Big Cypress National Preserve

 wetland, nature conservation park / area

Big Cypress National Preserve is a United States National Preserve established on October 11, 1974. It borders the wet freshwater prairies of Everglades National Park to the south, and other state and federally protected cypress country on the west, with water from the Big Cypress flowing south and west into the coastal Ten Thousand Islands region of Everglades National Park.

Ecologically, the Preserve is a slightly more elevated part of the western Everglades, was included in the boundaries of Everglades National Park when the Park was established in 1947, but had not yet been purchased from its private owners and at their request in 1954 was removed from Everglades National Park.

Big Cypress differs from Everglades National Park in that the Miccosukee and Seminole people have permanent rights to occupy and use Big Cypress, the Native Americans and hunters may use Off-Road Vehicles, and home and business owners are able to keep their properties. As in Everglades National Park, oil exploration was allowed in Big Cypress, but plans are under way to buy out oil leases within the Preserve.

Big Cypress is the most biologically diverse region of the terrestrial Everglades, and while dominated by a wet cypress forest is host to an array of flora and fauna, including mangroves, orchids, alligators, venomous snakes like the cottonmouth and Eastern diamondback rattlesnake, a variety of birds, and the Florida Panther. The preserve is also home to nine federally listed endangered species including the West Indian manatee, the eastern indigo snake, and the Florida sandhill crane.

A number of campgrounds in Big Cypress are tailored to motor vehicles, where tourists planning overnight stays can park their vehicles and ORVs in designated areas like Burns Lake. The southern terminus of the Florida National Scenic Trail is located in Big Cypress providing for hiking opportunities during the dry months of January to April. For nature lovers who don't mind getting their feet wet, hiking throughout Big Cypress is enjoyable in all seasons, with most of the cypress country more hospitable to hikers than are the denser sawgrass prairies of the central Everglades.

Because alligators are numerous and often large (fifteen-footers and larger gators are regularly seen in the area), wading through the cypress country requires constant alertness.

www.nps.gov/bicy/