The Passage Key National Wildlife Refuge is part of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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 ...

(NWR) System, located offshore from St. Petersburg. The refuge was established in 1905 by President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

to preserve nesting colonies of native seabirds and wading birds. The Passage Key Wilderness Area is part of the refuge, and consists of (or 56.9%) of its total area. It was established in 1970, to protect native birds and serve as a breeding ground for them.

Management

''Passage Key NWR'' is one of the three 'Tampa Bay Refuges', and was administered as a part of the

Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge The Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge is part of the United States National Wildlife Refuge System, located on the west coast of Florida, about north of St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg. It is famous as the southern wintering sit ...

Complex but was changed to the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The complex manages the

Pinellas National Wildlife Refuge The Pinellas National Wildlife Refuge is part of the United States National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) System, located offshore from mainland St. Petersburg, Florida, and only accessible by boat. The refuge was established in 1951, to act as a br ...

, ''Passage Key National Wildlife Refuge'', ''Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge'', Egmont Key National Wildlife Refuge, and the ''Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge''.

Disappearing island

''Passage Key'' has suffered substantial shoaling in recent years and is currently reduced to a small sandbar approximately long at high tide. It began in 1921 with a hurricane that destroyed a freshwater lake and most of the vegetation. The island, first known as ''Isla de San Francisco y Leon'', then ''Burnaby Island'', and later as ''Cayo del Pasaje'' or ''Passage Key'', was a barrier island teeming with

laughing gull The laughing seagull (''Leucophaeus atricilla'') is a medium-sized gull of North America, North and South America. Named for its laugh-like call, it is an opportunistic omnivore and scavenger. It breeds in large colonies mostly along the Atlantic ...

s, royal terns, black skimmers, sandwich terns, brown pelicans and oystercatchers. The hurricanes of 2005 reduced the island to the current state that must be saved or allowed to disappear. Since then, the refuge is closed to all public use.

References

External links

Passage Key National Wildlife Refuge
{{authority control Protected areas of Manatee County, Florida National Wildlife Refuges in Florida Protected areas established in 1905 1905 establishments in Florida