve as a demonstration project for best practices in
construction, materials, energy and water conservation, xeriscaping with native
vegetation, and a central Environmental Management System (EMS).
Guided by a board of six persons whose collective backgrounds span
the fields of ecology, sustainability, natural resource administration, education,
journalism, local government, scientific research, and civic activism, Florida Foresight seeks
broad and diverse partnerships in all of its programs. For example, at a May 9 workshop at Wakulla
Springs State Park organized by Florida Foresight under the title of
"Success in
Wakulla County," cosponsors included 1000 Friends of Florida, DEP's Clean Marina Program,
Apalachee Ecological Conservancy, Florida Gulf Coast University Green Building Program,
VISIT FLORIDA, Panacea Waterfronts Florida Partnership, and DCA's Waterfronts
Florida Program, as well as the Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Council, and Tourist
Development Council of Wakulla County. Among the participants were business
owners, realtors, builders, educators, state agency officials, community planners, architects,
and interested local residents.
For further information, or to become involved in or provide
support for Florida Foresight programs and activities,
contact Diane Delaney, President, Florida Foresight, 2489 Surf Road, Ochlockonee
Bay, FL 32346
(telephone 850/984-0661).
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