Coronavirus (COVID-19) Notice
Although most refuge lands and outdoor spaces have remained open for the public to enjoy, we encourage you to:

  • Check local conditions on this website and call ahead for current information
  • Follow current CDC safe practices by maintaining a safe distance between yourself and other groups
  • Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth
  • Cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze
  • Most importantly, stay home if you feel sick


Features

  • Belted kingfisher / L. Woodward, USFWS

    eBird Observation Entries

    Find out what birds are being seen at the refuge, including the most recent sightings.

    eBird Daily Observations

  • Swallow-tailed kite flying high

    Artful flyer

    The return of these striking beauties, the swallow-tailed kite, is celebrated each spring.

  • Baby bat

    Bats

    If you hate mosquitoes, you'll love our flying friends! Forty thousand Brazilian free-tailed bats live in the Refuge's giant bat house.

  • Fluorescent pink sunrise behind pines

    Forestry on the Refuge

    Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge was carved out of a pine plantation made of row upon row of non-native pines.

  • Prescribed fire sign posted

    Prescribed Fire

    The Refuge uses rotations of planned strategic fires to replenish the land.

Y'all Stop In!

COVID-19 Response Update

April 3, 2020

While outdoor sites remain open at the Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges during the current coronavirus pandemic, we urge visitors to follow CDC guidelines. Maintain adequate social distancing, avoid overcrowding and exercise good hygiene. If a parking lot is full when you visit, please do not stop. Pay strict attention to social distancing guidance and do not crowd overlooks, piers, or viewing areas by compromising this guidance. We understand that the outdoors can help relieve stress, but these guidelines must be followed for our public health and safety. For now, the refuge visitor center and other public facilities are closed and most scheduled events have been postponed. For more information please visit our webpage, FWS Coronavirus Response. The Refuges take their responsibility very seriously in protecting the public safety and welfare. We will be forced to close our public outdoor areas if visitors will not police their own social distancing precautions. Please respect the guidance provided by the Centers for Disease Control. Any questions, call/text Andrew Gude at 703.622.3896.

Hunting Permits

White-tailed deer buck

Information on how to purchase a permit: https://myfwc.com/license/limited-entry/lower-suwannee-hunts/ To view the Lower Suawanee NWR hunting regulations . . .

Hunting Regulations

Pre-columbian Settlements

Pre-col-lidar-sm

Drone-mounted lasers have revealed details of the architecture of an ancient island settlement off Florida’s Gulf coast, researchers said in a new paper published on Monday, Nov. 4, 2019. This settlement comprises 37 residential areas “enclosed by ridges of oyster shell” that are up to 12ft (4m) tall, Barbour and Sassaman said. Test excavations – digging down 3ft to assess the depth of archaeological deposits – of 10 such areas were conducted.

Pre-columbian Settlement

Friends of Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys Refuges

Friends Logo

The mission of the Friends of the Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges is to provide active advocacy and physical support for the successful stewardship of the Refuges. In order to support this stewardship, the Friends of Lower Suwannee will promote awareness of these refuges, their habitats and their work, assist the scientific conservation and preservation efforts of the refuges, and advocate responsible habitat use. Thus education, volunteering, and advocacy will be the primary activities of this organization. Funds will be generated to accomplish this goal.

Friends of Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys Refuges
Let Us Know What Birds You Are Seeing!

On-line eBird Observation Entries Site

Little grebe juvenile / L. Woodward, USFWS

Launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, eBird website Program is a real-time, online checklist program that has revolutionized the way that the birding community reports and accesses information about birds. A birder simply enters when, where, and how they went birding, then fills out a checklist of all the birds seen and heard during the outing. The observations of each participant join those of others in an international network of eBird users. The link below allows you to set-up an account in eBird to submit your observations. The Refuge appreciates you entering your bird sightings on the eBird online checklist program. For more information about eBird go to: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/about/

eBird On-line Program to Submit Observations

About the Complex

North Florida Refuges Complex

Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge is managed as part of the North Florida Refuges Complex.

Read more about the complex
About the NWRS

National Wildlife Refuge System

NWRS Logo

The National Wildlife Refuge System, within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, manages a national network of lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife, and plants.

Learn more about the NWRS
Follow NWRS Online