Florida is poised to welcome a significant new addition to its award-winning state park system, opening thousands of acres of longleaf pine forest, blackwater river and sandhill habitat in the Panhandle to public recreation.

The Upper Shoal River State Park project, approved in late 2024 and now moving toward public access, will become Florida’s 176th state park and one of its most important new destinations for hiking, paddling and wildlife watching, according to state officials and conservation partners.

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A New State Park in the Panhandle

The new park, known as Upper Shoal River State Park, is taking shape in Walton County in the western Florida Panhandle, upstream of where the Shoal River joins the much larger Choctawhatchee. The 2,483 acre property lies within the Upper Shoal River Florida Forever project area and was secured through a state land acquisition approved by the governor and Cabinet at their December 17, 2024 meeting. The purchase brought the forested tract into permanent public ownership as part of Florida’s flagship conservation land-buying program.

State officials describe the park as a mosaic of longleaf pine uplands, intact seepage streams, bottomland hardwood forests and sandy riverbanks that have remained largely undeveloped despite decades of rapid growth in nearby coastal communities. The Shoal River here is a classic Panhandle blackwater system, fed by tannin-rich seepage and springs, lined by bluffs and flatwoods rather than seawalls and subdivisions. That setting offers visitors an increasingly rare chance to explore a North Florida river landscape in something close to its historic condition.

The park’s creation reflects Florida’s broader strategy of securing watershed headwaters and wildlife corridors before they are fragmented. By protecting this piece of the Shoal River basin, planners say, the state is safeguarding not only scenic riverside recreation but also the water quality that downstream communities and estuaries rely on.

Forests, Rivers and Miles to Explore

When it opens to the public, Upper Shoal River State Park is expected to offer miles of hiking and multiuse trails weaving through longleaf pine sandhills and mixed hardwoods, as well as river access points for paddlers. Early planning concepts emphasize low impact recreation, with visitors reaching the river via designated launch sites and boardwalks that protect sensitive banks and seepage wetlands. Park managers say the site’s gently rolling topography and mix of open pine and shaded river corridors should make it an appealing destination for everything from family day hikes to multi-hour trail runs and birding walks.

The Shoal River itself will be a central draw. Blackwater rivers in this region are prized for their clear, tea-colored water, sandy bottoms and meandering channels, and the Upper Shoal segment has long been used informally by local paddlers. Bringing the property into the state park system is expected to formalize that use with designated canoe and kayak put-ins, take-outs and wayfinding signs, creating an accessible new stretch of river trail that can link to existing blueway routes and nearby conservation lands.

Beyond the river, visitors will find extensive upland habitat dominated by longleaf pine, wiregrass and scattered oaks. Those forests once blanketed much of the Southeast but now survive in fragmented remnants. State biologists say the park will eventually feature a network of fire-managed longleaf stands, opening room for wildflowers, ground-nesting birds and gopher tortoises. For hikers and cyclists, that means miles of airy, open-canopy forest where sightlines stretch between widely spaced pines and seasonal blooms color the understory.

Conservation Corridor and Military Buffer

Upper Shoal River State Park is more than an isolated green space. It occupies a strategic position within the Florida Wildlife Corridor, the statewide network of conserved lands and working forests that allows animals to move between major habitat blocks. The new park helps fill a key gap by linking existing conservation tracts and creating a wider landscape connection across the western Panhandle. Conservation groups that championed the project say it will bolster genetic exchange for wide-ranging species and reduce the risk that development will sever north south wildlife movements in the region.

The property also plays a dual role as an environmental and national security buffer. It lies near Eglin Air Force Base, one of the country’s largest military installations. Open space around Eglin is considered critical for maintaining training areas, flight paths and compatibility with nearby communities. By keeping the Shoal River tract in forest and low density recreation, the state is helping preserve a protective band of land around the base while simultaneously opening it to the public.

State planners note that this kind of shared conservation and defense benefit has become increasingly important in Florida, where military bases often sit adjacent to fast growing coastal counties. In the case of Upper Shoal River, the park’s forests and river corridors will serve as a natural noise and development buffer, while also providing habitat for both common and imperiled species that move freely across base and state park boundaries.

Habitat for Imperiled Species

Biologists view the new park as a refuge for a suite of rare and at risk species adapted to longleaf forests and clean Panhandle streams. Surveys have documented habitat for the blackmouth shiner, a small, brightly hued fish restricted to a handful of high quality rivers and creeks in northwest Florida and southern Alabama. Because blackmouth shiners are highly sensitive to water quality and flow changes, protecting the Upper Shoal watershed is considered vital to their long term survival.

On land, the park supports gopher tortoises, a keystone species whose deep burrows provide shelter to hundreds of other animals, from small snakes to invertebrates. Maintaining an open, frequently burned pine ecosystem is essential for sustaining tortoise populations. Park managers say prescribed fire will be used from the outset to restore more natural groundcover and prevent encroachment by hardwoods and dense shrubs, creating the sunlit, grassy conditions gopher tortoises require.

The forested uplands and sandhills also provide habitat for the federally threatened eastern indigo snake, the longest native snake in North America. Indigo snakes depend on large, connected tracts of suitable habitat and frequently use abandoned gopher tortoise burrows for winter refuge. By anchoring a large block of conserved land, Upper Shoal River State Park enhances the viability of regional indigo populations and contributes to recovery goals set by state and federal wildlife agencies.

