Area 99.41 km² | Established 1982 | |
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Location Sarasota County, Florida | ||
T. Mabry Carlton, Jr. Reserve, also known as the Carlton Reserve, is a 24,565-acre (9,941 ha) preserve in Sarasota County, Florida. The Reserve has 80 miles (130 km) of hiking, equestrian, and biking trails. The park's Myakka Island Wilderness Trail connects the Carlton Reserve with Myakka River State Park.
Habitats in the preserve include dry prairie, pine flatwoods, mesic hammocks and seasonal wetlands. Wildlife on the land include white-tailed deer, wild turkey, bobcats, swallow-tailed kites, and wading birds. The wildflowers pine lily, tarflower and Iris versicolor, the purple iris, have been identified on the property.
Purchased in 1982 for a water wellfield, the remaining acreage was set aside for natural resource protection. The site is named in honor of a former County Commissioner who had a critical role in acquiring the land.