Today we’d like to introduce you to Tex Carter
Hi Tex, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Kay and I are founding members of the WK Preservation Group Inc. WKPG, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charity, was formed in 2020 as a response by a coalition of concerned citizens located in the Pinellas County area of Florida to a potential destruction of natural habitat. The event that energized our group was the possible bulldozing and high-density development of a beautiful, natural, untouched 14 acres of land in Tarpon Springs, Florida, that is teeming with animals and plant life, including some endangered species. This property shares a border and an ecology with Pinellas County’s Mariner’s Point Management Area (MPMA), a 76-acre environmental preserve. It is our current mission to save the 14 acres from development and have it joined with the MPMA. Over the lastt 5 years, our group has sought to raise public support, and to work with local government to achieve this goal
We have grown from the original handful of concerned citizens to a group with over 2000 donors and supporters who share our mission and our identity.
We can now confirm that this campaign has been successful, and we plan to finalize our contribution to Pinellas County in January 2025, and use that success as a platform for continuing our environmental and habitat preservation mission in partnership with Pinellas County and other organizations that will share the mission of preserving the remaining “Slices of Paradise” in the Tampa Bay area.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
While sharing a goal that most people will support, that is, preserving natural habitat from overdevelopment, we have had to learn lessons and overcome obstacles. We learned of the need to save the West Klosterman Preserve at exactly the same time that the Covid 19 pandemic put a halt to normal fundraising activities because potential donors had to isolate and meetings went from in person to virtual — a much harder environment for engaging concerned citizens who would normally want to respond.
We also had to overcome entrenched interests of the developers, who were ready to bulldoze the site and start their projects, while we were still trying to establish ourselves as a preservation organization with credibility that would allow the owners of the property, Pinellas County Schools, to trust us to raise the money and replace the developers that offered them immediate income for an underutilized asset. Should they do business as usual, or give us enough time to prove ourselves and our cause. PCS made the jump to trust us, and became an ally in our preservation efforts by showing responsible stewardship for their constituents and patience and support for our common cause
Winning political support was an interesting challenge. Pinellas County gave limited support for our project from the beginning with a willingness to take over ownership and operation of the Preserve if we were successful. But we still had to raise the money for the acquisition of the property. We built support with the state legislature, and our state representatives, Chris Latvala and Hose Speaker, Chris Sprowls who sponsored and provided funding for the preserve in the state’s budget. But although it was apporoved on a bipartisan basis by the legislature, the funding was vetoed by Governor DeSantis, and our group had to restart our fundraising campaigns without the support of the state.
Further political support came as our local County Commissioners learned of our project and helped marshall support with the County government. In a move supported by the County staff and all the County Commissioners, we received a matching commitment of $1.5MM, half the money required to purchase the property from PCS for $3MM.
Early obstacles and barriers have been overcome through a patient and persistent dialogue with community supporters, and government officials, and we are nearing our success with a lot of lessons behind us that will enable us to perhaps repeat this project at other important locations in the future.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Kay and I have been blessed with a great life and career. We married after high school, worked our way through our higher education opportunities, and have been an active part in all of the communities we have lived. My career has been in the engineering and construction industry, and we have been assigned to work in building industrial and infrastructure projects around the world. While on international assignments and in our time at home, Kay has often been in the leadership of non-govermental organizations that were supporting the lives of our communities. I had the opportunity to join and contribute to large organizations, or start new offices in new locations, so there have been many opportunities to learn how to build an organization, lead a team, or be part of a team with the mission to get a project done, or the goal of building a sustaining organization.
We retired to the Tampa Bay area with 50 years of marriage and 40 moves behind us, but we came ready to make a difference in our new home. We can look back at the projects and the organizations we helped to build, and still look forward to giving back where we can be useful.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
In the 5 years we have been a part of WKPG, we have seen continued awakening of the community to the need to preserve the remaining “slices of paradise” in the Tampa Bay Area. Support is growing, but the appetite of the development community which depends on transforming natural habitat to parking lots and condominiums is large. So I don’t see a change in that struggle. We need sustainable development, and achieving that mindset will require continuous education as well as demonstration of how success in this area improves the life of all our people as well as providing the plants, trees, birds and animals with a place to survive if not thrive.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wkpreserve.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/savethewkp/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaveTheWestKlostermanPreserve/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wk-preservation-group-inc/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/wkpreserve
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2cDMN8sD0uctGSOO4WR-Zg
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@savethewkpreserve
Image Credits
All WKPG Photos, no credits required
