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chickee talk

Oasis Visitor Center:
Oasis V
enter
isitor C

:
e!
Alligators Everywhere!
Alligators Everywher

by Tina Marie Osceola
s I drive across Tamiami Trail on any Today, the location is called the Oasis Visitor Center and it is
given day, at any given time of year, within the heart of the Big Cypress National Preserve (BCNP).
A I feel like I am driving into a time- It is still a popular pit stop for most travelers and if you time the
travel machine. Mostly, my father is with me water levels right, you will get to see more alligators in their natural
and his stories of growing up in Ochopee and environment than anywhere else in Florida. In 2021, in my role
Everglades City transport me back to a time as the Director of the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Tribal Historic
when Tamiami Trail was just a limerock road Preservation Office, I attended a meeting with the Superintendent
with Seminoles and descendant African slaves working the endless of the BCNP, Thomas Forsyth. We struck up a collaborative
rows of tomato and vegetable fields. Today when you look to the friendship in an effort to maximize the opportunities for the Tribe
north or south of the Trail you see what appears to be pristine open and the Park Service under the co-stewardship initiative of the
sawgrass. In fact, those prairies in Ochopee were at one time, hugely Biden Administration. Tribes across the nation are working with
successful agricultural fields that supplied the nation with fresh federal land management agencies on increasing their role in the
produce. stewardship and management of public lands that are all ancestral
I do not know about the rest of you, but whenever I am in a car, lands of America’s first peoples. The team at BCNP and the
I must have my 30 ounce iced black tea or large bottle of water to Seminole Tribe of Florida met on a regular basis and we developed
keep me going… sometimes both. My favorite place to stop along a plan to co-manage the Oasis. Our nationally accredited
the way is the Oasis Visitor Center, located at about the halfway Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum’s Exhibit Team went to work to enhance
point between Naples and Miami. When my brother and I were their interpretive story with an amazing exhibit, “Alligator
young, we looked forward to that stop with such anticipation, Wrestling: Danger. Entertainment. Tradition.” Over a million
that we would both scooch up from the backseat of our station visitors to the Big Cypress National Preserve can now stop for a
wagon and wedge our heads between our parents, so that we convenience break, gaze at the wildlife, including gators on the
could look through the trees and towards the horizon for the huge boardwalk, and enjoy the air condition inside the visitor center and
airplane. During our era, the Oasis was actually a gas station learn about the Seminole tradition of alligator wrestling.
and convenience store with a huge airplane that sat on top of the I am very proud of our museum team, as well as the dedicated
building. Even though we stopped there often, every time seemed team at the BCNP under Tom Forsyth’s leadership. Please take
like the first, as we would stand outside staring up at what seemed a day trip, make a stop at the center which isn’t far from Clyde
like such a feat of human engineering. We would be so enthralled Butcher’s Gallery, and the Skunkape Headquarters. The Miccosukee
looking at the plane and it seemed more important than glass Village and Museum with airboat tours isn’t far down the road
bottles of coke and crinkly bags of chips that waited for us inside either and you can really immerse yourself in what seems like a trip
the store. back in time for me.

www.nps.gov/bicy/planyourvisit/oasis-visitor-center.htm

16 Life in Naples | December 2023