Myakka River State Park is a Florida State Park, that is located nine miles (11 km) east of I-75 in Sarasota in Sarasota County and that includes portions of southeastern Manatee County. A small portion (1,920 acres) of the park was the gift of the family of Bertha Palmer to the state. The park is named after the Myakka River.Consisting of 37,000 acres (150 km2), this is one of the state's largest and oldest parks. It was delineated in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps.EnvironmentMyakka River State Park is in the southeastern conifer forests ecoregion. Plant communities in areas of the park with drier soils are a mixture of pine forests, scrub, and prairies. Florida longleaf pine sandhills are woodlands dominated by longleaf pine. South Florida pine flatwoods are open woodlands of with a dense ground cover of grasses and shrubs. Florida peninsula inland scrub consists of sand pines growing amid shrublands of evergreen oaks. Florida dry prairies are flat, nearly treeless plains with dense cover of grasses and saw palmetto.
