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| Community Workdays are held on almost every 2nd Saturday beginning at
9:00 AM, right after our regular board meeting. Everyone is welcome to
participate in any way they can, from pulling weeds to planting new trees.
There is always more than enough to do, for a person or a family or a church
or civic group. Come join us for a productive workout! |
| THANK YOU, AMERICORPS TEAM BLUE 7 !
Oakland Nature Preserve is thankful for the services provided
by the AmeriCorps Team Blue 7 from mid January to mid February, 2003. This
team of 10 young adult volunteers had a major impact on the restoration of
38 acres of uplands within the preserve. The three previous AmeriCorps teams
spent the majority of their time removing the non-native plants, such as
slash pine and lantana.
Blue 7 was the first AmeriCorps team to spend the majority of their time
reintroducing native plants into the preserve.
Over the four weeks of their tour, they cleared ground and
planted over 10,000 native shrubs, trees and grasses within the uplands
area. Native plants reintroduced include, among others, long leaf pine,
turkey oak, scrub oak, wild blueberry, persimmon, yucca and palmetto.
Included in the areas cleared and planted are
Adopt-a-Plots 10-17. Plots 14-17 are now available for adoption. We invite
you to consider participating in this project by adopting one of these
available plots. For more information, call Jim Thomas at 407-656-8277 or
Jack Amon at 407-656-9692 or attend our training sessions every 2nd Saturday
morning of the month to adopt your plot. |
| June 20, 2002: Dedicated Dozen Unload Plants in Rain
 Saturday morning's rain storms
didn't stop this dedicated group of ONP volunteers from unloading and
setting up another 1000 native plants at Biosphere Nursery in an hour. We
must move 15,000 plants from the nursery where they were grown, and care for
them until we can plant them in the preserve. We thank all those who are
helping with this task, including Jim Thomas of Biosphere Nursery who is
providing the storage space, and P.H. Freeman and Sons who are providing us
with a semi trailer. |
| The April 27th, 2002 Community Workday was
attended by almost 50 members and volunteers who worked with our AmeriCorp
group on restoring some areas in the sandhill uplands. Jim Thomas initiated
our new Adopt-A-Plot program whereby individuals or groups can sign up to
maintain a small plot along one of the nature trails. Signs identifying the
caretakers will be placed at the sites. Three plots were adopted
immediately! |
 During
this workday, Bob Buchanan, who also brought a great big grill along,
assisted Ted Van Deventer with the installation of a wonderful old range
bell provided by Ted and Mary Van Deventer. It's first task was to call in
all the volunteers for lunch. Everyone enjoyed the grilled burgers and
hotdogs, Bill Dudzinski's outstanding baked beans and potato salad, plenty
of Mike Satterfield's ice cold Pepsi, and the Podnar's fresh apple pies for
desert. |
 The April
13th, 2002 Community Workday was well supported by over 50 members and
volunteers including groups from St. Luke's United Methodist Church, shown
here with our ONP biologist Jim Thomas.
They worked on several projects including our newest
trail, removal of non-native plants, and preparing areas for planting with
native species later this month. |
 They were joined
in their efforts by this troop of Scouts and their sponsors from Troup 223
of Windermere that came in for the workday. These guys are really hard
workers, as they turned out for the previous workday, too! |
 The
morning also included an extensive plant survey conducted by members of the
Lake County Beautyberry Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society.
This survey is conducted each year in order to track what is
happening in the preserve as we progress with the restoration. |
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