Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park

About Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park

Welcome to Fakahatchee Beach Preserve State Park, one of the largest and most scenic beaches in the state of Florida. It is a north-south oriented, 1.5 mile long beach with a total area of 2,000 square miles.

It was formed by the movement of water over thousands of years and is bound to its existence by clean freshwater. It is home to the largest freshwater lake in the world, the Fakahatchee River, and one of the largest lakes in the state of Florida.

Fakahatchee Beach Preserve State Park is home to one of the largest and most diverse tropical forest ecosystems in Florida. The groves of native royal palms are among the richest in the state, and mud reservoirs, where the deep lake flows, protect the forest interior from extreme cold temperatures, thereby promoting the survival of a number of endangered tropical plant species, such as the royal palm. A slow-flowing shallow river of mud, the only source of fresh water in the entire state of Florida, flows beneath a protective canopy of bare cypresses. This ecosystem on the beach of FAKahatchese is one of the first and only places in the world where bare cypresses and king palms share the treetop.

The orchid and bromeliad capital of the continent, home to more than 1,000 species of orchids, is a paradise for wildlife, whether birds, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, birds of prey, fish or even reptiles.

Migratory birds and native birds from all over the world are spectacular and attract many enthusiastic visitors. The Florida panther still hunts white tail-shaped deer in the high-mountain wetlands, and many other birds of prey, such as the black leopard frog, are still found here, as are other bird species.

In the coming decades, changes in the ecosystem and more extensive changes are expected when the Comprehensive Everglades Recovery Plan (CERP) is implemented, and changes in ecosystems and major changes.

A particularly important aspect of the CERP is the prairie channel, which forms the western border of the protected area. For nearly a century, prairies and canals have accelerated the flow of surface water into the estuary, on which water is needed to supply more than 1.5 million people in the Everglades and nearly half of Florida's population. The surface water flows into estuaries and over 10,000 islands and crosses a series of channels that gradually mix with salt water. Once the prairie channel is fully filled, it will run off through boreholes in a large channel and then move south through the wetlands, replenishing the groundwater.

The southern part of Fakahatchee Beach Preserve borders the Gulf of Mexico, the Everglades, Lake Okeechobee and the Atlantic Ocean. There is no surface where the fresh water gradually becomes more saline, but only a few hundred metres below the surface.

Canoeists and kayakers enjoy exploring this scenic beauty and waders colour the landscape with white, blue and pink dots.

American crocodiles continue to live mysteriously, slipping into the tannin water to bask in the sun. Loggerhead and green sea turtles return to the coast from tens of thousands of islands to nest on the same white sand beaches from which they once emerged. Fishermen manage the mangrove - hugged backwaters for snook, snapper, tarpon and redfish.

The Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk offers visitors a glimpse of the past as it winds through the primary cypress forest. It is an ecological gem, and although it has suffered environmental damage in the past from deforestation, road construction and drainage, Fakahatchee Beach has recovered and remains a relatively intact and functioning natural system.

The wetlands attract a variety of birds of prey, such as owls, hawks, eagles, peregrine falcons and other birds of prey. In the park, two are often seen - a shoulder falcon, a large blue heron and a bald eagle, as well as a number of other birds.

Human activities and occupation have been part of Fakahatchee Beach for some time, and the sinkhole was a focus of Paleo-Indian activities in prehistoric times when water was scarce on the peninsula. The people of the Circum Glade culture were widespread in the area from around 500 BC to European contacts.

While other crops in northern Florida gradually switched to agricultural production, people in the Circum Glades area remained relatively unchanged, and their standard of living barely changed over a long period. Their technology, too, barely changes, but their story in the glades seems to have continued.

There was a settlement of several families on Fakahatchee Island, and at the southern tip of the reserve there was an early pioneer settlement known as Daniel's or "Point." John Daniels raised his family here and earned a living from the beginning of the 20th century until the 40s. The settlement was large enough to maintain its own school with a school building, church, primary school and post office.

The beach at Fakahatchee was cut down and in the early 1940s felled cypresses flooded the widespread Great Cypress Swamp. Daniels was the first of the two main roads to the beach, Daniels Road, and the road to Fort Myers was cut off.

By the late 1950s, the cypress harvest was very successful and profitable, and C.J. Jones Logging Co. was one of the companies involved in this venture.

Today, hiking trails are laid out in and around the marsh, and visitors can experience the beauty of this unusual marsh through the old - growing cypresses.