Our 2024 Annual Report

Dear Friends:

From hiking high mountain summits to rafting iconic rivers to daily walks with our dog, Gracie, nature has been a vital cornerstone of my life. At Trust for Public Land, we know first-hand that access to nature is essential and that it can bring us peace, joy, and hope in a changing world. And, more than ever, it must be championed for all.

It is a sincere joy to serve TPL as its new president and CEO. With optimism and determination, together, we will be at the forefront of elevating the future of our communities.

This year marked an extraordinary milestone: since our founding, TPL has helped secure over $110 billion in voter-approved public funding for parks, trails, and open spaces. In communities red, blue, and purple; urban, rural, and suburban; voters overwhelmingly chose to protect nature, build new parks and green spaces, transform schoolyards, and invest in natural climate solutions. These wins build on TPL’s legacy of working with leaders and policymakers from every background. We are uniting our country around the goal of connecting everyone to nature’s countless benefits.

As you will read in the stories that follow, in 2024, TPL completed 49 projects spanning over 67,000 acres across the country. From forests and trails to parks and cultural lands, each effort reflects the needs and dreams of the communities we serve. Over the last 50-plus years, we’ve put a park or green space within a 10-minute walk of nearly 10 million people.

TPL is trekking steadily into a future defined by innovation and collaboration. We work in close partnership with communities to unlock access to nature for the one in three people nationwide who do not have a park within a 10-minute walk of home, especially those who haven’t always seen themselves reflected in our shared public spaces. We’re partnering with the Penobscot Nation in Maine to restore nearly 30,000 acres of ancestral lands known as Wáhsehtəkʷ. In Chicago, we are supporting locals in enhancing the Major Taylor Trail, named for African American cyclist and civil rights advocate Marshall “Major” Taylor. We are launching Greener Dallas, Greater Dallas to advance the community’s vision for green corridors, including transforming vacant lots into parks, across one of America’s most sprawling cities. We are collaborating with New York residents to reimagine an abandoned railway into the QueensWay, a family-friendly trail. And we are partnering with thousands of students and community leaders, leading the movement to transform our nation’s asphalt playgrounds into vibrant green spaces that improve student education outcomes, community health, and climate resiliency.

YOU make this all possible as a philanthropist, volunteer, and champion for the outdoors. Together, we’re creating places that unite people, improve physical and mental health, and address climate resilience. Here’s to a future filled with even more transformative spaces and countless moments of connection and joy in the natural world, where everyone thrives and belongs.

With gratitude,

Carrie Besnette Hauser
President & CEO
Trust for Public Land