St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge

St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge shoreline near Lighthouse
Map of the United States
Location	Wakulla County, Jefferson County, Taylor County, Florida, United States
Nearest city	St. Marks, Florida
Coordinates	30°07′00″N 84°15′00″W / 30.11667°N 84.25000°W / 30.11667; -84.25000Coordinates: 30°07′00″N 84°15′00″W / 30.11667°N 84.25000°W / 30.11667; -84.25000
Area	68,000 acres (280 km²)
Established	1931
Governing body	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Website	St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge

Biking/cycling trail

St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge is one of the oldest wildlife refuges in the United States. Established in 1931 as a wintering ground for migratory birds, it encompasses 68,000 acres (280 km²) spread between Wakulla, Jefferson, and Taylor Counties in the state of Florida.

St. Marks Lighthouse

The refuge includes several Gulf of Mexico coastal habitats, such as saltwater marshes, islands, tidal creeks, and the estuaries of seven north Florida rivers. It is home to a diverse range of plant and animal life and also has a long history of human use, including structures such as the St. Marks Lighthouse, the second oldest lighthouse in Florida.

The refuge is a 'gateway site' for the Great Florida Birding Trail.

Heron at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge

St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge offers many different attractions to outdoor enthusiasts. The refuge is inhabited by black bear, bobcat, otter, raccoon, fox, coyote, amphibians, alligator, snakes and many different species of birds including wading birds, shorebirds, waterfowl and raptors. During migrations, bird species and numbers dramatically increase. There are numerous fishing venues and many different freshwater and saltwater fish for fishing enthusiasts. A boat ramp near the lighthouse offers direct access to the St. Marks River and subsequently, the Gulf Of Mexico. The boat ramp is subject to tidal influence and low tides may affect launching and retrieving abilities. Kayakers have direct access to the Gulf from the Lighthouse parking lot. Hikers and cyclists have their choice of miles of impoundments and trails to traverse through widely varied habitats and ecosystems. There is a biking trail that runs about 20 miles from south side of Tallahassee all the way down to the nearby town of St. Marks following an old railroad corridor. The St. Marks NWR also offers a wide range of subjects and settings for artistic expression via sketching and drawing, painting and photography. The refuge has a large Visitors Center with maps and brochures to help the visitors enjoy their trip. Inside the Visitors Center is a bookstore offering a wide variety of books and merchandise for sale. Next door to the Visitors Center is the Education building offering comfortable meeting facilities in one half of the building and facilities and staff devoted to education in the other half.

The refuge attracts a very large volunteer base that assists the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by volunteering for research projects, outreach and public events such as educational field trips, festivals and historical celebrations. St. Marks NWR has a very successful friends group in the St. Marks Refuge Association and a very active Photography Club and the two organizations are prolific suppliers of volunteers for the refuge.

The St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge is home to one of the coveted wintering sites for the endangered whooping cranes that are led south by the ultra-light aircraft of Operation Migration. Operation Migration begins training whooping crane chicks with the aircraft shortly after birth and continue to the time of migration when they act as surrogate parents leading the birds south and imprinting their first annual migration. The refuge is also a stopping point for the yearly monarch butterfly migration. A festival is hosted annually around the time of the migration each October to educate people on the practice of tagging monarchs as they continue through their migration.

The St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge also served as the inspiration for the setting of author Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy.

Endangered whooping cranes fly over, December 2010
Monarch migration
Large biking group on Lighthouse Road
Six wade fishing

Access

Public accesses to the refuge are located at:

Panacea Unit

Otter Lake, in Panacea

Bottoms Road, in Panacea

Skipper Bay Road, south of Medart (may be closed)

Wakulla Unit

Purify Bay Road, in Medart

Shell Point Highway, north of Shell Point

Wakulla Beach Road, east of Shell Point

St. Marks Unit

Lighthouse Road, the main entrance, in Newport

Mandalay Bay Road, just east of the Aucilla River in Taylor County.

There is no paved public access to the refuge in Jefferson County.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.

St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge

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

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 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	Dead Lakes 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 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 Estero Bay 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 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

Other

Nature centers	List of nature centers in Florida

Florida Department of Environmental Protection

National Wildlife Refuges of the United States

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