EDITOR'S NOTE:We've divided the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management into two sections, the Hungryland Boardwalk and Trail and the Main Entrance on the Beeline Highway. A lot of the information below deals with Corbett as a whole, but the focus of this page, including all the photographs, deals with the area associated with the North Entrance of the WMA. For our page on the Hungryland Section, click here.
Overview:This is the kind of place where you can get lost, literally and figuratively. J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area is 60,478 acres of pinelands, marshes, swamps and meadows surrounded by nothing. There are no neighbors, no nearby loud highways. Drive down the main access road for a few minutes and civilization disappears except for the road itself. It is the second-largest conservation area in Palm Beach County and by our estimation, the wildest. It borders the Dupuis Wildlife and Environmental Area, and Jones/Hungryland Wildlife and Environmental Area is nearby, forming nearly 100,000 acres of pristine, protected lands. The three form an ecological transition zone as the pine flatwoods of Florida's interior meld into the sawgrass marshes of the Everglades.
It's large enough and wild enough that you could see almost anything Florida has to offer. We found it a paradise for wildflowers, birds and insects. Numerous trails wind through providing the opportunity to see Corbett up close. J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area is an outdoor person's paradise. Hiking, hunting, fishing, camping, bird-watching, nature photography, paddling, if you so choose. But this land is vitally important to every single one of us, as it protects South Florida's most vital natural resource: its water.
History: The land that makes up the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area is a part of the Hungryland Slough, which once fed water to the Northern Everglades and the Loxahatchee River. Seminoles took refuge here after their defeat at the Battle of Loxahatchee during the Second Seminole War in 1838. They named it the Hungryland because of the scarcity of food and the difficulty of eaking out a living. The land wasn't much kinder to European settlers, who later tried to raise cattle here and grow citrus.
In 1902, the Southern States Land and Timber Co. bought 2 million acres in the vicinity of Lake Okeechobee, including the land that is now Corbett. The New Orleans-based company would sell off the land over the next 50 years. Florida bought 52,000 acres from Southern States in 1947, subsequently establishing the WMA. Corbett is one of the oldest wildlife management areas in the state. Florida would continue to add land through purchases, land swaps and donations, until Corbett reached its present size. It is named after James Wiley Corbett, a conservationist and former member of the Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission who played a key role in preserving the land.
It should be noted here that there is archeological evidence in the form of Big Mound City and Big Gopher of early Floridians inhabiting Corbett hundreds, if not thousands, of years before Ponce de Leon took his first steps on the Peninsula.
What You'll See: Something like 85 percent of Corbett's land is inundated with water a good portion of year. It is a wet place, Corbett's north end a little more so with its network of canals you don't see around the Hungryland entrance. As we said earlier, it is a wild place and far enough west that you can imagine seeing most anything Florida has to offer. Panthers? Almost certainly not, but not impossible. Same with black bear. Not their territory but they do wander through occasionally. More likely: bobcats, deer, wild hogs, river otters, alligators, a variety of turtles, including striped mud turtles, as seen above, and the like. In the air, look for swallowtailed kites, osprey, red-shouldered hawks, snail kites in the meadows and marshes, wild turkeys and a variety of woodpeckers, including the rare red-cockaded woodpecker.
All that water provides habitat for carnivorout bladderworts, including horned, eastern purple and leafy. It is one one of the few places where we've seen Bartram's rosegentian and seaside gentian. Blackeyed Susans abound.
Amenities: The North entrance lacks both drinking water and restrooms. There is an informational kiosk and a small building used as check-in station for hunters. There is a small floating dock and ample parking. There are literally miles and miles of trails. There are numerous designated primative campsites. North Grade Road is paved, though it looks like the Air Force used it to practice bombing runs. Sections of North Grade are nearly impassable for most passenger vehicles.
Nearby: Dupuis Wildlife and Environmental Area lies directly to the west, but there is no direct access from Corbett. To get there, you'll have to take the Beeline Highway and cross into Martin County. Same with the Jones/Hungryland Wildlife and Environmental Area. Pine Glades Natural Area is close via Indiantown Road. If you take the Beeline from West Palm Beach or Palm Beach Gardens, you'll pass the Loxahatchee Slough Natural Area and Sweet Bay Natural Area.
Links: The Great Florida Birding Trail's take on J.W. Corbett is here; the Institute for Regional Conservation's inventory of plants for the wildlife management area is here. Both links are for the entire WMA. The Friends of Corbett is here.
Of Note: JW Corbett is open 24 hours every day of the year. There is an entrance fee paid on an honor system. Be a bit careful where you drive. The main roads are open to vehicles throughout the year, but there are side roads that are open only during hunting seasons. Many of these roads are impassable by most passenger vehicles but some look fairly inviting. Feel free to hike down these roads. Also feel free to drive along the roads leading to designated campgrounds.
