The area of land where the Orlando Wetlands is located was historically a wet prairie. A wet prairie is a type of freshwater wetland that is mostly treeless and dominated by grasses, sedges and herbaceous plants adapted to saturated soils. The land was once part of the upper St. Johns River basin, a large marshy headwaters region in central Florida. This basin formed because the St. Johns River has an extremely low gradient, dropping only about one inch per mile. With such a flat slope, water drains very slowly, creating wide, shallow wetlands that stay wet for much of the year. The wet prairie that was here was important because it stored floodwater, filtered nutrients, and provided homes for many species of birds, fish and amphibians.
Courtesy of Fort Christmas Historical Park
Early inhabitants of the Christmas area, often called Paleo-Indians, lived in the area and occupied what would later become the St. Johns River basin.
By the time of European contact in the 1500s, the basin was home to Native groups such as the Timucua, who lived in villages along the river and its tributaries. They relied heavily on the river for transportation, food, and daily life—fishing, hunting, and practicing small-scale agriculture in the fertile floodplain.
Spanish explorers arrived in Florida in the early 1500s. Over time, Native populations declined dramatically due to disease, conflict, and displacement associated with European colonization.
As Spanish influence waned and British control briefly followed, the region saw continued disruption to Indigenous societies.
During the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Seminole people emerged in Florida, formed from an offshoot of the Muscogee (Creek) tribe and other native tribes from Georgia and South Carolina, along with remaining indigenous peoples in Florida and escaped enslaved people. The Second Seminole War (1835–1842) resulted in the forced removal of many Seminoles to the west, though some remained in Florida.
Fort Christmas was built on December 25, 1837, by 2,000 U.S. Army soldiers and Alabama militiamen under the command of General Abraham Eustis. The Fort acted as a supply stop for the soldiers. A replica of the Fort can be found less than a mile from the Orlando Wetlands and is open to the public.
August 14, 1842, was declared the end of the Second Seminole War. Most of the Seminole people were moved to Oklahoma and only a few hundred remained in Florida. The Armed Occupation Act of 1842 was passed by Congress. It encouraged American settlers to move in and colonize the area to further secure the land from native people and to meet population requirements for statehood. Florida became a state in 1845.
Following the end of the American Civil War, settlers established homesteads in Christmas and raised cattle, hogs, and citrus. In the early 1900s, red cedar trees were harvested for their durable wood suitable for furniture, fence posts and general construction. Pine trees were also tapped for turpentine and logged for lumber. Citrus groves expanded across Central Florida between freezes. In the 1940s, much of the Orlando Wetlands property was drained and ditched for cattle pasture and a dairy farm.
Water pollution in the United States was a growing crisis by the late 1960s — rivers were so polluted that Ohio's Cuyahoga River actually caught fire. The foundation of what we now call the Clean Water Act was first passed in 1948, but it was significantly expanded and reorganized in 1972. The updated law established the basic structure for regulating pollutant discharges into U.S. waters, gave the EPA the authority to set wastewater standards for industry, and made it unlawful to discharge pollutants into navigable waters without first obtaining a permit. To help cities comply, many municipalities received federal funds to build and improve wastewater treatment plants, all in pursuit of one clear goal: to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters.
The Iron Bridge Regional Water Reclamation Facility (Iron Bridge) was constructed in 1979 by the City of Orlando with a mandate from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to consolidate several wastewater treatment facilities and to expand the available sewer capacity in the area. Iron Bridge first discharged their treated effluent to the Little Econlockhatchee River and for public reuse. However, with the influx of development and the resultant increase in wastewater volume, Iron Bridge needed to expand its effluent disposal capacity by the mid-1980s. An innovative solution to this situation was to develop a man-made wetland system for advanced treatment of the highly treated effluent, also known as reclaimed water. In 1986, the City of Orlando purchased 1,650 acres near Fort Christmas for a cost of $5,128,000 for this very purpose. By July of 1987, 1,220 acres of former pastureland was converted to a man-made wetland treatment system.
