Pelican Island Wilderness

President Theodore Roosevelt set aside tiny Pelican Island as a bird haven on March 14, 1903, ordering the first federal land dedication to wildlife and thus creating the National Wildlife Refuge System. Pelican Island Wilderness and National Wildlife Refuge is comprised primarily of water, in the wide lagoon of the Indian River. Fifteen threatened and endangered species live here, including manatees. A huge natural supply of fish provides food for wading birds that nest in the area. Other nesting birds crowded onto the island include brown pelicans, common egrets, snowy egrets, reddish egrets, great blue herons, little blue herons, tricolored herons, black-crowned night herons, white ibis, glossy ibis, double-crested cormorants, anhingas and oyster catchers. Human development near the shoreline currently threatens the fragile but highly productive waters, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to acquire an insulating buffer zone along the eastern boundary. This is one of the smallest units in the National Wilderness Preservation System, and it is closed to the public.