Flamingo Forever!
A Place Like No Other
A Place Like No Other
In 2005, mother nature struck the Flamingo visitor complex an incapacitating blow. Today, with your help we are closer to making it stronger than ever.
Since that historic hurricane season, our vision and goal as the official philanthropic partner for Florida’s national parks has been to bring back Flamingo as the hub of the Everglades experience. We have partnered with Everglades National Park and its concessioner Guest Services, Inc. to support the rebuilding efforts of Flamingo, including the new Guy Bradley Visitor Center.
We are proud to report that we are nearing completion of the visitor center rebuilding efforts, but there is more work to be done. Rehabilitation work to the entire Flamingo complex continues, youth programming awaits, and natural resource and conservation initiatives and capital projects are underway. By preserving the Flamingo legacy and ensuring its lasting future, we are transforming a vulnerable landscape and making it stronger than we found it — as well as inspiring our own legacy.
Our effort is the most ambitious fundraising endeavor in our organization’s history and represents the dedication and pride we have for our parks. For there is no place like the Everglades and no destination like Flamingo.
The future of Flamingo is full of promise and hope. As we bring back this world-class destination for the citizens of our community, our state, our nation and our world, we invite you to join us. Flamingo Forever!
The original Flamingo Visitor Center was built as part of the Mission 66 program to dramatically expand National Park Service visitor services by its 50th anniversary in 1966.
Standing sleek and elegant, it was a shining example of the National Park Service’s signature Modern architecture infused with Miami Modern design — a drastic departure from more traditional rustic National Park Service buildings.
For decades the visitor center was the hub of the Flamingo experience, welcoming an eclectic collection of boaters, fishermen, birders, photographers, hikers, canoeists and campers.
The reimagined, rebuilt visitor center is just the beginning for the Flamingo Forever! Campaign — igniting a new set of initiatives to create a Flamingo visitor complex that is stronger and more engaging than ever before. Flamingo will once again be the destination at the end of the road — bringing meaning to this special place in our history, in our landscape, and in our legacy we leave for future generations.
The revitalized, expanded Flamingo complex will provide visitors with a complete national park experience, like nowhere else in Florida. Visitors at the end of mainland South Florida will find a subtropical oasis in the wilderness that offers lodging, dining, recreation, and interactive educational opportunities unlocking the mysteries of the Everglades.
Everyone, of all abilities and backgrounds, will once more experience the magic of the Everglades: local families reconnecting to Flamingo; national and international travelers visiting for the first time; and adventure seekers preparing to explore the backcountry or Florida Bay.
Expanding the Flamingo experience will draw visitors to the tip of the Everglades. With ongoing support for the Guy Bradley Visitor Center exhibits and interpretive programs, visitors will be met each time with current, engaging educational content and programming. New and enhanced wayfinding, trails, waterways and lodging will expand an afternoon visit to a multi-day adventure. And with support for our fisheries and boater education, we will preserve family traditions and build new ones on Florida Bay.
By educating our youth about the Everglades we solidify its future and our legacy. Engaging children, families, teachers and students in the Flamingo experience is vital to ensuring new generations learn Flamingo’s cultural and ecological significance.
Nothing is worthwhile unless we preserve the natural resources we are called upon to protect. Our conversation initiatives will provide support for fisheries and water quality monitoring, sea grass restoration, sea turtle research and wildlife management, marine debris removal, and ongoing support for the BioCorps Internship Program.
Capital projects are critical to maintaining the integrity of waterways, shorelines and the Park’s infrastructure. Providing funding to support these projects will help bring them to completion.
By building an endowment and solidifying financial support for Flamingo, we link current generations with the generations to come so that we may all experience the Flamingo we know and love Forever!
This is your opportunity to inspire future generations to preserve and protect this timeless place: your chance to be a part of the legacy started by Marjory Stoneman Douglas to bestow this magnificent wilderness as a national park. We invite you to join this vital effort to complete Flamingo’s revitalization and secure its future. With your support, we can make Flamingo the destination and the experience it should always be.
The Alliance for Florida’s National Parks is the leader in providing private funding to support all four of South Florida’s national parks. We work closely with park superintendents and their teams to identify and fund priority programs and projects that benefit the parks, their visitors and surrounding communities. Through the goodwill of donors like you, we are the trusted partner to deliver the greatest on-the-ground impact for our national parks.