Water, Springs and the Aquifer Beneath

While forests and trails will grab most visitors’ attention, some of the park’s most critical work will happen out of sight. The Upper Shoal River watershed sits atop important recharge areas for the region’s surficial aquifer, and the tract’s intact wetlands and seepage slopes act as natural filters for rainwater moving into underground reserves. By keeping these landscapes in a largely natural state, the park will help maintain the quality and quantity of groundwater that feeds springs, wells and downstream rivers.

Hydrologists note that the property’s unaltered seepage streams and wetlands are increasingly rare in a state where drainage, ditching and development have reconfigured many watersheds. Within the park, visitors will see small, crystal clear tributaries emerging from hillsides and flowing through tangles of ferns, titi and hardwoods before joining the darker main stem of the Shoal River. Interpretive signs and ranger led programs are expected to highlight how those small headwater features stabilize flows, trap sediments and protect water quality far beyond the park’s boundaries.

In an era of intensifying storms and flooding, preserving forested floodplains and river corridors also offers resilience benefits. The park’s bottomland forests can absorb and slow high water, reducing peak flows during heavy rainfall events. State officials say this natural floodplain function is an important complement to engineered infrastructure downstream, and one more reason the Shoal River tract rose to the top of Florida Forever’s acquisition list.

From Private Timberland to Public Destination

Before its purchase, much of the property was managed as industrial or private timberland, with planted pine stands and limited public access. While timber production will no longer be the primary objective, elements of that land use history will linger in the form of graded roads, firebreaks and uniform age pine blocks. Park planners are evaluating how to integrate some of those legacy roads into the future trail system, converting former logging routes into hiking and multiuse paths that reach river overlooks, bluff-top vistas and interior wetlands.

Over time, the Florida Park Service will gradually restore more natural stand structures, using thinning, replanting and frequent prescribed fire to transition portions of the property from even aged pine plantations into more diverse longleaf ecosystems. Visitors in the park’s early years will likely witness that restoration in action, passing through both recovering stands and older, more intact forest patches that already resemble the open longleaf woodlands that once dominated the region.

The state’s approach at Upper Shoal River mirrors its work at other former timber tracts that have become popular recreation areas. Managers emphasize that while restoration is a long term process, many recreational opportunities will be available well before the forest reaches an ideal condition. In the short term, that means carefully routing trails to showcase the most scenic river reaches, mature trees and wildlife rich wetlands while protecting the most sensitive areas from overuse.

Planning for Public Access and Recreation

Although the land is now permanently protected, Upper Shoal River State Park is still moving through its initial planning and development phase. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Florida Park Service are working with conservation organizations and local governments to finalize a unit management plan detailing where trails, access points, parking areas and visitor facilities will be located. That process typically involves public workshops and comment periods, giving residents and future visitors a chance to weigh in on priorities for recreation and resource protection.

Officials have signaled that the park is likely to debut with a relatively light footprint of infrastructure, focusing first on basic amenities such as trailheads, kiosks, primitive trails and a small number of designated river access points. More developed features, such as expanded trail networks, additional picnic areas or overnight options, would be considered in later phases as managers evaluate visitor demand and environmental conditions. The aim, they say, is to introduce the public to this new landscape while avoiding the overcrowding and erosion that can accompany rapid, intensive development.

Local tourism leaders in the western Panhandle expect the park to complement, rather than compete with, existing coastal attractions. Positioned inland from the beaches of Walton and Okaloosa counties, Upper Shoal River offers visitors an alternative way to experience the region on peak summer days or during shoulder seasons, when cooler temperatures make forest hiking and river paddling especially appealing. Regional tourism boards are already discussing how to integrate the park into broader marketing efforts that highlight the Panhandle’s rivers, springs and longleaf country alongside its well known beaches.

Part of a Larger Trend in Florida Parks

The creation of Upper Shoal River State Park comes as Florida continues to invest in conservation and outdoor recreation even as debates swirl over how intensively its public lands should be developed. In recent years, environmental groups and lawmakers have pushed back against proposals to add golf courses, large lodges and other high intensity amenities inside state parks, arguing that such projects undercut the system’s core mission of preserving natural landscapes and wildlife. Legislative efforts are now underway in Tallahassee to codify limits on certain types of development in state parks, reflecting strong public support for keeping these places focused on nature first.

At the same time, the state has accelerated land protection efforts through Florida Forever and related initiatives, approving new conservation easements and acquisitions from the Panhandle to South Florida. The Upper Shoal River purchase stands out within that portfolio as one of the few recent tracts explicitly destined to become a new state park, with a clear mandate to welcome everyday visitors in addition to researchers and land managers. Conservation advocates say the project illustrates how Florida can simultaneously expand its protected acreage and its menu of low impact recreation options.

For travelers, the park’s eventual opening will add another name to the list of Florida destinations where forests, rivers and miles of trails take center stage. As Upper Shoal River State Park transitions from a line item in an acquisition ledger to a signed trailhead off a quiet Panhandle road, it will embody a familiar but still powerful promise in a fast growing state: that some of its most beautiful places will remain open, wild and accessible to everyone who wants to explore them.