The Kiplinger Nature Preserve Park is a 164 acre natural area in Stuart. The land used to belong to…read morethe Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc. and the Kiplinger Foundation Inc. until Martin County purchased it to preserve the land. In 2020 the Kiplinger family donated another 7 acres to the preserve protecting it from retail development. Ecological communities making up the preserve include freshwater and mangrove swamps, wet prairie and estuarine river. The preserve contains stands of sand pine and scrub oak as well as pine and scrubby flatwoods. Animals that have been spotted here include the Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, the Golden Silk Spider, raccoons, and alligators. In the past I have seem sandhill cranes and this time I spotted a marsh bunny hopping across the trail. The trail that runs through Kiplinger is an easy one mile loop. It runs behind condos, past wetlands, across some raised boardwalks and back along the river. The nature center was closed for improvements to the parking lot and I was delighted to see that they are back open although parts of the trail were muddy. In addition to the trail there is a free parking lot, three foot bridges, a floating fishing dock, and a place to launch a kayak or a canoe. It is a great place to enjoy nature, get some exercise and fresh air.

This park is a natural area in Stuart. The 164 acre mangrove area is located in the South Fork of…read morethe St. Lucie River. There is easy public parking at the entrance and a picnic pavilion. I walked the easy picturesque hiking trail and crossed two of the three footbridges before reaching the river. There is a floating dock for fishing. I only spotted one ibis and the crabs in the mangrove and a variety of Florida wild flowers.

This is a new to me park! It is located at Northernmost part of Jupiter Community Park- you have to…read moredrive through this park to find it. 160 acres with wooded areas and trails, but also the park begins with water!Enter by crossing a bridge over part of the Loxahatchee River. This leads to a short path along the water to get to a fishing pier with a pavilion. My kids fished on the pier, bridge, and along the shore. We parked in the plentiful Community Park parking lot, in front of the Flatwoods sign. I dropped off my kids here for the Fishing Camp from Building Up Sports Academy, which hosts the camp at various municipalities across Palm Beach County, this one offered by the Town of Jupiter. What a great spot to hang out in all day, especially for a camp.! My kids caught fish here successfully. I'm excited to revisit and walk the trails.

This is a 160 acre natural area preserve. Entrance to the preserve is in Jupiter Community Park…read more This natural area was identified has having environmentally important land and it was preserved as part of the county's 1999 Bond Referendum for Land Acquisitionfor Conservation Purposes. The county purchased this land in 2000 from Watermark Communities. There are two trails, a .55 paved trail and a 1.44 mile sandy trail. The trails go through mesic flatwoods, wet flatwoods, depression marsh, and dome swamp ecosystems. The trail has boardwalks, a swing, benches, a fishing pier and an observation platform. The preserve has several populations of rare plants including Atlantic St. John's-wort, trumpet creeper, and yellow jessamine. Other plants you will include saw palmetto, slash pine, gallberry, beautyberry, cypress, ferns, gopher apple, tarflower, and pinebarren goldenrod. During my hike I saw eastern cotton tail rabbits, blue jay's, butterflies, squirrels, and lizards. Other animals that have been recorded here include raccoon, bob cat, red shoulder hawk, osprey, and gopher tortoises. This natural area is part of the Florida's Greenways and Trails System, a system of linked conservation lands creating a wildlife corridor adjacent to the Loxahatchee River. Something really unique about this trail that I love and have never seen before is it has been certified as autism friendly in April 2019 by the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities. The Learning Academy, a group of professionals that includes speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, teachers, behavior analysts and representatives from Palm Beach County Environmental Resources Management developed improvements to the Flatwoods Natural Area to make the trail more inviting to people with sensory issues. Added were the half mile of ADA paved trails, visual signage, benches to allow people to take a break, a swing, physical barriers, a nature trail scavenger hunt, and sensory stations. I have been on a lot of trails that do not take people with disabilities into consideration so I was so impressed to see the accommodations that have been made to make this trail user friendly for all members of the community. This is the first trail in the Florida to be certified as autism friendly and hopefully it is the start of more to come. The county has designed this area to be enjoyed passively while still protecting it. It is ideal for hiking, photography, and bird watching. Smoking, hunting, feeding wildlife, biking, and taking anything are all prohibited activities. Flatwoods is open every day of the year from sunrise to sunset.

