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PRESS RELEASESMerritt Island National Wildlife Refuge
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Refuge Visitor Information Center Changes Hours
Beginning May 1, 2013, the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Information Center will be closed on Sundays and Mondays and will shorten hours when open due to current budget constraints. The new hours for the Visitor Information Center are 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM Tuesday - Saturday. These hours should accommodate most visitors, as peak visitation is from 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM. The rest of the refuge remains open normal operating hours, sunrise - sunset.November 8, 2013
Refuge Visits Stimulate Area Sales, Jobs, Taxes
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge near Titusville, Florida generated more than $60.4 million in economic benefit for the counties of Brevard, Orange and Volusia along Florida's east central coast in Fiscal Year 2011, according to a new economic analysis. The benefit – which includes retail sales, taxes and job income – came from visitor spending tied to recreation activities on the refuge. Total expenditures were $39.1 million with non-residents accounting for $32.1 million or 82 percent of total expenditures.
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge returned $17.61 for every $1 dollar appropriated,
calculated in 2011 dollars, one of the highest returns in the nation in this study.The economic stimulus came from recreation spending by refuge visitors. In FY 2011, nearly 1.2 million people visited Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge was established through an agreement with NASA in 1963 and now manages all non-operational lands (approximately 140,000 acres) on Kennedy Space Center for wildlife and visitor recreation. Bird and wildlife watching, including the manatee observation deck, are popular activities at the refuge, as is seeing wildlife along Black Point Wildlife Drive or going hiking, fishing, or hunting. The refuge's Visitor Center, located five miles east of Titusville on SR 402, hosted more than 80,000 visitors in Fiscal Year 2012.
Researchers examined visitor spending in four areas – food, lodging, transportation and other expenses (such as guide fees, land-use fees and equipment rental). Recreational visits to refuges boost local income and employment, through visitor spending on such things as hotel stays, restaurant visits and grocery purchases. Local economies were defined as those within 50 miles of each of the 92 refuges studied.
The figures come from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service study, called Banking on Nature, which used 92 of the more than 550 national wildlife refuges for its economic sampling. The refuges are part of the National Wildlife Refuge System, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Refuge is celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2013 and will have a "Space for Wildlife" Festival at the Refuge Visitor Center on Saturday, November 9th from 10AM to 3PM. This event is free and open to the public. The festival will include activities for kids, wildlife exhibits and presentations, archaeological artifacts on display, food vendors, music and more!
To learn more about the study, visit http://1.usa.gov/185tp06
To learn more about Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, please visit our Facebook page or http://www.fws.gov/merrittisland/
September 17, 2013
* Deer Hunt Proposed for Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge*
Photos and map available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwssoutheast/9786392902/in/set-72157635588879075/*Public Invited to Comment on Draft Environmental Assessment*
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to allow a quota deer hunt which will include unlimited take of feral hogs on about 6,000 acres on the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Titusville, Fla.
The public is invited to comment on the Draft Environmental Assessment of the proposed hunt. Comments received from the public scoping meeting on July 8, 2013 and the three-week comment period in July were incorporated into the Draft Environmental Assessment. This is another opportunity for the public to comment before the Final Environmental Assessment is developed.
The document can be accessed at http://www.fws.gov/merrittisland/Draft_Upland_Hunt.pdf and hard copies are available at the Merritt Island NWR headquarters on SR 402, Titusville, FL 32796.
*Please ensure your comments are received by October 21, 2013*, to be included in the Final EA and Upland Hunt Plan for the Merritt Island NWR. The public may submit comments via mail: Merritt Island NWR, Attn: Upland Hunt, P.O. Box 2683, Titusville, FL, 32781, or via e-mail to: merrittisland@fws.gov.
The hunt area being proposed is north of Haulover canal on both sides of State Road 3 within the refuge boundary. While waterfowl hunting has been a traditional use on the refuge since the 1960's, the proposal expands the hunting program to include deer and feral hogs. Feral hogs are a nuisance, invasive species on the refuge causing damage to roads, dikes, and trails and occasionally destroying sea turtle nests. Wildlife vehicle strikes are common along major roads on the refuge and half of strikes involve feral hogs. The proposed hunt will not eradicate or control feral hog populations, but will remove some animals and possibly lessen the amount of damage and vehicle strikes.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit http://www.fws.gov/southeast. Connect with us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/usfwssoutheast, follow our tweets at www.twitter.com/usfwssoutheast, watch our YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/usfws, and download photos from our Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwssoutheast.
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*Tom R. MacKenzie*
Media Relations Specialist and Native American Liaison
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Southeast Region
1875 Century Blvd Ste 410
Atlanta, GA 30345-3319
404-679-7291 Fax:404-679-7286 Cell: 678-296-6400
http://www.fws.gov/southeast
tom_mackenzie@fws.gov
New Entrance Fee at Black Point Wildlife Drive and Boat Ramps
Beginning September 1, 2011, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is integrating a new Entrance Fee for Black Point Wildlife Drive and for Boat Launching at three improved Boat Ramps within the Refuge (Bairs Cove, Beacon 42, and Bio Lab). Visitors will have the option to purchase a $5.00 Daily Pass or a $15 Annual Pass. The passes are interchangeable and may be used at either the wildlife drive or boat ramps.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95 million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses the more than 540 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
For more information, please contact us at:
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge
P.O. Box 6504
Titusville, Florida 32782
(321) 861-0667
Email: merrittisland@fws.gov
U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service**********
On March 14, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt signed an Executive Order creating Pelican Island as the country's first national wildlife refuge. Roosevelt went on to establish an additional 54 national wildlife refuges during his two terms and set historic conservation values for America. These values have grown into a system, which today, consists of 546 National Wildlife Refuges on more than 95 million acres of America's most important wildlife habitat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 546 national wildlife refuges and over 3000 "mini-refuges" called Waterfowl Production Areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological Services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
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