Good Nature Parks
Good Nature Parks

expert guidance for greenspace and nature park development

expert guidance for greenspace and nature park developmentexpert guidance for greenspace and nature park developmentexpert guidance for greenspace and nature park development

expert guidance for greenspace and nature park development

expert guidance for greenspace and nature park developmentexpert guidance for greenspace and nature park developmentexpert guidance for greenspace and nature park development

About Good Nature Parks

Our Mission

We provide expert guidance to communities, organizations, and landowners for the creation of cost-effective, sustainable, and impactful nature parks and greenspaces for the benefit of communities and individuals.

Our Values

We do this work because we love creating new nature parks and greenspaces. We love imagining,  inspiring, exploring, and collaborating. We love delivering beautiful and sturdy nature parks and greenspaces that provide long term benefit. We love that our work is our legacy.

Our Leadership

Bill Jones launched Good Nature Parks following careers as a small business owner and non-profit executive director. 


In 2011 Bill was inspired to try to create a new park near his home. The idea grew into an exemplary, successful, and sustaining 501-c-3 non-profit. With it, Bill acquired 40 properties, conserved over 10,000 acres of natural lands, planted 400,000 longleaf pine seedlings, and created 17 nature parks and public greenspaces. These parks ranged from .5 to 750 acres and from a few benches to 12 miles of highly engineered natural surface dual use mountain bike and hiking trails. Bill left the non-profit he built, but the passion to create remains.


Bill has passion and gratitude for this work. He is a proud graduate of the University of Georgia and doesn't regret having occasionally skipped class to go hiking and canoeing.  

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Frequently Asked Questions

Please reach us at bill@goodnatureparks.com if you cannot find an answer to your question.

A Nature Park is greenspace adapted and maintained to be mutually beneficial and supportive of environmental stewardship, public use for recreation, and community building. It is typical that the land used for a nature park to be conserved to remain natural except for appropriate park related items such as benches, shade shelters, and natural surface trails. With each Nature Park there must be an appropriate balance between nature, recreation, and community. The proper balance depends on the individual site’s composition, location, and community needs. There can be bias towards one aspect over others, but nature, people, and communities all must be served. 

  A nature preserve is almost always conserved to remain natural. The terms of its conservation documents might still allow public use either stated or assumed but might also specifically restrict public use. A nature preserve might be highly focused on protecting a specific plant or animal habitat, geological feature, or eco-system. It will frequently be focused on fragile or threatened plants, animals, and ecosystems. However, many nature preserves include park and educational elements to support and enhance their missions. 

 Nature parks are almost exclusively utilized for passive recreation. Passive recreation differs from active recreation because individuals use the park when, how, and for as long as they wish for activities such as hiking, mountain biking, bird watching, and the quiet enjoyment of nature. Whereas active recreation activities and attributes include organized sport leagues’ games, scheduled activities, large parking areas, and permanent structures such as restrooms, concession stands, and grandstands. 

 There is value in having a public place for gathering, relaxing, playing, and being active while being outside and not looking at a screen. There is value in having natural land for stormwater control, plant habitat, wildlife habitat, and environmental stewardship. 

 The inherent traits, priorities, and elements of nature parks and green spaces make them the easiest, cheapest, and most flexible of all possibilities for landowner investment and development. Land acquisition is the first and most expensive aspect of any development project. By working with private and public landowners we are already well on the way by having the land resource available. 


These projects have the most flexible timelines. Elements can be built incrementally and prioritized as budgets, volunteers, and partners are available. The nature of the projects favors simplicity and intentional efforts over speed and large impacts. Elements large and small can be added slowly. Development cost of a small neighborhood nature park or greenspace could be as little $25,000 assuming project involves typical efforts such as invasive plant control, beneficial plant enhancement, simple walking trail, and simple infrastructure such as benches. A 50-acre site with 3 miles of engineered natural surface trails for hiking and mountain biking, parking area, signage, and gathering areas including simple pavilions could be created for $250,000. These estimates are rough and only provided as examples and to encourage consideration of engaging with the process. But ultimately the budgeting and planning are both highly flexible while planning and highly predictable once a plan is established. 

Good Nature Parks provides experience, capacity, and diligence while managing hard and soft costs of project planning, creation, and activation. We work collaboratively. We engage and listen to all stakeholders to deliver a project that each values and supports. 

A core aspect of Good Nature Parks’ work is helping municipalities use existing land and municipal assets to expedite and cost control project completion without unduly taxing staff and resources. We engage and manage the planning, development, and activation of projects. Projects are planned and created to be sustainable within the municipality’s capacity. 

Good Nature Parks is available to families, schools, churches, non-profit organizations, and other private landowners to add passive recreation and/or environmental stewardship elements for private or public use. The first step is to explore the subject property and talk about possibilities to be followed by a formal proposal that includes a menu of project and project management possibilities. 

We are able to manage environmental stewardship and recreation projects as a contractor. We have experience and availability to quickly, cost-effectively, and with flexibility solve capacity issues. 

Copyright © 2025 Good Nature Parks - All Rights Reserved.

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