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Tiger Creek Preserve sits on the eastern edge of the Lake Wales Ridge, one of Florida’s “ancient islands.” Once separated from the mainland by a shallow sea, the Ridge is peninsular Florida’s oldest and highest landmass.
It shelters one of the highest concentrations of threatened and endangered plants and animals in the country, including some that exist nowhere else on Earth.
Named after the pristine blackwater stream that forms its spine, the preserve contains hardwood swamps, hammocks, scrubby flatwoods, pine flatwoods, sandhill and longleaf pine/wiregrass habitat.
Nature unfolds all year long – visitors may enjoy seasonal wildflowers and blooming grasses, or anticipate the return of the swallow-tailed kite. View a Natural Events calendar.
Location
Central Florida, just south of Lake Wales
Hours
The preserve is open to the public during daylight hours.
Size
4,869 acres
Hiking Trails
Two hiking trails are open to the public:
- The George Cooley Trail is an easy, well-marked loop that goes through a variety of natural habitats: scrubby flatwoods, hardwood swamp, pine flatwoods and cutthroat seeps. Allow 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- The Highlands Trail is a 7.2 mile, sandy loop trail that takes visitors through a beautiful, open pine woods area called the "central highlands." Please allow 4 hours. A shorter side trail, the Patrick Creek Loop, crosses Patrick Creek and enters a forested wetland. Allow 2 hours.
Only foot travel is permitted, and guests are asked to stay on the trail. To protect the preserve’s rare plants and animals, the following are not allowed: pets, smoking, littering, camping, collecting, firearms, fires, hunting and radios. Visitors should bring drinking water and, please – leave dogs at home.
Contact Us
For more information about visiting or volunteering, contact the preserve office at (863) 635-7506.
Directions
From the North on State Highway 27:
Go approximately four miles south of the intersection with Highway 60 in Lake Wales. Turn left onto County Road 640 (at the stoplight, look for a sign for Babson Park and Webber College; Fatboy's BBQ is on the corner.) Go 2 miles to SR 17 (Scenic Highway) and turn right. Go through Babson Park. At the top of the hill, turn left at N. Lake Moody Road. At the stop sign, turn left onto Murray Road. Go 2 miles and take a left onto Pfundstein Road. Go 100 yards to the parking area.
From the South on State Highway 27:
Travel four miles north of Avon Park to State Road 17 (Scenic Highway). Turn right at the stoplight and take S.R. 17 through the little town of Frostproof, around Lake Moody and up the hill. At the top of the hill, turn right at Murray Road. Go 2 miles and take a left onto Pfundstein Road. Go 100 yards to the parking area.
What to See: Plants
An array of extremely rare plants includes the scrub plum, pygmy fringe tree, Lewton’s polygala, scrub ziziphus and Carter’s mustard. View a slideshow to preview some of the most fascinating plants on Earth.
What to See: Animals
Visitors might spot a bald eagle, swallow-tailed kite or red-tailed hawk flying overhead. The preserve is also home to the sand skink, gopher tortoise, Florida mouse, indigo snake and gopher frog.
Why the Conservancy Selected this Site
Tiger Creek Preserve is a critical link in a network of preserves designed to protect what is left of the Lakes Wales Ridge ecosystem. The oldest physical feature of peninsular Florida, the Ridge is a national hotspot of biological diversity and Tiger Creek Preserve is home to fascinating species. The preserve’s sandy soil also serves a critical role in water recharge.
Tiger Creek itself is a high-quality, seepage blackwater stream. A seepage stream gets its water from the surrounding uplands; streams are blackwater due to the leaching of tannins from falling vegetation. Only two or three such streams with an intact hardwood floodplain exist in Florida.
What the Conservancy Has Done to Preserve the Site
The Conservancy has protected almost the entire course of Tiger Creek. It also maintains and improves habitat for the preserve’s many rare species through prescribed burning and invasive species removal.
Species and hydrological monitoring provide critical feedback to managers. Visitors can learn to live safely in Florida’s flammable landscape at Tiger Creek Center, which provides a demonstration of “Firewise” construction and landscaping practices.
Learn more about these innovative projects:
- Jay Watch is a Conservancy-led, volunteer citizen-science program that monitors the threatened Florida scrub-jay. Florida’s only endemic bird species, this charismatic charmer is considered an “indicator species” of scrub habitat integrity – what is appropriate for the scrub-jay also supports many other native species. Scrub-jay population and habitat information, collected from more than 61 sites in 16 counties, allows land managers to implement successful management techniques that ultimately contribute to the long-term survival of both the Florida scrub-jay and healthy scrub habitat.
- Lake Wales Ridge Prescribed Fire Strike Team: This highly successful program has been a model of effective fire management in Florida and around the world. From a base at Tiger Creek Preserve, Conservancy fire professionals lead a prescribed fire team that performs controlled burns. The team provides critical resources, information and manpower along the Ridge. They help Nature’s balance by returning the historic fire pattern to dangerously overgrown habitats.
- Control of invasive, non-native species: Like much of central Florida, the preserve faces serious threats from the invasion of species such as Old World climbing fern (Lygodium microphyllum). These plants can choke native habitats and alter the behavior of both prescribed and wild fires. The Conservancy spearheads Cooperative Invasive Species Management Areas (CISMAs) in most counties throughout central Florida, bringing together private and public partners to help prevent, control and remove invasive species.
- Leading productive partnerships: From Tiger Creek Preserve, the Conservancy engages in successful partnerships with federal, state and county agencies, water management districts, universities and other non-profit organizations. The Lake Wales Ridge Ecosystem Working Group, considered one of the most successful land management consortia in the country, provides a framework for the Conservancy to collaborate with partners on a variety of mutual concerns along the Ridge.
- Conservation Planning: As development pressures mount, it becomes increasingly difficult to burn the 18,026 to 135,773 acres recommended each year to promote healthy habitats on the Lake Wales Ridge. In a proactive approach, the Conservancy is developing tools that can help local planners reduce incompatible land use practices adjacent to conservation areas and protect connectivity and water resources. Learn more about how we are letting bears lead the way. With partners at the University of Florida and Archbold Biological Station, the Conservancy works to connect and buffer conservation areas, creating functional landscapes rather than a collection of fragmented sites.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Doug Morrison (Tiger Creek); Photo © TNC (carphephorus); Photo © TNC (bonamia).
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