A new chapter is beginning at the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center.

Luke Reese, a nature center intern from September 2005 to August 2006, has been hired to take over as director/naturalist of the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center. He will take over for Larry Dolphin, 64, who is retiring Aug. 31 after holding the job since 1988.

“We’re excited for this new chapter at the nature center and we’re also sad at the same time,” Austin Parks & Rec Director Kim Underwood said.

Reese will start Aug. 24 and is slated to move with his family in mid-August to Austin from Patagonia, Arizona, where Reese is currently manager of the Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve. He will work about a week with Dolphin to learn more about the role.

Underwood said Reese’s background at the nature center and in Austin was one of the things that stuck out to a five-person hiring committee, which included Underwood, Dolphin, and members of the Park & Rec board and Friends of the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center board.

About 18 people applied for the position and about five were interviewed before two finalists came for final interviews.

From his visit to the nature center during the interview process, Underwood said Reese displayed a strong knowledge of the nature center, as he commented about the growth of a prairie section planted when he was intern and showed much knowledge on prairie and forest issues.

In fact, he has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in forest resources, and Underwood said he had many ideas for things to potentially try at the nature center.

“You could see his passion for the nature center,” she said.

Underwood said it was a plus that Reese is originally from Austin and is an Austin High School graduate. Along with his internship at the nature center, he also interned at the Three Rivers Park District, St. Louis County in Minnesota, the Land Department and Highstead Arboretum in Redding, Connecticut.

Like Dolphin, Reese brings teaching experience, which Underwood said stuck out to the hiring committee. Before becoming the manager at the Patagonia Preserve, Reese taught seventh-grade science in Nogales, Arizona.

Dolphin recalled Reese being a hard worker during his time as intern, and he remembers Reese stopping by unannounced in 2009 when he was in the area to help with cleanup after a tornado caused damage at the nature center.

“He’s got a really good personality,” Dolphin said.

“He’s a sharp young man,” he added.

Reese will start during a pivotal time for nature center, as its new $7 million interpretive center is under construction and slated to open April 2017.

Dolphin said it will be good to have some new ideas as the new building nears completion, and he joked that Reese is far better with computers and technology than he is.

Underwood wished Dolphin well as he readies to retire, praising him for his strong opinions about conservation and how he lives up to his common saying of, “for the wild ones and the little ones.

“He’s a great naturalist/director,” Underwood said. “He’s good to people. He’s good to animals. Luke has big shoes to fill. I think he does, but he knows it.”