Fort Pickens Aquatic Preserve Management Plan

Wetherell, Virginia; Martin, Elaine

Fort Pickens Aquatic Preserve is located in the southwestern corner of the Florida panhandle and it represents one of the 42 aquatic preserves in Florida (Figure 1). This beautiful 34,000 acre stretch of Florida gulf coast was designated as an aquatic preserve on November 2, 1970 by the Florida Legislature. The boundary of the preserve encompasses only the sovereignty submerged lands below the mean high water line in Santa Rosa Sound, Pensacola Bay, and Big Lagoon, extending northward to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The preserve also includes the lands below mean high water in the Gulf of Mexico, to a line three miles south of the coast (Figure 2). The preserve surrounds the western end of Santa Rosa Island and the eastern end of Perdido Key. 80th of these islands are typical examples of undeveloped barrier islands. The submerged lands along the northern sides of these islands are characterized by shallow, saline waters, "continuous" and "patchy" seagrass beds, and salt marshes. These communities are currently providing habitat for wildlife and birds such as the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) the southeastern snowy plover (Charadrius alexanderinus), the least tern (Sterna antillarum), and the black skimmer (Rynchops niger), all of which are listed as threatened or endangered species. These wetland areas and grass beds also serve as nursery areas for various shrimp and fish species which are commercially or recreationally important to the area. The aquatic preserve provides such an excellent habitat for fish and wildlife because the islands and the adjacent submerged lands are some of the only undeveloped coastal areas in the region. As development continues to increase adjacent to the preserve careful planning will be necessary in order to prevent degradation of these habitats.