Oleta River State Park

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Night Heron on the Oleta River

The beach at Oleta River State Park

The Oleta River State Park is the largest urban park in the Florida State Park system. The park is located on 1043 acres (4.2 km²) - 993 acres (4.0 km²) of land and 50 acres (0.2 km²) of inland water - on Biscayne Bay, in the northeastern end of the city of North Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida, and adjoins the Biscayne Bay Campus of Florida International University. In some documents, the park is designated as the Oleta River State Recreation Area. The park contains one of the largest concentrations of Australian Pine trees (an invasive species) found in a Florida State Park.

The central feature of this park is the mouth of the Oleta River, for which it is named. The river has drawn human inhabitants to the area since about 500 BCE, when its shores served as a campground for Tequesta Indians. It was used by U.S. troops (who called it Big Snake Creek) in 1841 during the Second Seminole War, and further explored in 1881 by Captain William Hawkins Fulford, whose ventured inland to what is now the city of North Miami Beach. The area became more heavily settled in the 1890s and in 1922, developers changed the name from Big Snake Creek to the Oleta River.

The river itself no longer flows to the Everglades, as it once did, but remains a popular area for canoeing. The park also boasts some of the best wilderness bike trails in the country, and is a frequent host for triathlons and other extreme sports events.

There is a beach on Biscayne Bay, kayak rentals, and primitive cabins.

Oleta River State Park is also the headquarters to one of the state's five AmeriCorps Florida State Parks chapters.

[edit] Health Concerns

Oleta River State Park is adjacent to Munisport landfill, a toxic superfund site. Some of the toxic substances from Munisport have been documented in the water in the Oleta swimming area. ^[1] ^[2]

[edit] External links

	Protected Areas of Florida Department of Environmental Protection
State Parks	Amelia Island \| Anastasia \| Avalon \| Bahia Honda \| Bald Point \| Big Lagoon \| Big Talbot Island \| Bill Baggs Cape Florida \| Bulow Creek \| Caladesi Island \| Camp Helen \| Cayo Costa \| Collier-Seminole \| Curry Hammock \| Delnor-Wiggins Pass \| Devil's Millhopper \| Don Pedro Island \| Eden Gardens \| Egmont Key \| Falling Waters \| Faver-Dykes \| Florida Caverns \| Fort Clinch \| Fort Cooper \| Fort George Island \| Fort Pierce Inlet \| Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou \| Gasparilla Island \| George Crady Bridge Fishing Pier \| Highlands Hammock \| Hontoon Island \| Hugh Taylor Birch \| John D. MacArthur Beach \| John Pennekamp Coral Reef \| John U. Lloyd Beach \| Jonathan Dickinson \| Little Talbot Island \| Long Key \| Lovers Key / Carl E. Johnson \| Mike Roess Gold Head Branch \| Navarre Beach \| North Peninsula \| O'Leno \| Oscar Scherer \| Ravine Gardens \| River Bluff Picnic Site \| Sebastian Inlet \| Skyway Fishing Pier \| St. George Island \| St. Joseph Peninsula \| Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center \| Stump Pass Beach \| Tomoka \| Torreya \| Windley Key Fossil Reef \|
Botanical	Alfred B. Maclay Gardens \| Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock \| Lignumvitae Key \| Washington Oaks State Gardens \|
Lakes, Rivers and Springs	Deer Lake \| Lake Griffin \| Lake June in Winter Scrub \| Lake Kissimmee \| Lake Louisa \| Lake Manatee \| Lake Talquin \| Alafia River \| Blackwater River \| Econfina River \| Guana River \| Hillsborough River \| Little Manatee River \| Myakka River \| Ochlockonee River \| Silver River \| Suwannee River \| Blue Spring \| De Leon Springs \| Edward Ball Wakulla Springs \| Fanning Springs \| Homosassa Springs Wildlife \| Ichetucknee Springs \| Lafayette Blue Springs \| Madison Blue Springs \| Manatee Springs \| Peacock Springs \| Rainbow Springs \| Troy Springs \| Wekiwa Springs \| Werner-Boyce Salt Springs \|
Recreation areas	Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek \| Dead Lakes \| Dunns Creek \| Gamble Rogers Memorial \| Grayton Beach \| Henderson Beach \| Honeymoon Island \| Oleta River \| Perdido Key \| Ponce de Leon Springs \| St. Andrews \| Three Rivers \|
Museums, Historic sites, and Archaeological sites	Cedar Key Museum \| Constitution Convention Museum \| Forest Capital Museum \| John Gorrie State Museum \| Ybor City Museum The Barnacle \| Bulow Plantation Ruins \| Dade Battlefield \| DeSoto Site \| Dudley Farm \| Fort Foster \| Fort Mose \| Fort Zachary Taylor \| Gamble Plantation \| Indian Key \| Koreshan \| Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Homestead \| Natural Bridge Battlefield \| Olustee Battlefield \| Orman House \| Paynes Creek \| San Marcos de Apalache \| Yellow Bluff Fort \| Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Crystal River \| Lake Jackson Mounds \| Letchworth Mounds \| Madira Bickel Mound \| Mound Key \| San Pedro Underwater \|
Preserves and reserves	Anclote Key \| Cedar Key Scrub \| Charlotte Harbor \| Crystal River \| Estero Bay \| Fakahatchee Strand \| Kissimmee Prairie \| Lower Wekiva River \| Paynes Prairie \| Pumpkin Hill Creek \| River Rise \| Rock Springs Run \| San Felasco Hammock \| Savannas \| Seabranch \| St. Lucie Inlet \| St. Sebastian River \| Tarkiln Bayou \| Topsail Hill \| Tosohatchee \| Waccasassa Bay \| Yellow River Marsh \|
Trails	Gainesville-Hawthorne \| General James A. Van Fleet \| Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad Trail \| Withlacoochee \|