Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve

ABOUT THIS PLACE

The Southwest Florida Water Management District manages it in five tracts: the East Tract at 51,149 acres, the West Tract at 37,350, the Hampton Tract at 11,052, Colt Creek State Park at 5,067, and the Little Withlacoochee Tract at 4,446 acres, which is the piece nearest Sumter County. Four rivers rise here: the Withlacoochee, the Ocklawaha, the Hillsborough and the Peace. Nearly thirty-six miles of the Withlacoochee run through protected land. Rain that falls on the swamp soaks down to recharge the Floridan aquifer, which supplies drinking water to most of the state, and that is the reason 322,000 acres of the wider Green Swamp region were declared an Area of Critical State Concern in 1974. The ground shifts between sandhills, pine flatwoods, oak hammocks, river swamp and cypress ponds. The Florida National Scenic Trail runs through it, and an old road network opens the rest to walkers, bicycles and horses. Camping, birding, fishing, paddling and seasonal hunting are all permitted, with picnic areas and restrooms at the main entrances