Manatee County commissioners have given the green light to buy roughly 711 acres of environmentally significant land across two properties, locking in purchase agreements worth a combined $16.25 million. The deals cover land destined to become the Myakka Valley Preserve in the eastern part of the county and the Bunker Hill Preserve near Parrish, with both projects drawing on money from a voter-approved conservation program.
According to Manatee County Government
, the Board of County Commissioners approved the purchase agreements, which allow the county to move forward with the acquisition process. As
pulseofmanatee.com
reports, the agreements total $16.25 million and are funded through Manatee County's voter-approved conservation lands program.
A New Piece of the Florida Wildlife Corridor
The larger of the two deals covers approximately 554.5 acres near Anson Road and State Road 70, part of what would become the Myakka Valley Preserve. The outlet's report puts that portion of the agreements at $14.2 million. If completed, the acquisition would connect with the existing Triple Oak Preserve to form an approximately 661-acre conservation area within the Florida Wildlife Corridor, a designation tied to a statewide effort that, per the same account's prior reporting, identified more than 18 million acres statewide that could form an uninterrupted path for wildlife if conserved.
Myakka Valley could support preservation of wildlife habitat along with wetland and natural water system restoration tied to the Myakka River watershed. The site's future is not without potential upside for residents, too: the county's report notes that future public uses there could include hiking, biking, birdwatching, horseback riding and fishing, though no timeline for opening has been established.
Bunker Hill's Role Along the Little Manatee River
The second property sits roughly 156.4 acres along Taylor Grade Road in Parrish, slated to become the Bunker Hill Preserve along the South Fork of the Little Manatee River. That purchase is pegged at $2.05 million, bringing together native hardwood forests, wetlands and pastureland under one future preserve, the same report details.
Preserving Bunker Hill could help protect the watershed, restore natural habitats and improve water quality along that stretch of the Little Manatee River. Future recreational opportunities there could include hiking, biking, picnicking and wildlife observation — again, proposed uses rather than confirmed amenities tied to any specific opening date.
What Happens Next
Once the acquisitions are completed, the county's Natural Resources Department will oversee restoration, long-term management and planning for future public access, according to the pulseofmanatee.com account of the approvals. Properties considered for conservation under the program are first recommended by county staff and the Environmental Lands Management and Acquisition Advisory Committee, known as ELMAC, before reaching commissioners, per bradenton.com. The county's Environmental Lands Program page notes that once ELMAC recommends a property and the Board approves it, due diligence and purchase negotiations can begin.
Manatee County's conservation push isn't new. The county already has sixteen preserves established through a combination of land donations, purchases, grants and land-trust partnerships, per the Environmental Lands Program. The current acquisitions trace back to a 2020 referendum approved by 71% of voters that let the county bond $50 million for conservation, bradenton.com reports, a fund that has already paid for more than 300 acres, including a 94-acre expansion of Emerson Point Preserve in Palmetto for $15.5 million, the 68-acre Crooked River Preserve in Parrish for $11.2 million, and the 105-acre Triple Oak Preserve in Myakka for $3.6 million. A separate account from yourobserver.com describes that Emerson Point purchase as a 97-acre expansion agreed to in March 2024 for the same $15.5 million, a discrepancy in acreage between the two reports.
A Shrinking Statewide Safety Net
The county's local investment comes as statewide conservation funding has tightened considerably. Florida Forever funding dropped from $229 million in the 2024-25 fiscal year to just $18 million for 2025-26, according to the same yourobserver.com report, even as an estimated 8 million acres of the Florida Wildlife Corridor remain unprotected statewide. Big Waters Land Trust's 2030 Conservation Plan separately maps out 247,000 acres of conservation opportunities stretching from Terra Ceia in Manatee County down to Corkscrew Swamp in Collier County, the outlet notes, underscoring how much undeveloped land in the region still sits outside protected status.
For now, the two approved properties represent what the county's own account calls an opportunity to protect Manatee County's natural resources and wildlife habitats for generations. The purchase agreements still need to move through the rest of the acquisition process before either preserve becomes official, and no date has been set for when the public might be able to walk the new trails.
