In August of 2020, the Preservation Foundation received permission from Town Council to commission landscape architect Raymond Jungles to design a phased masterplan for Phipps Ocean Park. The Foundation will underwrite the $140,000 cost as a gift to the residents of Palm Beach and has committed to fundraising for the first phase of the project.
Announcement of the project corresponds with the 30th anniversary of the Foundation’s living history program at the Little Red Schoolhouse, a pioneer-era Landmark that was relocated to Phipps Ocean Park in 1960. A phased masterplan for the 18-acre site presents the opportunity to connect the Foundation’s educational programming at the Little Red Schoolhouse with its influential work in Pan’s Garden.
The goal for the project is to demonstrate on a large scale how native plants can be used to create beautiful, environmentally sustainable landscapes, and restore habitats for wildlife. Phipps Ocean Park is unique in that it contains varied ecosystems spanning from the Atlantic Ocean to the Lake Worth Lagoon Estuary. Once completed, the park will broaden the reach of the Town’s Green Initiative, and, like Pan’s Garden, showcase a palette of native plants that can be used in gardens throughout the island.
Landscape architect Raymond Jungles was selected for the project for his firm’s focus on the preservation of natural ecosystems and the restoration of pre-existing ecologies. The Foundation was particularly inspired by his work at the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve in the Bahamas which contains a designated research center for traditional bush medicine, a facility for the propagation of indigenous plants and trees, and an education center focusing on the importance of native vegetation to the biodiversity of the Bahamas.
