Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge
Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Sebastian, Florida, is the birthplace of the National Wildlife Refuge System (Figure 1). What happened on this tiny island that made it so important, that it became a catalyst for what is now the world’s largest network of lands and waters managed for fish and wildlife–the National Wildlife Refuge System? By the end of the 1800s, plume hunters, egg collectors, and vandals had nearly exterminated all the egrets, herons, and spoonbills from Pelican Island proper (i.e., the original 5.5-acre rookery island). Paul Kroegel (who was to later become the first Refuge Manager) protected the last nesting brown pelicans on the east coast of Florida and petitioned ornithologists and naturalists to help him. At the urging of researchers, concerned citizens, the Audubon Society, and the American Ornithologists’ Union, President Theodore Roosevelt signed an Executive Order that set aside Pelican Island as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds on March 14, 1903, thus establishing the first national wildlife refuge (originally 5.5 acres) and the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Pelican Island is both the name of the refuge and the name of the original 5.5-acre rookery island. While Pelican Island proper (i.e., the original rookery island) eroded by more than half from 5.5 acres in 1943 to 2.2 acres in 1996, the refuge has grown to encompass ±5,445 acres (as of September 30, 2002). Within the ±6,184-acre acquisition boundary (Figure 2), the Fish and Wildlife Service owns ±363 acres and leases or otherwise manages the bulk of the refuge (i.e., ±5,062 acres), while remaining inholdings total ±409 acres. (This leaves ±330 acres unaccounted. These acres are most likely part of the lease with the State of Florida.)
Located in the Indian River Lagoon on the east coast of Florida, Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge now supports important bird rookeries, key fish spawning sites, and a globally important juvenile sea turtle nursery. Primarily comprised of lagoonal waters, the refuge includes aquatic, transitional, and upland habitats supporting a diversity of species, including 14 federally listed threatened and endangered species. This complex ecological system also supports hundreds of species of birds, fish, plants, and mammals. When the refuge was established at the beginning of the 20th century, as many as 10,000 brown pelicans occupied the tiny 5.5-acre Pelican Island as a last stronghold for this species along the east coast of Florida. Today, the number of brown pelicans using the Island has dwindled in magnitude to less than 100 nesting pairs. And today at least 16 different bird species nest on Pelican Island proper, including brown pelicans, wood storks, egrets, herons, ibises, anhingas, oystercatchers, and cormorants. Beyond the tiny rookery of Pelican Island proper, over 130 species of birds use the refuge as a rookery, roost, feeding ground, and/or loafing area. Further, federally protected West Indian manatees and sea turtles inhabit the lagoonal waters of the refuge, alongside some 30,000 annual boaters. A growing human population, along with ongoing development and other human activities, currently threaten the fragile, but highly productive waters of the Indian River Lagoon and the refuge.
