Estero Bay Preserve State Park is a 10,000-acre Florida park near Estero between Fort Myers and Naples, protecting 10 miles of Estero Bay’s waters, inlets, and islands as Florida’s first aquatic nature preserve. Centered on the bay rather than one upland tract, it encompasses tidal waters, mangrove-lined inlets, and low islands that support abundant wildlife, including threatened and endangered birds, reptiles, marine species, and rare plants. Its significance lies in both conservation history and habitat protection. The preserve also contains an isolated remnant of the old Seaboard Air Line Railway rail bed, a surviving trace of one of the two railroads that once served southwest Florida.