Non-profit Spotlight: Green Horizon Land Trust

Non-profit Spotlight: Green Horizon Land Trust

Green Horizon Land Trust was created to preserve environmentally valuable or sensitive lands and open space areas in and around the Central Florida Ridge for the benefit of the general public, and to educate the public as to the importance of such lands and their preservation.

Green Horizon Land Trust is a local, nonprofit, 501(C)(3) Florida corporation incorporated in 1991. The trust is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of local individuals from such diverse fields as business, law, conservation, banking, real estate, land planning and agriculture.

Green Horizon uses a variety of creative methods to achieve its land conservation goals and to financially benefit donors. Conservation may be accomplished through outright purchases, bargain sales, donations, conservation easements, limited development agreements or similar techniques.

Working through Green Horizon Land Trust, landowners may be able to take advantage of income, estate or property tax benefits that can help make land conservation affordable. Unlike government agencies, Green Horizon can act quickly and confidentially to accomplish the objectives of the landowner.

Trade lands are lands or buildings that have little or no conservation value, but which can be donated to Green Horizon Land Trust to be traded or sold. The proceeds are used to further the work of the Trust in acquiring property with significant conservation value to preserve in perpetuity.

Visit Green Horizon properties in the 863 area. Details and maps are available on Green Horizon’s website: www.greenhorizon.org.  Two properties that are open to the public are the Michael V. Lewis Arboretum and Luther C. Parrott Trail, and Pedersen Preserve.

The Michael V. Lewis Arboretum and Luther C. Parrott Trail offer visitors more than a mile of winding trail and is located on Overlook Drive approximately 0.5 miles east of Carl Floyd Road in Winter Haven.

The 42-acre parcel was donated to the Green Horizon Land Trust by Talbot Lewis, who for more than 40 years collected and planted ornamental plants from across the state in a landscape he designed. Once a banana plantation, the arboretum features a large collection of Chinese fan palms, as well as most palms that will grow in Central Florida.

Pedersen Preserve offers visitors about a mile loop trail. Barbara B. Pedersen Wildlife Preserve, located at 6609 Scenic Highway in Dundee, is a 40-acre parcel of upland forest that was donated to the Green Horizon Land Trust by the Jim Pedersen family as a wildlife preserve. Located on Scenic Highway with views of Lake Annie, this property on the Lake Wales Ridge was protected from development for more than 69 years by the Pedersen family.

Our most recent acquisition of more than 500 acres in the Lake Buffum area was the result of a generous bequest. Planned giving is a way that individuals and families can help preserve Central Florida’s Natural Heritage. Memberships and donations to Green Horizon help fund our projects, programs and acquisitions.

Joining Green Horizon is simple and can be done by visiting our website at GreenHorizon.org or by contacting Executive Director Rachelle Coleman Selser at 863-678-1237 or GreenHorizonLandTrust@gmail.com.