Cover Photo: A striped mud turtle makes his way across North Grade Road amid a summer's rain. Second Photo: Like South Florida generally, small changes in elevation and mean major changes in habitat. Here a strip of slash pines and shrubs is like an island amid a wet meadown.
Overview:This is the kind of place where you can get lost, literally and figuratively. J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area is 60,478 acres of pinelands, marshes, swamps and meadows surrounded by nothing. There are no neighbors, no nearby loud highways. Drive down the main access road for a few minutes and civilization disappears except for the road itself. It is the second-largest conservation area in Palm Beach County and by our estimation, the wildest. It borders the Dupuis Wildlife and Environmental Area, and Jones/Hungryland Wildlife and Environmental Area is nearby, forming nearly 100,000 acres of pristine, protected lands. The three form an ecological transition zone as the pine flatwoods of Florida's interior meld into the sawgrass marshes of the Everglades.
It's large enough and wild enough that you could see almost anything Florida has to offer. We found it a paradise for wildflowers, birds and insects. Numerous trails wind through providing the opportunity to see Corbett up close. J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area is an outdoor person's paradise. Hiking, hunting, fishing, camping, bird-watching, nature photography, paddling, if you so choose. But this land is vitally important to every single one of us, as it protects South Florida's most vital natural resource: its water.
History: The land that makes up the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area is a part of the Hungryland Slough, which once fed water to the Northern Everglades and the Loxahatchee River. Seminoles took refuge here after their defeat at the Battle of Loxahatchee during the Second Seminole War in 1838. They named it the Hungryland because of the scarcity of food and the difficulty of eaking out a living. The land wasn't much kinder to European settlers, who later tried to raise cattle here and grow citrus.
In 1902, the Southern States Land and Timber Co. bought 2 million acres in the vicinity of Lake Okeechobee, including the land that is now Corbett. The New Orleans-based company would sell off the land over the next 50 years. Florida bought 52,000 acres from Southern States in 1947, subsequently establishing the WMA. Corbett is one of the oldest wildlife management areas in the state. Florida would continue to add land through purchases, land swaps and donations, until Corbett reached its present size. It is named after James Wiley Corbett, a conservationist and former member of the Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission who played a key role in preserving the land.
It should be noted here that there is archeological evidence in the form of Big Mound City and Big Gopher of early Floridians inhabiting Corbett hundreds, if not thousands, of years before Ponce de Leon took his first steps on the Peninsula.
What You'll See: Something like 85 percent of Corbett's land is inundated with water a good portion of year. It is a wet place, Corbett's north end a little more so with its network of canals you don't see around the Hungryland entrance. As we said earlier, it is a wild place and far enough west that you can imagine seeing most anything Florida has to offer. Panthers? Almost certainly not, but not impossible. Same with black bear. Not their territory but they do wander through occasionally. More likely: bobcats, deer, wild hogs, river otters, alligators, a variety of turtles, including striped mud turtles, as seen above, and the like. In the air, look for swallowtailed kites, osprey, red-shouldered hawks, snail kites in the meadows and marshes, wild turkeys and a variety of woodpeckers, including the rare red-cockaded woodpecker.
All that water provides habitat for carnivorout bladderworts, including horned, eastern purple and leafy. It is one one of the few places where we've seen Bartram's rosegentian and seaside gentian. Blackeyed Susans abound.
Amenities: The North entrance lacks both drinking water and restrooms. There is an informational kiosk and a small building used as check-in station for hunters. There is a small floating dock and ample parking. There are literally miles and miles of trails. There are numerous designated primative campsites. North Grade Road is paved, though it looks like the Air Force used it to practice bombing runs. Sections of North Grade are nearly impassable for most passenger vehicles.
Nearby: Dupuis Wildlife and Environmental Area lies directly to the west, but there is no direct access from Corbett. To get there, you'll have to take the Beeline Highway and cross into Martin County. Same with the Jones/Hungryland Wildlife and Environmental Area. Pine Glades Natural Area is close via Indiantown Road. If you take the Beeline from West Palm Beach or Palm Beach Gardens, you'll pass the Loxahatchee Slough Natural Area and Sweet Bay Natural Area.
Links: The Great Florida Birding Trail's take on J.W. Corbett is here; the Institute for Regional Conservation's inventory of plants for the wildlife management area is here. Both links are for the entire WMA. The Friends of Corbett is here.
Of Note: JW Corbett is open 24 hours every day of the year. There is an entrance fee paid on an honor system. Be a bit careful where you drive. The main roads are open to vehicles throughout the year, but there are side roads that are open only during hunting seasons. Many of these roads are impassable by most passenger vehicles but some look fairly inviting. Feel free to hike down these roads. Also feel free to drive along the roads leading to designated campgrounds.
Cover Photo: A striped mud turtle makes his way across North Grade Road amid a summer's rain. Second Photo: Like South Florida generally, small changes in elevation and mean major changes in habitat. Here a strip of slash pines and shrubs is like an island amid a wet meadown.
