Savannas Preserve State Park is a

Florida State Park There are 175 state parks and 9 state trails in the U.S. state of Florida which encompass more than , providing recreational opportunities for both residents and tourists. Almost half of the state parks have an associated local 501(c)(3) non-pr ...

, located along much of the Atlantic Coast between

Fort Pierce Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Treasure Coast region of Atlantic Coast Florida. It is also known as the Sunrise City, sister to San Francisco, California, the Suns ...

and

Jensen Beach Jensen Beach is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Martin County, Florida, United States. The population was 12,652 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Port St. Lucie, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Histo ...

. Savannas Preserve also has a group of youth volunteers, the Junior Friends of Savannas Preserve State Park.

General

Savannas Preserve State Park is predominantly a ''

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

''; open grasslands with sparse South Florida

slash pine ''Pinus elliottii'', commonly known as slash pine,Family, P. P. (1990). Pinus elliottii Engelm. slash pine. ''Silvics of North America: Conifers'', (654), 338. is a conifer tree native to the Southeastern United States. Slash pine is named after ...

trees. The park is made up of pine flatwoods, basin marsh, scrubby flatwoods, wet prairie and the Atlantic scrub ridge. Protecting southeast Florida's largest freshwater marsh, the Savannas Preserve State Park manages over 7,000 acres. It is home to many species, most notably: the threatened

Florida scrub jay The Florida scrub jay (''Aphelocoma coerulescens'') is one of the species of Aphelocoma, scrub jay native to North America. It is the only species of bird Endemism in birds, endemic to the U.S. state of Florida and one of only 15 species endemic ...

and

gopher tortoise The gopher tortoise (''Gopherus polyphemus'') is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to the southeastern United States. The gopher tortoise is seen as a keystone species because it digs burrows that provide ...

, the

American alligator The American alligator (''Alligator mississippiensis''), sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator or common alligator, is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two extant species in the g ...

, and the

sandhill crane The sandhill crane (''Antigone canadensis'') is a species of large crane of North America and extreme northeastern Siberia. The common name of this bird refers to habitat like that at the Platte River, on the edge of Nebraska's Sandhills on t ...

. The park is also the home to a rare plant that only grows in the Savannas Preserve State Park in the world, the savannas mint. The Savannas Education Center has live exhibits, a gift shop, self-guided tour booklets, and information on many of Florida's State Parks. Interpretive guided tours and canoe/kayak trips are offered by the Friends of Savannas Preserve State Park (a nonprofit citizen's support organization). Fishing is allowed, there is an equestrian entrance, and biking is permitted (although difficult because of the sand). The park also has nearly of public trails from Jensen Beach Blvd to Easy Street. This park contains nearly all of the remaining populations of the fragrant prickly-apple (''Harrisia fragrans''), an endangered cactus species.''H. fragrans'' Five Year Review.
June 2010. The main entrance to Savannas Preserve State Park is located at 2541 SE Walton Road, Port St. Lucie, Florida 34952.

General

References

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