The 70-Mile Drive That Takes You a World Away

When most people think of Florida, they think “beach!”  

True, Florida has more than 8,000 miles of shoreline and 825 miles of sandy beaches. But it also has forests, swamps, wetlands, marshes, lakes, rivers, prairies, and scrublands of open pinelands with various oaks, shrubs, and saw palmetto. These landscapes support dozens of unique plants and dynamic animals.

You can experience the essence of these ecosystems in a wild area less than an hour-and-a-half drive from Marco Island – Babcock Ranch.

There you can take a 90-minute swamp buggy Eco Tour with one of the preserve’s expert guides, who will show you the wildlife and plants of four different ecosystems: pasture, freshwater marsh, pine wood, and cypress swamp.

Another Marco Islander, Mary Zachrich, and I took a tour recently with Eco Tour Manager Roger Klatt. He and his wife moved to the area two years ago from New York state. They took a tour for something to do, and now he’s doing it every day.

“It was wonderful. I was amazed at the wildlife and various plants,” he recalls. “It was kind of in an instant love for what I had just experienced.”

Having been a schoolteacher, principal and district superintendent, Roger Klatt is a natural tour guide, eager to share his knowledge.

The history of the ranchland goes back to the late 1800s when it was the Crescent-B Ranch, owned by the Perry McAdow family. In 1914 Edward Babcock, a lumber baron and politician from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, bought the 156,000-acre ranch and named it after himself.

Klatt explains that Babcock was an avid hunter and a conservationist who was captivated by two trees on the property, “the tall pine trees known as the slash pines, and of course, the beautiful bald cypress trees.” 

The Ranch served as the base for the family’s business, producing timber, cattle, row crops, sod and providing hunting and ecotourism.

In 2006, Babcock’s heirs sold 91,000 acres of ranch land; 20% went to developers for a new solar-powered town and 80% went to the State of Florida and Lee County.

It was a historic purchase, ensuring the preservation of 73,000 acres of environmentally valuable land.

Two of the animals you can see up close and personal from the tour buggy are the wild pigs and cattle, both animals brought to America by the Spanish explorers in the 1500s. 

“The Spanish were used to eating beef and pork and could not imagine life here without having beef and pork,” Klatt explains. “They looked around and didn't feel there was enough food here. So, bringing pigs and cattle with them on their ships was a way to ensure there was enough food available to the settlers.”

“People think of Florida as palm trees and beaches,” said Klatt, “but cattle ranching is big business here and has been a staple historically.”

Babcock Ranch has about 2,500 beef cattle raised for beef processing.  It also has a herd of “cracker cattle,” the strain of cattle remaining from the original animals brought by the Spanish. The ranch has a herd of about 50 of those, all cows with one bull.  

“The cracker cows are quite friendly and social,” Klatt says with a laugh. “They will even stick their head in the tour buggy doorway.”

Anyone hoping to see alligators will not be disappointed. When our buggy stopped on “gator bridge” over a river, there were countless alligators of all sizes along the shoreline. There are about 1.3 million alligators in Florida, but only 10% make it to adulthood, around six years old.

Roger Klatt told us the formula for determining how large a gator is when all you can see are bits of it above the water’s surface.

“Estimate how many inches it is from the tip of the nose to the front of the eyes. If it looks to be eight inches, you probably have an eight-foot alligator. 10 inches, a 10-foot gator. Roughly, inches correlate to feet.”

He says that damaged or missing alligator teeth are replaced immediately by new teeth in “the best dental plan going.”  

There are many reasons ranch founder Edward Babcock admired the bald cypress tree: it is water resistant, decay resistant, and insect repellant. These qualities make the lumber ideal for building and crafting. In fact, cypress wood is probably the most versatile in all of America. And it is designed to withstand hurricanes.

“The bald cypress is stable because it is flared out at the base of the trunk and has a sprawling root system,” Klatt explains. “Occasionally, those roots grow shoots, called ‘knees,’ above the ground where they serve to anchor the tree even more.”

“During the last hurricane, you saw countless trees toppled over or snapped in half. But it’s rare to see a wind-damaged bald cypress tree,” Klatt said.  

Roger Klatt says many guests appreciate the Babcock Ranch Eco Tour guides so much that they are repeat customers, describing each trip as different. 

“For example,” Klatt expounds, “one of the guides does a bullwhip cracking demonstration. A guide who grew up in the area adds local lore. Another has extensive knowledge of the plants that provided early settlers with tools, herbal remedies, and nutrition.”

“It’s never a ‘seen it once, seen it all’ experience,” Klatt concludes, “because each guide adds a unique flair to the narrative.”