When the weather cools and the mosquitoes wane, an easy must-do nature hike is the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary near Naples.

Home of the largest remaining virgin bald cypress forest in North America, this 14,000-acre preserve features an elevated 2 ½-mile boardwalk for easy and spectacular wildlife viewing. It might be the closest thing South Florida has to a living looking glass into the turn-of-the-last-century frontier.

Acquired by the National Audubon Society in 1954 to prevent logging, the Corkscrew features a variety of habitats — pine flatwoods, wet prairie and cypress forest in rich, undisturbed abundance. The array of plant and animal life is dizzying, and varies with water level and season.

From now through April is the best time for encountering birds — anhinga; heron; ibis; swallowtail kite; red-shouldered hawk; barred owl; wood stork; and limpkin (among others). The marsh holds alligators, otters, turtles and frogs. Occasionally a black bear lumbers through, leaving tall scratch marks on the cypress and depositing tell-tale dung piles on the boardwalk. On the prairie, visitors sometimes spot deer.

Each trip to Corkscrew is memorable — no matter the season. Because the area has been protected for nearly 60 years, the swamp dwellers behave a lot like the creatures of Ecuador’s remote Galapagos Islands: they seem unafraid and nonchalant around human visitors.

Once on a winter trip, I happened by a small lake filled with water lettuce where a little blue heron had speared a frog. When it saw me approach, it hopped onto the railing to make sure I appreciated its hunting prowess.

On another visit, I saw several barred owls perched on tree limbs, including one with chicks, that didn’t fly away when I came close. On the same day, a family of otters swam and played beneath the boardwalk, oblivious to the humans gaping at them.

Then, a few weeks ago, I went on a guided tour with three Audubon volunteers and we all got scolded by a red-shouldered hawk.

You just never know which creatures are going to greet you.

The plant life is just as vibrant and varied as the wildlife. Nearly 40 kinds of ferns decorate the swamp, interspersed with colorful wildflowers that change with the season. I recently learned from sanctuary volunteer Edie Blair that the beautiful pink marsh mallow flowers actually hold a sweet substance. For some reason, I always thought the popular campfire treat got its name arbitrarily.

When you visit Corkscrew in winter, you will see small, brown, dead-looking leaves draping the cypress boughs. It is resurrection fern, which turns into a vibrant green garland with the summer rains after going dormant during droughts.

The Corkscrew drew a flurry of international publicity in July of 2007 when several beautiful and mysterious ghost orchids, never seen before in the swamp, bloomed gloriously on a cypress within sight of the boardwalk. The news drew hordes of tourists and several botanists to view and photograph white petals that resemble the 1960s cartoon character, Casper the Friendly Ghost.

The botanists predicted the orchid wouldn’t bloom again for at least a decade. But Casper had other ideas, and has showed off for visitors every summer since.

Perhaps the swamp’s most remarkable features are the thick, towering cypress trees, some estimated at 600 to 700 years old and standing 130 feet tall and 25 feet in circumference. These enormous trees serve as hosts for strangler figs and homes for birds, while their smaller knees provide nutrients for other vegetation, such as ferns and orchids.

In summer the leaves are feathery green; about now, they fade to brown, and in winter, they disappear, creating a starkly beautiful, haunting effect.

South Florida is entering prime hiking season, and the Corkscrew Swamp should be high on any rambler’s list.

A proposed wildlife refuge north of Lake Okeechobee that is a big piece of the Obama administration’s shifting Everglades restoration strategy got a mixed reception Thursday on Capitol Hill.

Environmentalists and ranchers extolled the plan to purchase conservation easements on some 100,000 acres of pasture and buy another 50,000 acres outright, saying it would protect wildlife, wild lands and the water supply along with a way of life under increasing pressure from development.

“We have an opportunity now to stop urban sprawl and stop this part of Florida from going the way of other parts of the state,’’ Rick Dantzler, a former state senator from Winter Haven and co-chairman of the pro-refuge North Everglades Alliance, told a U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources subcommittee.

But hunters said they feared the plan would shut them out of most of the proposed Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area. Several lawmakers questioned pursuing a $700 million plan when the government is gushing red ink and a slew of projects in the existing $14 billion Everglades restoration plan remain stalled and unfunded.

John Fleming, a Republican congressman from Louisiana who chaired the hearing, argued that the refuge would divert money from more important Everglades projects south of the lake — a view echoed by one Florida congressman on the subcommittee, Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Panama City.

Southerland noted that the U.S. Interior Department had relied on public input to shape the refuge proposal but “unfortunately it seems to me that it’s not shaped by the brutal reality that we are broke.’’

Lawmakers also expressed concerns that the White House was moving forward on the refuge without congressional authorization. That’s because Interior has administrative power to create refuges and intends to bankroll land and easement buys through its Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is supported by annual royalties for leases on offshore oil and gas drilling.

Rep. David Rivera, a Miami Republican whose district includes Everglades National Park, talked about how critical a healthy ecosystem is to South Florida’s water supply and said he generally supported the refuge proposal. But he also pressed Interior to draft legislation that would give lawmakers more say and offer firm assurance that the refuge would be open to hunting use and for access by state water managers.

The administration proposed the refuge, which would extend from southwest Osceola County down to Lake Okeechobee, early this year, pitching it as a softer, less expensive approach to Glades restoration.

Supporters say it would call for relatively little expensive infrastructure, leave two-thirds of the land in private hands and open at least 50,000 acres to hunting. Only land owned by willing sellers would be targeted for purchase.

The areas targeted for conservation are a mosaic of habitats — such as pinelands, wetlands, prairies and scrub — that support 98 threatened and endangered species, including the Florida black bear, panther and scrub jay. The land is also critical to South Florida’s drinking water supply.

Supporters acknowledged the refuge would likely only have “marginal” water quality benefits, slowing down and filtering pollutants before they flow from farms and suburbs into Lake Okeechobee. But they said the open lands could be used to expand water storage essential to the lake, Everglades and farmers.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also bankrolling Everglades conservation easements, this year spending $100 million to acquire development rights to some 24,000 acres in four counties around Lake Okeechobee. Last year, the USDA paid $89 million to acquire development rights for another 26,000 acres.

Jo-Ellen Darcy, an assistant secretary of the Army who oversees the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the refuge proposal was just one of several encouraging signs for restoration.

Federal agencies also announced an overhaul of plans last week intended to speed up work to revive water flow to the parched River of Grass, which came on the heels of a pledge of support from Florida Gov. Rick Scott to deal with persistent water pollution problems.

“We’re both in tight budget situations but we are both committed to this restoration effort,” she said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has extended public comment on the proposal until Nov. 25. A final decision on the plan is not expected until next year and it could take years to purchase easements and land.