After Irma: 16 State Parks Remain Closed Across Florida

TAMPA, FL — Sixteen state parks remain closed in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, including Hillsborough River State Park and General James A. Van Fleet State Trail in Polk, Sumter and Lake counties. Nine of the closed state parks are in Monroe County, which includes the islands of the Florida Keys. During Irma, 167 parks across Florida were closed after the storm.

Lauren Engel, communications director at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, said recently that the reason for closure depends on the specific park or location.

State parks that remain closed in Monroe County include:

• Bahia Honda State Park
• Curry Hammock State Park
• Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park
• Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park
• Indian Key Historic State Park
• John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park
• Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park
• Long Key State Park
• Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park

In Dade County, the Barnacle Historic State Park and Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park remain closed.

Click here for the full list of state park closures and state parks only open for day use.

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All state parks in Manatee County are open. Five parks in the county were closed last week. Some parks in the Tampa Bay area have reopened only for day use, including Anclote Key Preserve State Park (Pinellas and Pasco counties), Caladesi Island State Park (Pinellas County), Egmont Key State Park (Hillsborough County) and Honeymoon Island State Park (Pinellas County).

Engel said that since Hurricane Irma made landfall, Florida State Park staff have been hard at work to cleanup and reopen parks as quickly as possible while ensuring visitor safety.

Photo via Florida State Parks