Program areas at The Parklands of Floyds Fork
Recreation:21st Century Parks Inc. develops, funds and operates The Parklands of Floyds Fork. This over 4,000-acre public park is complete, making it The largest urban park system built in The nation in at least The last 20 years. Even more unique, this park charges no admission fee and operates without receiving public tax dollars for operations. In 2023, The Parklands hosted 3.4 million visitors from across The region. These visitors hiked and biked The 46 miles of multi-use trails, paddled 22 miles of Floyds Fork and played games on 20 multi-use sports fields. In collaboration with partners, 21st Century Parks stocked more than 10,000 fish in The Parklands lakes and streams for The angling community, provided 81 plots for community gardens and registered hundreds of dog owners at The barklands dog park. Area individuals and businesses contributed more than 980 volunteer hours in The Parklands.
Education:21st Century Parks, Inc. Provides dynamic, life-changing experiences for louisville-area youth that connect them with The outdoors and our natural Kentucky landscape. These experiences are designed to incite curiosity about our natural world while focusing on stem education curriculum using our outdoor classroom. In 2023, we conducted in-person field trip programming for more than 10,600 area title i students. In addition, The Parklands education team performed outreach during The colder months of The year, going to 10 schools/programs to provide science/environmental education to nearly 3,000 students.
Conservation: 21st Century Parks, Inc. is dedicated to The conservation and enrichment of The land for which it is responsible. The organization employs a full-time gardening and natural areas team that removed invasive plant species on more than 140 acres; maintained over 400 acres of native meadows; and treated & cared for The thousands of trees and shrubs planted in The Parklands. We participated in The environmental quality incentives program: The Parklands performed restoration work on more than 50 acres which included establishment of riparian corridors, brush and weed management. 21st Century Parks Inc. also maintains two groves of endangered american chestnut trees. In 2023, 21st Century Parks, Inc. Harvested over 120 chestnuts for planting within The Parklands.