The Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge is part of the United States

National Wildlife Refuge The National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) is a system of protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), an agency within the United States Department of the Interior, Department of the Interi ...

System, located in north central

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, twenty-five miles west of Daytona Beach, off U.S. Highway 17 in DeLeon Springs.

Description

The refuge was opened in 1964 in order for both migrating and wintering birds to have habitats. In 1982, the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center reported that the refuge included 18,400 acres of water. The refuge currently has over 30,000 acres of water, which includes

marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...

es and

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s. Activities for visitors include boating, hiking, and wildlife viewing. Bodies of water are managed so that only desired plants grow. Law enforcement officials are present in order to protect the animals and plants. Touring by boat is the only way to explore a large part of the refuge. The Lake Woodruff Wilderness consists of or 4.9% of the Refuge's total area. Alligators,

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...

s, and limpkins are among the wildlife that can be found in the area. Deer hunting is allowed, but the hunting is managed.

Development

When the land was bought in 1964, the management did not have the money to help the wildlife. They did not have much money left after paying salaries. With a large donation of money in 1979, the managers were able to start working on the important projects that they were unable to do before. It wasn't until 1979 that the number of fishermen, who had been few, tripled. Projects that were funded through the donation included regulating the amount of water, improving hiking trails, and doing more to protect the wildlife such as the

s and

osprey The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It ...

Wildlife

215 species of birds, including species that are threatened or endangered, can be found in the refuge. A 2011 article from the journal ''Southeastern Naturalist'' documented 22 species of

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

and 50 species of reptiles that researchers found within the refuge. The report concluded that the refuge's census of species, will help people understand the changes in amount of species within the Florida

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

. Bodies of water are set aside for

manatee Manatees (, family (biology), family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivory, herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing t ...

s to breed. The refuge's volunteers document the amount of wildlife and restore their habitats, according to current needs. Many ducks over-winter in the refuge. A

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

in 1988 affected the nests of ducks that migrate to the refuge. The extent of

aquatic plant Aquatic plants, also referred to as hydrophytes, are vascular plants and Non-vascular plant, non-vascular plants that have adapted to live in aquatic ecosystem, aquatic environments (marine ecosystem, saltwater or freshwater ecosystem, freshwater ...

s for ducks, at minimum, is 450 acres.

References

External links

*
Official Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge homepage
{{authority control IUCN Category Ib Protected areas of Lake County, Florida Protected areas of Volusia County, Florida National Wildlife Refuges in Florida Wilderness areas of Florida Protected areas established in 1964 Wetlands of Florida Landforms of Lake County, Florida Landforms of Volusia County, Florida 1964 establishments in Florida Marshes of the United States