Key West National Wildlife Refuge

Key West National Wildlife Refuge
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)

Location	Monroe County, Florida, United States
Nearest city	Key West, Florida
Coordinates	24°34′09″N 82°06′55″W / 24.569294°N 82.11525°W / 24.569294; -82.11525Coordinates: 24°34′09″N 82°06′55″W / 24.569294°N 82.11525°W / 24.569294; -82.11525
Area	189,497 acres (766.867 km²)
Established	1908
Visitors	180,000 (estimated) (in 2004)
Governing body	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Website	Key West National Wildlife Refuge

The Key West National Wildlife Refuge is a 189,497 acre (766.867 km²) National Wildlife Refuge located in Monroe County, Florida, between Key West, Florida and the Dry Tortugas . Only 2,019 acres (8.171 km²) of land are above sea level, on several keys within the refuge. These keys are unpopulated and are also designated as Wilderness within the Florida Keys Wilderness. The refuge was established to provide a preserve and breeding ground for native birds and other wildlife as well as to provide habitat and protection for endangered and threatened fish, wildlife, plants and migratory birds.

In addition to the 189,497 acres (767 km²) of land owned by the refuge, the refuge maintains 154 acres (.623 km²) for the United States Coast Guard and 206,289 acres (834.822 km²) of marine waters in conjunction with the state of Florida.

The refuge is one of three refuges administered by the National Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine Key in Florida. Although Key West NWR is unstaffed, the National Key Deer Refuge has a combined staff of 13 with a fiscal year 2005 budget of $1,041,000.

History

Key West NWR was established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds and other wildlife to curtail the slaughter of birds whose feathers were highly valued in the hat industry. Wading birds were threatened with extinction before this refuge began providing a safe haven for them and other threatened plant and animal species. This refuge was the first established in the Florida Keys and one of the earliest refuges in the United States. They have over 250 different bird species there.

Topography

Map of the refuge

The refuge encompasses more than 300 square miles (800 km²) of open water and 2,019 acres (8 km²) of land on 26 islands. The Refuge includes mostly mangrove islands, with a few sandy beaches and dunes that are critical nesting habitat for endangered sea turtles. Other habitat includes salt marsh and coastal berm hammocks, plus sea grass and coral reef communities.

Wildlife and protected species

The refuge, along with the Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge, represents the last of the offshore (and raccoon-free) islands in the lower Florida Keys available as critical nesting, roosting, wading and loafing habitat to over 250 avian species — particularly wading birds. The area managed is overwhelmingly (99 percent) marine environment including large sand flats surrounding the islands that are used extensively by wading birds when they forage.

The refuge protects habitat for a wide variety of birds, including nesting or wintering populations of terns, magnificent frigatebirds, white-crowned pigeons, ospreys, and great white herons. Several federally listed species are monitored, such as piping plovers and bald eagles. Birds in the refuge are doing well as evidenced by stable or increasing populations and nest numbers.

The sandy beaches are nesting areas for the endangered Atlantic green and loggerhead turtles and is the only breeding site in the U.S. for the endangered hawksbill turtle. Sea turtle nests are surveyed each year to track nesting and reproduction of the turtles. There are few beaches in the refuge suitable for sea turtle nesting; thus there are typically less than 50 nests found each year. Green sea turtles nests are increasing, which is a positive sign since green sea turtle activity had not changed in several years. The low number of nests makes it difficult to determine nesting trends, but activity appears to be stable.

Facilities

Marquesas Keys

There is no visitor center at the refuge. The refuge is accessible only by boat. Two of the islands have portions of their beaches closed to the public. Portions of Woman Key and Boca Grande Key are posted as closed for the sensitive habitat they contain. The remainder of the beaches, including those at the Marquesas Keys, are open during daylight hours for compatible, wildlife-oriented recreational uses such as wildlife observation, nature photography, and environmental education.

External links

Florida Keys

Biscayne National Park	Soldier Ragged Boca Chita Sands Elliott Adams Caesar's Rock Meig's Rubicon Reid Porgy Totten Old Rhodes Islandia

Upper keys	Key Largo Island CDP North Tavernier Plantation Island former CDP Windley Upper Matecumbe Tea Table Indian Lignumvitae Lower Matecumbe Islamorada

Middle keys	Craig Fiesta Long Layton Conch Little Duck Key Island CDP Grassy Crawl Long Point Fat Deer Vaca Marathon Key Colony Beach Boot Knights

Lower keys	Pigeon Money Little Duck Missouri Ohio Sunshine Bahia Honda Spanish Harbor Scout (West Summerland) No Name Big Pine Torch Little Middle Big Ramrod Summerland Knockemdown Cudjoe Sugarloaf Park Lower Sugarloaf Saddlebunch Shark Geiger Big Coppitt Island CDP East Rockland Rockland Boca Chica Raccoon Stock Island Island CDP Key West Island City Sigsbee Fleming Sunset Wisteria

Outlying islands	Mule Keys Mule Crawfish Archer Joe Ingram Big Mullet Barracouta Cottrell Man Little Mullet Ballast Woman Boca Grande Marquesas Keys Dry Tortugas Tortugas Banks (submerged)

Areas	Florida Bay Dry Tortugas National Park Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary National Key Deer Refuge John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park Biscayne Bay Biscayne National Park Key West National Wildlife Refuge Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge Florida Reef

Other topics	Monroe County Conch Republic Overseas Highway Overseas Railroad Card Sound Bridge Jewfish Creek Bridge Seven Mile Bridge Bahia Honda Rail Bridge Fort Jefferson Theater of the Sea Hurricane Wilma 1935 Labor Day hurricane Key Deer Key lime pie Florida Keys Keynoter Key West Citizen

