WILDLIFE & CONSERVATION
Dinner Island Ranch Wildlife Management Area
Hendry County · South Florida & the Keys
A working cattle ranch of 21,707 acres that is also public land, 29 miles southwest of Clewiston.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
Dinner Island Ranch covers 21,707 acres on County Road 833, about 29 miles southwest of Clewiston. It is unusual in that it is a working ranch and public land at the same time, managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission with cattle still part of how the ground is kept. People have been drawn to the Dinner Island area for over a thousand years, first Native Americans and then a run of explorers and settlers. The habitats are hardwood hammock, freshwater swamp, prairie and pine flatwoods, and the open prairie is what makes the birding here worth the drive. It is a site on the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail. Crested caracara are the draw, along with sandhill cranes both resident and migratory, burrowing owls and wild turkey, with wood stork, roseate spoonbill, short-tailed hawk, purple gallinule and painted bunting all recorded. Snail kites and whistling-ducks turn up. Winter brings sparrows and loggerhead shrikes, and spring and fall bring migrating songbirds. Alligators are common. Visitors drive or cycle the Hilliard Grade and the reclaimed cattle penning lanes. There is accessible parking and a restroom, camping and horseback riding. It opens sunrise to sunset and costs nothing
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