The system was designed with a hydraulic capacity to receive up to 35 million gallons a day of reclaimed water. The water is pumped from Iron Bridge through a four-foot diameter pipeline for approximately seventeen miles to the Orlando Wetlands influent distribution structure. The wetlands were designed with seventeen cells (now eighteen) and three distinct wetland communities for removing residual amounts of nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, from the reclaimed water. The ecological communities include deep and mixed marshes along with a hardwood-cypress swamp. The site was planted with 2.3 million wetland plants including 200,000 trees. A borrow-pit lake is contained within one of the cells.
The constructed wetland is formally known as the Orlando Easterly Wetlands but has come to be known to the public as the Orlando Wetlands.
This video demonstrates the City of Orlando’s water reclamation process in East Orlando. Follow the journey of wastewater from home to sewer, to the Iron Bridge Regional Water Reclamation Facility, to discharge points in the community, environment, or for further treatment at the Orlando Wetlands.
The reclaimed water begins its 30 to 40 day journey through the wetlands at the influent distribution structure, which is located at the southwestern edge of the property, just north of Wheeler Road. The reclaimed water flows in a broad sheet through the various marshes and swamp and eventually arrives at two outfall structures. The flow leaves the Orlando Wetlands via a canal and into the St. Johns River.
The influent distribution structure separates the reclaimed water into three flow paths through the wetland system. All flow paths first go through deep marsh consisting primarily of cattails and giant bulrush. Flow is then routed through mixed marsh containing pickerelweed, duck potato and other emergent aquatic plants, along with submerged aquatic plants such as southern naiad and Illinois pondweed. Finally, the water flows through a hardwood swamp where cypress, pop ash and water hickory dominate. A 90-acre lake is part of the central and southern flow paths through the wetlands system.
Three vegetative communities make up the wetlands: deep marsh, mixed marsh, and hardwood swamp.
Once the water completes its journey through the wetlands, it is sampled every day and results are reported to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the St. Johns River Water Management District. Phosphorus levels from the wetlands outflow are on average lower than the St. Johns River.
The Orlando Wetlands receives an average of approximately 14 million gallons of reclaimed water per day. The Wetland’s primary purpose is to provide advanced treatment for reclaimed water so that it can be safely discharged into the St. Johns River.
Water quality is monitored in a variety of ways, from automatic samplers that collect multiple samples daily, to manual collections of water from all around the facility, the St. Johns River and even groundwater on a monthly basis. All these samples are analyzed by the Environmental Laboratory at Iron Bridge Regional Water Reclamation Facility. With laboratory data as well as in-the-field data, Wetlands staff are able to make informed adjustments to the wetlands system in order to provide optimal water treatment.
To request a copy of the Annual Report, please email orlandowetlands@orlando.gov.
At the Orlando Wetlands, the team works diligently to maintain ideal conditions for treating reclaimed water while caring for the plants and animals that make up the ecosystem. Their goal is to ensure that every part of the natural environment functions in harmony.
Land management includes removing invasive plants with specialized tools, planting new species to boost biodiversity, and carrying out occasional renovation or restoration projects. By continually introducing and supporting a variety of plants and animals, the team helps the wetlands become a more self-sustaining ecosystem. Greater biodiversity increases resiliency and reduces the need for direct human intervention to keep the area healthy.
It’s common to see staff driving vehicles, operating construction equipment, using airboats, or walking through wetland waters—these are all normal activities that keep the facility in excellent condition.
The nutrient-rich reclaimed water flowing through the wetlands promotes abundant plant growth. As these plants decay, they form layers of mud, or “muck.” Over time, excessive buildup of this muck can slow the water treatment process, requiring more extensive management efforts, such as a full wetland renovation project.
See Orlando Wetlands cell renovation
Why Renovate?
Since 1987, the Orlando Wetlands has been in continuous operation, polishing approximately 5.11 billion gallons of reclaimed water annually.
Once reclaimed water enters the facility, 1,200 acres of wetlands ecosystem naturally removes the nutrients of nitrogen and phosphorus from the water. As the wetland plants grow, they consume nutrients thereby removing them from the water. When the plants die, they fall into the water and decay into muck.
