Friends of Fakahatchee: Dedicated to financial and volunteer support to preserve the unique ecology and cultural heritage of Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park and educate the public about its importance.
Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk Expansion and Fakahatchee Interpretive Pavilion-Mission Accomplished!
About the Boardwalk built in the 1960’s and the expansion project.
Designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service, the Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk within Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park was built in the 1960’s by philanthropist Lester Norris who owned the land before the Fakahatchee became a Preserve. The Boardwalk takes visitors back into a tiny slice of the virgin cypress forest that was, thanks to Lester Norris, spared from logging.
It weaves in dappled light through 500 year old bald cypress, three feet or more in diameter, under a canopy festooned with bromeliads and past trunks wrapped by ancient strangler figs. Other trees include stately royal palms, cabbage palms, pop ash and pond apple. Pickerelweed and alligator flag grow in the swamp bordering the Boardwalk. At the end is an alligator hole where visitors frequently spot wading birds as well as alligators. Along the way there is an active bald eagle nest. Visitors frequently see pileated woodpeckers, small migrating birds, barred owls, butterflies, anoles and various water snakes. This old Boardwalk at 2,200 ft long was closed after Hurricane IAN in Sept 2022. A contract for a complete reconstruction on the same footprint was awarded in the spring of 2024, the project is expected to take 18 months. When this Boardwalk is reconstructed it will connect to the new Boardwalk Expansion area which consist of parking, restrooms and an Interpretive Pavilion that was opened to the public In January 2024.
A stroll along the 1960’s boardwalk is a memorable encounter with the Fakahatchee.
Alligator hole at the end of the 1960’s boardwalk
Friends of Fakahatchee Boardwalk Expansion Vision
Since it was built in the 1960″s the Boardwalk was a regular stop on the “Everglades tour trail”. Over 90,000 visitors annually had no parking or restrooms. The Friends of Fakahatchee worked with the Dept. of Environmental Protection Parks & Recreation Division to improve visitors experience.
To accomplish this the Boardwalk development plan called for a deceleration lane for a safe entrance to a new parking area and by so creating a different entrance to access the Boardwalk. The project included building an Interpretive Pavilion and restroom for visitors. The parking area and new entrance would be built on an old abandoned section of US 41. New parking opened January 2024- Mission accomplished!
Digital rendering of the proposed Fakahatchee Interpretive Pavilion. Placing the pavilion across the canal gives people the opportunity to experience the Fakahatchee, if they choose not to walk the boardwalk.
The Interpretive Pavilion would be designed to inspire visitors to walk the prairie, lake and strand swamp, but for those who are not up to that level of activity they will be able to sit in a rocking chair on the shaded porch and just take in the view. By positioning the Interpretive Pavilion across the canal on the prairie rather than in the car park it would provide visitors an opportunity to experience part of the Fakahatchee, even if they can’t walk the entire Boardwalk area. Interpretive Pavilion opened January 2024-Mission accomplished!
The Interpretive Pavilion would be a multipurpose building whose contents would inspire further exploration. Apart from helping to explain the significance of the natural resource and its history, the same space would serve as a refuge, a place of contemplation, a meeting and gathering space, and most importantly for the first time provide a place where the Friends of Fakahatchee and park staff can present interpretive and educational programs to the public. Mission accomplished!
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New Boardwalk leading to Green Heron Lake -Opened January 2024
Why is it called the The Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk, if it’s in the Fakahatchee?
In 1957 local philanthropist Lester Norris purchased 640 acres in the Big Cypress to save the century old cypress trees, this is before the area became the Fakahatchee Preserve. The area at the time was called Big Cypress which is the reason why the boardwalk that Lester Norris built is called the Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk although it is in the Fakahatchee. When the area became what we now know as the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park Lester Norris deeded the property to the state along with a $67,000.00 donation.
The 2,300 foot wooden boardwalk takes visitors into the heart of Fakahatchee Preserve, the largest bald cypress/royal palm swamp in the world. Forty interpretive signs provide information along the way. A lovely pond at the end of the Boardwalk is great place to rest and observe alligators and a variety of birds who make the pond their home.
As you walk along the boardwalk, you are entering the central slough, the deepest part of the Fakahatchee Preserve. The bald cypress trees surrounding the boardwalk are hundreds of years old. The smaller pop ash and pond apple trees host epiphytic orchids, ferns and bromeliads in their multiple trunks. Pickerel weed and alligator flag plants thrive in the slowly moving water below the boardwalk.
Until hurricane IAN in Sept 2022 the Boardwalk was maintained entirely through volunteer labor and supplies funded by visitor donations. In the spring of 2024 a contract was awarded for a complete reconstruction on the same foot print, the project is expected to take 18 months.