I love exploring natural areas and I saw a small sign for the R Hardy Matheson County Preserve off…read moreOld Cutler Road. There isn't a parking lot so I took a chance pulling off to the side of the road despite a number of no parking/ tow away signs. The nearest place I can find to park is approximately a mile away. As I was parking a number of other people with fishing gear also pulled over to park and headed to the preserve.
The preserve is named in honor of Robert Hardy Matheson, a conservationist and former commissioner credited with helping create Biscayne National Park and MetroZoo. Matheson won his election to the county commission in 1964 by campaigning against an oil terminal in Biscayne Bay. With his support the site was instead turned into a federal park. His family donated the land for the county's first park, Matheson Hammock, and later for Crandon Park on Key Biscayne. Mr. Matheson passed away in 1993 at the age of 73.
R. Hardy Matheson Preserve is 813 acres located east of Old Cutler Road. In 1982, the State of Florida purchased 640 acres that make up the majority of the preserve and entered into an agreement with Miami Dade County to manage it. The preserve is bordered by Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve to the east, Matheson Hammock Park and a housing development to the north, and the Snapper Creek Lakes residential subdivision, Snapper Creek Marina, and Four Fillies Farm to the west.
The preserve contains a rustic hiking trail that takes you to Biscayne Bay. In the preserve is the remains of a prehistoric Tequesta Indian village dating to 500 BC. The site contains a midden, a kind of ancient garbage dump that can tell archaeologists a lot about the people who lived there, a village, and possibly a cemetery. Artifacts found in Snapper Creek include tools made from bones, pieces of broken pottery, and ax heads made out of conch shells. Today you might spot manatees swimming in the creek. The preserve is also home to a high diversity of rare ecosystems including pine rockland, mangrove, hardwood hammock and estuaries. Over 200 species of birds have been recorded here.
Since 1910 the preserve has been covered with mounds of fill from the dredging of the Snapper Creek for navigation. Miami Fade County has restored large areas of the preserve and removed invasive plants. In 2012 volunteers from Wells Fargo grew red mangrove propagules and transplanted to the coastline of R Hardy Matheson County Preserve to give juvenile fish and crustaceans a habitat in which to grow.
Currently, there are no developed recreational facilities at R Hardy Matheson County Preserve. An informal footpath spans the length of the maintenance berm along the canal. The path begins at the park entrance and runs along the north side of the canal to Biscayne Bay. There is also a graffiti covered cold war era bunker on the preserve. R Hardy Matheson County Preserve is not officially open to the public although people sometimes take the trail from Old Cutler Road and from Biscayne Bay to fish and sight see. In 2012 Miami Dade County developed a 10 year prospectus for the preserve which included making a parking lot, canoe launch, and picnic area. Unfortunately nothing was ever done and this area remains underutilized which is a shame because it has beautiful views of Biscayne Bay if you walk the trail all the way out.
