Myakka Canopy Walkway
Located in the Myakka River State Park off the Boylston Nature Trail, the Myakka Canopy Walkway is an outdoor laboratory available to every man and woman for research, education, and discovery. The Myakka Canopy Walkway, whose main suspended section looms 25 feet above the jungle floor, runs an 85 foot span, and extends to a tower reaching 75 feet tall, providing easy viewing of wetlands, prarie, and adjacent treetops of an oak/palm hammock. You’ll also get a unique ‘from the top’ view of birds, squirrels, and other animals below you.
The Canopy Walkway is the inspiration of renowned canopy scientist Dr Margaret Lowman, who believed through her vast experience in tropical ecosystems that the same methods used in many legendary rain forests could be applied to educate about and ultimately help save our own fragile resources. She began studying the Myakka canopy through traditional methods of research utilized in forests and jungles worldwide - by using ropes, ladders and pulleys to literally hoist oneself and swing from raised perches. The Myakka walkway is the result of a unique partnership among the Selby Gardens, Friends of the Myakka River, the TREE Foundation, and the Florida Park Service. The structure was completed and dedicated in June 2000