The Captain Forester Hammock Preserve is located one-mile south of County Road 510 on Historic Jungle Trail. This 110-acre conservation area includes several different habitats from the shoreline of the Indian River Lagoon to the Coastal Scrub as you venture to the dune abutting the oceanfront. east. The Captain Forster Hammock Preserve contains six distinct natural communities. These include sandy beach, mature oak hammocks, hydric hammock, depression marsh, tidal mangrove swamp, and coastal strand. The largest natural community within the conservation area is Maritime Hammock, which encompasses approximately 68% of the site and is one of the last remaining mature maritime hammocks in the county.

While visiting the Captain Forster Hammock Preserve, you may discover The Preserve offers a wonderful opportunity for interpretive education & passive recreation such as walking, bird watching, and nature discovery. Visitors will feel as if they have entered another time and place as they're enveloped in the majesty and splendor of the huge oaks in the maritime hammock, a rare site. While walking through the preserve, don't forget to look up into the large Live Oaks where you will see wild butterfly orchids and native bromeliads (all of which are protected by state law). During the winter, spring & fall make sure you keep your eyes open for migrating songbirds like the common yellow-throats, black and white warblers and others migrants that are stopping in for a rest. As your walk takes you east toward Warbler's Walk and Fern Gulch, notice the steady rise in topography and the drier, sandy soils. This is where the "Florida Inch" got its name. In a slight elevation change, the soils become noticeably drier and the air reflects the lower humidity. The plants also change, to more hardy, salt-tolerant species. These include the protected Simpson's Stopper as well as others like tough bumelia, prickly pear cactus and snowberry. You may even see a gopher tortoise or his burrow dug into the sandy soils.

The conservation area is a designated Great Florida Birding Trail (www.FloridaBirdingTrail.com).

***The area east of A1A is protected conservation area - no public access allowed***