Overview: The Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area is vast and wild, extending from Palm Beach County southward through Broward County to Everglades National Park in Miami-Dade. It's 670,000 acres in all. Despite its vast size, access is limited — the interior is best explored by boat. However, you can get a glimpse of it — more than a glimpse, really — sans boat at rest stops along Interstate 75 west of its junction with U.S. 27 in Broward County. And you can hike and bike its levees in a few spots.
The best place to see Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area is at the rest stop at Mile Mark 35 along the Interstate. It is split in two by the highway but there is an underpass that connects the north and south areas. The north side includes a boat ramp, observation platform, informational kiosks, picnic tables and shelters. The same facilities are on the south side, plus a visitor center with some exhibits, restrooms, drinking fountains and vending machines. There's fishing from the docks on both sides.
The Mile Marker 35 rest stops are included as part of the Great Florida Birding Trail. Unless you have a boat, this isn't really a destination in and of itself, but makes a nice stop on the way to someplace else. The Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area can be accessed at other spots, including at the Sawgrass Recreation Park and Everglades Holiday Park, both along U.S. 27, at the terminus of Lox Road off U.S. 441 in Palm Beach County and along U.S. 41 in Miami-Dade County. Check the map, link below, for other spots.
The most popular places to hike or bike include the L35 Canal levees from the Sawgrass Recreation Park and the L67A Canal out of Everglades Holiday Park. Camping is permitted along the L5 Canal levee and the Miami Canal Levees at certain times. If you want to see the WMA from an airboat, there are tours out of Lox Road, Sawgrass Recreation Park and Everglades Holiday Park. Check out WMA regulations here.
History: In many ways, the history of Florida is the history of water, obviously a vital resource but since statehood in 1845 it's also been considered an obstacle to overcome. Much of Florida's interior, covered with swamps and marshes, was too wet for permanent human habitation, including the land that is now the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area. Five years after Florida became a state, Congress passed the Swamp Land Act of 1850, deeding 20 million acres of wetlands to the state with the intent that they be drained.
In the years following World War II, Florida's population began to surge. In the 1950s and into the 1970s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Florida's state government built three large water retention impoundments to drain the northern Everglades. In 1951, under an agreement with the state, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service leased the northern most of these impoundments and established the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. The other two impoundments are now the neighboring Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area.
So who was Francis S. Taylor? A World War II combat engineer from New Jersey who headed south after the war, father of the modern era airboat and conservationist with the Florida Wildlife Federation. He had a passion for protecting the Everglades in particular, and helped craft many of Florida's environmental laws in the 1960s. Click here for the full story.
What You'll See: In a phrase, "the River of Grass." This isn't Everglades National Park, but it is the Everglades. The rest stops along the Interstate offer a glimpse of it to thousands who otherwise might never experience it. It is vast, extending in all directions as far as the eye can see.
But if you can take your time, explore where you can, there is a lot to see. Species we've spotted include the white checkered butterfly, white peacock butterfly, blue dasher and halloween pennant dragonflies, climbing hempvine, spatterdock, sleepy morning, southern fogfruit, Virginia saltmarsh mallow, ospreys, purple gallinule, ibis, double crested cormorants, red-winged black birds and more.
Amenities: There are thex rest stops along Interstate 75 that offer boat ramps and access to Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area. The WMA also can be accessed at the Lox Road entrance to the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. The rest stop at Mile Marker 35 along I75 has a viewing platform on the north side, interpretive kiosks and restrooms. The east-bound side (there is an underpass connecting the two sides) has restrooms and exhibits inside the building. The Lox Road entrance has a portable toilet.
Nearby: The Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge lies directly to the north of the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area. The Shark Valley unit of Everglades National Park is directly to the south. The Big Cypress National Preserve is to the west, and can be accessed from either I75 or U.S. 441.
Links: The Great Florida Birding Trail's take on Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area is here. The Institute for Regional Conservation's inventory of plants for the WMA is here.
