Rainbow Springs State Park

Rainbow Springs State Park
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)

Location	Marion County, Florida, USA
Nearest city	Dunnellon
Coordinates	29°6′9.57″N 82°26′13.38″W / 29.1026583°N 82.4370500°W / 29.1026583; -82.4370500Coordinates: 29°6′9.57″N 82°26′13.38″W / 29.1026583°N 82.4370500°W / 29.1026583; -82.4370500
Area	1,000 acres (4.0 km²) ^{(4 km²)}
Governing body	Florida Department of Environmental Protection

U.S. National Natural Landmark
Designated	October 1971

The Rainbow River Path

Rainbow Springs, one of the springs at the head of Rainbow River

Rainbow Springs State Park is a Florida State Park located on U.S. 41, three miles (5 km) north of Dunnellon, Florida. It comprises 1,459.07 acres (5.9046 km²) upland (which includes around 100 acres (0.40 km²) of wetlands) and 12.83 acres (51,900 m²) submerged. The most significant natural feature is the first magnitude headspring basin which produces up to 600,000,000 US gallons (2,300,000 m³) of fresh water per day, forming The Rainbow River. The looking glass waters of Rainbow Springs come from several vents, not one large bubbling spring. The river itself supports a wide variety of fish, wildlife, and plants, many within easy viewing by visitors. In total, the park contains 11 distinct natural communities, including sandhills, flatwoods, upland mixed forests, and hydric hammocks.

Visitors are able to see a variety of wildflowers in season; oak, longleaf pines, magnolia, dogwood, red maple, redbud, cypress, sabal, and hickory trees; gray squirrels, red-shouldered hawks, swallowtail kites, barred owls, whitetail deer, and a wide variety of wading birds. The relative peace and quiet of the winter season offers much for the nature enthusiast. There is an interpretive room located in the visitor center displaying historical, natural, and cultural resources of the park.

Geography

The Rainbow River flows from Rainbow Springs into the Withlacoochee River.

Ecology

Among the wildlife of the park are gray squirrels, otter, turtles, alligators and many types of birds. Among the birds are songbirds, hummingbirds, red-shoulder hawks, and swallowtail kites, as well as osprey, barred owls, and various water birds. There is a 2-mile (3.2 km) nature trail.

Recreational activities and amenities

Rainbow Springs, Florida

Activities include swimming, snorkeling, canoeing and kayaking, and wildlife viewing. Amenities include a nature trail, a full service campground, a picnic area with pavilions, canoes and kayak rentals, and gardens, as well as access to the Rainbow River. There are also waterfalls and phosphate pits from former open mining activity. There used to be a small zoo complex in the gardens. Some of the facilities still exist but are no longer used. At the entrance there is a small visitor center, shop, snack bar and restrooms, located in an elevated position above Rainbow Springs with a good view along the Rainbow River.

Hours

Florida state parks are open between 8 a.m. and sundown every day of the year (including holidays).

References and external links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rainbow Springs State Park.

Protected areas of Florida

Federal

National Parks	Biscayne Dry Tortugas Everglades

National Memorials	De Soto Fort Caroline

National Monuments	Castillo de San Marcos Fort Matanzas

National Seashores	Canaveral Gulf Islands

National Forests	Apalachicola Choctawhatchee Ocala Osceola

National Wildlife Refuges	Archie Carr Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee Caloosahatchee Cedar Keys Chassahowitzka Crocodile Lake Crystal River Egmont Key Florida Panther Great White Heron Hobe Sound Island Bay J.N. 'Ding' Darling Key West Lake Wales Ridge Lake Woodruff Lower Suwannee Matlacha Pass Merritt Island National Key Deer Okefenokee Passage Key Pelican Island Pine Island Pinellas St. Johns St. Marks St. Vincent Ten Thousand Islands

Other National Protected Areas	Big Cypress National Preserve Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve

National Estuarine Research Reserves and National Marine Sanctuaries	Apalachicola NERR Florida Keys NMS Guana Tolomato Matanzas NERR Rookery Bay NERR

