Visitors to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary find a gentle, pristine wilderness that dates back more than 500 years. A 2.25 mile boardwalk meanders through pine flatwoods, wet prairie, around a marsh and finally into the largest old growth Bald Cypress forest in North America. These impressive trees, relatives of the redwood, tower 130 feet into the sky and have a girth of 25 feet. Their massive branches are draped with mosses, lichens, bromeliads and ferns.
The forest is also home to hundreds of alligators, otters, white-tailed deer and red-bellied turtles. A wide variety of wading birds, songbirds, and raptors can be seen throughout the year. Photo opportunities are available at every turn of the boardwalk trail.
The story of how Corkscrew Swamp became a sanctuary is one of the important conservation successes of our time. Since National Audubon had protected the wading birds nesting within Corkscrew Swamp. During the 1940's and 50's, cypress forests in Florida were being leveled for their timber. Audubon realized the forest must be saved. At the time Corkscrew was isolated and almost impossible to access. Today it is an oasis in a made-over landscape. In other areas, many of the wild swamps and much of the teeming wildlife that were characteristic of this region less than a generation ago are gone. Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary's value thus becomes more significant with every passing year. Your visit and admission fees help us preserve it for generations to come.
The natural biological systems, which expand over 14,000 acres at Corkscrew are maintained through land management practices to sustain native plants and animals found here and to preserve the natural processes that have been occurring for thousands of years.
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary occupies approximately 13,000 acres in the heart of the Corkscrew Watershed in Southwest Florida, part of the Western Everglades. It is primarily composed of wetlands. These include the largest remaining virgin bald cypress forest in the world (approximately 700 acres), which is the site of the largest nesting colony of Federally Endangered Wood Storks in the nation. In addition to the wood stork, Corkscrew provides important habitat for numerous other Federal and State listed species, including the Florida Panther, American Alligator, Gopher Tortoise, Florida Sandhill Crane, Limpkin, Roseate Spoonbill, Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron, White Ibis, Big Cypress Fox Squirrel and the Florida Black Bear. Several rare plants are also found here, most notably the Ghost Orchid.