More than 100 years after the first conservation land trust was created, the model has preserved more than 60 million acres nationwide, including 125,000 acres in North Florida alone. By relying on purchases or voluntary donations of land development rights rather than eminent domain takings, the approach has united sometimes disparate groups and created room for collaboration among developers, environmentalists, regulators, agricultural interests and government officials. We talk to the head of the national Land Trust Alliance and the North Florida Land Trust about how the movement is gaining traction and how landowners and volunteers can help preserve sensitive land in perpetuity.

Guests:

• Ashley Demosthenes, CEO, Land Trust Alliance 
• Ramesh Buch, director of conservation acquisitions, North Florida Land Trust

Theater kids

In just five years, the theater program at Jacksonville’s Greenwood School has evolved from conception to reality, staging multiple productions and expanding collaborations with local theater companies. We discuss how the program has helped the school’s neurodiverse student population both socially and academically, and why they want the community’s support in the construction of a dedicated auditorium on the campus of the grade 6-12 school. We also discuss the school’s upcoming production of the Peter Pan prequel, Peter and the Starcatcher.

Guests:

• Zach Rivera, theater teacher, Greenwood School 
• Mirabella Burt, senior, Greenwood School
• Jovanni Ricca, senior, Greenwood School

Park portraits

The name is relatively new — Hemming Plaza was rechristened James Weldon Johnson Park in 2020 — but the square at the doorstep to City Hall is the city’s oldest park, dating back 160 years. Some of its familiar denizens have been around awhile as well. The new exhibit, 160 Years of Stories: A Photo Exhibit, compiled by photographer Toni Smailagic and storyteller Barbara Colaciello, showcases their stories in word and portrait through May 31 in The Jessie’s Great Hall.

Guests:

• Barbara Colaciello, storyteller and artistic director, Bab’s Lab
• Toni Smailagic, photographer, founder of Cre8Jax