St. Lucie County Preserves and Conservation Lands

St. Lucie County's Environmental Resources Department counts 28 preserves spread across more than 11,000 acres, open every day from dawn to dusk with no gate fee, parking fee or reservation (Preserves of St. Lucie County).

The county page gives two counts: the header and the numbers box say 28 preserves, while the list heading a few lines down reads Twenty-nine preserves, grouped by where they sit in the county (county preserves page). The Oxbow Eco-Center page repeats 28 preserves and adds a figure of 60+ miles of trails across 11,000+ acres (Oxbow Eco-Center page).

Posted hours differ between St. Lucie County pages. The main preserves page says dawn to dusk, seven days a week, including holidays (county preserves page); the Oxbow page says sunrise to sunset, 365 days (Oxbow page); and the Lakewood Park Preserve page lists 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily (Lakewood Park Preserve page).

The county lists eleven preserves along the coast and lagoon, from Bear Point Sanctuary and Wildcat Cove on Hutchinson Island to the Indrio scrub preserves north of Fort Pierce (county preserves page, coast and lagoon group).

Ocean Bay Preserve also has its own Digital Towns guide. Bear Point Sanctuary at 2601 S. Ocean Drive, Fort Pierce, is a 13-acre mangrove-lined impoundment that the Mosquito Control District manages, and it is a stop on the Great Florida Birding Trail (Bear Point Sanctuary page). Its trail runs about a mile, and the page records the site as the place of the last recorded black bear hunt by the local Native Americans on Hutchinson Island.

Twelve preserves sit in and around Fort Pierce, Port St. Lucie and the North Fork of the St. Lucie River, and the county calls them its easiest trails to reach (county preserves page, North Fork group).

Several trails in this St. Lucie County group are short: Ancient Oaks has a one-mile boardwalk through an oak hammock, Captain Hammond's Hammock and Jones Hammock each have half-mile loops, Citrus Hammock has a half-mile trail beside a 4-acre pond, and Sheraton Scrub has a one-mile interpretive trail through scrub bought to protect Florida scrub-jay habitat (county preserves page). Indian Hills Recreation Area ties disc golf and a canoe launch together with a 1.4-mile paved SUN Trail segment, and Lakewood Park Preserve offers two miles of trail. Spruce Bluff has one trail to an 1891 pioneer settlement and another to a prehistoric Native American mound.

Paddlers use several of these Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce sites as launches. Petravice Family Preserve, a former tropical plant nursery, and Richard E. Becker Preserve both have ADA kayak launches, and the county notes that the North Fork carries Outstanding Florida Water status dating to 1972 (county preserves page, paddling). The Oxbow Eco-Center, on 225 acres along the North Fork at 5400 NE St. James Drive, Port St. Lucie, is the county's environmental learning center, and its trails open from sunrise until sunset (Oxbow Eco-Center page).

The western St. Lucie County preserves hold the longest trails, led by Bluefield Ranch Preserve, where over 20 miles of trail shared by hikers, mountain bikers and riders cross 3,285 acres (Bluefield Ranch Preserve page).

The ranch preserve, whose address is 30501 Bluefield Road, Port St. Lucie, is a former cattle ranch that the county calls its largest and most ecologically rich preserve, holding the most protected scrub in the county (Bluefield Ranch Preserve page). Camping there is primitive, either hike-in or equestrian, and the site has a raised wildlife deck plus a blind; camping permits come through (772) 462-2526, and the page warns of unpaved rural roads.

Other ranch country sites listed by St. Lucie County include George LeStrange Preserve, a one-mile loop around 37-acre Lake Zobel with a kayak launch and catch-and-release fishing; Gordy Road Preserve, home to the largest disc golf course in the county around a 9-acre lake; the 494-acre Steven J. Fousek Preserve joining Paleo, Hackberry and Teague hammocks; and Ten Mile Creek Preserve, with a canoe launch and views into the historic oxbows (county preserves page, western group). Pinelands Preserve, 750 acres of pine flatwoods, can be visited only on a free guided hike.

The county preserve closures page, read October 22, 2026, listed four sites: a partial closure at George LeStrange plus closures at the Becker, Walton Scrub and Pinelands preserves (St. Lucie County preserve closures page).

The closures page is where Environmental Resources posts the reason for each closure and its expected reopening, and the department answers weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at (772) 462-2526 (ERD contact on the preserves page). At LeStrange, the county reports that a Ten Mile Creek floodplain restoration with Ducks Unlimited is complete and the full lake trail has reopened, while the river trail stays closed for the new footbridges (closures page). The Becker bridge and kayak launch cost roughly $138,000 for design, engineering, permitting and construction, helped by a federal Recreational Trails Program grant that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection administers.

The St. Lucie County Environmental Lands program began in 1994, when voters approved a $20 million bond to buy land ahead of development, and county staff have since multiplied that sum more than three times through partnerships (county preserves page, history).

Partners named for that growth are the South Florida Water Management District, the Florida Communities Trust, a district land acquisition program and the state Conservation and Recreational Lands program (county preserves page). The county says land is still being acquired, while the focus has shifted toward trailheads, boardwalks, observation towers and accessible launches on preserves it already owns. The Environmental Resources Department works from 2300 Virginia Ave. in Fort Pierce and answers weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at (772) 462-2526.

Not every site is run by Environmental Resources alone: Bear Point Sanctuary on Hutchinson Island is managed by the Mosquito Control District, and the page ties it to the Bear Point Mitigation Bank, which sells environmental credits meant to improve the health of the Indian River Lagoon (Bear Point Sanctuary page). Lakewood Park Preserve is managed jointly by Parks and Recreation and Environmental Resources, with 120 of its 156 acres set aside as preserve (Lakewood Park Preserve page).

County naturalists lead hikes, paddles and wildlife walks on St. Lucie County preserves from October through June; hikes and family programs are free, kayak programs cost $20 per person, and every program needs a reservation (county preserves page, guided programs).

The county's visitor rules for St. Lucie County preserves are short: pack in and pack out, keep pets leashed, stay on marked trails, and never feed wildlife, because the sites are home to alligators and venomous snakes (county preserves page, visitor rules). Paths are natural surface that may flood in the rainy season, some access roads are dirt, and the county advises water, sun protection, insect repellent and closed shoes. Visitors use the sites at their own risk.

The Oxbow Eco-Center building in Port St. Lucie posts its own hours, noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, with free admission and the phone (772) 785-5833 (Oxbow Eco-Center page). The preserves page links to the current guided program schedule (county preserves page). Last verified: October 22, 2026, by reading the county preserves page, the preserve closures list, the Bear Point Sanctuary, Bluefield Ranch and Lakewood Park Preserve pages, and the Oxbow Eco-Center page.