Big Cypress National Preserve

Recipients of the 2002 NPS Environmental Achievement Awards

As we reflect on 2024, we offer you a list of 24 interesting and exciting science and nature events from parks of the national park system. From awe-inspiring celestial events to celebrating anniversaries and conservation wins, 2024 was filled with amazing moments.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, work on a proposed jetport within what would become Big Cypress National Preserve serendipitously brought the Jet Age in contact with the Ice Age. A small collection of Pleistocene fossils including bones of mammoths, camels, and horses was uncovered in a buried river channel. These fossils, largely overlooked since then, have now been documented in the collections of the Florida Museum of Natural History.

South Florida Fire & Aviation (SFFA) has seen a significant decrease in the size and complexity of wildfires across south Florida over the past several years. The parks’ goal is to apply prescribed fire on each burn unit every five years. Approximately 50% of these burn unit acres have been treated with prescribed fire since fiscal year 2018.

Learn about the significance of art in the National Park system and see three selections from the South Florida National Parks.

The National Park Service continues to extend its aviation support beyond the traditional fire realm. Everglades and Big Cypress National Parks’ Aviation programs are working together with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to support a complex aviation-dependent research project called the Everglades Ecosystem Assessment Program (EEAP).

Prioritizing fuels treatments that benefit the park and community can be difficult, because these goals may conflict in Big Cypress NP. Areas were defined as high priority if they have not burned for more than 5 years, lie less than 0.5 mile to the nearest structure or road, and are located within or adjacent to pinelands or prairies. Areas meeting these criteria were identified as requiring immediate treatment. In early 2012, approximately 45,000 acres had been treated.

In 2024, firefighters burned 233,954 acres across Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park aided with nearly $5 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Years-long efforts paid dividends in 2024 with these public-facing burns sparking an immense amount of communication. This provided opportunities to highlight the role fire plays in the ecosystem and how the process works.