Photo courtesy Big Waters: Kayakers on guided tour of Sarasota Bay.

The Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast has rebranded as the Big Waters Land Trust to reflect the growing reach of the organization.

“We thought long and hard, and we knew the time for a new name had come,” said Christine P. Johnson, president of Big Waters Land Trust. “As we explored potential new names, we wanted to celebrate what makes Southwest Florida so very special. Looking at our service area, which covers from South Tampa Bay to the Everglades, we realized it is water that defines our region. And because it’s Florida, we don’t just have small rivers and lakes, we have big waters.”

Foundation leaders announced the new name Friday at the Annual Conservation Celebration.

The organization originally formed in 2003 as the Sarasota Conservation Foundation, focusing its efforts on bays, beaches and watershed in the Sarasota County area. During that time, the group partnered with the Gulf Coast Community Foundation to turn a downtown Venice parking lot into an urban park and with Florida Forever on purchasing Bay Preserve to dedicate the land for public access to Little Sarasota Bay.

By 2010, the organization was purchasing lands outside the county and rebranded as the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast. It received national recognation from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission. 

The foundation has worked in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, Lee and Collier counties.

“Between the accelerating impacts of climate change and intense development pressures as more and more people move to Florida, there’s never been a more important time to protect nature,” said Sam Valentin, Big Waters director of marketing and events. “Together with our conservation community, we protect the land and water of Southwest Florida because we envision a future in which the human and natural worlds flourish together.”

The Big Waters name reflects a focus on the major water bodies in the region. Those include three estuaries — Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay and Charlotte Harbor — and four major rivers — the Manatee, Myakka, Peace and Caloosahatchee rivers.

Photo courtesy Big Waters: Kayakers on guided tour of Sarasota Bay.