Ten Thousand Islands - Misplaced Pages

Chain of islands in Florida, USA

Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Ten Thousand Islands by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Ten Thousand Islands
Location	Collier County, Monroe County, Florida, United States
Nearest city	Goodland, Florida
Coordinates	25°51′N 81°30′W / 25.85°N 81.5°W / 25.85; -81.5
Area	35,000 acres (140 km)
Established	1996
Governing body	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
www.fws.gov/floridapanther/TenThousandIslands/

The Ten Thousand Islands are located near the south end of the Florida peninsula on the Gulf Coast, west of the Everglades

The Ten Thousand Islands are a chain of islands and mangrove islets off the coast of southwest Florida, between Cape Romano (at the south end of Marco Island) and the mouth of the Lostmans River. Some of the islands are high spots on a submergent coastline. Others were produced by mangroves growing on oyster bars. Despite the name, the islets in the chain only number in the hundreds.

Geography

The northern part of the Ten Thousand Islands, between Cape Romano and Everglades City, is in the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge. The southern part of the Ten Thousands Islands, south of Everglades City, is in Everglades National Park. The 99-mile-long (159 km) Wilderness Waterway begins at Everglades City and ends at Flamingo at the southern tip of the Florida peninsula. Administrative control of the islands is split between Collier County and Monroe County.

Archaeology

The Ten Thousand Islands were used and occupied by Native Americans for thousands of years. Evidence of former living sites can be found under as much as four feet (1.2 m) of water. A number of shell rings and other shell complexes have been identified in or adjacent to the Ten Thousand Islands. The Horr's Island archaeological site at the northern end of the Ten Thousand Islands was occupied year-round 3,500 years ago, and other sites are presumed to have been inundated by a rise in sea level. The material culture of the Native Americans living in the Ten Thousand Islands was distinctive enough to be classified as, at least, a sub-area of the Glades culture area.

Demography

Almost all of the Ten Thousand Islands are currently uninhabited. The largest, Chokoloskee Island, which is connected to Everglades City by a causeway, has about 400 permanent residents. Other islands have been sporadically inhabited in the 19th and 20th centuries by individuals or families.

Recreation

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Some of the Ten Thousand Islands are suitable for overnight visits, as dictated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Since this is a wilderness area where wind, weather and lack of fresh water can become threatening, the Wildlife Service recommends only seasoned canoeists and sea kayakers attempt the trip.

Part of the archipelago lies within Everglades National Park. The following islands are officially designated camping sites:

Hog Key
Turkey Key
New Turkey Key
Mormon Key
Pavilion Key
Rabbit Key
Jewel Key
Picnic Key
Tiger Key

Dark skies recreation

Ten Thousand Islands archipelago is among the best and last remaining dark skies sites in coastal Southwest Florida. Most notable is Pavilion Key that lies 11 miles south of Everglades City and lacks any urban development to the south of it. The pristine nature and low south latitude makes the area among the best and unique spots for stargazing and Milky Way astrophotography.

References

Tebeau:29-30
"Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge". U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
"Ten Thousand Islands". National Park Service. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
"Gulf Coast Trails". National Park Service. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
Tebeau:29-30
Schwadron, Margo (2010). "Landscapes of Maritime Complexity: Prehistoric Shell Works sites of the Ten Thousand Island, Florida". University of Leicester. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
Milanich:85
Milanich:277
Tebeau:81-82
in Wilderness Trip Planner
in Dark Site Finder

Milanich, Jerald T. (1994). Archaeology of Precolumbian Florida. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1273-2.
Tebeau, Charlton W. (1968). Man in the Everglades. Coral Gables, Florida: University of Miami Press.

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

External links

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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