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Welcome to Lake June-in-Winter Scrub State Park!
 This rare ecosystem is home to plants and animals that are found nowhere else in the world. Located adjacent to the 3500-acre Lake June-in-Winter, this park is just ten minutes from Lake Placid. Here you will discover a remote, wilderness experience.
Natural Communities
See the stunted shrubbery and open sandy patches that characterize the “scrub” ecosystem. Several successional stages of scrub habitat can be found at this park, along with xeric, or dry hammock, seepage streams, and mesic, or moist flatwoods.
The scrub communities will remind you of a desert, with hot, sunny, dry conditions. Conservation of water is imperative for many of the plants growing here. Nutrient poor, sandy soils provide an excellent medium for the resident wildlife species’ underground burrows and curiously, the preferred growing conditions for many rare plants.
On the sloping edges of this sandy ridge are found “cutthroat seeps.” These seepage or wet areas boast globally-imperiled “cutthroat grass” and tannin-stained, spring-fed streams. In the lowest areas of the park, and along the lake shore, you will find bay trees and ferns mixed among oaks and pines. Wading birds, ducks, Osprey, and Southern Bald eagles are frequently seen during the winter season.
Please remember to hike safely by bringing a friend, drinking water, a hat, sunblock and closed-toed shoes.
A compass and cell phone are recommended for those planning longer hikes.
Another wildlife species often seen is the Gopher tortoise. The Gopher tortoise, a species of special concern, excavates long, deep burrows under the sands. The sandy well-drained soils of the park are well suited to the digging habits of the tortoise.
A variety of other creatures including the eastern diamond back rattlesnake and a species of amphibian, the gopher frog make use of these underground refuges for their survival.
 Endangered species such as the Florida scrub-jay, the Florida scrub lizard, and the Florida mouse also reside here.
Park Guidelines
- The park is open from 8:00 a.m. to sunset 365 days a year. There are no staff on site at this park, and entry fees are collected on the honor system.
- All plants and animals in this park are protected. These natural communities are very fragile and extinction is a real threat for many of the species found here. Please remain on pathways or fire lanes when hiking and do not collect flowers, plants, or artifacts.
- A composting toilet is available, but there is no water available at the park
- For your safety: please do not feed or attempt to touch any wildlife
- Pets are permitted in this park. They must be well behaved and kept on a six-foot, hand-held leash at all times. Please do not allow pets to swim in the lake for their own protection. Alligators do frequent these waters.
- The park service offers many recreational opportunities for visitors with disabilities. Should you need assistance to enable your full participation, please contact the park office.
Directions
 From U.S. Highway 27, turn west onto County Road 621. Travel approximately 4 miles, (the road becomes Poplar), and then turn south onto Daffodil Road.
Travel approximately two miles to the park entrance.
Lake June-in-Winter Scrub State Park is 10 minutes from the town of Lake Placid, and 30 minutes from Highlands Hammock State Park in Sebring.
Amenities are slight, but the natural experience can’t be beat.
Real Fun In The Real Florida
Over 100 species of birds have been identified at this park. Come hike rustic trails and experience the peace of the woods. Please remember to hike safely by bringing a friend, drinking water, a hat, sunblock and closed-toed shoes. A compass and cell phone are recommended for those planning longer hikes.
Start your visit by walking to the shoreline of Lake June-in-Winter. Scout for wading birds, ducks, turtles or alligators. Osprey and Southern Bald Eagles are often seen over the lake waters.
Hiking The Parks Fire lanes
 Here stunted trees sprout thick, leathery leaves and rare herbs grow in barren patches. Upon closer examination, you will find many sporting tiny hairs or waxy coatings, which help reduce moisture loss.
The Florida Scrub-jay, Florida’s only endemic bird, makes its home here. Look for these bright blue and gray, jay-sized birds along the park’s entrance roadway or fire lanes.
Wildlife is best seen early mornings or late afternoons, as most remain hidden in their burrows during the heat of the day. Look carefully for tracks of the lumbering gopher tortoise, raccoons, or even a bobcat.
Timeline
- 500-700 A.D.-Native American occupation
- Early Archaic, Middle Archaic, Mississippian- Native American occupation
- 1993-acquisi
tion of property begins under CARL (Conservation and Recreation Lands) program
- 1999- park is opened to the public
- 2000- Florida State Parks voted #1 in the nation
- 2006-Florida State Parks voted #1 in the nation, again
History & Culture
This geologically ancient land boasts many globally- imperiled species. Long ago ocean
waters covered the Florida peninsula, leaving just a series of small islands. Here, isolated from the rest of North America, unique plants and animals evolved. When seas receded, these former seashores were left high and dry. Look around this 845-acre park and you will see the white “sugar sands” of those ancient beaches, now known as the “Lake Wales Ridge.”
 Two archaeology sites have also been documented. One, the Quail Cove Site, contained materials dating from 500-700 A.D. The other, The Beck Site, contained items dating back to the Early Archaic, Middle Archaic and Mississippian periods.
In 1999, the Lake June-in-Winter Scrub State Park opened to the public. As one of the 160+ units managed by the Florida Park Service, plans to provide resource-based recreational opportunities are being developed for this property.
One necessary component of managing this site is the application of prescribed fire. Naturally pyrogenic, or fire inducing, the vegetation periodically burns to the ground to allow the cycle of life to begin anew. Exclusion of fire would begin the process of succession and this ecosystem would change, endangering the survival of many rare plants and animals that depend on these unusual surroundings.
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