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Blue Moon Outdoor Center
3400 NE 163rd Street - North Miami.
Phone: 305-957-3040 - info@bluemoonmiami.com
• 7 days a week 9:00am - 5:15pm (last rental in by 6:15 pm)
• Directions: Hwy 95 to Ives Dairy Road exit East to Biscayne Blvd turn South 4 miles to 163rd St turn East go 1/2 mile to park entrance on South Side
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Oleta River State Park Information:
Florida's largest urban park, Oleta River State park is located on Biscayne Bay in the busy Miami Metropolitan area, 15 minutes away from downtown Miami and 20 minutes away from downtown Fort lauderdale. Although it offers a variety of recreational opportunities, the park is best known for miles of off-road bicycling trails, ranging from novice trails to challenging trails for experienced bicyclists and for its beautiful waterways. Along the Oleta River, at the north end of the park, a large stand of beautiful mangrove forest preserves native South Florida plants and wildlife. Canoeists and kayakers can paddle the river to explore this amazing natural area. Swimming from a 1,200-foot sandy beach and saltwater fishing are also popular activities. Picnic tables and grills are available. Nine pavilions can be rented for a fee. All have water, and the largest one has electricity. Visitors can rent kayaks, canoes, and bicycles. For overnight visits, the park has rustic, air-conditioned cabins and a youth campground for organized groups. |
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Oleta River State Park History:
The Area where Oleta River State park now sits was home to Tequesta Indians during the Glades or Glades 1 periods that date back to approximately 1000 B.C. The Tequesta indians occupied the western bank of the Oleta River and had a fishing camp and a midden that used to be located located on what is now the park property line near the Blue Marlin Fisheries. Artifacts found within the Tequesta Indians midden included pottery shards, shell tools, animal bones and projectiles. Also within the park there is an early twentieth century site containing a moonshine still and associated artifacts dating back to the Prohibition era where likely illegal moonshine was produced and distributed in Florida. In 1951 the State of Florida created the Inter-American Center Authority to build a cultural and trade center where the park now sits ( see 1951 Aerial picture of the area). This permanent international exhibition park named Interama was inspired in part from past World Fairs and in part from the than brand new Disneyland Park in California. This cultural and trade center would be a theme park, but unlike any other theme park projects, it was hoped that the governments of various countries would contribute to the building of their representative pavilions much as they had been doing for the World's Fair except that this would be a permanent commitment. The United States was asked to provide the bulk of the financing and foot the majority of the bills for this project and Representative Claude Pepper, who was always happy to try and bring home the bacon to his district, put the idea before Congress.Land in North Miami was acquired and shortly after a huge sign flaunting the park’s development was erected at the site. Congress meanwhile declined to fund the project while at the same time one after the other, Latin and South American Governments, with poverty to deal with in their own lands, declined to participate. (By the same token, Walt Disney World’s EPCOT Center which relies on sponsorships when building its national pavilions showcases no South American nations). Private funding was sought in lieu of governmental funding, but little was found. Interama continued to drift as a project for years but at the end it was never built.After Interama complications in the contracts involving the site itself, as well as a dispute with the Department of Environmental Regulation over part of the site which had been used as a landfill kept the land tied up right into the 1980’s as the City of North Miami, stuck with paying off bonds on the unproductive land, lobbied the State of Florida to purchase the property. In 1985 the State of Florida and the City of North Miami finally made a deal as the Florida Legislature voted to buy the 300 acre tract, most of which would go to expand Florida International university Bay Vista Campus. Other parts became Oleta River State Park. The Park finally opened to the Public in 1986 and it is a work in progress to this day. The park is under constant renovation, removing exotic plant species and replanting native plants and generally improving the park and its facilities. |
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Estuary
• The part of the wide lower course of a river where its current is met by the tides.
• An arm of the sea that extends inland to meet the mouth of a river. Oleta River State Park is located in an estuary at the junction points of the Oleta River, Intracostal Waterway and the waters of the Atlantic Ocean through nearby Haulover Inlet; this confluence of waters provides rich fertile waters where Mangrove trees thrive. Mangrove trails as well a protected bay where dolphins play and manatees leisurely swim make for ideal conditions for all types of water activities in and around Oleta river State Park. |
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Did You Know?
While paddling into the trails, you may smell hydrogen sulfide. This smell occurs from decomposing leaves and other natural matter. This is actually a healthy environment for mangrove estuaries. Mangroves are of extreme importance because of their great input to the marine food chain, the protective habitat they provide and their aesthetic value in this highly dense urban area. |
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Ecological Attributes
The environmental indicators of ecological health that have been identified as exceptionally important with respect to Oleta River area are temporal and spatial salinity patterns. Indicators are sea grass habitat, mangrove habitat and estuarine fish populations, fish and bottlenose dolphin health, crocodiles, manatees and wading birds.Prior to human alterations, Oleta River was a fresh to brackish tributary. The opening of Baker’s Haulover Cut to the Atlantic Ocean in 1925 changed the salinity content and today the waters around the park are mostly the same salinity as the ocean. |
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Bottlenose Dolphin
The bottlenose dolphin and other marine mammals are protected species under the Federal Marine Mammals Protection Act of 1972. NOAA Fisheries Miami keep track of resident and migrant dolphins by aerial photosWe often spot dolphins playing on the Western shoreline of the park in the bay area. |
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Safety and General information for Paddlesports
• State and Federal Laws require Coast Guard approved personal flotation devices for all occupants.
• Watch for submerged objects and overhanging branches.
• Fishing from watercraft is permitted with appropriate saltwater licenses. Catch and release is encouraged.
• Feeding or touching of wildlife is prohibited.
• It is suggested that participants wear footwear.
• Children 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult 18 or older at all times while on the water.
• Florida law requires Children under 6 years of age to wear a USCG-approved Type I, II, or III PFD at all times while on any vessel less than 26 feet in length.
• Paddle at your own risk.-It is your responsibility to get off the water during lightning and severe weather. |
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