National preserve

The Big Cypress Swamp, adjacent to Everglades National Park and originally intended to be included in it, was at risk of destruction by a proposed airport.

[7] Congressional deliberation resulted in a new designation of a national preserve that bought out private landowners to conserve "the natural, scenic, hydrologic, floral and faunaI, and recreational values of the Big Cypress Watershed,"[8] though off-road vehicle use, oil extraction, hunting, and traditional use by the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes are permitted.

[10] The bills creating both preserves were signed on the same day by President Gerald Ford and contained similar wording limiting construction, agriculture, and mineral extraction to that still assuring the area's "natural and ecological integrity in perpetuity," while permitting hunting.

[4] Although hunting was also allowed at most national recreation areas, this was a major change in NPS wildlife management with a fifth of its land now open to it.

The Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve includes sites owned by Florida State Parks, the city of Jacksonville, and private landowners.

The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is so designated to accommodate a public-private partnership reducing federal land ownership,[15] and it is almost entirely owned by The Nature Conservancy.

[20] Download coordinates as: Preserves paired with a national park or monument do not have visitation separately recorded.

Their combined visitor counts are marked in italics, as the number visiting the preserve portions may be substantially smaller.