HISTORY & HERITAGE
Betty Steflik Memorial Preserve
Flagler County · Atlantic Coast
Three hundred and twenty acres of mangrove marsh and boardwalk on the Intracoastal at Flagler Beach, and a good place to stand still and watch birds.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
Betty Steflik Memorial Preserve covers 320 acres of mangrove marsh, mud flat and coastal upland at 815 Moody Lane in Flagler Beach. The parking area sits on an island inside the mangrove forest, with a picnic shelter and restrooms. A two-mile loop runs counterclockwise around the island through coastal hammock of cedar and palm, then out along boardwalks toward the Intracoastal Waterway and the Moody boat launch. The boardwalks are what make the walk: they carry you over tidal creek and salt marsh to observation platforms where manatees and dolphins come past. This is a well-regarded birding spot, with wading birds and osprey working the marsh, and gopher tortoises live on the sand ridge, where their burrows are easy to pick out. Under the tree canopy there are shell mounds, which say that Timucua people were living and eating here long before any European arrived. The preserve is free, open daily from dawn until 11 at night, and leashed dogs are welcome
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