Of Note: There are no fees for entering the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area, but certain activities, like hunting and fishing require licenses. A map of the WMA is here
Cover Photo: An airboat rips through the waters of the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area. It's apt for two reasons: the only practical way to see the interior of the WMA is by boat, and secondly, the WMA's namesake is considered the father of the modern airboat. Secondary photos: a purple gallinule forages; the vastness of the WMA.
The best place to see Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area is at the rest stop at Mile Mark 35 along the Interstate. It is split in two by the highway but there is an underpass that connects the north and south areas. The north side includes a boat ramp, observation platform, informational kiosks, picnic tables and shelters. The same facilities are on the south side, plus a visitor center with some exhibits, restrooms, drinking fountains and vending machines. There's fishing from the docks on both sides.
The Mile Marker 35 rest stops are included as part of the Great Florida Birding Trail. Unless you have a boat, this isn't really a destination in and of itself, but makes a nice stop on the way to someplace else. The Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area can be accessed at other spots, including at the Sawgrass Recreation Park and Everglades Holiday Park, both along U.S. 27, at the terminus of Lox Road off U.S. 441 in Palm Beach County and along U.S. 41 in Miami-Dade County. Check the map, link below, for other spots.
The most popular places to hike or bike include the L35 Canal levees from the Sawgrass Recreation Park and the L67A Canal out of Everglades Holiday Park. Camping is permitted along the L5 Canal levee and the Miami Canal Levees at certain times. If you want to see the WMA from an airboat, there are tours out of Lox Road, Sawgrass Recreation Park and Everglades Holiday Park. Check out WMA regulations here.
History: In many ways, the history of Florida is the history of water, obviously a vital resource but since statehood in 1845 it's also been considered an obstacle to overcome. Much of Florida's interior, covered with swamps and marshes, was too wet for permanent human habitation, including the land that is now the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area. Five years after Florida became a state, Congress passed the Swamp Land Act of 1850, deeding 20 million acres of wetlands to the state with the intent that they be drained.
In the years following World War II, Florida's population began to surge. In the 1950s and into the 1970s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Florida's state government built three large water retention impoundments to drain the northern Everglades. In 1951, under an agreement with the state, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service leased the northern most of these impoundments and established the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. The other two impoundments are now the neighboring Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area.
So who was Francis S. Taylor? A World War II combat engineer from New Jersey who headed south after the war, father of the modern era airboat and conservationist with the Florida Wildlife Federation. He had a passion for protecting the Everglades in particular, and helped craft many of Florida's environmental laws in the 1960s. Click here for the full story.
What You'll See: In a phrase, "the River of Grass." This isn't Everglades National Park, but it is the Everglades. The rest stops along the Interstate offer a glimpse of it to thousands who otherwise might never experience it. It is vast, extending in all directions as far as the eye can see.
But if you can take your time, explore where you can, there is a lot to see. Species we've spotted include the white checkered butterfly, white peacock butterfly, blue dasher and halloween pennant dragonflies, climbing hempvine, spatterdock, sleepy morning, southern fogfruit, Virginia saltmarsh mallow, ospreys, purple gallinule, ibis, double crested cormorants, red-winged black birds and more.
Amenities: There are thex rest stops along Interstate 75 that offer boat ramps and access to Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area. The WMA also can be accessed at the Lox Road entrance to the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. The rest stop at Mile Marker 35 along I75 has a viewing platform on the north side, interpretive kiosks and restrooms. The east-bound side (there is an underpass connecting the two sides) has restrooms and exhibits inside the building. The Lox Road entrance has a portable toilet.
Nearby: The Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge lies directly to the north of the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area. The Shark Valley unit of Everglades National Park is directly to the south. The Big Cypress National Preserve is to the west, and can be accessed from either I75 or U.S. 441.
Links: The Great Florida Birding Trail's take on Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area is here. The Institute for Regional Conservation's inventory of plants for the WMA is here.
Of Note: There are no fees for entering the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area, but certain activities, like hunting and fishing require licenses. A map of the WMA is here
Cover Photo: An airboat rips through the waters of the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area. It's apt for two reasons: the only practical way to see the interior of the WMA is by boat, and secondly, the WMA's namesake is considered the father of the modern airboat. Secondary photos: a purple gallinule forages; the vastness of the WMA.
