1500 Weedon Island Dr.

A 3,000-foot boardwalk will take nature lovers through a mangrove forest to a four-story, 50-foot high observation tower. The tower provides a panoramic view of the entire Weedon Island Preserve, Riviera Bay, Tampa Bay, as well as surrounding communities.

The Nature Trail is named in honor of the late Paul L. Getting, a former Vice Chair of the Pinellas-Anclote River Basin Board of the Southwest Florida Water Management District. During his tenure on the board, the Basin Board supported programs which purchased environmentally sensitive properties to preserve them, restored natural habitats, improved water quality, implemented numerous aggressive water conservation projects, and educated the public about our water resources.

"Paul Getting was a community leader who truly left his 'footprints in the sands of time,'" said Roy G. Harrell Jr., chairman of the Water Management District's Governing Board and co-chair ex-officio of the Basin Board. "I can't think of a better way to honor his memory than with a trail which will be used by generations to explore and learn about nature."

Getting was a community leader in St. Petersburg for more than 20 years. He served as Executive Vice President of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce from 1977 to 1993. He had previously held various positions with the city of St. Petersburg, from Director of Long-Range Planning to Deputy City Manager.

The nature trail has been designed consistent with ADA guidelines to ensure accessibility throughout the entire 9,000-foot trail system.

The Weedon Island Preserve is located in St. Petersburg, owned by the state and managed by the Pinellas County Park Department under a lease agreement with the state. The Island was included on the National Register of Historic Sites in 1972 and purchased by the state in 1974 with funds from the state's Endangered Lands Program. Park rangers were first stationed there in 1979, and the Preserve officially opened to the public in 1980. Initially under the Florida Park Service, management of the Preserve was transferred to the county on Oct. 1, 1993