ONP director stepping down

Jennifer Hunt felt right at home in 2017 when she started her position as managing director of the Oakland Nature Preserve. This was the very land on which she played as a child growing up in West Orange County in the late 1960s and early ’70s.

After seven years of expanding the preserve’s programs and introducing generations to the wonders of the outdoors, Hunt is retiring and leaving the managing director’s position in the hands of Nicole O’Brien. O’Brien has been the volunteer coordinator and animal care coordinator for six years.

“She is passionate about the environment, and for six years, she’s been two steps ahead of me,” Hunt said.

Hunt said the preserve is in an excellent position and she feels good about leaving it in O’Brien’s capable hands.

When Hunt became manager director, the board of directors had a list of projects they wanted to see come to life.

“One of those was to add more restrooms; at the time we had two,” she said. “And when we have 20 preschoolers show up …”

The other big project was to restore the boardwalk.

“The boardwalk was the biggest, because at that time it was 15 years old and had many challenges,” Hunt said. “Lots of maintenance challenges just because of Florida and swamp and wood. It just didn’t last.

“Those are the two projects I’m so proud we accomplished in my time here,” she said. “Of course, we couldn’t do that on our own; we had many donors. Bond Foundation and Amon Family Foundation gave us a grant to build out the porch and restrooms, and then the West Orange Healthcare District and RC Stevens were instrumental in helping us get the boardwalk rebuilt.”

Hunt said she is proud of the community that has been built at ONP, not only with the staff but with the volunteers and local residents who visit on a regular basis.

“We have families that we have watched literally grow up here at the preserve, she said. “I’m very excited we have a young lady who started out in our summer camps and then became a leader in training for our summer camps and is now in college for environmental science and was one of our summer camp instructors.”

Another regular is a local photographer who walks the boardwalk nearly every day scouting out new flora and fauna to document through his lens.

She gets equally as excited to see children who are enthused by nature.

“Right now, we have a couple of families with little guys, like three, who run in and every time they see me (they say), ‘I want to see a snake,’” Hunt said. “As long as the classroom is available, I can take them in the classroom to see Mabel the corn snake and Mo (Mozart) the milk snake. Just their excitement for being here. They just love it.”

Her desire is for the preserve to continue to be a place of environmental passion and learning for the community.

“One of the things that we’ve been wanting to do is to start an endowment fund so that future restoration and conservation efforts are not tied to the grants and donations we have to go after every year,” Hunt said.

A great educational opportunity is on the horizon. The Briley family, which owned the exotic animals that used to meander up to the adjoining ONP fence, is deeding about six acres of upland oak hammock to the town of Oakland to be used as outdoor education space for the preserve. Hunt said the idea is to build a covered education pavilion, restrooms, and additional education space and storage.

ONP has requested funds from Orange County and the town has set aside money from impact fees to assist with the project, she said.

WHAT’S NEXT

Hunt considers herself “semi-retiring” because she will work parttime in her favorite hiking shop in Clayton, Georgia.

Hunt has a master’s degree in zoology with a focus on conservation and inquiry-based education, and she has studied ecosystems in places such as Belize, Baha and Australia. Nature will continue to play a big role in her life.

When she and David, her husband of 38 years, move one state north, they will live in an Airbnb for two months while they settle on a place to live. They want a small piece of property — something large enough for her “critters and gardens,” she said.

In addition to her desire to be outdoors, Hunt hopes to do more music composition work and have more church music published. She also is working on an orchestral piece for next year’s Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra and VoxO, a singing group to which she belongs.

She plans to spend more time with their two daughters and three grandchildren; some of the family already is up in the area.

But her mind will never be far from the Oakland Nature Preserve.

“ONP could not be what it is without the amazing work of volunteers and staff,” Hunt said. “I will truly miss them all, but I’m excited about our new family adventure.”

CREATION OF ONP

The idea of the Oakland Nature Preserve was born after a group of concerned citizens organized Friends of Lake Apopka in 1992. The initial goal of FOLA was to halt pollutant discharges into the lake.

FOLA founders knew as the lake was restored, development around the lake would increase, and they wanted to provide a window to the community to witness the restoration process.

Finding, purchasing and restoring land for this project was bigger than FOLA could manage, so a separate group was created to manage and continue the project.

ONP was established in 1997 as a nonprofit corporation. With a grant from Florida Communities Trust, contributions by the St. Johns River Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and more than $500,000 in donations, ONP was able to complete land acquisition in 1999.

The ecologic restoration work began, with the goal to restore the former citrus-farming land to its original sandhill ecology. As exotic species were removed, native plant species were planted and gopher tortoises were introduced to the area, the plant community improved and native bird and mammal species began to reappear.

The ONP Board of Directors realized there was more to teach visitors about than just the lake’s restoration progress, so founders created an environmental education center and expand the mission.

The preserve encompasses about 150 acres of land — 50 acres of uplands and 100 acres of forested wetlands — and includes a boardwalk to Lake Apopka with a pavilion on the lakefront and a pavilion on the West Orange Trail.

Signs help visitors identify plant species, and a log cabin-style education center, modeled after a pioneer homestead, includes class space, a museum and office. The land acts as a living classroom for the thousands of students and other guests who visit the preserve.

Memberships are offered, and volunteers are encouraged to assist with the many projects large and small taking place at the preserve.

To become an ONP volunteer, call (407) 905-0054; visit the website, oaklandnaturepreserve.org; or follow the preserve on Facebook. Students can receive community service hours.