City: Jupiter, FL

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (561) 743-7123

Address: 805 North US 1

Description: The Loxahatchee River Environmental Center “River Center” traces the flow of the Loxahatchee River from its headwaters in Palm Beach County, through the cypress floodplain, into the central embayment, and finally out through Jupiter Inlet into the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream. At the River Center, you can explore the history of the watershed, its extraordinary environmental value, the dangers of ever-increasing growth in the area, and programs now underway to help preserve this complex and valuable eco-system.Here, there are interesting displays, interactive exhibits, and live tanks that trace the river system from a freshwater cypress swamp to seagrass-dominated estuary to marine ecosystems. The Loxahatchee is Florida’s first Federally designated Wild and Scenic River; and this center is the best chance to learn about it. The River Center hosts diverse traveling exhibits. Regular exhibits include Our Changing Watershed; an aquarium with fish and plants from the three different zones of the Wild and Scenic River; a “Critters” area with spiders, frogs, snakes, and fossils; other aquariums with seahorses and oysters; and a touch tank where you can, of course, touch some of the plant and animal life.