The Oakland Nature Preserve

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There's a place where a boardwalk -- opening to the public today -- seems to wind endlessly under a canopy of red maples and green ash.

Twists and turns along the elevated path make it hard to keep track of direction. At the end of a stroll that lasts two-thirds of a mile is one of the most sweeping panoramas of inland waters in Florida.

The view takes in a big part of the 50-square-mile Lake Apopka, whose unnaturally pea-green surface keeps it if off most people's list for day outings. Yet local environmental activists continue to plug away at efforts to restore and promote a lake that has been shunned because of pollution from decades of farm drainage.

The newly built boardwalk and its several pavilions will finally provide lake access for the Oakland Nature Preserve, which takes in 128 acres of hillside and swamp along the lake's south shore.

"What this is for us is a big classroom," preserve president Jack Amon said.

Nearly eight miles away, at the lake's north shore, are abandoned farms saturated with various pesticides. The extensive contamination has been blamed for killing hundreds of birds in recent years and remains a difficult challenge for the lake's future.

The government agencies in charge of turning the farms back into wetlands and cleaning up Lake Apopka have had to resort to expensive and cutting-edge biology experiments to find solutions.

The Oakland Nature Preserve is counting on those agencies to succeed.

"We're going to tell the story of restoring Lake Apopka," Amon said.

The Friends of Lake Apopka started the preserve three years ago. A large portion of the more than $790,000 paid for the land and the $640,000 spent on the boardwalk has come from state grants.

oaklandnaturepreserve/


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