Palm Beach County extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the center of the Florida Peninsula, about 40 miles north of Miami. The County’s 1.35 million people are concentrated near the coast, with many living in upscale communities like Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter and Boca Raton. The interior of the County remains largely undeveloped, with much of its Everglades wetlands set aside in wildlife refuges. Nevertheless, Palm Beach County and its cities have not only saved over 50,000 acres on their own but have also done it using innovative preservation strategies.

The Loxahatchee River Canoe Trail in Palm Beach County gives paddlers access to the Loxahatchee River Aquatic Preserve.

Beginning in 1949, the Corps of Engineers began work on the Central and South Florida Project, installing canals and pumps that converted the wetlands south of Lake Okeechobee into the Everglades Agricultural Area. Together with Lake Okeechobee itself, the Everglades Agricultural Area dominates the western half of Palm Beach County. However, these privately-owned farms, cattle ranches and sugar cane fields could eventually produce a bumper crop of subdivisions.

South and east of the Everglades Agricultural Area, four wildlife refuges preserve 276,000 acres of land for water quality protection, wildlife habitat and, of course, outdoor recreation. For example, visitors to the 141,000-acre Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge can use a boardwalk to explore a cypress swamp.

On the coast, the John D. MacArthur Beach State Park provides over two miles of shoreline on the Atlantic Ocean. And at the northern edge of Palm Beach County, the State of Florida has established the Loxahatchee River Aquatic Preserve, giving canoeists and kayakers the chance to see endangered manatee while paddling this mangrove-lined estuary.

The Palm Beach County park system contributes another 8,000 acres of parkland including Riverbend Park, home to the last remaining subtropical cypress forest river environment in Florida. The City of West Palm Beach established Grassy Waters Preserve, which encompasses 20 square miles, or half the City’s total land area. Historically, Grassy Waters was the headwaters of the Everglades and it now supplies drinking water to 130,000 people as well as a chance to hike, canoe and learn about the sustainable use of water resources.

Despite the large amount of land already under public protection, the voters of Palm Beach County approved a Natural Areas Program in 1991 with a bond referendum providing $100 million for the acquisition of environmentally-sensitive sites. County voters then passed subsequent bond measures in 1999, 2002 and 2004, approving an additional $206 million for the preservation of agricultural as well as environmentally-sensitive lands. As of 2006, the Natural Areas Program had protected over 35,000 acres in 34 natural areas. Many of these preserves are open to the public, including the Loxahatchee Slough Natural Area, a 10,000-acre wetland with the largest population of the threatened Florida Sandhill Crane in southern Florida. In addition to several remnants of the Everglades ecosystem, the Natural Area Program has preserved properties in coastal areas including Juno Dunes Natural Area, with beaches that provide nesting sites for three protected species of sea turtles.

Palm Beach County should be recognized not just for its preservation accomplishments but also for its innovative method of combining traditional bond funding with a market-based tool known as transferable development rights or TDR. TDR allows development potential to be separated from land that a community wants to preserve and transferred to a place where the community wants growth. The 35,000 acres that Palm Beach County acquired for its Natural Areas Program generated 9,000 units of transferable development potential under the County’s TDR ordinance. The County deposited these 9,000 units in its TDR bank and began selling them to developers who want additional residential density in the County’s designated growth areas. In fiscal year 2004-05 alone, the County sold 435 units for $25,000 each, generating over $10 million in revenues that would not have occurred without using its TDR ordinance. If all 9,000 units in the County’s TDR bank sold for an average price of $25,000 each, the County would recoup $225 million of its initial bond investment. Consequently, communities throughout the US are looking to Palm Beach County as a leader in creative financing as well as open space preservation.