Nature

On the east side of South Walton just east of Inlet Beach, turn off Highway 98 and through the gate of Camp Helen State Park and be amazed how fast you go from freeway frenzy to total tranquility.

As people make plans to go to the beach for the Independence Day holiday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is reminding the public to help protect beach-nesting shorebirds and sea turtles by giving them space and keeping personal fireworks off the beach. Please respect shorebird and sea turtle areas that are posted to protect these vulnerable species, but remember not all nests are posted.

The Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County (CAA) in partnership with the South Walton Artificial Reef Association (SWARA) will join two of SoWal's most beloved attractions - the arts and the Gulf of Mexico - by creating The Underwater Museum of Art (UMA), North America's first underwater permanent sculpture exhibit. The project has support from the National Endowment For The Arts.

Grayton Beach State Park has showcased the best natural environment South Walton has to offer for nearly 50 years. 

The park encompasses 2,200 acres of pristine rolling dunes along the Gulf and Western Lake, and a magnificent coastal forest habitat with unusual scrub oaks and magnolias twisted by winds and time. Western Lake is the centerpiece of the park, one of our rare, freshwater coastal dune lakes.

The installation of artificial reefs has gotten off to a great start in South Walton, and there the vessel Maranatha is currently offshore at Miramar Beach continuing deployments of twelve new reefs in coming days.

We’re at Deer Lake State Park in Walton County, Florida, tracing this bond through a coastal dune lake watershed.  

Water, of course, unifies this system.  But for that water to move through the system how it should, it needs fire.

About 50 people attended the opening of Pilcher Park on Friday, April 7th. The crowd was was wowed by the gem of a park underneath the 331 bridge on the south shore of the Choctawhatchee Bay.

Walton County Commissioners joined the celebration along with representatives of the Florida Department of Transportation to dedicate the new Thomas Pilcher Park and the second span of the Clyde B. Wells Bridge.