RECREATION
WATER RESERVOIR ALSO A
POPULAR RECREATION AREA
BY SUSAN BURGESS
McCarty Ranch Preserve opens to throngs
Throw a party, toss in a bonfire. Add a hayride,
kayaks, music, horseback rides. And they will come
— even if they have to drive a half-hour or more to
a place where longtime residents may never have
ventured before.
When Port St. Lucie celebrated its acquisition of nearly 5
square miles of the former McCarty Ranch on Range Line
Road with a grand opening on Nov. 8, “We expected maybe
500 people would come,” says city spokesman Ed Cunningham.
“But we never imagined more than 4,000 people would
show up.”
The families had a good time, too. Free horseback rides
elicited “look at me” grins, kids threw out their lines in a fishing
contest, people strolled around edges of a mile-long lake,
bike riders went off to explore the curving dirt trails. Kayakers
and canoers relished the small sand beach that had been
trucked in to give them a place to launch. The smiles were big
and camaraderie with a sense of community brought strangers
together.
The 3,107-acre McCarty Ranch Preserve offers hundreds
of acres of unspoiled natural land for exploration, birding,
wildlife-watching, meditating and feeling at one with the land.
The city cleared hiking, bicycling and horseback riding trails,
and opened the preserve for passive recreation. Boating and
fishing are allowed on the 237-acre lake, but swimming is not.
Next up are restrooms and trail expansion, says Brad
Keen, assistant director of the city’s Parks and Recreation
Department. “We are working on future plans, but right
now we don’t have a hard and fast timeline and we don’t
have a budget.”
In the future the park might have picnic areas, a playground
and bathrooms. >>
14 Port St. Lucie Magazine
CITY OF PORT ST. LUCIE PHOTOS
More than 4,000 people enjoyed the opening of the McCarty Ranch Preserve in November. The annual hayride, usually held at Tradition Stadium, gave
everyone a chance to see the beautiful new preserve about 30 minutes west of Port St. Lucie City Hall.