CEDAR KEYS AUDUBON MEETING FOCUSES UPON MANATEE SPRINGS STATE PARK

February 29, 2020

If you’ve ever met a person who loved her job, that person must be much like Manatee Springs State Park Assistant Park Manager Joleen Dudley. Speaking energetically, happily, contentedly, excitedly before a seventy-two-member audience, Dudley imbued the audience with her enthusiasm and love of the Park.

Dudley has been a volunteer at the park since she was a youngster growing up in Chiefland,” just two miles down the street from the park.” In 2006, she was hired part time by the Florida State Park Service and shortly thereafter was offered a full-time position. In 2016, she became titled as Manatee Springs State Park Assistant Park Manager. She considers herself most fortunate to have spent her career at the park, as most professional service employees move from park to park through their careers.                                                                                                

Wonderfully well prepared, well spoken, and consummately engaging,    Dudley overviewed the park’s 2,500 acres and its riches. Well over eight and a half miles of walking trails, and 800-foot boardwalk to the Suwannee, manatees visible in cooler months, springs that release an astounding 100 million gallons of water daily, and underwater caves cite but some of the park’s pleasures. Activities are bountiful and include bicycling, boating, camping, fishing, hiking, paddling, picnicking, SCUBA diving, snorkeling, swimming, and wildlife viewing.   

Dudley is consummately proud of her coworkers’ and her care of the park. She wants “the park to be there for her daughter and her daughter.” Dudley ended the evening by answering the audience’s multiple questions and by inviting each to come, visit, and enjoy Manatee S[rings State Park.

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