Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge

Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
View from Centennial Trail, Orchid, Florida
Area	5,376 acres (21.76 km2)
Established	March 14, 1903
Website	Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge
Ramsar Wetland
Designated	14 March 1993
Reference no.	590[1]

Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Aerial view
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Location	Indian River County, Florida, United States
Nearest city	Sebastian, Florida
Coordinates	27°48′36″N 80°26′28″W / 27.81000°N 80.44111°W / 27.81000; -80.44111
Area	5,376 acres (2,176 ha)
Built	1903
NRHP reference No.	66000265[2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966
Designated NHL	May 23, 1963[3]

Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), and part of the Everglades Headwaters NWR complex, located just off the western coast of North Hutchinson Island in the Indian River Lagoon east of Sebastian, Florida. The refuge consists of a 3-acre (12,000 m²) island that includes an additional 2.5 acres (10,000 m²) of surrounding water and is located off the east coast of Florida of the Indian River Lagoon. Established by an executive order of President Theodore Roosevelt on March 14, 1903, Pelican Island was the first National wildlife refuge in the United States.^[3] It was created to protect egrets and other birds from extinction through plume hunting. The oldest government wildlife refuge of any kind in North America is the Lake Merritt Bird Refuge in Oakland, California. Oakland Mayor Samuel Merritt declared it a wildlife refuge for migrating birds in 1869. In 1870, the state of California designated Lake Merritt a state game refuge.