Overtime the muck increasingly accumulates on the bottom of the wetlands. When the layer of muck becomes too thick, it slows the flow of water and causes nutrients to be released back into the water. At this point the muck needs to be removed.
Through numerous research efforts and studies, the right time to remove the accumulated muck is determined. The area to be renovated, or demucked, is then blocked from receiving water flow and is drained. Heavy equipment is then brought in to remove the excess vegetation and muck. During each renovation, approximately 18 inches of muck is removed from the bottom of the wetlands. Upon completion, the ground is leveled out and water flow is returned. Beneficial aquatic plants, such as giant bulrush, pickerelweed, duck potato and other native plants, are also reinstalled for their nutrient removal abilities and usefulness to wildlife.
In August of 2002, the Orlando Wetlands underwent its first wetland renovation or demucking project. Renovations have continued periodically ever since. On average, demucking projects are approximately 100 acres in size and result in the removal of approximately 200,000 cubic yards of muck and vegetation.
Since the early 1990s, the Orlando Wetlands has been open to the public for passive recreational use. Visitors to the facility are free to partake in photography, wildlife viewing, hiking, cycling, and horseback riding.
The introduction of public access to the facility brought forth the inception of the Orlando Wetlands Public Outreach Program. The program began with a small group of dedicated volunteers and grew to incorporate City of Orlando staff. Over the years, the program has steadily grown in both size and scope. The program’s mission is to provide public awareness of the Orlando Wetlands and support the facility’s primary management goals to remove excess nutrients from reclaimed water, create and maintain healthy wetlands ecology and habitat for wildlife, and provide a public recreational space and educational programming.
Education and Outreach programs include educational tours and presentations, print and digital media and communications, community programs and events, volunteers, and the Visitors Center. Thank you to the Friends of the Orlando Wetlands volunteers, a project committee of Strengthen Orlando 501(c)(3), for their enormous support of these efforts.
Through these programs, the Orlando Wetlands Education and Outreach program’s mission is to inspire and create meaningful connections between people and the public works and water reclamation system, natural water resources and waterways, wetlands ecosystems and the environment at large. Through this, the Orlando Wetlands aims to educate and create an informed citizenry that will engage in environmental stewardship and have a better appreciation of water reclamation processes.
Visit our Education Programs page for available programs and scheduling details.
The open waters, mixed marsh, and lake attract many year-round and migratory birds to the wetlands. Over 250 bird species have been documented including blue-winged teal, green-winged teal, black-bellied whistling duck, roseate spoonbill, black-crowned night heron, American bittern, wood stork, sandhill crane, bald eagle and more. Some common year-round residents include great-blue heron, red-shouldered hawk, osprey, common gallinule and coot. Raccoon, river otter, white-tailed deer, bobcat and alligator can occasionally be seen along the roads and hiking trails. The Orlando Wetlands is home to over 13 species of wildlife that are federally or state listed as threatened, endangered or protected.
In the 1990s, the Orlando Wetlands was opened to the public for passive recreational use. When the City of Orlando first purchased the property, the original land owners retained hunting rights from February through November. Therefore, it was closed to the public during these months year after year until the City of Orlando purchased these rights for $400,000 in 2015. Since then, the facility has been open year-round to the public.
In 2000, the Orlando Wetlands began hosting an annual Wetlands Festival. The Festival strived to educate and engage the community in environmental issues and increase public awareness about the function of the wetlands. After 2018, the Festival was held every other year.
The Cypress Boardwalk was opened to the public on December 19, 2022. It spans 2,200 feet in length and provides visitors an overwater view of the Wetlands. 50% of the boardwalk was funded through a Florida Recreational Trails Program, a federal grant initiative funded by the Federal Highway Administration and administered by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in coordination with the Florida Department of Transportation.
The Orlando Wetlands Visitors Center officially opened to the public on April 2, 2025, following a grand opening ceremony and ribbon-cutting event by City of Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. The 5,000-square-foot building features interactive exhibits with live animal displays, providing visitors with new ways to learn about and enjoy the Orlando Wetlands.