Tropical Farms is a neighborhood in Stuart, Florida. Way back in 1910, this area was a convict…read morecamp, part of the convict camps that began in the deep South in the late 1800s. By the early 1900's they grew in number to provide laborers for industries such as logging, phosphate mining, farming, railroad building, sawmills and turpentine production. Private industries leased the men from the state for a fee and had to provide them with shelter, food, and medical care. A few years later the Tropical Farms camp moved south to Delray Beach to clear roads. The camps were abolished in the 1920's after investigations revealed abuse of prisoners. Today this area remains rural with farms and many people owning horses. The Tropical Farms Park is a basic neighborhood park located next to Tropical Farms Fire Station 22. The fenced in park has amenities that include a large open field, covered pavilions with picnic tables and grills, and a playground with swings, slides, and climbing structures. This park is good for picnics, cookouts, and play.

Abacoa Community Park is a park located in the Abacoa residential community of Jupiter. The name…read moreAbacoa refers to the first Indigenous Village identified in documents recounting Ponce'de :Leom's discovery of Florida in 1513. It was his first friendly encounter with the Native Americans living in Florida. The land Abacoa is on was land once owned by insurance businessman and Palm Beach Gardens founder John D. MacArthur. Abacoa is now a 2,055-acre community with over 6,000 homes with schools, shops, offices, commercial space, recreation sites, and nature preserves One of the recreation spaces in this master planned community is the Abacoa Community Park. Park amenities include basketball courts, hockey rink, playground, racquetball courts, skate park, and tennis courts. the park is also the site of the Abacoa Christmas tree. Yesterday the city held the tree lighting ceremony and had 24 tons of snow for the kids to play in along with a visit by Santa Clause to kick off the holiday season. The event also had a bounce house, food vendors, and a DJ. This is a nice park for play, exercise, and community events.

I arrived here just as a biking group arrived. They told me that the ride out and back along the…read moreBluegill Trail was beautiful and refreshing. They looked sweaty. I opted not to unpack my own bike and take the ride, instead climbing the flight of stairs to the observation deck to enjoy the view. The 1.5 acre park was officially renamed in 2012 to the Karen T. Marcus Sandhill Crane Access Park. Commissioner Marcus championed environmental preservation during her nearly three decades in office. The park includes a decent sized parking lot and a building with public restrooms. Be on the lookout for wildlife. [Review 468 of 2025 - 2111 in Florida - 24030 overall]

Sandhill Crane Access Park started off as a gravel parking lot owned by Florida Power & Light. FPL…read morehad to give the land to the city as a concession having their Ryder substation east of the property approved. FPL removed the invasive plants and provided drainage and landscaping. Palm Beach Gardens spent $550,000, including $200,000 from Florida Department of Environmental Protection on improvements. In 2006, the city opened it as a park that serves as a point of entrance to the Bluegill Trail that runs along the C-18 Canal. The trail allows hikers, equestrian riders, and bikers to travel the North Everglades Natural Area. To Riverbend Park in Jupiter. In November 2012 the 1.5 acre Sandhill Crane Access Park was renamed Karen T. Marcus Sandhill Crane Access Park to honor commissioner Karen Marcus. Marcus was first elected to the Palm Beach commission in 1984. The park was named in her honor because the commission felt he helped control the development in northern Palm Beach to keep it from becoming overcrowded. In addition to the trail, the park has restrooms, an observation deck, fishing pier, picnic tables and a boat launch onto the C-18 Canal. Sadly I did not see any of my beloved sandhill cranes this trip although there were other birds willing to show off. Whether you are horse back riding, hiking, boating, or just stopping to enjoy nature, this park will allow you to access the best that Florida's Mother Nature has to offer.

