Big Cypress National Perserve

 

Freshwater to the Sea

The freshwaters of the Big Cypress Swamp, essential to the health of the neighboring Everglades, support the rich marine estuaries along Florida's southwest coast. Conserving over 729,000 acres of this vast swamp, Big Cypress National Preserve contains a mixture of tropical and temperate plant communities that are home to diverse wildlife, including the Endangered Florida panther.

A National Preserve - One Land, Many Uses

Big Cypress National Preserve is a diverse landscape, where one can see cypress and mangroves, alligators, and panther tracks all in one day! 

Just like the diversity of the land, the National Park Service manages for a diversity of activities within the national preserve that national parks typically do not allow. In the 1960s, plans for the world’s largest Jetport, to be constructed in the heart of the Greater Everglades of south Florida, were unveiled. This project, and the anticipated development that would follow, spurred the incentive to protect the wilds of the vast Big Cypress Swamp. To prevent development of the Jetport, local conservationists, sportsmen, environmentalists, Seminoles, Miccosukees, and many others set political and personal differences aside. The efforts of countless individuals and government officials prevailed when, on October 11, 1974, Big Cypress National Preserve was established as the nation’s first national preserve.

The concept of a national preserve was born from an exercise in compromise. Everyone saw the importance of protecting the swamp, but many did not want this region merely added to nearby Everglades National Park that was created in the 1940s. Many felt that national parks were managed in a restrictive manner and access to the swamp would be lost. The resulting compromise created a new land management concept – a national preserve. An area that would be protected but would also allow for specific activities that were described by Congress within the legislation that created the preserve.

25 Nov 2024

We made a stop into Big Cypress National Preserve stopping at the Oasis Visitor Center. This is a small Visitor Center that offers a movie that tells the background and reasons this was set aside as a National Preserve. The Center has a few displays and small store. We went for a walk along an elevated boardwalk and took in the many alligators sunning along the banks as well as the many fish you can see in the clear water. There is so much to see here, and we will have to plan a longer visit to see more of what is offered. 

NPS Website

Click here for photos of our visit

Our 180th NPS Unit