Region: Northern Palm Beach County
Size: 1,094 acres
Hours: Daily from sunrise to sunset
Location:
12560 Aviation Boulevard, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33412 (not a mailing address). The entrance to the natural area is on the west side of Aviation Boulevard, inside the North County General Aviation Airport. The entrance to the airport is located on the south side of the Bee Line Highway (State Road 710), approximately 2.7 miles northwest of PGA Boulevard.
Public Use Facilities:
Site facilities include a parking area for ten cars and two buses, a bicycle rack, a kiosk with educational exhibits, an accessible nature trail with a boardwalk and a covered observation platform, and a natural-surface hiking trail. There are no restroom facilities or drinking water on the natural area.
Site Information:
The natural area contains six native Florida ecosystem: mesic flatwoods, hydric flatwoods, wet prairie, baygall, mesic hammock, and dome swamp. The natural area was once part of the greater Loxahatchee Slough, the historic headwaters of the Loxahatchee River. It is composed of two preserve areas that were set aside during the construction of the airport - a large tract to the west of the airport and a smaller tract to the east. There are no facilities on the eastern tract. The natural area is managed by Palm Beach County. It is part of the Northeast Everglades Natural Area.
Plants:
Plant species observed on the site include coastalplain willow, sweetbay, Virginia chain fern, tenangle pipewort, buttonbush, peelbark St. John's-wort, arrowhead, blue maidencane, tarflower, and wiregrass.
Wildlife:
Animal species observed on the site include eastern lubber grasshopper, queen, mottled duck, pied-billed grebe, snowy egret, little blue heron, wood stork, white-eyed vireo, Florida box turtle, and eastern cottontail.
Links:
Coastal
