Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary
IUCN category Ib (wilderness area)
Location	Collier County, Florida, United States
Nearest city	Naples, Florida
Coordinates
Governing body	National Audubon Society
Ramsar Wetland
Designated	March 23, 2009
U.S. National Natural Landmark
Designated	March 1964

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is a National Audubon Society sanctuary located in southwest Florida, north of Naples, Florida and east of Bonita Springs, in the United States. The sanctuary was established to protect one of the largest remaining stands of bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) and pond cypress (T. ascendens) in North America from extensive logging that was ongoing throughout the 1940s and 1950s.

History

The Corkscrew Cypress Rookery Association was formed in 1954 to protect the area. The National Audubon Society accepted responsibility for management and started constructing the first boardwalk through the swamp in 1955. In all, nearly 45 square kilometres (17 sq mi) of wetland was purchased or donated (most from or by the owners, Lee Tidewater Cypress Center Co. and Collier Enterprises).

Park offerings and amenities

Today, a boardwalk of a little over 3 km (1.9 mi) length provides walking access through (actually 'over') pine flatwoods, wet prairie, pond cypress, bald cypress, and marsh ecosystems within the sanctuary.

The sactuary is a 'gateway site' for the Great Florida Birding Trail. It is an important breeding area for the endangered wood stork and other wetland birds. It also has wintering passerines, including the painted bunting. Numerous wading bird species can be found in the wetlands of the sanctuary, including the yellow-crowned night heron, black-crowned night heron, tricolored heron, great egret, and snowy egret. Specialist birds include limpkin, barred owl and, in summer, swallow-tailed kite. The sanctuary visitor center is a Living Machine demonstration site.

American alligators and cottonmouth snakes are also inhabitants.

Gallery

• Corkscrew Swamp.jpg

  A boardwalk at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

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  A sawgrass prairie

• Egretta caerulea, Little Blue Heron.jpg

  Male little blue heron

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  Male Anolis carolinensis

External links

• Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary website
• Corkscrew Swamp Online Picture Tour