Fern Forest Nature Center

ABOUT THIS PLACE

Fern Forest protects 244 acres of the original floodplain of Cypress Creek at Coconut Creek, and Broward County has run it since 1979. Thirty-four species of fern grow in it, among them sword and marsh ferns and the giant leather fern. The habitats stacked into that small area are tropical hammock, cypress swamp, floodplain forest with red maples, pond apple swamp and pine flatwoods. The Cypress Boardwalk is what most people come for, a raised walk through a surviving piece of the Cypress Creek floodplain, and it and its approach are accessible. The trails are the Cypress Creek Trail, the Wetland Wander north and south, the Prairie Overlook, the Prairie Perimeter Road and the Maple Walk, which is a half mile on its own. A full circuit is about 2.5 miles, or 3 with the Maple Walk. Thirty-four fern species inside 244 acres is a concentration you would expect in a wet upland rather than in a built-up county at sea level, and it is there because this piece of the original Cypress Creek floodplain was kept when the rest of it went. Guided walks and programs run from the nature center