Great White Heron NWR Lands

<font size='3'>All refuge lands within the Great White Heron NWR boundary. </font><div><font size='3'><br /></font></div><div><font size='3'>Great White Heron NWR was established in 1938 as a haven for great white herons, migratory birds, and other wildlife. The refuge consists of almost 200,000 acres of open water and islands, and is known locally as the &quot;backcountry.&quot; The refuge provides critical nesting, feeding, and resting areas for hundreds of species of birds and sea turtles.

The refuge was created to protect great white herons from extinction since the population was decimated by the demand for feathered hats in the early 1900's. Protection of great white herons was successful, and these magnificent, powder-white birds can be observed feeding on tidal flats around backcountry islands.</font></div><div><font size='3'><br /></font></div><div><div style=''><font size='3' style=''><font face='Avenir Next W01, Avenir Next W00, Avenir Next, Avenir, Helvetica Neue, sans-serif'>Purpose: This dataset is designed to provide refuge staff and public volunteers a reference map of refuge lands in the lower keys in order to assist them in field related activities. </font></font></div><div style='font-family: &quot;Avenir Next W01&quot;, &quot;Avenir Next W00&quot;, &quot;Avenir Next&quot;, Avenir, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif;'><font size='3'>Audience: NKDR Staff and Volunteers </font></div><div style='font-family: &quot;Avenir Next W01&quot;, &quot;Avenir Next W00&quot;, &quot;Avenir Next&quot;, Avenir, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif;'><font size='3'>Scale: Refuge managed areas within existing refuge boundaries</font></div><div style='font-family: &quot;Avenir Next W01&quot;, &quot;Avenir Next W00&quot;, &quot;Avenir Next&quot;, Avenir, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif;'><font size='3'>Accuracy: Accurate to 1:20,000 scale (not to be used for determining exact refuge boundaries)</font></div><div style='font-family: &quot;Avenir Next W01&quot;, &quot;Avenir Next W00&quot;, &quot;Avenir Next&quot;, Avenir, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif;'><font size='3'>Source: Internal NKDR GIS database.</font></div></div>