Protected areas of Florida

Federal

National Parks	Biscayne Dry Tortugas Everglades

National Memorials	De Soto Fort Caroline

National Monuments	Castillo de San Marcos Fort Matanzas

National Seashores	Canaveral Gulf Islands

National Forests	Apalachicola Choctawhatchee Ocala Osceola

National Wildlife Refuges	Archie Carr Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee Caloosahatchee Cedar Keys Chassahowitzka Crocodile Lake Crystal River Egmont Key Florida Panther Great White Heron Hobe Sound Island Bay J.N. 'Ding' Darling Key West Lake Wales Ridge Lake Woodruff Lower Suwannee Matlacha Pass Merritt Island National Key Deer Okefenokee Passage Key Pelican Island Pine Island Pinellas St. Johns St. Marks St. Vincent Ten Thousand Islands

Other National Protected Areas	Big Cypress National Preserve Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve

National Estuarine Research Reserves and National Marine Sanctuaries	Apalachicola NERR Florida Keys NMS Guana Tolomato Matanzas NERR Rookery Bay NERR

State

Parks	Amelia Island Anastasia Avalon Bahia Honda Bald Point Big Lagoon Big Shoals Big Talbot Island Bill Baggs Cape Florida Bulow Creek Caladesi Island Camp Helen Cayo Costa Collier-Seminole Colt Creek Curry Hammock Delnor-Wiggins Pass Devil's Millhopper Don Pedro Island Eden Gardens Egmont Key Falling Waters Faver-Dykes Florida Caverns Fort Clinch Fort Cooper Fort George Island Fort Pierce Inlet Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou Gasparilla Island George Crady Bridge Fishing Pier Grayton Beach Henderson Beach Highlands Hammock Honeymoon Island Hontoon Island Hugh Taylor Birch John D. MacArthur Beach John Pennekamp Coral Reef John U. Lloyd Beach Jonathan Dickinson Little Talbot Island Long Key Lovers Key Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway Mike Roess Gold Head Branch North Peninsula O'Leno Oscar Scherer Perdido Key Sebastian Inlet Skyway Fishing Pier St. Andrews St. George Island St. Joseph Peninsula Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center Stump Pass Beach Tomoka Torreya Windley Key Fossil Reef

Botanical Garden Parks	Alfred B. Maclay Gardens Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Lignumvitae Key Ravine Gardens Washington Oaks

Lakes, Rivers and Springs Parks	Deer Lake Lake Griffin Lake June in Winter Scrub Lake Kissimmee Lake Louisa Lake Manatee Lake Talquin Alafia River Blackwater River Dunns Creek Econfina River Hillsborough River Little Manatee River Myakka River Ochlockonee River Oleta River Suwannee River Blue Spring De Leon Springs Edward Ball Wakulla Springs Fanning Springs Homosassa Springs Wildlife Ichetucknee Springs Lafayette Blue Springs Madison Blue Spring Manatee Springs Ponce de Leon Springs Rainbow Springs Silver Springs Three Rivers Troy Springs Weeki Wachee Springs Wekiwa Springs Werner-Boyce Salt Springs Wes Skiles Peacock Springs

Recreation Areas	Gamble Rogers Memorial

Museums, Historic sites, and Archaeological sites	Cedar Key Museum Constitution Convention Museum Forest Capital Museum John Gorrie Museum Ybor City Museum The Barnacle Bulow Plantation Ruins Dade Battlefield Dudley Farm Fort Foster Fort Mose Fort Zachary Taylor Gamble Plantation Indian Key Koreshan Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Homestead Natural Bridge Battlefield Olustee Battlefield Orman House Paynes Creek San Marcos de Apalache Yellow Bluff Fort Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Crystal River Lake Jackson Mounds Letchworth-Love Mounds Madira Bickel Mound Mound Key San Pedro Underwater

Preserves and Reserves	Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek Anclote Key Cedar Key Scrub Charlotte Harbor Crystal River Estero Bay Fakahatchee Strand Kissimmee Prairie Lower Wekiva River Paynes Prairie Pumpkin Hill Creek River Rise Rock Springs Run San Felasco Hammock Savannas Seabranch St. Lucie Inlet St. Sebastian River Tarkiln Bayou Topsail Hill Waccasassa Bay Yellow River Marsh

State Trails	Blackwater Heritage Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Gainesville-Hawthorne General James A. Van Fleet Nature Coast Palatka-Lake Butler Palatka-to-St. Augustine Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad Withlacoochee

State Forests	Belmore Big Shoals Blackwater River Carl Duval Moore Cary Charles H. Bronson Cottage Hill Deep Creek Etoniah Creek Four Creeks Goethe Holopaw Indian Lake Jennings John M. Bethea Lake George Lake Talquin Lake Wales Ridge Little Big Econ Matanzas Myakka Okaloacoochee Slough Picayune Strand Pine Log Point Washington Ralph E. Simmons Memorial Ross Prairie Seminole Tate's Hell Tiger Bay Twin Rivers Wakulla Watson Island Welaka Withlacoochee

Other

Nature centers	List of nature centers in Florida

Florida Department of Environmental Protection

National Wildlife Refuges of the United States

Municipalities and communities of Monroe County, Florida, United States

County seat: Key West

Cities	Key Colony Beach Key West Layton Marathon

Village	Islamorada

CDPs	Big Coppitt Key Big Pine Key Cudjoe Key Duck Key Key Largo North Key Largo Stock Island Tavernier

Unincorporated communities	Anglers Park Bay Point Chatham Conch Key Dry Tortugas El Chico Garden Cove Grayvik Jewfish Key Haven Newport Pirates Cove Rock Harbor Sugarloaf Shores Summerland Key Sunset Point Thompson Trail Center

Ghost towns	Flamingo Fort Jefferson Indian Key Perky Pigeon Key Pinecrest Snake Bight

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