During Women’s History Month, we are highlighting some of the amazing women who have made their mark on local conservation. Please join us as we celebrate their contributions to communities across North Central Florida.
Women in Conservation: Randi Cameon
Laughter, joy, and awe of nature are contagious when Randi Cameon is near. For the last decade, Randi has been a devoted ACT volunteer and a visionary when it comes to providing nature-based education for Alachua and Putnam counties.
Randi grew up in the urban concrete jungle of Miami, never visiting the Everglades or the Keys or spending much time outdoors at all as a young person. When she came to Gainesville at the age of 17 for college, her world view changed forever. She fell in love with the springs, rivers, and forests of Alachua County and surrounding areas, and met lifelong friends who introduced her to biking, hiking, kayaking and canoeing. Her discovery and love of nature has found new meaning since her retirement from the health profession and a pivotal promise that she made.
In 2009, Randi’s very dear friend Kathy Cantwell was dying. Kathy, one of Gainesville’s environmental heroes who was instrumental in the acquisitions of Little Orange Creek and Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery, gathered and instructed her inner circle of devoted friends to keep working on the projects that she had set in motion after she was gone. Kathy had seen the Little Orange Creek project through the purchase of the land, but there was much more to do in order to fulfill obligations and develop it into a public park.
Her vision was for her friends and community to start a citizen support organization that would advocate for and assist in the development of the public nature park and preserve. Kathy said to her friend, “Randi, you’re going to make this happen”, and Randi has never faltered in the commitment she made to Kathy.
She immediately got busy writing grants and gathering volunteers and was instrumental in forming the Friends of Little Orange Creek (FLOC) which partnered with the City of Hawthorne to bring the vision of a nature park and environmental education center to fruition. In addition to serving on the board for eight years, she has been a spearhead for funding the permitting and renovation projects at the nature center.
In the following years, Randi has been an essential partner in helping ACT provide outdoor environmental education programs at Little Orange Creek Nature Park to students from 15 elementary schools in Putnam and Alachua counties. She has also taken the lead on organizing events such as Yoga on the Prairie and Nature Play Days for toddlers at ACT’s Tuscawilla Preserve. For many years, Randi thought she was fulfilling her promise to continue Kathy’s vision and purpose, but today she recognizes that it has really become her own vision and purpose. Thank you, Randi, for all you do – for ACT, for nature, and for future generations!
Spotlight by Grace Howell, Conservation Programs Specialist
