From the Orange County Newsroom, Staff Reports, and Orange County Commissioner Christine Moore
Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings and District 2 Commissioner Christine Moore will host a grand opening ceremony for the Greeneyes Wildlife Preserve on Friday, February 28, 2025, at 1:00 p.m.
The event will take place at 951 W. Kelly Park Road, Apopka, Fla., 32712.
The Preserve features an interpretative trail titled “What’s Under Your Feet?”. The trail focuses on the relationship between animals living on or under the forest floor. The property is named after the native Florida Greeneyes plant (Berlandiera subacaulis), known for blooms with bright yellow petals and green center disk.
The Greeneyes Wildlife Preserve is one of a series of land acquisitions made by the County’s Green PLACE Program. In 2021, the Orange County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) allocated $100 million to support the goal of preserving an additional 23,000 acres of environmentally sensitive lands by 2030.
“The Green PLACE Program’s team of environmental professionals manages the complexities of land identification, evaluation, acquisition, planning, restoration, and management with professionalism and conviction,” said Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said in 2021. "And their hard work helps ensure a better future for all of us.”
"It is very important to save land west of Kelly Park as it is the recharge area for the springs and water supply," said Orange County Commissioner Christine Moore. "The area is so vulnerable that the state legislature, in the Wekiva River Protection Act, required all future development projects to follow strict state laws and guidelines."
