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Lake Wales Ridge State Forest
Great Florida Birding Trail site

drawing of wildlife

Description:
Arbuckle and Walk-In-The-Water encompass 20,000 acres in the Lake Wales Ridge State Forest near Avon Park. These two tracts are among the best places to see scrub habitat, the system of ancient sand dunes that supports the highest concentration of rare and endangered plants in the United States. Twenty miles of the marked Florida Trail meander through Arbuckle. Walk-In-The-Water has a network of unmarked trails.

Watchable Wildlife:
Animals adapted to the harsh conditions of this drought-tolerant landscape include scrub jays, gopher tortoises, and indigo snakes. Keen observers may see creatures such as blue-tailed mole skinks, scrub lizards, short-tailed snakes, Florida mice, Lake Placid funnel wolf spiders and sand skinks. When you are not looking at the ground, keep an eye out for white-tailed deer, black bears, squirrels, feral hogs, bobcat, spotted skunks and short-tailed hawks.

Ownership:
The Florida Division of Forestry

Contact:
 

Directions:
Lake Wales Ridge is in southeastern Polk County in central Florida. The Walk in the Water Tract is located two miles east of the town of Frostproof on C.R. 630. The Arbuckle Tract is located five miles south of the town of Frostproof on Lake Arbuckle Road.

Related Sites:
Other Central Florida Wildlife Sites
Florida State Parks


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