In its heyday, Lake Apopka drew anglers from all around the world in search of trophy largemouth bass. The water was so clear, old-timers say, that a fisherman could literally pick the fish he wanted to catch. But agricultural runoff took its toll, and by the late 1940s, the water was murky and most of the fish camps that lined the lake’s shores had shut their doors.

Fast-forward 50 years.

 
Turnpike Lake

The 30,000-acre lake, which some folks overlook while driving on Florida’s Turnpike, is still not back to its former prime, but restoration projects and new public access are again attracting visitors and boaters. So much so that folks are fishing again, says Jim Thomas, one of the founding directors of the Friends of Lake Apopka, a group that, since 1991, has lobbied to bring the lake back.

With little advertising and only occasional press attention, visitors keep arriving, thanks in part to the Oakland Nature Preserve, a restoration area that Thomas and other Apopka boosters helped create. “I don’t know how they find it,” says Thomas, who leads regular weekend walks called “Nature Creeps” through the preserve. Thomas is a fount of information, and tells not only of the nature and history of the lake, but the decades-long struggle to improve it.

The largest success story of Lake Apopka’s restoration is the 19,000-acre Lake Apopka Restoration Area. The area includes farms acquired by the state to help bring the water quality back.

The Oakland Nature Preserve is in Oakland, an Orange County town of about 1,000 on the lake’s south shore just west of Winter Garden. The preserve was created to educate the public about the lake and allow for more public access.

Built on an old 120-acre orange grove that is being reforested with long leaf pine, turkey oak and palmetto, the Oakland Nature Preserve was created when Lake Apopka’s boosters realized the need for environmental education. The preserve includes a half-mile walk to an old sinkhole; another walk takes visitors straight to the lake through a native wetland. Both trails are well-marked and include shaded shelters for stops along the way.

The highlight of the preserve is a 3,000-foot-long boardwalk that ends at a dock and pavilion overlooking Lake Apopka. It’s no small effort; the boardwalk was built at a cost of $625,000. Jokes Thomas, “They [visitors] get to see a Florida swamp without getting their feet wet.” The group is also building a log cabin in the vernacular style favored by early Florida pioneers. The house will even have an old-style “dog-trot” breezeway in the center.

In earlier eras, Florida residents found easy access to the lake, as over two dozen fish camps lined its shores. But when the camps closed after the water quality and fishing declined, these semi-public lakefront access points disappeared. To increase access, communities around the lake have joined together with the Friends of Lake Apopka to create a paved, 57-mile, multi-use recreation trail to encircle the lake. Once completed, this Lake Apopka Loop Trail will offer visitors the ability to see the lake’s alligators and water birds.

The loop will link up with existing trails that lead to Clermont, Tavares and Orlando. Those nearby trails include the Lake Minneola Scenic Trail, which provides views and access to Lake Minneola and Plum Lake. Winter Garden, with its restored downtown and rail-trails, offers lake access via a municipal park.

The largest success story of Lake Apopka’s restoration is the 19,000-acre Lake Apopka Restoration Area. Run by the St. Johns River Water Management District, the area includes farms acquired by the state to help bring the water quality back. The process was not without controversy, but the result is an ambitious system that filters Lake Apopka’s waters by circulating it through restored wetlands.

Watching the water percolate isn’t the only activity offered on the property. Hiking, off-road cycling and horseback riding also are permitted in the Clay Island portion of the district’s restoration area. The loop is 5.8 miles long, and it includes an observation tower. The North Shore trail includes marshes in a roughly four-mile walk to the lakeside.

The transformation of these farmlands into functioning wetlands has helped improve water quality. While the water is not as clean as it was 100 years ago, the clarity is improving, allowing natural water grass to grow again in areas where it has not been seen since World War II.

The returning vegetation not only helps filter the lake water, but it has also attracted rare and endangered birds. But visitors will see more than birds. Bobcat and river otters have also returned to the lake’s edge, an edge that came very close to being filled with rubble just a few decades ago.

And the fish camps are coming back too. At least one of them. Thomas’ group found an old camp building in Mount Dora that will be restored for the Oakland Preserve. “We got him to give us one of the board-and-batten cypress-lumber cabins,” says Thomas.