Sims Sink Nature Preserve

The two-acre Sims Sink Nature Preserve in Suwannee County, Florida, is another of the NSS Nature Preserves' underwater caves. Buford Pruitt bought the property in 1984 and donated it to The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in 1987. In 2014, he convinced TNC to donate the Preserve to the NSS. The BOG unanimously voted to accept the property in late 2016 and appointed Buford as Chair of the Preserve's Management Committee.

Sims Sink Cave is a small cave consisting of a single room that is almost totally underwater. It is an interesting habitat unit that supports two species of cave crayfishes, two species of aquatic amphipods, and one species of aquatic isopod (Caecidotea hobbsi). All are stygomorphic and the crayfish are considered troglobites (obligate cavernicoles). Florida has more species of cave crayfishes than any similarly-sized area in the world, with Sim's Sink Cave being the type locality of one of them, the Santa Fe Cave Crayfish (Procambarus erythrops). The latter is considered a Threatened Species by the State of Florida and is classified by the Florida Natural Areas Inventory as G1/S1 (critically imperiled globally and in the State of Florida).

The other species of crayfish found in Sims is McLane's Cave Crayfish (Troglocambarus maclanei), which is recognized as the most cave-adapted crayfish in North America. As a consequence of its extraordinary biological resources, recreational cave diving is not allowed in Sims Sink Cave.

Several research biologists are lined up to perform research in Sims Sink Cave. After watching this wonderful resource languish over the past 28 years, the Committee is truly excited at the prospects of finding out how its crayfish have fared all these years, ensuring that it continues to be a superior habitat for its threatened species, using it to conduct important cave research, and restoring its epigean mixed upland forest community.