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Shell Keys National Wildlife Refuge is located in the offshore waters to the west of the Atchafalaya River Delta, south of Marsh Island Wildlife Management Area. It was established in 1907 and is one of the oldest refuges in the
Due to
Shell Keys National Wildlife Refuge
* Protected areas of Iberia Parish, Louisiana National Wildlife Refuges in Louisiana Protected areas established in 1907 {{Louisiana-geo-stub
National Wildlife Refuge System
National Wildlife Refuge System is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the system of public lands and waters set aside to ...
.
Southwest Louisiana National Wildlife Refuge Complex
The Southwest Louisiana National Wildlife Refuge Complex was formed by administratively combining theCameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge
Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge is located approximately southeast of Lake Charles, Louisiana, in north central Cameron Parish. It contains that include fresh marsh, coastal prairie, and old rice fields.
The visitor center opened in 199 ...
, East Cove National Wildlife Refuge
East Cove National Wildlife Refuge is located south of Lake Charles, Louisiana along the southeast shore of Calcasieu Lake in Cameron Parish. It is accessible only by boat.
It is managed by the Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge office as p ...
, Sabine National Wildlife Refuge
Sabine National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge of the United States located in Cameron Parish in southwestern Louisiana. It is on Louisiana State Route 27, south of Hackberry and north of Holly Beach. The western boundary of the ...
, Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge
Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge is located in Cameron and Evangeline Parishes in southwestern Louisiana, was established in 1937 by Executive Order No. 7780 as "a refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife." The refuge i ...
, and the ''Shell Keys NWR'' in 2004.
Boundary
Due to coastal erosion
Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landwa ...
, the refuge boundary is not well defined. It has been described as "... a small group of unsurveyed islets located in the Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United S ...
about three and one half miles south of Marsh Island (Louisiana)
Marsh Island (french: Grosse-Île-du-Vermillion) is an island off the coast of southern Louisiana in the United States.
Overview
Marsh Island is an uninhabited low-lying marshy island in Iberia Parish, south coastal Louisiana, lying between Ver ...
, and approximately at latitude 29 degrees 26 minutes north, longitude 91 degrees 51 minutes west from Greenwich..." The boundary of the refuge has been interpreted to be those areas in this vicinity that are above mean high tide.
Wildlife and habitat
For a number of years, there has been only one islet at this location. This islet is composed almost entirely of shell fragments. It is extremely dynamic and builds or recedes with passing storms. Vegetation is almost entirely lacking. Birds known to nest here includeroyal tern
The royal tern (''Thalasseus maximus'') is a tern in the family Laridae. The species is endemic to the Americas, though strays have been identified in Europe.Buckley, P. A. and F. G. Buckley (2020). Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus), version 1.0. ...
s, sandwich tern
The Sandwich tern (''Thalasseus sandvicensis'') is a tern in the family Laridae. It is very closely related to the lesser crested tern (''T. bengalensis''), Chinese crested tern (''T. bernsteini''), Cabot's tern (''T. acuflavidus''), and ele ...
s, black skimmer
The black skimmer (''Rynchops niger'') is a tern-like seabird, one of three similar birds species in the skimmer genus ''Rynchops'' in the gull family Laridae. It breeds in North and South America. Northern populations winter in the warmer ...
s, and laughing gull
The laughing gull (''Leucophaeus atricilla'') is a medium-sized gull of 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 coast of North Am ...
s. In addition, the islet is used at various times as a loafing area by white pelicans, brown pelican
The brown pelican (''Pelecanus occidentalis'') is a bird of the pelican family, Pelecanidae, one of three species found in the Americas and one of two that feed by diving into water. It is found on the Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to the mo ...
s, and various other species of terns and gulls. Recent hurricanes and storms have eroded the island to such an extent that no nesting has occurred since 1992. Public access to the refuge is restricted due to its remoteness.
See also
* List of National Wildlife Refuges: LouisianaReferences
*External links
Shell Keys National Wildlife Refuge
* Protected areas of Iberia Parish, Louisiana National Wildlife Refuges in Louisiana Protected areas established in 1907 {{Louisiana-geo-stub