Florida State Parks Foundation, Cannondale Bicycle Corporation and REI Co-op Winter Park Store Collaborate to Provide e-bikes for Florida State Parks Rangers
Twenty-five new e-bikes will provide ease of transportation and reduce parks’ environmental impact.
The Florida State Parks Foundation, Cannondale Bicycle Corporation and REI Co-op’s Winter Park Store today announced a collaboration to provide Cannondale e-bikes for use by Florida State Parks rangers during a press conference at Lake Louisa State Park.
Through this collaboration, believed to be the first of its kind among America’s state parks systems, Florida State Parks will receive 25 Cannondale Tesoro Neo X 3 e-bikes for use by park rangers across the state. (Full park list below.)
REI’s Winter Park certified bike shop mechanics assembled the e-bikes in late June in preparation for use by park staff.
“Everything about this effort aligns with the Foundation’s mission to preserve, protect, sustain and grow our state park,” Foundation CEO Julia Gill Woodward said. “Providing e-bikes to state parks supports our devoted rangers in their day-to-day tasks, reduces our parks’ environmental footprint and is the result of a collaboration with two leaders in the outdoor recreation community.”
“Cannondale and REI Co-op are the most respected names in their fields, and we are so excited that they have put such significant and generous support behind our state parks.”
Today’s announcement marked the latest development in the Foundation’s Greener Initiative, a campaign to encourage environmental sustainability in state parks.
Previous Greener Initiative projects have included:
- 144 water bottle refilling stations across 98 state parks and trails.
- More than 700 energy-efficient LED lighting fixtures and bulbs.
- The “Great Blue Heron” hybrid-electric river tour boat at Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park.
Greener Initiative projects are funded through the generosity of community partners, such as REI Co-op and Cannondale, and through the sales of the “Explore Our State Parks” specialty license plate.
In two years of availability, the “Explore Our State Parks” plate has generated more than $675,000 for the benefit of Florida’s state parks. Each e-bike is equipped with a bike-sized replica plate.
In Northwest Florida, these parks will receive e-bikes
- Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park (Wakulla Springs)
- Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park (Tallahassee)
- Topsail Hill Preserve State Park (Santa Rosa Beach)
- Blackwater Heritage State Trail (Milton)
- Tallahassee St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail (Crawfordville)
Author: Sowal Editor
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