Florida Keys

From Soldier Key near Miami to the Dry Tortugas in the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Keys stretch southwestward from the mainland in a crescent-shaped archipelago. Here, where the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea meet, lies one of the largest coral reef ecosystems on Earth. The Keys’ hardwood hammocks and globally imperiled pine rockland forests shelter a variety of native plants and animals, and they provide essential stopover habitat for migratory birds.

Florida Keys Coral Reef

• The Florida Keys reef teems with life—containing more than 100 species of soft and stony corals and more than 400 fish species.
• Fish, lobster, shrimp and other marine life sustain a vibrant commercial fishing industry, second only in value to the booming tourism economy that also relies on healthy reefs and fisheries.
• Several reef organisms have medicinal value, and scientists believe that many other reef species may have untapped pharmaceutical potential.

Rare Plants & Animals of the Florida Keys

• Key deer
• Lower Keys rabbit
• sea turtles
• Schaus’ swallowtail butterfly
• white-crowned pigeon
• Key Largo wood rat
• Key Largo cotton mouse
• long-spined sea urchin
• roseate spoonbill
• Garber’s spurge
• semaphore cactus
• Big Pine partridge pea

Threats to the Florida Keys

• Each year more than 3 million tourists visit the Florida Keys. In the last four decades, the permanent population of the islands has more than doubled.
• Nearshore water quality has declined due to inadequate wastewater and stormwater infrastructure.
• Development has fragmented the Florida Keys’ pine rocklands and hardwood forests and is eliminating habitat necessary for migrating birds.
• Invasive, non-native plants and the suppression of fires that rejuvenate the forest threaten the health of the pinelands Key deer depend upon for shelter and food.
• Global warming, water quality degradation, boat groundings and other stresses have reduced reef-building coral in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary to less than 10 percent cover.
• Coral diseases and bleaching have devastated magnificent stands of elkhorn and staghorn coral.

Conservancy Action on the Florida Keys

• In 1987, the Conservancy established a program to protect the Florida Keys’ extraordinary natural resources.
• To date, the Conservancy has helped preserve nearly 8,000 acres in the Florida Keys.
• To combat the threat of invasive, non-native plants, the Conservancy leads the Florida Keys Invasive Exotic Task Force, runs a series of volunteer workdays to remove invasives at sites throughout the Keys, and holds an annual native plant fair.
• To improve water quality the Conservancy helps facilitate infrastructure upgrades, conducts marine planning, and is working to restore long-spined sea urchins (Diadema antillarum) to control devastating algae growth on the reefs.
• The Conservancy conducts cooperative prescribed burns as part of its ongoing restoration and land management efforts and helps agency partners with management of major protected areas that serve as key stopover sites for migrating birds.
• The Conservancy, in partnership with NOAA's Community-based Restoration Program and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary are using reef resilience principles to enhance the success of Staghorn coral restoration on Upper Keys reefs. Transplanting healthy fragments of the coral onto reefs with different predicted levels of resilience will enhance reefs themselves and the science behind reef resilience.

Florida Keys Reef Resilience Project

• Conservancy scientists have joined with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in a project to study reef systems in south Florida and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in an effort to determine what makes some corals resistant to damage from catastrophic events like hurricanes and coral bleaching.
• The Conservancy and its partners will share the technology and conservation methodology used in this project to protect corals around the world.
• The enhanced recovery of reefs brings hope in saving unique marine life, as well as providing benefits for fisheries, tourism and sustainable development.
• Learn more about the Florida Reef Resilience Program.

Preserves in the Florida Keys

The Conservancy owns and manages two preserves in the Florida Keys:

• John J. Pescatello Torchwood Hammock Preserve on Little Torch Key
  Open to Conservancy members by appointment only. Call  (305) 745-8402 .
• Terrestris on Big Pine Key

For More Information About the Florida Keys

To learn more about the Conservancy’s efforts to protect the Florida Keys, contact the Florida Keys program office at  (305) 745-8402 .