About Friends of HWRP

This website is published by Friends of Horizon West Regional Park, an informal group of Orange County residents. Each of our founding members discovered the park almost accidentally: From 2015 (when the park first opened) until 2025, Orange County posted no identifying sign at the entrance gate. That gate provided access to a small graveled-surface parking area. Beyond the parking area, the only “amenities” were about 7 miles of unpaved hiking / horseback riding trails.

Eventually, the park was discovered by more residents, who shared their visits on local Facebook groups. By the time the park closed for construction in 2024, HWRP had been used as a meeting place for church groups, Halloween partiers, a group of one-wheel board riders, a troupe of LARPers, and more. Photographers and videographers have used the park’s scenic areas for their shoots. Horizon West’s residents exhibited their creative side in the absence of any park facilities! We expect that they’re enjoying the park even more, now that those facilities have been built.

We appreciate the park’s amenities too, but we know that the park’s most valuable assets are its natural features. Not all of the park’s acreage is former agricultural land. The sand live oak forest in the northeast corner, the sand pine forest north of the playground, and the park’s wetlands have stayed relatively natural since the 1900s. Along with the wetlands, HWRP has abundant wildlife, and many native trees and plants.

However, Florida’s natural spaces can be quickly overrun by invasive species unless they’re maintained. Maintaining the park’s native plants and trees is an ongoing and deliberate effort. To keep invasive vines in check, Friends of HWRP trail volunteers clip out the wild grape vines and briars which overrun tree saplings, criss-cross the pathways, and trip unwary hikers (See photo gallery below). Such efforts, though small, had already made an obvious difference by the time the park closed for construction.

Larger restoration projects are included in the park’s master plan, many years—probably decades—will pass before those projects are budgeted. That’s why volunteer efforts such as ours are what will keep HWRP natural and beautiful for our children, our grandchildren, and future generations.

Interested in helping us help the park? Join us!

Photo gallery: Rescuing trees from “invasives”

The park’s future...

The park’s master plan envisioned the expansion of the parking areas and picnic areas, as well as creating space for outdoor community events and farmer’s markets. Most of the areas where these amenities are planned were cleared and leveled in 2024, and $4.1 million is budgeted for these soon-to-be-built features.

The original intention of park planners was to create the infrastructure needed for future development during Phase 1. After the Covid pandemic, Phase 1 was split into “1A” and “1B” phases. In the years since the pandemic, inflation reduced the value of the $15 million originally budgeted for Phase 1. As a result, some of those basic facilities must now wait for further funding before they can be built.

Over the past year, county spending has come under increased scrutiny from Florida’s state government. Securing funds for future improvements to Horizon West Regional Park will require an organized effort from citizens.