Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge, National Wildlife Refuge in Florida Keys, United States

The Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge is a federal wildlife refuge in the Florida Keys, made up of small islands, shallow water channels, and mangrove-lined shores. It sits in the waters north of the main island chain, stretching across Florida Bay and into the Gulf of Mexico.

The refuge was established in 1938 by presidential order, after years of feather hunting had brought the great white heron close to disappearing from the Keys. It was one of the earliest federal efforts in Florida focused on protecting a single bird species.

The refuge takes its name from the great white heron, a color form of the great blue heron found mainly in southern Florida. Visitors walking the shoreline or arriving by boat can often spot these tall birds standing still in the shallows.

The refuge can only be reached by boat, and the visitor centre sits a quarter mile north of the traffic light on Key Deer Boulevard in the Big Pine Key Shopping Plaza. The refuge is managed as part of the National Key Deer Refuge, so orientation and information start there.

The refuge's islands are mostly mangrove, but the larger ones carry pine rockland and tropical hardwood hammock, and one of the few remaining breeding colonies of the Miami blue butterfly is found here. The refuge also holds about 1,900 acres designated as wilderness, administered as part of the National Key Deer Refuge.