PARKS & OUTDOORS
Babcock Ranch Preserve
Charlotte County · Gulf Coast
Sixty-seven thousand acres of the old Crescent B Ranch, bought by the state in 2006, with swamp buggy tours through Telegraph Swamp.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
Babcock Ranch Preserve covers 67,618 acres in southeast Charlotte County, bought by the State of Florida in 2006 from what was then the Crescent B Ranch. The ground is a mosaic of pinelands, both wet and mesic flatwoods, with dry prairie and cypress through it, and Telegraph Swamp, a cypress strand swamp, runs across the eastern half. Florida black bears and Florida panthers live here, along with the Osceola subspecies of wild turkey, and thirteen species listed as endangered, threatened or of special concern have been recorded, among them the crested caracara, the gopher tortoise, the red-cockaded woodpecker, the eastern indigo snake and the burrowing owl. Hunting, hiking, wildlife viewing, cycling, fishing, camping and horseback riding are all permitted, and swamp buggy ecotours run through Telegraph Swamp. The state bought the ranch in 2006 rather than see it subdivided, which is why a block of land this size survives intact this close to the coast, and it is why panthers and black bears still have room to move here. A separate new town nearby also carries the Babcock name; it is not this place, and anyone searching for one will find the other
Keep comparing