Director of Oak Mountain Interpretive Center, David Frings

Q&A with David Frings

Alabama native David M. Frings served the city of Alabaster for 12 years as mayor before becoming director of the Oak Mountain Interpretive Center. A graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a degree in geology and biology, Frings worked as a licensed geologist for Alabama Power Company until his retirement in 2006 and has had a life-long fascination with nature.

1. When did your love of nature begin?

I began to notice and love nature at age 5.

2. What sparked your interest?

We moved to a new house in a subdivision near Bluff Park that was very rural at that time.  We had numerous lizards, snakes and turtles that were in the yard and I began catching them. It grew from there and my parents were very supportive.

3. What is your favorite bug, reptile, animal or plant and why?

As far as a favorite that lives in Oak Mountain State Park, it would be the fox squirrel.  They are much larger than the gray squirrel and I like to watch them scamper through the trees

4. What is the craziest or most unexpected animal you have seen?

Duck-bill platypus on a trip to Australia two years ago.

5. Do you have any pets of your own? What are they?

Yes, one green-cheek conure (parrot), a sulcata tortoise named Walter (weighs 75 pounds), pancake tortoises, red foot tortoise, leopard tortoise, snake-neck turtle, blue-tongue skinks, Argentine tegu, bearded dragon, woma python, ball python, Dumerils boa constrictor, tomato frogs, white tree frogs, and one dog named Abby.