Wildlife Preserves
By Wendy BeyeLesson 6: Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge
This island and seashore wildlife refuge occupies some of the most productive sea turtle nesting areas on the east coast of Florida. Although it is on the ocean, it differs greatly in habitat and wildlife from the west coast refuge we visited earlier in this course.
History
The Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1969, and encompasses 10,020 acres on and near Jupiter Island, east of Lake Okeechobee in southern Florida. It is linked administratively with the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, an interior Florida swamp area refuge.
The refuge was created to protect coastal sand used for nesting by leatherback, loggerhead, and green sea turtles, as well as to preserve some habitat for scrub forest dwellers. Much of Florida's coastline was already developed almost to the water's edge, eliminating thousands of acres of sea turtle nesting sites and scrub forest, when wildlife advocates recommended preserving the beaches and sand pine-scrub oak forest in the Hobe Sound vicinity. Visitors can walk on nature trails, swim in the ocean, observe wildlife from platforms, and during the turtle nesting season, schedule an escorted nighttime "turtle walk" to observe females laying their eggs and covering their nests.
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