Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge (redirected from Chassahowitzka Wilderness)

Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge

Parks Directory of the United States / National Wildlife Refuges

Address: 1502 SE Kings Bay Dr
Crystal River, FL 34429
Phone: 352-563-2088;
Fax: 352-795-7961;
Web: www.fws.gov/chassahowitzka
Established: 1941.
Location: On Florida's Gulf coast, 65 miles north of Saint Petersburg.
Facilities: Visitor contact station.
Activities: Boating, canoeing, fishing, hunting, educational programs.
Special Features: The refuge supports a healthy population of reptiles, including the Florida cottonmouth, Eastern diamondback rattlesnake, diamondback terrapin, and Florida box turtles. Atlantic bottlenose dolphins are often seen in the Chassahowitzka River.
Habitats: 31,000 acres of saltwater bays and estuaries, brackish marshes, and hardwood swamps.
Access: Unlimited; most of the refuge is accessible only by boat.
Wild life: Endangered and threatened species include southern bald eagle, arctic peregrine falcon, brown pelican, wood stork, West Indian manatee, Florida black bear, American alligator, eastern indigo snake, gopher tortoise, green sea turtle, Kemp's Ridley sea turtle, and loggerhead sea turtle. Also raccoons, deer, bobcats, coyotes, cormorants, herons, egrets, osprey, and many species of ducks.

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See other parks in Florida.