Florida is known for its sunshine, beaches and theme parks, but the Sunshine State also boasts some of the most beautiful and expansive national parks in the U.S. There are three parks in Florida and each has its own unique landscape and wildlife that its visitors can explore.
Biscayne National Park
Just south of Miami, Biscayne works to protect the area’s barrier reefs and Biscayne Bay. Located on Florida’s southern coast, Biscayne is also home to some of the best scuba diving and snorkelling spots in the whole of America where the park is made up of 95 per cent water. Covering an extensive 172,971 acres, the park includes one of the Florida Keys islands, Elliot Key, which is made up of fossilised coral reef.
The park welcomes nearly 500,000 people a year who enjoy the park’s many natural outdoor pursuits that include water sports like kayaking, windsurfing, fishing and more.
Dry Tortugas National Park
Situated in the Gulf of Mexico, the Dry Tortugas is known for its wildlife and historic shipwrecks. The park’s most iconic feature is that of its coastal fortress – Fort Jefferson. This huge structure remains unfinished to this day, despite construction beginning in 1846 under the supervision and planning of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Made up of over 16 million individual bricks, the fort was once used as a prison after the Civil War to detain a number of ‘Lincoln Conspirators’, among other prisoners.
While the park is only accessible via boat or seaplane, it still receives, on average, 60,000 visitors annually, as it is popular for family holidays involving camping, fishing and snorkelling in the park’s warm waters
Everglades National Park
The only national park in Florida to be named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Everglades park is the third largest in the south USA, after Yellowstone and Death Valley, covering over a million and a half acres. The park is also recognised as an International Biosphere Reserve and a Wetland of International Importance due to its wildlife and natural environment.
Home to 36 threatened and protected species, including the Florida panther, the American crocodile and the West Indian manatee, the Everglades is a subject of much heated debate in Florida, as its delicate ecosystem is constantly under threat from human activity. The park protects around 20 per cent of the southern everglades and is a fantastic example of Floridian nature and wildlife.
Thom Sanders
