Message from Our Director

Chuck Hatcher

Preservation is key at Florida State Parks. 

Many threatened and endangered species call our parks home.  

Here at Florida State Parks, one of our main goals is to preserve and restore the natural environments and habitats that make up the Real Florida. Save the Florida Panther Day is March 16, and I can’t think of a better way to showcase all that we do to preserve the habitats of these magnificent animals than by highlighting the success of the Florida Wildlife Corridor. 

A network of nearly 18 million acres of connected lands and waters, the wildlife corridor passes through 75 of our parks from the Everglades to Pensacola, providing habitat for not just the Florida panther but a wide variety of Florida’s wildlife. Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, Florida’s largest state park at 79,000 acres, is part of the corridor and provides a home for the Florida panther, black bear and the Everglades mink.    

Another park in the wildlife corridor is Crystal River Preserve State Park, which spans over 27,500 acres. The park offers an amazing variety of bird species including bald eagles, wild turkeys, pileated woodpeckers, northern bobwhites and many more. 

It is our greatest honor to be entrusted with this land and its preservation in perpetuity. Years from now and for future generations, our efforts will make a difference – for our residents, for our visitors and for our wildlife. 

See you in the parks, 

Chuck Hatcher, Director

Florida State Parks