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Visit Your Local State and National Preservation Parks
Have you ever been to Yosemite National Park? How about Yellowstone
or the Everglades? Many families take cross-country road trips some
of these national gems. But, when the summer is over and we all go
back to school or work, many of us forget about the great outdoors
and these parks are fairly deserted. However, the well-known
national parks that people travel so far to see are not the only
ones available to us. Most of us still have the opportunity to
locally visit national, state, and city parks to get outside and
back to nature.
There are over 40 preserves in northeast Florida, and over 20 in Jacksonville alone. Some of the more well-known ones are the Timucuan National Preserve, Anastasia State Park, Guana River State Park, and Jacksonville’s Hanna Park. Activities These preserve parks each offer a range of outdoor activities for many different interests, ranging in levels of difficulty for access to the amateur nature visitor and also for the outdoor enthusiast. Fort George offers a Virtual Ranger Tour of the Saturiwa Trail, where you can play a tour cd in your vehicle for a driving tour, or even an Ecomotion Tour on a segway (http://www.ecomotiontours.com). Most parks offers activities such as nature trail hiking, off-road biking, horseback riding, camping, pavilion picnicking and grilling, and wildlife-viewing. They also offer many freshwater activities such as fishing, boating, canoeing, and kayaking. Some even have pristine beaches for sunbathing, swimming, surfing, shelling, and fishing. Scenery The scenery varies with each of the parks, and some offer a diverse range of communities. You may find yourself amidst salt marshes, coastal dunes, hardwood hammocks, coastal maritime forests, swamps, and pine habitats. Big Talbot Island offers a shoreline with water sculpted trees. Amelia Island State Park offers horseback riding on the beach, providing great perspectives of the beautiful beach scenery. Pumpkin Hill Creek Preserve State Park protects one of the largest contiguous areas of coastal uplands remaining in Duval County, offering abundant wildlife for viewing. Wildlife & Native Plants In many of the Northeast Florida state parks, you are likely to see plenty of wildlife. These include alligators, armadillos, dolphins, butterflies, deer, snakes, and many different birds, such as woodstorks, rails, moorehens, coots, the Bald Eagle, the American Kestrel, and many others. Choosing a Park There are many resources to help you choose the right parks to visit. Trails.com is a useful internet tool for finding trails near you, and can run a search based on the activity of yor choice, such as hiking, biking, birding, kayaking/canoeing, and nature trips (www.trails.com). Information about the national parks are available at the National Park Service website (www.nps.gov), and Florida state park information can be found at www.floridastateparks.org. The City of Jacksonville also offers information about Preserve Parks in the region at www.coj.net through the Recreation and Community Services division for Waterfront Management and Programming under the Preservation Project link, or you can click on the following link to go straight there: http://www.coj.net/Departments/Recreation+and+Community+Services/Waterfront+Management+and+Programming/Preservation+Project/Preservation+Parks+.htm. Once you have chosen your activities and parks, pack up some food and water, and go visit the city, state, or national park in your area. -Veronica Saavedra, Legal Intern |
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