Coalition for Recreational Trails

Maintenance and Rehabilitation

Royal Palm Beach Pines Trails System

Located in central Palm Beach County, Royal Palm Beach Pines Natural Area preserves 779 acres of beautiful, high quality habitat. With construction completed in summer 2021, The Royal Palm Beach Pines Trails System-Recreational Trails Program Project T18003 served to refurbish on-site recreational trails and public use facilities, enhancing the on-site passive recreational opportunities for Palm Beach County residents and visitors.

This project facilitates public access to on-site passive nature-based recreational opportunities, including hiking, nature appreciation and study, nature photography, equestrian activities, trail running and bird/wildlife watching.

Royal Palm Beach Pines Natural Area is being nominated in the category of Maintenance and Rehabilitation – Construction of the original public use facilities at Royal Palm Beach Pines Natural Area was completed in 1998. These facilities included two parking lots, an Americans with Disabilities Act accessible concrete trail, boardwalk, observation platform and natural surfaced hiking and equestrian trails.

After more than 20 years, it was apparent that these facilities were in need of refurbishment. The roof of the observation platform was rusted and deteriorated. The wood decking and rails on the boardwalk and platform were splintered and compromised by constant exposure to the elements. In a few locations, the concrete trail had subsided to a point where it was holding water during the wet season. After 20 years of continuous use, the natural surface hiking and equestrian trails were in need of major maintenance.

In Autumn 2018, Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Recourses Management (ERM) was approved for a matching Grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Recreational Trails Program (DEP RTP). The purpose of this grant was to provide funds to repair and refurbish the public use facilities at Royal Palm Beach Pines Natural Area. From the time of grant approval in 2018 to project closeout in 2022, ERM worked closely with DEP RTP staff through every phase of the project. Without this support from DEP it is likely that facilities would have had to be closed to the public indefinitely.
Improvements to public use facilities at Royal Palm Beach Pines Natural Area funded by DEP RTP included the following:

Natural Surface Hiking Trail – Trail connector, improved Autism-friendly and Universal Trail Assessment Process (UTAP) signs, pedestrian gate, three single sided kiosks and improvement of over 5000 feet of trail surface.
Americans with Disabilities Act accessible concrete trail – Complete replacement of concrete nature trail, installation of water equalizer pipes and Autism-friendly fenders.
Equestrian Trail – Shade shelter with bench, pitcher pump, new trail entrance with gate, six equestrian mounting blocks and renovation of over 1400 feet of trail surface.
Boardwalk and Observation Platform – Complete removal and improved rebuild of boardwalk and observation platform.
Parking Lots – Resurfacing, striping and replacement of wheel stops in both parking lots.