Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area

National Wildlife Refuge in Florida

Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)


Location	Hardee County, Highlands County, and Polk County, Florida, United States
Nearest city	Avon Park Lakes, Florida
Coordinates	27°39′N 81°31′W / 27.650°N 81.517°W / 27.650; -81.517
Area	900 acres (3.6 km)
Established	1991 (1991)
Governing body	United States Fish and Wildlife Service
Website	Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge

The Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area, created in 2012, is the newest addition and 556th unit of the United States National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) System. It began with 10 acres (4.0 ha) donated to the conservation effort as part of the Obama administration's America's Great Outdoors Initiative.

Management

The Everglades refuge is managed by the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge Complex, which also includes the Pelican Island NWR, Lake Wales Ridge National Wildlife Refuge, and the Archie Carr NWR.

Founding and expansion

In 2012, Ken Salazar announced the creation of the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area, that is, and will be, a large area of land south of Orlando and to the north of Lake Okeechobee. The original donation was 10 acres, but the goal was to extend it to 50,000 acres.

Florida's Rural and Family Lands Protection Act provides funding for easements on thousands of acres of working ranches in the Everglades system, as part of the Everglades restoration, targeted to be 100,000 acres in all. Another new NWR is also planned for the area between the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge in the Southwest and the new Everglades Headwaters NWR.

Added land

On March 24, 2016, the Adams Ranch in Fort Pierce was the first set of conservation easements added to the NWR, followed the Hatchineha Ranch owned by the Nature Conservancy, Adams Ranch, Camp Lonesome, Tiger Cattle Company and the Idols Aside property, totalling more than 4,214.99 acres (1,705.75 ha) with an additional 1,502.26 acres (607.94 ha) of purchased land that includes 400 acres (160 ha) of donated land. The added land and leases were provided by a Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) of $12.5 million used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. These added conservation easements, fee acquisitions, and purchases will ensure protection for gopher tortoise and the endangered Florida grasshopper sparrow.

Flora

There is a diverse habitat, ranging from "Pine Flatwoods" that is habitat range for the Florida panther and Florida black bear, "Xeric Oak Scrub" community that includes myrtle oak, Chapman's oak, sand-live oak, scrub holly, scrub plum, scrub hickory, rosemary, and saw palmetto, and the Florida Ziziphus, habitat for the sand skink. The "Freshwater Marsh and Wet Prairie" includes habitat such as the pickerel weed, sawgrass, maidencane, arrowhead, fire flag, cattail, spike rush, bulrush, white water lily, water shield, and various other sedges

Endangered species

The Florida jujube listed as federally endangered, pygmy fringetree listed as endangered, Florida sand skink, Eastern Indigo Snake, Sand Pine, Scrub Beargrass, and Scrub Blazing Star.

Future plans

Long-range plans include purchasing land where practical or conservation easements or fee acquisitions, to restore the headwater flow from central Florida down to the Florida Everglades. Areas impacted are mitigation lands owned by Celebration (Walker Ranch), a subsidiary of Disney Corporation, Three Lakes Management Area (1,261.51 acres (510.51 ha)), Lake Kissimmee State Park (472.20 acres (191.09 ha)), lands around Lake Tiger, levees around Lake Hatchineha, Lake Kissimmee, and Lake Cypress that is approximately 20,800 acres (8,400 ha). Widening of canals connecting Lake Kissimmee to Lake Hatchineha, C-37 from 70 to 90 feet, and between Lake Hatchineha and Lake Cypress, C-36 from 48 to 60 feet. Certain levees will be degraded to accommodate water flow. Populated areas will have to have sewage modifications. The goal will be to re-establish the ecological integrity of 36,500 acres (14,800 ha) of wetland in the lower basin ecosystem. The total impacted area will increase by 30,300 acres (12,300 ha) or 55% of historical levels before lake level controls.

References

FWS: Everglades Headwater NWR Complex- Retrieved 2017-12-25
Life Science: New US Wildlife Refuge Established in Florida- Retrieved 2017-12-25
Florida Audubon: Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area- Retrieved 2017-12-25
National Wildlife Refuge Association: Important Conservation Easements Established in Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area Archived 2018-07-11 at the Wayback Machine- Retrieved 2017-12-25
Refuge Association: Celebrating Success at the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area Archived 2018-08-28 at the Wayback Machine- Retrieved 2017-12-25
FWS: Everglades Headwaters habitat- Retrieved 2017-12-25
FWS: Endangered species- Retrieved 2017-12-25
Kissimmee River Headwaters Revitalization Program: Jacksonville District Corps of Engineers, Central and Southern Florida Project, Kissimmee River Restoration: Environmental Impact Statement: (August 1995-1996, pp 140-162); Retrieved 2017-12-25

Protected areas of Florida

Federal level

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 Marine Sanctuaries	Florida Keys Key Largo (1975–1990) Looe Key (1981–1990)
National Estuarine Research Reserves	Apalachicola NERR Guana Tolomato Matanzas NERR Rookery Bay NERR
National Wild and Scenic Rivers	Loxahatchee River Wekiva River

State level

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 Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson 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 Jonathan Dickinson Little Talbot Island Long Key Lovers Key Mike Roess Gold Head Branch North Peninsula O'Leno Oscar Scherer Perdido Key Price's Scrub Sebastian Inlet Skyway Fishing Pier St. Andrews St. George Island St. Marks River 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 Three Rivers 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 Troy Spring Weeki Wachee Springs Wekiwa Springs Werner-Boyce Salt Springs Wes Skiles Peacock Springs
Recreation areas	Dead Lakes Gamble Rogers Memorial
Museums, historic sites, and archaeological sites	Addison Blockhouse Cedar Key Museum Constitution Convention Museum Forest Capital Museum John Gorrie Museum Ybor City Museum The Barnacle Bulow Plantation Ruins Dade Battlefield DeSoto Site 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 Disney Wilderness Estero Bay Green Cay Wetlands Fakahatchee Strand Hal Scott 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 Tosohatchee Waccasassa Bay Yellow River Marsh
State trails	Blackwater Heritage Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Gainesville-Hawthorne General James A. Van Fleet Jacksonville-Baldwin Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway 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

Local level

Preserves and reserves	Boyd Hill Gumbo Limbo Moccasin Lake

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National Wildlife Refuges of the United States

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