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The eastern indigo snake is a species of large, non-venomous snake in the family Colubridae. Native to the southeastern United States, it is the longest native snake species in the country.
The Ocala National Forest is the second largest nationally protected forest in the U.S. State of Florida. It covers 607 square miles (1,570 km2) of North Central Florida. It is located three miles (5 km) east of Ocala and 16 miles (26 km) southeast of Gainesville. The Ocala National Forest, established in 1908, is the oldest national forest east of the Mississippi River and the southernmost national forest in the continental U.S. The word Ocala is thought to be a derivative of a Timucuan term meaning "fair land" or "big hammock". The forest is headquartered in Tallahassee, as are all three National Forests in Florida, but there are local ranger district offices located in Silver Springs and Umatilla.
The Apalachicola National Forest is the largest U.S. National Forest in the state of Florida. It encompasses 632,890 acres and is the only national forest located in the Florida Panhandle. The National Forest provides water and land-based outdoors activities such as off-road biking, hiking, swimming, boating, hunting, fishing, horse-back riding, and off-road ATV usage.
De Soto National Forest, named for 16th-century Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto, is 518,587 acres of pine forests in southern Mississippi. It is one of the most important protected areas for the biological diversity of the Gulf Coast ecoregion of North America.
The Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge (LSNWR) is part of the United States National Wildlife Refuge System. It is located in southeastern Dixie and northwestern Levy counties on the western coast of Florida, approximately fifty miles southwest of the city of Gainesville.
The gopher tortoise is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to the southeastern United States. The gopher tortoise is seen as a keystone species because it digs burrows that provide shelter for at least 360 other animal species. G. polyphemus is threatened by predation and habitat destruction. Habitat degradation is the primary reason that the gopher tortoise is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, but they are considered threatened in some states while they are endangered in others.
The Florida Trail is one of eleven National Scenic Trails in the United States, created by the National Trails System Act of 1968. It runs 1,500 miles (2,400 km), from Big Cypress National Preserve to Fort Pickens at Gulf Islands National Seashore, Pensacola Beach. Also known as the Florida National Scenic Trail, the trail provides permanent non-motorized recreation for hiking and other compatible activities within an hour of most floridians.
In 1999, the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve was designated in St. Johns and Flagler counties, Florida as a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) system. The GTM Research Reserve represents the east Florida sub-region of the Carolinian bioregion. It is one of 30 NERRs in 23 states and one territory. GTM is one of three NERRs in Florida and is administered on behalf of the state by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Florida Coastal Office as part of a network that includes forty-one aquatic preserves, three NERRs, a National Marine Sanctuary, the Coral Reef Conservation Program and the Florida Oceans and Coastal Council. Additional interests are held in the research and management of the GTM and connected preserved or conserved lands including:
The Lake George State Forest is a designated protected area and state forest in the U.S. state of Florida. The 21,176-acre (8,570 ha) forest is located in northwestern Volusia County, Florida, near Lake George and the communities of Pierson, Barberville, and Volusia. It is overseen by the Florida Forest Service within the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Lake Jesup is the largest lake in Seminole County, Florida, United States and is one of many that make up the St. Johns River. Located along the middle basin of the St. Johns, the lake encompasses an area of approximately 16,000 acres (65 km2), including open water and floodplain. It is named in honor of Brigadier General Thomas Jesup, an American military officer who served in the Second Seminole War. The lake is bisected by one of the state's longest free-standing bridges, part of the Seminole County Expressway.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is a Florida government agency founded in 1999 and headquartered in Tallahassee. It manages and regulates the state's fish and wildlife resources, and enforces related laws. Officers are managers, researchers, and support personnel, and perform law enforcement in the course of their duties.
Colt Creek State Park is a Florida State Park in Central Florida, 16 miles (26 km) north of Lakeland off of State Road 471. This 5,067 acre park nestled within the Green Swamp Wilderness Area and named after one of the tributaries that flows through the property was opened to the public on January 20, 2007. Composed mainly of pine flatwoods, cypress domes and open pasture land, this piece of pristine wilderness is home to many animal species including the American bald eagle, Southern fox squirrel, gopher tortoise, white-tailed deer, wild turkey and bobcat.
The Florida black bear is a subspecies of the American black bear that has historically ranged throughout most of Florida and the southern portions of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. The large black-furred bears live mainly in forested areas and have seen recent habitat reduction throughout the state due to increased human development, as well as habitat modifications within bear habitat.
Lake Mary is a census-designated place and unincorporated area in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 1,575 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The Southeastern conifer forests are a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of the southeastern United States. It is the largest conifer forest ecoregion east of the Mississippi River. It is also the southernmost instance of temperate coniferous forest within the Nearctic realm.
Sherman's fox squirrel is a subspecies of the fox squirrel. It lives in the U.S. states of Florida and Georgia in fire-prone areas of longleaf pine and wiregrass, especially around sandhills. A tree squirrel, Sherman's fox squirrel has lost much of its habitat to farming and development. This type of squirrel nests in oak trees using leaves and Spanish moss.
State Road 538 (SR 538), also known as the Poinciana Parkway, is a 7.2-mile (11.6 km) controlled-access toll road built in Osceola and Polk Counties, Florida. Construction began in 2013 and was completed in 2016. The road had been planned for decades to provide a traffic outlet from Poinciana northwest to US 17/US 92 and Interstate 4. Costs skyrocketed after land along the planned route was converted to a mitigation bank, requiring a bridge to span most of the 1.2 miles (1.9 km) stretch through the restored wetland. The road was originally planned to be built by Avatar—the primary developer of Poinciana—as a four-lane, limited-access highway; after the decision was made to build the bridge across the mitigation bank a toll was planned for the bridge segment of the road, but the collapse of the 2000s housing bubble and increased costs forced Avatar to abandon their plans to build the private toll road. About the same time, Osceola County formed the Osceola County Expressway Authority to build a loop road around the Kissimmee-St.Cloud area, which would include the Poinciana Parkway.
The Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area, created in 2012, the newest addition and 556th unit of the United States National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) System, began with 10 acres (4.0 ha) donated to the conservation effort as part of the Obama administration's America's Great Outdoors Initiative.
Hidden Waters Preserve is a nature reserve located on Country Club Road near Eustis, Florida.
The North American Southern Coastal Plain is a Level III ecoregion designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in six U.S. states. The region stretches across the Gulf coast from eastern Louisiana to Florida, forms the majority of Florida, and forms the coastlines of Georgia and much of South Carolina. It has been divided into twelve Level IV ecoregions.
References
- ↑ "Split Oak Forest". www.orangecountyfl.net. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
- ↑ "Split Oak Forest Wildlife and Environmental Area". www.osceola.org. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
- ↑ "Split Oak Forest - Habitat and Management". Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
- ↑ "Split Oak Forest - History". Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
- ↑ "Split Oak Forest Wildlife and Environmental Area". Florida Fish And Wildlife Conservation Commission.
- ↑ Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board (November 21, 2019). "Split Oak highway compromise is about as good as it'll get — take the deal". Orlando Sentinel (Editorial).
- ↑ Powers, Scott (November 18, 2019). "Osceola Parkway preferred route to cut through southern end of Split Oak Forest". Florida Politics. Extensive Enterprises Media.
- ↑ Powers, Scott (November 18, 2019). "Osceola Parkway and Split Oak road recommendations to be revealed". Florida Politics. Extensive Enterprises Media.
- ↑ Spear, Kevin (October 31, 2019). "Split Oak controversy over expressway route re-emerges with tough choices". Orlando Sentinel.
