Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge in Citrus County, Florida

Photograph: Crystal River NWR 2.jpg by LittleT889 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Restored from the credited Wikimedia Commons file, normalized to the consistent attraction-card frame and converted to WebP by 1stFlorida.com. Portrait originals retain their complete composition over a softly blurred extension of the same photograph.

Citrus County attraction

Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge

Citrus County · Gulf Coast

The only national wildlife refuge in the country created specifically to protect the Florida manatee.

QUESTIONS THAT NAME THIS PLACE

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ABOUT THIS PLACE

Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1983, and it is the only refuge in the United States set up specifically for the threatened Florida manatee. It covers Kings Bay, where a cluster of springs pushes out water that holds a steady temperature all year. When the Gulf turns cold, more than 600 manatees move into the bay to stay warm, which is why this small piece of water matters out of all proportion to its size. King Spring is one of seven federal manatee sanctuaries, closed to people from November through March so the animals can rest undisturbed. The refuge also protects Three Sisters Springs, described as the last undeveloped spring habitat in Kings Bay; it was bought in 2010 for 10.5 million dollars by a partnership of agencies after plans to put condominiums and a water bottling operation on it, and opened to the public in November 2014. Buzzard, Parker and Banana islands inside the refuge carry bald eagles, osprey, wood storks and other shore birds. Visitors can watch wildlife, walk the trails and fish, within seasonal closures that protect the animals

GETTING THERE

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