A Fond Farewell and Warm Welcome at State Park

Janice Nearing (center) from Save the Manatee Club presents retired Park Manager Danny Paul (right) a special manatee conservation award. Robert Rundle (left) is the new Park Manager of Blue Spring State Park.

For further information, contact: Janice Nearing, Director of Public Relations Phone: (407) 539-0990 E-mail: jnearing@savethemanatee.org Note: A high resolution jpeg image of the award presentation is available upon request.

For Immediate Release: September 1, 2005

Save the Manatee Club recently honored a long-time park manager and welcomed a new one at Blue Spring State Park. Danny Paul, who retired this year as Park Manager, received a personally engraved plaque from the Club for his many years of devotion to manatee conservation. Paul came on board at Blue Spring in 1985, pleased to be at the park he had desired to work at for years. Paul had worked at eight different state parks before that. As for his retirement plans, he is looking forward to traveling and doing whatever he wants to do. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the Park Service,” Paul said. You stay with it for 40 years, and it’s in your blood.”

Robert Rundle takes over from Danny Paul as the new Park Manager, and he has also spent many years in the Florida Park Service – recently leaving Bahia Honda, located in the Keys. “Blue Spring had been on my short list of parks I had wanted to work at for years,” said Rundle. “Every time I asked Danny Paul when he was going to retire, he’d say, ‘Never.’ So, of course, I jumped at the chance when it did finally come up.”

A popular place for tourists and locals alike, Blue Spring State Park features a huge, natural attraction – wild manatees. Since the water in the spring run stays at a constant 72 degrees year-round, the manatees who live in the adjacent St. Johns River spend much of their time during the winter months in the warmer spring waters.

Though the new Park Manager hasn’t had much of a chance to work with the manatees over the summer months, since few have been around, Rundle says he is really looking forward to the cooler months when they’ll return. He’s also pleased that Park Specialist Wayne Hartley is at the Park. “I’ve been relying on Wayne a lot to educate me on the manatees,” said Rundle. Better known as Ranger Wayne or Ranger Hartley, he has been following and recording the progress of the Blue Spring manatees for more than 25 years. “It’s going to be a learning experience for me this year,” remarked Rundle. “I’ll certainly learn a lot more this winter.”

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