On a near perfect Saturday at the end of April, I attended a packed District-wide Citizen Support Organization (CSO) meeting at St. Andrews State Park in Panama City.

These meetings are incredibly important because they provide opportunities for park staff, CSOs and volunteers to learn and network from each other, and the sheer enthusiasm from all sides is inspiring and energizing.

The Florida State Parks Foundation (formerly Friends of Florida State Parks) has changed its focus in recent years. While the mission is, and always will be, to support and sustain and protect and preserve our magnificent state parks, how we do that has evolved.

We now include supporting and sustaining our CSO groups as one of our three key programs because this is vital to the success of our parks - and that is why these meeting are so important.

There are 83 CSO groups statewide and last year 14,400 volunteers contributed over 1,200,000 hours working in Florida’s award winning and nationally-acclaimed state parks. The work performed by these volunteers would have required an additional 666 full-time employees thus saving taxpayers almost $29 million.

CSOs assist parks in many ways. They fundraise, provide special events and visitor programs, and contribute to capital improvement projects that the Division of Recreation and Parks would not have had the financial ability or staffing to complete. They interact with members of the public and they can be found in the parks whatever the weather, doing whatever is necessary to enhance the visitor experience. That is why the Foundation is committed to doing everything it can to make the lives of our CSOs easier so that they can focus on their mission which is supporting the work of their individual parks.

Our volunteers, and the rangers they work alongside, are the public face of the parks but what they help achieve is often less appreciated and understood. The 175 state parks, greenways and trails have an overall direct economic impact of over $3 billion dollars on local economies throughout the state. Over $72 million was added last year to the state’s general revenue fund in the form of state sales taxes, and approximately 19,000 jobs were supported as the result of the state parks, greenways and trails operations.

These numbers are staggering and the only thing more staggering is the sheer beauty and diversity of the state parks that make this possible.

Your membership of the Foundation helps make this possible and for that we are forever grateful. Check out the website of your local state park and it will tell you if it has a CSO. It will also tell you about upcoming events, volunteer opportunities and other ways in which you can support it.

Thank you and continue to support our state parks and the people who work in them.