Big Cypress National Preserve

Big Cypress National Preserve
Map of the preserve
LocationCollier, Monroe, & Miami-Dade counties, Florida, United States
Nearest cityEverglades City, Florida
Coordinates25°51′32″N 81°02′02″W / 25.85889°N 81.03389°W / 25.85889; -81.03389
Area720,566 acres (2,916.03 km2)[1]
EstablishedOctober 11, 1974 (1974-October-11)
Visitors2,903,159 (in 2022)[2]
Governing bodyNational Park Service
WebsiteBig Cypress National Preserve
Big Cypress National Preserve is located in Florida
Big Cypress National Preserve
Big Cypress National Preserve (Florida)
Big Cypress National Preserve is located in the United States
Big Cypress National Preserve
Big Cypress National Preserve (the United States)
Rock outcroppings in the prairie north of Concho Billy Trail

Big Cypress National Preserve is a United States National Preserve located in South Florida, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of Miami on the Atlantic coastal plain. The 720,000-acre (2,900 km2) Big Cypress, along with Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas, became the first national preserves in the United States National Park System when they were established on October 11, 1974.[3] In 2008, Florida film producer Elam Stoltzfus featured the preserve in a PBS documentary.[4]

Big Cypress borders the wet freshwater marl prairies of Everglades National Park to the south, and other state and federally protected cypress country in the west, with water from the Big Cypress flowing south and west into the coastal Ten Thousand Islands region of Everglades National Park.

  1. ^ "Listing of acreage – December 31, 2011" (XLSX). Land Resource Division, National Park Service. Retrieved 2012-05-14. (National Park Service Acreage Reports)
  2. ^ "NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report". National Park Service.
  3. ^ "Big Cypress". Nps.gov. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  4. ^ "Welcome to Big Cypress Swamp · The Western Everglades". Bigcypressswamp.org. Archived from the original on 2018-10-26. Retrieved 2016-02-20.