14122 West Indiantown Road
Jupiter

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Pine Glades Natural Area is largely wet. It is nearly 6,700 acres of wet prairies, marshes, ponds and wet flatwoods punctuated by cypress domes, slash pines and cabbage palms. Much of it is wide open.

It is among the newest natural areas in Palm Beach County, having just opened in 2014. In fact, restoration work continues on a portion of the natural area. Despite the predominance of wet habitat, Pine Glades is very walkable. There are hard-surface trails leading to an observation point and and fishing pier (catch and release, only) plus seven miles of natural surface trails. Portions of the trails are high and dry, but some sections we found mucky even in the middle of winter. Bikes are not permited. Facilities include toilets, parking, a canoe/kayak launch, informational kiosks and picnic tables. Pine Glades is far enough to the west that Palm Beach County uses it for astronomical related events.

Species spotted during our visit included belted kingfisher, northern flicker, northern mockingbird, northern shrike, least terns, cormorants, swallowtail kite, palm warbler, little blue heron, tricolored heron, great white egret, turkey vultures, limpkin, moorhens and pied-bill grebe. Plants included flea bane, cocoplum, coastalplain willow, blue-eyed grass, pink marsh, American burnweed and pineland heliotrope. (Click for Virtual Tour of Pine Glades.)