St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge

On an undeveloped barrier island off the Gulf Coast of Florida, St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge is managed to preserve and protect ten different habitat types that are quickly disappearing from Florida: undisturbed freshwater lakes and streams, tidal marshes, dunes covered with a live oak-mixed hardwood understory, stands of cabbage palm, scrub oak and four slash pine communities, each with its own different understory. St. Vincent Island is also a busy stop-over point along the Atlantic Flyway and for the neo-tropical migratory birds that hang out in the Gulf of Mexico region.

This is another part of Florida where loggerhead, leatherback and green sea turtles come ashore to nest and lay eggs. This is also a regular stop-over for endangered wood storks as they go about their annual migrations. There are also several breeding pairs of bald eagles nesting in the tall trees above some of the freshwater lakes and ponds.

In 1990, Fish & Wildlife began a progam at St. Vincent to breed endangered red wolves, a species that once roamed the whole Southeast but has now been reduced in numbers to only a few hundred through loss of habitat and predator control programs. Once the red wolf pups are weaned, they are transported to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina, but until then, they roam the island freely with their parents.

In the early 1900's, St. Vincent was home to a cattle ranch and exotic hunting operation: the folks were importing game animals from Europe and Africa for hunting purposes. The early 1940's saw a timber company harvesting on the island, then the Loomis brothers bought the island and imported black bucks, elands, zebras, bobwhite quail, ring-necked pheasants and semi-wild turkey. The Nature Conservancy bought St. Vincent Island in 1968 and then sold it at cost to the US Fish & Wildlife Service. So on the island, you'll find the remains of old logging roads and a hunting cabin that is presently being renovated. I understand the white-tailed deer population on St. Vincent is doing really well, as is the population of raccoons and feral hogs.

To get there: the Refuge Office and Visitor Center is in Apalachicola, in the Harbor Master Building at 479 Market Street. There are road signs on US Highway 98 pointing you there. The island itself can be accessed only by boat. The nearest public-access boat ramp is at the end of County Road 30-B, about 22 miles west of Apalachicola. St. Vincent Island is one-quarter mile across the sound from that boat ramp. In this area, you're going to want to pay attention to wind patterns, storms, currents, tide fluctuations and the presence of shifting oyster bars.