The Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge is part of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

National Wildlife Refuge National Wildlife Refuge System is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the system of public lands and waters set aside to c ...

System, located in a region known as the 'Backcountry', which reaches from north of

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

to north of

Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...

. It is along the north side of the Keys in that area that border the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

. The 130,187 acre (527 km²) refuge (6,207 acres (25 km²) of it land, 123,980 (502 km²) water) was established on October 27, 1938, as a haven for great white herons,

migratory bird Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between Breeding in the wild, breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Animal migration, Migration carries high costs in predation a ...

s, and other

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...

Approximately 1,900 acres (8 km²) are designated as a

National Wilderness Area The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) of the United States protects federally managed wilderness areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. Activity on formally designated wilderness areas is coordinated by the Na ...

. The refuge is administered as part of the

National Key Deer Refuge The National Key Deer Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located on Big Pine Key and No Name Key in the Florida Keys in Monroe County, Florida. The refuge is home to the endangered Key deer, a subspecies of the white-tailed deer that is ende ...

Flora

The islands are covered mostly with

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in several ...

, though some of the larger islands contain

pine rockland A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

and tropical hardwood hammock habitats.

Fauna

Hawksbill sea turtles have been known to feed in the refuge. Also, loggerhead and

green sea turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exten ...

s nest here.

External links

Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuges in Monroe County, Florida Florida Keys Protected areas established in 1938 Wetlands of Florida Landforms of Monroe County, Florida 1938 establishments in Florida {{MonroeCountyFL-geo-stub