The first National Preserve in the National Park System, Big Cypress has a mixture of pines, hardwoods, prairies, mangrove forests, cypress strands and domes.
It?s a moody place, Biscayne National Park. Some days, Biscayne Bay's shallow waters are glassy smooth, a window on another world. Other times, the wind whistles and whips, creating white waves that bite like teeth at an angry sky.
Canaveral National Seashore is on a barrier island which includes ocean, beach, dune, hammock, lagoon, salt marsh, and pine flatland habitats. The barrier island and adjacent waterways offer a blend of plant and animal life.
On a sweltering day in May of 1539, Hernando de Soto and an army of over 600 soldiers splashed ashore in the Tampa Bay area.
Spanning the southern tip of the Florida peninsula and most of Florida Bay, Everglades National Park is the only subtropical preserve in North America.
Fort Caroline National Memorial was created to memorialize the Sixteenth Century French effort to establish a permanent colony in Florida. After initial exploration in 1562, the French established "la Caroline" in June 1564.
More than 80 percent of Gulf Islands National Seashore is under water, but the barrier islands are the most outstanding features to those who visit.
The 46, 000 acre Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve was established to protect one of the last unspoiled coastal wetlands on the Atlantic Coast, and to preserve historic and prehistoric sites within the area.
The J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge is located on the subtropical barrier island of Sanibel in the Gulf of Mexico. The refuge is part of the largest undeveloped mangrove ecosystem in the United States.
The Egmont Key National Wildlife Refuge, was established in 1974 and protects a diverse community of animals and plants, many of which are either threatened or endangered.
Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge, was established September 30, 1969. It is a coastal refuge bisected by the Indian River Lagoon into two separate tracts of land totaling over 1000 acres.
Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge Lake Woodruff NWR was established in 1964 to provide habitat for migrating and wintering birds.
Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1979, is located along the southern edge of the Big Bend region of Florida's west coast, approximately 50 miles southwest of Gainsville.
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (MINWR) headquarters is located five miles east of U.S. 1 in Titusville, Florida. The Refuge, which is an overlay of the John F.
The National Key Deer Refuge was established in 1957 to protect and preserve Key deer and other wildlife resources in the Florida Keys.
St. Marks NWR, located 25 miles south of Tallahassee along the Gulf Coast of Florida, is a well-known oasis of natural Florida habitats for wildlife, especially birds.
St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge, in Franklin County, Florida, is an undeveloped barrier island just offshore from the mouth of the Apalachicola River, in the Gulf of Mexico.
Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge is located seven miles west of the city of Boynton Beach in Palm Beach County, Florida.
Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1929 by President Herbert Hoover to protect a breeding ground for colonial nesting migratory birds during a time when market hunters, desiring feathers for the ladies' apparel industry, were slaughter
In a rural setting, the lake features rugged ravines, cypress ponds, limesinks and hardwood and pine forests. Nationally known for its largemouth bass and wide variety of plant and animal life, this lake also offers very good birdwatching.
Located at the center of South Florida's heartland, Lake Okeechobee is Florida's largest lake and the second largest freshwater lake in the United States.
Florida has three National Forests comprising over 1.25 million acres. The Apalachicola and Osceola National Forests are in the northern half of the State, while the Ocala National Forest is located in central Florida.