The event is Sunday, March 30, at The Yards in Ponte Vedra Beach
Jacksonville, Fla., March 19, 2025 – North Florida Land Trust’s Annual Meeting and Awards Celebration is just over a week away. On Sunday, March 30, the nonprofit land conservation organization will host the community at The Yards in Ponte Vedra Beach starting at noon for a Mimosa reception, brunch, and program that includes an awards ceremony to honor outstanding environmental stewards. Tickets are still available and can be purchased at nflt.org/2025/01/01/2025-nflt-annual-meeting-sunday-march-30/.
NFLT will present former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner with the Conservation Legacy Award. Florida Senator Jennifer Bradley and Florida House of Representative Sam Garrison will receive the NFLT Partner of the Year Award. Keith and Suzanne Langenberg will be bestowed the Volunteer of the Year award for their work as NFLT’s Bogey Creek Preserve stewards.
The Charlie Commander Land Conservation Award will be given to Jack Thornton, who donated nearly 400 acres near Egan’s Creek and Fort Clinch State Park on Amelia Island to NFLT, which is now named the Thornton Family Preserve. Thornton is the second recipient of this award, established last year in honor of Charlie Commander, an NFLT supporter dedicated to conservation who passed away in 2023. NFLT created this award to recognize visionary landowners committed to protecting and preserving the North Florida landscape.
Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole will serve as the keynote speaker. Cole is an author, anthropologist, and educator who served as the director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and was the first African American female president of Spellman College. Her impressive career includes many awards and accolades, including the National Humanities Medal in 2021 by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Cole is a great-granddaughter of Abraham Lincoln Lewis, Florida’s first black millionaire and the founder of historic American Beach, which was established in 1935 to give African Americans access to a beach during segregation. She is also a descendant of Anna Kingsley, the African wife of plantation owner Zephaniah Kingsley.
NFLT would like to thank this year’s Black Bear Sponsors: Dream Finders Homes, First Horizon Bank Foundation, Lisa Barton Team Ponte Vedra Beach, and Wetland Preserve Conservation Compatible Forestry. For information, please contact Lee Anderson Louy at LAndersonLouy@NFLT.org or Brenda Lynch at BLynch@NFLT.org.
About North Florida Land Trust
North Florida Land Trust is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing the quality of life by protecting North Florida's irreplaceable natural environment. Founded in 1999, NFLT has preserved tens of thousands of acres of land through the donation or purchase of land and conservation easements. NFLT is funded largely by private and corporate contributions and works closely with willing landowners, public agencies at all levels of government, not-for-profit partners, and foundations. For more information, visit nflt.org.