Oakland Nature Preserve — Attraction in Oakland

This is a response to the owner who replied to my review regarding the lizard that was trapped in the bulletin. I did tell your staff she was only a volunteer and she did not help me. I spent at least half an hour trying to help the lizard but your bulletin was locked and she did not have a key and I was very reluctant to leave knowing that the lizard was going to meet the same fate as his buddy in the lower corner of the bulletin. It would have been helpful if there was someone available with a key to the bulletin. I'm very surprised that you cared enough to respond to my one review of 200 but I did not appreciate the assumption that it was me at fault for not telling anyone. I did tell someone. Thanks. And i will come back because I was sad for the lizard not because of any service issue. I grew up going to this reserve and if it wasn't for my terrible social anxiety i may have been a volunteer myself because i love animals big and small which is why i was so sad about leaving our lizard friend. All That being said im glad the lizard was okay, even if he...

I’ve been here several times and can say that Oakland Nature Preserve is absolutely beautiful and they have such an amazing museum. However, BEWARE of the gazebo swing. Today my friend was gently swinging her kids (ages 2 and 4) and out of nowhere the swing just completely fell back with the kids on it, heads slamming extremely hard on the floor. After looking up pictures online, you can see this swing needs chains on the arm rests. Anyway, later on I spoke with an employee and shared what had happened. He basically said, “yeah it’s happened before, we need to fix it.” The least the staff can do, if they already know it’s happened before, is remove the swing and place it on the ground in the meantime, or AT LEAST put up a sign with a warning or something. That’s why I’m giving 1 star because of the negligence on their part. It could...

Really nice place. A lot of great people put a lot of love, energy and time into this place. I'm from Chicago and wish we'd have more places like this that I could visit regularly to connect with nature that's native to the area.

In 2003 my Americorps team and I completed a project at the ONC. In 1.5 months we planted a lot of the trees in the overlooking lot and surrounding areas. We were treated so well by everyone interested in the preserve. I came back to visit 15 years later and boy was it a great.

Hike to lake Apopka was nice but once you get to the end, it's still as anti- climactic as I remember, so don't feel bad if you have to turn back. Although I will say that the walk back definitely feels much quicker.

Either way I'd take time to read the, although semi faded, but well written signs about the...