Corkscrew Sanctuary is open daily from 7-5:30. Visitors will find a gentle, pristine wilderness that dates back more than 500 years. A 2.25-mile boardwalk meanders through pine flatwood, 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, raptors and the fabulous Painted Bunting 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. National Audubon began protecting the wading birds nesting within Corkscrew Swamp in 1905. 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 to 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.
The plaque at the tree reads: "Landmark Cypress 'Leopold' No. 3 Aldo Leopold is considered the father of the modern conservation ethic. He lamented the toll wrought on the landscape in the name of material progress, and the ever widening disconnect between society and the land. Where John Muir was inspired by passion and activism, Leopold was a scientist concerned with understanding and preserving wilderness and its complex ecosystem.
The Leopold tree is 500-plus years old, one of the forest's oldest, and at 98 feet tall, one of its tallest. The toll wrought by numerous hurricanes has cost the tree its top and most of its branches, leaving a massive main trunk that, chest high, is 22 feet around. Its fallen branches combine with the litter of cypress needles, cones, leaves from other trees, and the roots of nearby plant, contributing biomass to the spongy organic peat of the forest floor. Peat acts like a sponge to wick moisture up to the cypress roots year-round. The moisture in turn keeps the forest cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter."