Twin Rivers Wildlife Management Area – Blue Spring Unit

ABOUT THIS PLACE

The Blue Spring Unit is one of 14 tracts that make up the Twin Rivers Wildlife Management Area, run jointly by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Forest Service. It covers nearly 2,000 acres in western Hamilton County, in sandhill and pine plantation. What is being done here is worth understanding: the managers burn the ground during the growing season rather than in winter, which is harder to do and closer to the way fire worked naturally, and it opens the understory so that ground-nesting birds can use it. Northern bobwhite is the species that benefits most, and quail hunting is the main draw in season. The same work suits gopher tortoises, eastern indigo snakes, brown-headed nuthatches, wild turkey and white-tailed deer, and the unit is listed as a birding hotspot. Miles of marked trail roads carry wildlife viewing, hiking, cycling and horseback riding. Fishing is open all year with a Florida license. Camping is allowed only outside hunting periods and only with a permit from the Florida Forest Service