Earth Day 2025

Join us at Highlands Hammock State Park to celebrate Earth Day! 🌎 Earth Day is an annual event officially held April 22 to support environmental protection. We're celebrating early! Get outdoors with us and learn from experts. Join us for nature walks, tram tours, kids' corner, exhibitors and speakers. This event is a great opportunity to learn about and connect with nature.

The event, except for tram rides and food, is free with park admission. Park admission is $6 per vehicle for up to 8 people, $4 per single-occupant vehicle and $2 per bicyclist and pedestrian.

Nature Walks

10 to 11 a.m. / Birding Hike with Ranger Blake Lewis.
This leisurely walk will depart from the Panther Pavilion and continue along the Primitive Wilderness campground road through pine flatwoods and scrub habitat where woodpeckers, Florida scrub jays, warblers and other species may be observed. Visitors are directed to park in the Overflow Field at the campground entrance and walk to the Picnic Area via the boardwalk.

11 to 11:45 a.m. / Kids Discovery Nature Hike with Marilyn Blair.
This field trip for families and children age 5 to 13 includes exploratory activities and scavenger hunts where children may learn about plants, animals, habitats and more! Discover adventures in nature and sharpen skills in your own backyard. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Meet at the Wild Orange Trail near Hammock Inn. Visitors are directed to park in the Overflow Field at the campground entrance and walk to the Picnic Area via the boardwalk. The trailhead is behind the Hammock Inn.

Talks in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Museum

Noon to 12:30 p.m. / The History of Predator/Prey Research at Archbold Biological Station by Joe Guthrie, Wildlife Biologist, Archbold Biological Station.

1 to 1:45 p.m. / Living with Florida Black Bears and Reducing Bear/Human Conflicts by Chris Boyce, South Area Bear Biologist, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

2 to 2:45 p.m. / Highlands Hammock State Park and Archbold Biological Station: A Magnificent Legacy by David Schmidt, CCC Museum Curator, Highlands Hammock State Park

Exhibitors

Archbold Biological Station

The Nature Conservancy - Tiger Creek Preserve

Florida Trail Association – Heartland Chapter

Highlands County Audubon Society

Florida Forest Service

FWC Black Bear Education

FWC Ridge Rangers

IFAS Master Gardeners

Heartland Beekeepers

United States Department of Agriculture – Citrus Health

Florida Department of Health – Highlands County

Florida Highwaymen Art Exhibition

Guided, narrated 90-minute tram tours begin at 11 a.m., Noon, 1 and 2 p.m.
Trams depart from the Hammock Inn, run along the Loop Road beneath the densely shaded hammock, pause on a wooden bridge within a cypress swamp, and continue through open pinelands. The tram returns along the South Canal through a wetland of bay and cypress trees where alligators, turtles, herons, ibis, egrets, and the occasional otter may be seen. For tour times and to purchase tickets, contact the Hammock Inn at 863-402-0061. The concession is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ticket costs are $15 per adult and $10 for children six to 12 years old. Children aged five and younger are free. Purchase tickets on the day of the tour or one day in advance.

Enjoy Highlands Hammock State Park
With more rare and endemic species than any other Florida State Park; and, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Highlands Hammock is known for its magnificent hammock, the Civilian Conservation Corps Museum and other New Deal Era structures. It is a place where wilderness and history are preserved, where visitors may walk the trails where the Florida panther and black bear quietly pass beneath towering oaks, and where visitors to the CCC Museum experience the Great Depression.

Enjoy Florida’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Museum
The park is one of eight original parks built by the CCC in Florida. To help lift the United States out of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt established the CCC in 1933 as part of the New Deal Program. Single men between the ages of 18 and 25 could enlist in work programs to improve America’s public lands, forests and parks. The park is home to the state’s CCC Museum.

Food and refreshments are provided by the Hammock Inn Camp Store and onsite food truck vendors.

Register to receive any emails that may be sent to provide updates. More details may be provided on the Friends' Facebook page.

Photo captions:

Florida Highwaymen Artist Richard Edwards will be exhibiting and selling at the Earth Day Festival on April 5, 2025. Works by the First Lady of the Florida Highwaymen Mary Ann Carroll will also be exhibited and sold by her daughter Kandie Ingram.

From Earth Day Festival in 2024:

Kids’ Corner at Earth Day

Highlands County Audubon Society

The Nature Conservancy - Tiger Creek Preserve

Moccasin Lake Raptor Rehabilitation with Swallow Tail Kite

U.S. Department of Agriculture insect display

Archbold Biological Station

Archbold Biological Station of skulls and bones

4-H Club

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Highlands Hammock State Park, 5931 Hammock Road, Sebring, United States