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Directions: I-95 or US 1 to Key Biscayne Exit. Follow signs to Rickenbacker Causeway. Continuing straight ahead, you will see a sign announcing that you are now in Crandon Park. The BNC directly across from the golf course entrance. You will turn left at the North Beach Entrance. (there is a small Nature Center sign at the turn) Just beyond the toll booth, make a sharp left and you will see the Nature Center at the northern end of the parking lot (just beyond that baseball diamond).
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A Brush with Nature - Works by Hans Feyerabend, January 17 - March 12, 2003 at the NC Key Biscayne
Crandon Nature Center 6767 Crandon Blvd, Key Biscayne, Phone (305) 361-6767
Hours of Operation Open for tour activities. Store: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
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Amenities and Facilities
The Crandon Park Visitors' and Nature Center is located on Key Biscayne, a sedimentary barrier island with the Atlantic Ocean on the east side and Biscayne Bay to the west. Here you can explore the various ecosystems of the Key including the dunes, mangroves, coastal hammock and seagrass bed community. The island is filled with rare and beautiful plants like the beach peanut, Biscayne prickly ash and the coontie. There are herons, ospreys and many brilliantly colored butterflies.
The beautiful sandy beach is also an important nesting ground for sea turtles. Our seagrass beds provide a home for mangrove snapper, parrot fish, crabs, shrimp, sea stars and puffer fish. Once, the Tequesta Indians inhabited an unspoiled Key. Today the Bear Cut Preserve is a window back to the wilderness that once was south Florida.
A Vision and a Mission
The newly constructed complex houses environmental programs offered by Miami-Dade Parks, Miami-Dade County Public Schools and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center. The programs provide opportunities to discover Key Biscayne’s ecosystem, including the Bear Cut Nature Preserve, which has been designated as a Natural Environmental Study Area.
Costing $4 million, the facility contains a gift shop, an exhibit room, a theater and meeting room, and a laboratory and classroom. Funding was provided by the Florida Department of Education, the Florida Inland Navigation District, and the Safe Neighborhood Parks Bonds.
Naturalist Programs for school children and the general public
Join our naturalists in the Bear Cut Preserve, in Crandon Park, on the breathtaking barrier island of Key Biscayne. Explore the hammock, ocean and beach communities and see the amazing animals and plants that inhabit south Florida. Popular nature programs, include:
Seagrass Adventure: Catch and release sea horses, various species of fish, sponges, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers in the Seagrass beds. Learn how and why these creatures are important to this unique environment.
Beach Walk Go beachcombing with our naturalist who will identify seashells, sea beans, sea hares and the other interesting oddities discovered on our beach.
Fossil Reef Walk: A two mile walk takes you to this fossilized mangrove reef -thousands of years old. This reef is home to some special animals. Along the way learn about the coastal dune ecosystems.
Hammock Walk: Explore this south Florida coastal forest. Learn about our native plants and animals and the Tequesta, the ancient inhabitants of Key Biscayne.
Curious Naturalist: Tour the site of the old Dade County Zoo, now a lovely garden and home to many birds and reptiles that you may never have seen in the wild before. Learn how to explore nature on your own - bird watching and animal tracking.
Hammock Restoration: Join a naturalist in removing invasive exotic plants and planting native species in their place.
Program schedules vary. Please call the Nature Center for times and fees.
Educational Leader
The Biscayne Nature Center also makes special arrangements for school children's field trips. All field trips are two hours long but more than one field trip may be combined for a full day of activities. We invite visitors to bring along a picnic lunch and enjoy our shady picnic area overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
Our environmental education programs are interactive and interdisciplinary. We combine science, history, arts and the imagination of students to engage their interest in the natural world that surrounds them. Pre-trip and Post-trip ideas and activities for the classroom which emphasize the flora and fauna of south Florida will also be provided to you when you book a field trip.
Our naturalists are enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the animals and plants of Key Biscayne. The tour groups are kept small for greater interaction. The educational discussions are geared to the level of understanding and the age of the group. If your class is studying a particular area such as coral reefs or scientific classification, we will be happy to emphasize this topic within our program. Please let us know ahead of time. Our tours book up quickly - so please call early to avoid disappointment. Call (305) 361-6767. Teachers are very difficult to reach at school, so please leave a home number where you may be reached in the late afternoon or evening.
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