State

Parks	Amelia Island Anastasia Avalon Bahia Honda Bald Point Big Lagoon Big Shoals Big Talbot Island Bill Baggs Cape Florida Bulow Creek Caladesi Island Camp Helen Cayo Costa Collier-Seminole Colt Creek Curry Hammock Delnor-Wiggins Pass Devil's Millhopper Don Pedro Island Eden Gardens Egmont Key Falling Waters Faver-Dykes Florida Caverns Fort Clinch Fort Cooper Fort George Island Fort Pierce Inlet Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou Gasparilla Island George Crady Bridge Fishing Pier Grayton Beach Henderson Beach Highlands Hammock Honeymoon Island Hontoon Island Hugh Taylor Birch John D. MacArthur Beach John Pennekamp Coral Reef John U. Lloyd Beach Jonathan Dickinson Little Talbot Island Long Key Lovers Key Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway Mike Roess Gold Head Branch North Peninsula O'Leno Oscar Scherer Perdido Key Sebastian Inlet Skyway Fishing Pier St. Andrews St. George Island St. Joseph Peninsula Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center Stump Pass Beach Tomoka Torreya Windley Key Fossil Reef

Botanical Garden Parks	Alfred B. Maclay Gardens Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Lignumvitae Key Ravine Gardens Washington Oaks

Lakes, Rivers and Springs Parks	Deer Lake Lake Griffin Lake June in Winter Scrub Lake Kissimmee Lake Louisa Lake Manatee Lake Talquin Alafia River Blackwater River Dunns Creek Econfina River Hillsborough River Little Manatee River Myakka River Ochlockonee River Oleta River Suwannee River Blue Spring De Leon Springs Edward Ball Wakulla Springs Fanning Springs Homosassa Springs Wildlife Ichetucknee Springs Lafayette Blue Springs Madison Blue Spring Manatee Springs Ponce de Leon Springs Rainbow Springs Silver Springs Three Rivers Troy Springs Weeki Wachee Springs Wekiwa Springs Werner-Boyce Salt Springs Wes Skiles Peacock Springs

Recreation Areas	Gamble Rogers Memorial

Museums, Historic sites, and Archaeological sites	Cedar Key Museum Constitution Convention Museum Forest Capital Museum John Gorrie Museum Ybor City Museum The Barnacle Bulow Plantation Ruins Dade Battlefield Dudley Farm Fort Foster Fort Mose Fort Zachary Taylor Gamble Plantation Indian Key Koreshan Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Homestead Natural Bridge Battlefield Olustee Battlefield Orman House Paynes Creek San Marcos de Apalache Yellow Bluff Fort Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Crystal River Lake Jackson Mounds Letchworth-Love Mounds Madira Bickel Mound Mound Key San Pedro Underwater

Preserves and Reserves	Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek Anclote Key Cedar Key Scrub Charlotte Harbor Crystal River Estero Bay Fakahatchee Strand Kissimmee Prairie Lower Wekiva River Paynes Prairie Pumpkin Hill Creek River Rise Rock Springs Run San Felasco Hammock Savannas Seabranch St. Lucie Inlet St. Sebastian River Tarkiln Bayou Topsail Hill Waccasassa Bay Yellow River Marsh

State Trails	Blackwater Heritage Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Gainesville-Hawthorne General James A. Van Fleet Nature Coast Palatka-Lake Butler Palatka-to-St. Augustine Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad Withlacoochee

State Forests	Belmore Big Shoals Blackwater River Carl Duval Moore Cary Charles H. Bronson Cottage Hill Deep Creek Etoniah Creek Four Creeks Goethe Holopaw Indian Lake Jennings John M. Bethea Lake George Lake Talquin Lake Wales Ridge Little Big Econ Matanzas Myakka Okaloacoochee Slough Picayune Strand Pine Log Point Washington Ralph E. Simmons Memorial Ross Prairie Seminole Tate's Hell Tiger Bay Twin Rivers Wakulla Watson Island Welaka Withlacoochee

Other

Nature centers	List of nature centers in Florida

Florida Department of Environmental Protection

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.