Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park

On one hand, Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park is what one would expect of Florida: a low-lying, often water-logged marshland home to storks and alligators. Yet at the same time, it also feels like a piece of the Great Plains transported southeast, with wild bison and feral horses and cattle roaming an almost endless landscape! In actuality, Paynes Prairie transports visitors not in place but in time, to a period when much of Florida was wet, yet wide-open prairies and even bison thrived until the late 18th century.

Paynes Prairie drains not into the ocean but into the Achalua Sink where water enters the vast Floridan aquifer. In some periods, the sink was blocked and the prairie was flooded, forming a lake that even held steamboats during the late 19th century. Unfortunately, the native ecosystem has been significantly damaged by canals built to siphon away water and the construction of Interstate 75. In 1970, the State of Florida bought back much of the prairie and began restoring it to its natural state. That led to the reintroduction of some species, such as the bison seen today.