A brand new, 104.9-acre nature preserve, Rosser Lakes Preserve, opened earlier this month in Port…read moreSt. Lucie. It's the first property acquired under the city's Naturally PSL Land Bank, a new initiative to conserve and protect land. The preserve is located between Interstate 95 and Rosser Boulevard. The city purchased the property on February 20, 2026, for $2.5 million. Originally slated for 100 homes, the land has instead been transformed into a community preserve dedicated to passive recreation. Rosser Lakes Preserve is open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to sunset. The preserve features two large lakes that are popular for shoreline fishing. Visitors can also canoe or kayak on the lakes, hike the trails, and enjoy wildlife watching. During my hike, I spotted several birds, a marsh rabbit, and even an alligator in the lake. Port St. Lucie has already identified 198 acres of existing natural preserves and designated nearly 745 additional acres for future green space. The trail network has grown to 41 miles, with 20 more miles planned. Two new parks opened in 2024, and six more are expected to open soon. I applaud Port St. Lucie's commitment to conservation and its efforts to preserve natural areas for both residents and visitors to enjoy.

Nice little walk on a paved travel about .5 miles in covered shade. You can go longer on unpaved…read moretrails too. No bathroom, water station and small parking lot with only about 7 spots. A lot of people park on the side. We saw a tortoise right when we walked in which was cool. One was eating and the other was by its home which looked like a hole in the ground. Also saw some zebra butterflies. Would come back again and walk more.

Fabulous walk and nature area. Not many people and not too buggy either. I was fortunate enough to…read moresee a snake, gopher tortoise and boat tailed grackle. Will be back!

I've been wanting to visit this ERM park ever since visiting its neighbor, Juno Dunes Natural Area…read more The last time I tried to visit, the very small parking lot was full. From the road, this park looks to be all scrub, but like the other park, it contains multiple habitats inside. The first paved walk leads to a very nice pavilion overlooking the River. The view was peaceful and beautiful. Trying to access the unpaved trails, however, proved problematic. We turned onto the red path, only to find that the marker stakes had most of the red faded away and were difficult to find. At one point there is a huge fork in the path with no direction on which way to go. The end of the trail is practically non existent, with no clear path, but it does return us to the park entrance. I insisted on trying to get to Ski Beach- whatever that was! It looked about a 1/3 the way of the yellow trail. The path was very sandy, and difficult to walk on for that reason, and it seemed to take forever! When we finally found Ski Beach, we found another Park kiosk, a garbage can, and a tiny path down to... a beach! and the Intracoastal. We watched fish swim by, and lots of boats go by. This could be a nice place to wade or further explore, if you lugged all of your things here. ERM, would have loved finding a bench here, so we had someplace to take our shoes on and off. We did not continue down the yellow trail due to being exhausted, but I would like to do this again. The landscape was nice- just difficult to walk in due to the white sand. We saw a cactus in bloom, a snake, and a TON of lichen. Lichen everywhere! It really looked like little fairy landscapes to me. I think I finally identified Florida rosemary too! Kudo to ERM for the map/brochures. My kids pore over every aspect of it while we walk, trying to find all the natural items pictured, excitedly matching the pictures to plants. Thank you!

Jupiter Ridge is located south of the Jupiter inlet. It is part of the Great Florida Bird and…read moreWildlife Trail. This natural area is made up of 274 acres of scrub that contain five native Florida ecosystems: scrub, scrubby flatwoods, mesic flatwoods, depression marsh and mangrove swamp, It is one of the few places you can go in Jupiter to see how Florida looked before it was developed. Thirty one plant species live here as well as threatened and endangered species like the large-flowered rosemary, the Florida scrub-jay; and the gopher tortoise. Jupiter Ridge is owned by the state Conservation and Recreation Lands project which is managed by Palm beach County. This natural area has the longest shoreline along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway of any other natural area in Palm Beach County. There is also 7,600 feet of water frontage along the Intracoastal Waterway along the Loxahatchee River/Lake Worth Creek Aquatic Preserve. There are three hiking trails, the paved Little Blue Heron Trail, (0.2 miles), the sand Scrub Lizard Trail (1.7 miles). and the sand Pawpaw Trail (0.6 miles). The sand trails really give your legs a work out and there is no shade so the sun can be brutal. The natural area has canoe and kayak access from Ski Beach and you may be able to spot manatees. There is also an observation platform on the Little Blue heron Trail that overlooks Old Lake Worth Creek. Jupiter Ridge Natural Area is open to the public, sunrise to sunset, seven days a week.