WILDLIFE & CONSERVATION
Chinsegut Wildlife and Environmental Area
Hernando County · Gulf Coast
Some of the oldest longleaf pines in central Florida standing around a wet prairie where sandhill cranes gather all winter.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
The Conservation Center tract of the Chinsegut Wildlife and Environmental Area lies north of Brooksville, with the main trailhead at 23212 Lake Lindsey Road, reached off U.S. 41 and Snow Memorial Highway. May's Prairie is the heart of it, a wet prairie depression that draws wildlife the way open water draws it elsewhere. Sandhill cranes gather here through the winter, songbirds are plentiful, and on a still morning mist lies over the whole flat expanse of it at dawn. Around the prairie stand some of the oldest longleaf pines in central Florida, on sandhill ground that has become rare. About four miles of looping trail cross the area, part of it carrying the orange blazes of the Florida National Scenic Trail. The Cypress Walk has a boardwalk with the prairie opening out from it, the Prairie-to-Pines Trail is the main way in through the longleaf, and the Chinsegut Nature Trail loops the prairie itself. Alligator hatchlings turn up in summer. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission manages it. The area opens sunrise to sunset and is free; the Conservation Center itself is open Friday and Saturday from 8 to 2, when restrooms and picnic tables are available. Leashed dogs are welcome. No bicycles and no camping
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