St. Johns National Wildlife Refuge

Once upon a time, the St. Johns River was a huge saltwater marsh that acted as a drain for a big part of central Florida. Then the early 1900's brought land developers who started digging canals and ditches to drain the area in a more "efficient" manner so they could then sell the land to folks from up north who were interested in spending their winters in Florida and staying warm. Their drainage schemes laid waste to much of what nature had provided here, with the result that a lot of the saltwater marsh habitat of central Florida dried up and many species of plants and animals went extinct.

The St. Johns National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1971 in an effort to save the dusky seaside sparrow from extinction. However, the effort failed and the bird was officially declared extinct in 1990. The 6,194 acres of critical habitat at St. Johns NWR were delisted but have been kept closed to the public ever since.

From the time of establishment, the US Fish & Wildlife Service has been working to return the marshlands to their original condition (pre-DDT spraying for mosquitos, begun in 1940). These days, the primary management function consists of conducting regular precribed burns, trying to emulate the ancient Florida pattern that saw most of the peninsula burned off every seven-to-ten years.

Since the official extinction of the dusky seaside sparrow, the focus of the management efforts has been widened to include other wildlife and plants that are also in critical need of habitat like this, species like the black rail, the loggerhead shrike and the eastern meadowlark.

One parcel of St. Johns National Wildlife Refuge is located off State Road 50, against the banks of the St. Johns River just west of Titusville. The other parcel (the Beeline Unit) is located to the south, south of State Road 407 and just west of Interstate 95. There is a movement to open the property to compatible, wildlife-oriented activities but nothing has been finalized yet.

St. Johns National Wildlife Refuge is administered as part of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex.