(Also view individual profiles for East Tract, Little Withlacoochee Tract and West Tract.)
Size
110,000 acres
Location
Four-corner area of Lake, Pasco, Polk and Sumter counties, east of Dade City
About the Property
Exploring the Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve, one can easily imagine the giant cypress trees that once dominated the landscape. Logged earlier this century, many of the old growth cypress had lived for 2,000 years. Despite the logging and other human impacts, the preserve is recovering well. It is an intact ecosystem that attracts many types of wildlife. Wading bird rookeries are used by wood storks, a variety of egrets and white ibis. Threatened Florida scrub-jays inhabit scrub and scrubby flatwoods. A small population of insect-eating hooded pitcher plants marks one of the southernmost occurrences of these rare plants in the United States.
The preserve is divided into three management units: Green Swamp-East Tract — 67,670 acres; Green Swamp-West Tract — 37,350 acres; and Little Withlacoochee Tract — 4,446 acres.
Nearly 36 miles of the Withlacoochee River’s 110-mile length are protected as an Outstanding Florida Water within the Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve.
As a plateau above surrounding areas, the Green Swamp region is an important physiographic feature of Florida. Its 560,000 acres of wetlands, flatlands and low ridges are bounded by prominent sandy ridgelines. Rainwater drains across the surface to create the headwaters of four major rivers: the Withlacoochee, the Ocklawaha, the Hillsborough and the Peace.
Rainwater also trickles down through the soil to replenish the Floridan aquifer, the primary source of drinking water for most Floridians. Because the Green Swamp region is elevated above outlying areas and the underground aquifer rises very close to the land surface, the region functions as the pressure head for the aquifer. Protecting the Green Swamp is vital to protecting the quality and quantity of Florida’s water supply. Recognizing the statewide significance of this area, the state of Florida in 1974 designated 322,000 acres of the Green Swamp region as an Area of Critical State Concern.
Visitors can still find evidence of Cumpressco, a town that served the needs of lumbermen working the swamp. Historic structures from this ghost town and other locations in the preserve were moved to the Pioneer Museum in Dade City. In 1976, the Cummer Sons Cypress Company sold what is now Green Swamp-West Tract to the Agri-Timber Corporation. Under Agri-Timber management, lands were leased for hunting and cattle; a sawmill and mulching plant supported a timbering operation; and there were sand, peat and limerock mines. The District purchased the Agri-Timber property in phases between 1984 and 1992.
Recreational Opportunities
Please view tract profiles for East Tract, Little Withlacoochee Tract and West Tract.
Nearby Recreation Lands
- District’s Upper Hillsborough property
- Florida National Scenic Trail
- Pasco County — Withlacoochee River Park
- Richloam Tract of the Withlacoochee State Forest
- Van Fleet State Trail
