Oxbow Eco-Center in St. Lucie County, Florida

The Oxbow Eco-Center and Preserve is a St. Lucie County nature preserve and environmental learning center covering 225 acres beside the North Fork of the St. Lucie River at 5400 NE St. James Drive, Port St. Lucie (Oxbow Eco-Center page).

The St. Lucie County Environmental Resources Department operates the center, and the county page lists boardwalks and overlooks, an observation tower, and pedestrian trails through pine flatwoods, wetlands and riverfront habitats, plus interactive exhibits and live animal ambassadors (Oxbow Eco-Center page). Year-round programming includes school field trips, workshops, lectures, public events and service learning.

The Oxbow building itself is meant as a demonstration. St. Lucie County says it was built with green building technologies including passive light design, solar panels, recycled materials and a rainwater cistern system (Oxbow Eco-Center page). The Visit Us page describes the property as an ecological preserve managed to protect the natural landscape and the wildlife that rely on it, with trails leading through a floodplain forest, palmetto-filled uplands and seasonal ponds (Visit Us page).

Admission is free; the Port St. Lucie building keeps hours of noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday plus 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, and the preserve trails open daily from sunrise to sunset (Oxbow Eco-Center page).

All rows come from the St. Lucie County Oxbow Eco-Center page. The visit planning page adds that groups larger than 10 should call ahead so staff can confirm the center will be open and whether the outdoor picnic area is free, and that water and snacks are not sold on site, though a drinking fountain and bottle filler sit near the restrooms at the Eco-Center building (visit planning page).

The visit planning page lists the Port St. Lucie preserve trails one by one, from the 1.5-mile Blue Heron Trail through pine flatwoods to the 0.62-mile Otter Trail along the North Fork (visit planning page).

Lengths and notes are quoted from the visit planning page, which also lists the Heritage Trail, an easy walk with nine artistic windows on regional history that play sights and sounds when a code is scanned, plus the Sundew Platform with a Chronolog photo station, the Dragonfly Platform over wetlands, an observation tower, and a canoe and kayak landing on the St. Lucie Paddle Trail that tends to flood during king tides.

St. Lucie County's own pages give different totals for the Port St. Lucie preserve: the Visit Us page says over three miles of trails (Visit Us page), while the visit planning page says over 4 miles (visit planning page).

Dogs must stay on a leash at all times under a St. Lucie County ordinance, the trails are for hiking only with no bicycles or motorized vehicles, and visitors may not feed, touch or harass wildlife or collect plants (Visit Us page).

The St. Lucie County Visit Us page asks visitors to pick up after pets because pet waste adds harmful bacteria and nutrients to waterways, to stay on established trails, and to use the site at their own risk (Visit Us page). It states that harvesting flowers, seeds, fruits, leaves or other plant material is prohibited and strictly enforced. Wheelchairs and strollers are welcome, and staff can lend an all-terrain wheelchair at no charge.

Organized groups such as Scouts, youth groups and clubs must call ahead at (772) 785-5833, unannounced groups are not guaranteed space, and the pavilion, playscape and picnic tables are reserved first for Oxbow programs, according to the main St. Lucie County Oxbow page (Oxbow Eco-Center page). The visit planning page recommends closed-toe and closed-heel shoes, a hat, sunblock and water in any season, and insect repellent because mosquitoes and other biting insects are often present, especially in summer (visit planning page).

The Port St. Lucie Eco-Center houses an Exhibit Hall and a Discovery Room, with a life-size diorama of the St. Lucie River as the centerpiece exhibit (Visit Us page).

The St. Lucie County Visit Us page says the diorama follows the river from its freshwater beginnings to the Indian River Lagoon and Atlantic Ocean, and that the Discovery Room is home to several native and exotic animal ambassadors, including Florida reptiles and amphibians visitors can meet (Visit Us page). Outside, the visit planning page points to the Pollinator Paradise Garden, where the zebra longwing, Florida's state butterfly, can be found, and to the gopher tortoise, which the page calls the Oxbow mascot (visit planning page).

The same St. Lucie County page says armadillos are often seen rooting along the edges of trails, sandhill cranes may circle overhead, and otters and manatees may be seen along the Otter Trail (visit planning page).

The Oxbow runs school, youth, family and adult programs, summer day camps, volunteer opportunities, a Water Champions initiative and archery, and lists guided hikes and paddles among its offerings (Oxbow Eco-Center page).

The St. Lucie County program list on the Oxbow page covers field trips, in-school and homeschool environmental programs, free Saturday Kids Corner activities, weeklong outdoor summer camps, adult workshops and lectures, and the county's annual Earth Day celebration (Oxbow Eco-Center page).

For archery, the St. Lucie County page says scheduled programs are now hosted by the Parks and Recreation Department at 772-462-1517, while private Explore Archery sessions at the Oxbow can be booked for groups of at least 10 and no more than 20 participants, ages 10 and up, at $20 per person as posted October 22, 2026, with all equipment provided and personal equipment not permitted (Archery at the Oxbow page). The page names USA Archery and the Archery Trade Association as the developers of Explore Archery.

The Oxbow canoe and kayak landing is a stop on the St. Lucie Paddle Trail, and the county's Ten Mile Creek and North Fork Paddling Trail runs from west of McCarty Road to the St. Lucie Inlet (visit planning page; greenways page).

St. Lucie County Environmental Resources manages 11 preserves abutting that Ten Mile Creek and North Fork corridor and has a planned system of over 85 miles of trails meant to tie natural areas and communities together, according to its greenways page (Greenways and Paddling Trails page). The same page says the department manages over 11,000 acres across 27 sites, and that voters approved a $20 million bond referendum in 1994 that the county has more than tripled through matches and partnerships.

The Oxbow page adds a countywide figure of its own, 60+ miles of trails across 11,000+ acres and 28 preserves, so county pages give 27 sites on the greenways page and 28 preserves on the Oxbow page (Oxbow Eco-Center page; greenways page). The North Fork aquatic preserve and conservation lands guides on this site cover the river and the wider preserve system. Last verified: October 22, 2026, for the Port St. Lucie center after rereading the Oxbow Eco-Center main, visiting, trail planning and archery pages and the county greenways and paddling trails page.