Tags:
Florida National Wildlife Refuges ,
United States National Wildlife Refuges
Welcome to the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, an oasis of pine forests, hardwood hammocks, cypress domes, wetlands, and lakes located in the hear of the Big Cypress Basin near Naples, Florida.
Refuge History: For many centuries Cypress Trees up to 130 feet in heights and 25 feet in circumference dotted this landscape. Numerous Native American tribes hunted the land's game, gathered it's plants, and fished it's waters. In 1913 the Lee Tidewater Cypress Company purchased the land and began logging in 1944 to meet the nation's needs during World War II. At the time they were producing an average of one million board feet weekly. In 1957 the last trees were cut and many wildfires followed. The land is still healing from these scars today. In 1989, under the powers granted by the Endangered Species Act, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge was established in order to help protect the habitat of the endangered Florida Panther. In 1996, additional lands were acquired through the Arizona-Florida Land Exchange Act of 1988.
Wildlife: Other than the Florida Panther this refuge helps protect the home of numerous other wild critters including black bears, alligators, wood storks, limpkins, swallow-tailed kites, indigo snakes, Everglades minks, white-tailed deer, and Big Cypress fox squirrels. Due to the fragility of this ecosystem, this refuge is only open to the public on various special occasions.
Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge
Florida
United States
26.163274, -81.370186
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