The Back to Nature Wildlife Refuge in southeast Orange County is open once more after being closed to the public for about five years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and planned building upgrades that launched in early 2023.
Orange County invested about $5.6 million into the facility's expansion, according to Mayor Jerry Demings, who joined Commissioners Maribel Gomez Cordero and Christine Moore at Monday's grand reopening ceremony.
"This refuge reminds us that our quality of life depends not just on the growth of our urban areas, but on the care we show for the land and creatures around us," Demings said.
For executive director Debbie Helsel, who has been with the refuge for nearly all of its 36 years, the facility's expansion has been "surreal."
"This is the dream come true for a nonprofit," Helsel said, explaining the idea for the wildlife rehabilitation facility first launched in 1989 from the backyard of a car repair shop in Bithlo.
"Our founder, her and her husband, they lived in a mobile home behind the shop," Helsel said. "Carmen [Shaw] took care of the animals inside the house, and it eventually trickled into the yard and just kind of turned into a facility. … We were there 25 years before this opportunity happened for us."
The invitation from Orange County to provide nature-based education and recreation from one of its Green Place properties, Eagles Roost, represented a major turning point for the organization, Helsel said. Still, there was a long road ahead before the facility's newly-unveiled upgrades could come to fruition.
Just as building plans were starting to come together, Helsel said, COVID-19 threw up a roadblock. Then, once construction finally did get underway in early 2023, refuge staff had to squeeze into smaller quarters while new buildings were going up.
"It's been a struggle, trying to figure it all out and being cramped," Helsel said. "But you know what? We came from nothing, and so we know how to make something work with very little to work with."
Upgrades to the refuge include a new visitors' center, plus new buildings for food preparation and animal care. The new, more permanent buildings replace old, temporary ones the facility used to rely on at this location, Helsel said.
"We were in old portables. And so these new buildings are solid-poured block," Helsel said. "It's just amazing, what they've built for us, so that now we have a safe place to bring the animals into when we do have storms."
Following Monday's reopening ceremony, attendees had the chance to tour the new facilities and meet some of the refuge's roughly 30 permanent animal residents, including Koko the emu and Luna the (partially blind) Eastern screech owl. Several lemurs, goats and bobcats also call the refuge home, along with members of different tortoise species like the state-threatened gopher tortoise.
On average, Back to Nature rehabilitates and releases about 3,500 animals each year, according to assistant director Kelly Verduin. Meanwhile, some of the refuge's permanent residents — like Luna — serve as educational ambassadors for onsite and community programming, including in schools.
Moving forward, County Commissioner Christine Moore said she hopes to see even more partnerships launching between the refuge and Orange County Public Schools.
"Places like this are so important for our children," Moore said at Monday's ceremony. "You have to take children to places like this. They have to experience it. And we have to be purposeful about that."
Commissioner Maribel Gomez Cordero, who represents the part of Orange County including Eagles Roost, also lauded the facility for providing nature-based education.
"I can't wait to see how you use this new space to educate and inspire our kids and our community," Gomez Cordero said. "Together, we are improving lives and connecting people and nature."
Gomez Cordero also recognized her predecessor, former District 4 Commissioner Jennifer Thompson, who initially invested county funds into Back to Nature's expansion.
After years of being closed to the public, Helsel said she thinks she — and the animals — are feeling beyond ready to welcome (human) guests back to the facility.
"This is something that's very heartfelt to a lot of people that truly care about this organization and the people within it," Helsel said. "They fall in love with the animals, and they keep coming back and want to support the work that we do. So we're absolutely grateful for that."
Back to Nature will hold an open house Saturday, July 12 from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. The facility itself remains open until 4 p.m.
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