April 10, 2025, TARPON SPRINGS, FL –

With the stroke of a pen, the West Klosterman Preserve has finally and officially been saved after a five-year effort to save off the bulldozer..

On Thursday, April 10, representatives of Pinellas County Schools, the property owner, and Pinellas County, the buyer, signed a final sales agreement that turns the property into a permanent preserve. It is now a part of the adjacent 76-acre, county-owned Mariner’s Point Management Area. The combined land creates a diverse, 90-acre ecosystem of coastal uplands and wetlands for many important species in an area of Pinellas County that has seen accelerated development in recent years.

The West Klosterman Preserve is home to many animals and numerous gopher tortoises –  a threatened keystone species – as well as the endangered Florida rosemary, longleaf pine and giant air plant.

In January, Pinellas County received half of the $3 million purchase price from WK Preservation Group (WKPG), a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit behind the push to save the 14-acre tract from development. WKPG’s $1.5 million contribution, raised by citizens, large donors and corporate gifts, fulfilled the grant agreement underpinning its partnership with the county to purchase the property. The county raised the other $1.5 million in 2024 through Penny for Pinellas funds.

With this project completed, WKPG will identify new properties to save in Pinellas County and beyond, as the region faces greater challenges from development of ecologically fragile land.

To learn more about WKPG’s journey to save the West Klosterman Preserve and make a donation, visit https://wkpreserve.com/. 

Jan. 15, 2025, TARPON SPRINGS, FL – WK Preservation Group (WKPG) today announced the end of a five-year process to fund the acquisition of the West Klosterman Preserve, the most significant step in saving it from development.

Today, the property buyer, Pinellas County, acknowledged it has received WKPG’s $1.5 million contribution, fulfilling the grant agreement underpinning the nonprofit’s partnership with the county to purchase and establish a rare virgin parcel of coastal upland in Tarpon Springs.

The county will now move forward with its commitment to purchase the property from Pinellas County Schools and the goal of saving the West Klosterman Preserve will become a reality.

“This is another, maybe one of the most important, milestone so far in our campaign to save slices of paradise in Pinellas County and the Tampa Bay area,” said WKPG board president Tex Carter.  “The many people and businesses that have supported us since our founding in 2020 can take pride in accomplishing what some thought couldn’t be done. And Pinellas County sees our efforts in this cause as a model for future partnerships.”

The goal is to adjoin the land to the adjacent 76-acre, county-owned Mariner’s Point Management Area. This will create a diverse, 90-acre ecosystem of uplands and wetlands for many important species. The West Klosterman Preserve itself is home to many animals and numerous gopher tortoises –  a threatened keystone species – as well as the endangered Florida rosemary and giant air plant.

WKPG plans to hold an event at the preserve for volunteers, supporters and donors on March 1. Those attending will be invited to remove the 8000-plus green fundraiser ribbons that have adorned the preserve’s southern fence for more than three years.

After this project, the group will identify new properties to save in Pinellas County and beyond, as the region faces greater challenges from development of ecologically fragile land.

To learn more about WKPG’s journey to save the West Klosterman Preserve and make a donation, visit https://wkpreserve.com/. 

Dec. 2, 2024, TARPON SPRINGS, FL – After nearly five years, WK Preservation Group (WKPG) has reached a critical point in its quest to save the West Klosterman Preserve, 14 wild acres on W. Klosterman Road, from development.

MAIN POINTS:

• On Nov. 20, the sales agreement was finalized between the land’s owner, Pinellas County Schools, and the buyer, Pinellas County. The sales agreement incorporates a gift agreement between WKPG and Pinellas County that provides the county with $1.5 million toward the property’s $3 million purchase price and sets a due diligence period and a final closing date of April 2025 for the sale.

• This gift agreement has a deadline of Dec. 10, for WKPG to raise the $1.5 million gift amount and have it ready by the closing of the sale.  

• The gift agreement provides that WKPG and its funding partner, Pinellas Community Foundation (PCF), will consolidate all money raised and call in pledges made over the years to preserve the land intact. 

• WKPG and PCF leaders are now contacting supporters who have made financial pledges toward saving the preserve and are already receiving their pledges in time to meet the Dec.10 target.  

“We’ve done what we need to do,” said Kay Carter, founding member and chief operations officer of the WKPG board of directors. “The county will ask for the money when it’s ready to close next year and we’re confident we will have it available.”

Pinellas County School Board Chairperson Laura Hine signed the sales agreement on behalf of the school board on July 16. Barry Burton, Pinellas County administrator, signed it Nov. 20 on behalf of the county. 

“We want all pledges to close out by Dec. 10, as stipulated in our gift agreement with the County,” emphasized Tex Carter, WKPG founding member and president of the WKPG board of directors. “Although the closing date is early next year, WKPG will hold the money and transfer it to the county when it is time for the final closing.”  

For charitable contributions, donors who are looking for tax benefits will have already earned their benefit when they make their contribution to WKPG.   

As long as the process goes smoothly and all of the funding requirements of the gift agreement are met, WK Preservation Group and the people who have supported the WK Preserve campaign can take pride in how they have worked to save the West Klosterman Preserve. 

“Almost five years ago, a group of Pinellas County residents decided that it was important to prevent the rapid disappearance of the small slices of paradise still remaining in Pinellas County,” said Carter. “They have worked over the years to build a partnership with Pinellas County and Pinellas County Schools. Today, this partnership includes the county, the school board and WKPG with almost 2,000 citizens who have donated, working to ensure that one of the slices of paradise is saved, and that future preservation efforts can succeed in the same way as the West Klosterman Preserve.”

After completing the West Klosterman project, WKPG will turn its attention to saving other wild parcels in densely populated Pinellas County from development. 

Background 

The West Klosterman property is a preserve in name only. It sits next to the Mariner’s Point Management Area (MPMA), a 76-acre, county-owned preserve. The two properties will be managed by the county as a larger preserve in perpetuity, effectively doubling upland habitat for rare and endangered species such as gopher tortoises, migrating birds and rare plants. It will increase the area’s natural drainage system and prevent an estimated 600 extra daily car trips on narrow, dead-end Klosterman Road. 

WK Preservation Group was formed as a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization in early 2020 to save the West Klosterman property from developers who expressed interest in purchasing the long-unused property and building up to 70 multifamily living units on it. The Pinellas School District had purchased the property in the 1990s from the Diocese of St. Petersburg. Plans to put a school on the property never materialized.  

WKPG has joined forces with Pinellas Community Foundation in seeking the large donations that are key to completing acquisition of the Preserve. To learn more and support its cause, visit www.wkpreserve.com.