Volunteer and Intern at Oakland Nature Preserve

Volunteer Programs

     Volunteers are the bread and butter of the Oakland Nature Preserve. Since the late 1990’s, thousands of hours have been spent on habitat restoration, fund raising, education and all through the efforts of volunteers.

     The Oakland Nature Preserve would not have been possible without the generosity and dedication of our volunteers. Our beautiful 128 acre preserve, lecture hall, cultural and natural history museum and library provide a number of opportunities for like minded people to help us in our mission to inspire the present and future generations to love and protect the natural world.

     There is a lot to do at our preserve if you are interested in volunteering we have a host of activities to choose from.

Here are a few common volunteer activities:

- Habitat Restoration

- Writing Newsletter Articles

- Litter Patrol

- Exotic Plant Removal & Native Plant Reintroduction

- Hiking Trail Maintenance

- Event Planning

- Youth Education

- Specimen Collecting (Plants, Insects, Animal Tracks)

- Animal Care

- Public Education

If you are interested in volunteering your time to help us pursue our mission, please send us an email at: Volunteers@oaklandnaturepreserve.org

or call us at 407-905-0054. We will be happy to discuss our many opportunities with you.

Internship Programs

     The Oakland Nature Preserve also offers internship programs for volunteers and students interested in working on long term projects. There are two main internship programs here at ONP. We offer one program for environmental education and one for archaeology/anthropology. Two students can occupy a position. We invite you to send us an email to our director of education at Clay@OaklandNaturePreserve.org to find out more information. Please attach a resume with your email and tell us a little about yourself and why you are intrested.

     If you are a student, many colleges in the Central Florida area honor our internship programs to fulfill community service requirements or course work credits- check with your respective institution to learn more.

Anthropology/ Archaeology Internship

      The Oakland Nature Preserve has the most extensive collection of Lake Apopka related News Paper articles in the world and we need help preserving, cataloguing and digitizing them. For more information on Lake Apopka, please visit Fola.org or plan a trip to the Oakland Nature Preserve. Lake Apopka has a very extensive history of past abuse and a hopeful future for a slow recovery. As an Anthropology/ Archaeology Intern, your primary task is to help us create the Lake Apopka article archive for the Friends of Lake Apopka environmental advocacy group. Their website is www.FOLA.org.

     As a secondary task, you will work with our Director of Education to create a research project in an area that interests you. If you do not wish to design a personal research project, you can take part in a series of archaeological digs conducted by Professor Jason Wenzel, a PhD candidate at the University of Florida and his research team as they search for artifacts to uncover the history of Oakland. Hundreds of artifacts have been uncovered so far ranging from glass bottles, animal bones and pottery shards. The most impressive artifacts found will be put on display at the Oakland Nature Preserve in the Lecture Hall. This internship is geared towards teaching you applicable skills as an archaeologist in the field and in the lab. You will learn how to uncover artifacts and assimilate them into a collection. Please call us at 407-905-0054 or contact our Director of Education to lean more.

Environmental Education Internship

      The Oakland Nature Preserve is completely dedicated to environmental education. We believe that it is never too soon or too late to learn to love and respect the natural world. A life without nature is an impoverished one and it is our goal to inspire everyone to become a voice in favor of protecting the natural world.

     Our Environmental Education Internship is an immersive experience into the various ways someone can learn about the inner workings of nature. You will work closely with our Director of Education to plan various environmental lessons and programs in biology, botony, ecology and zoology. You will team teach the program you create and learn about how information can be presented to students of various ages. It is also our aim to expand the environmental knowledge of our interns and challenge our Director of Education. We aim to turn our Environmental Education Interns into young naturalists. Please call us at 407-905-0054 or contact our Director of Education to lean more.

Director of Education: Clay@OaklandNaturePreserve.org