In addition, it is home to at least five species of insect-eating bats, beach-nesting sea turtles, resident dolphin pods, and up to one-sixth of Florida’s West Coast manatee population during the winter months. The Tampa Bay estuary has the largest royal and sandwich tern nesting colonies, the most nesting American oystercatchers, and the largest brown pelican rookeries in Florida. More than two dozen species of nesting herons, egrets, ibis, gulls, terns and shorebirds have been documented.
Target Speciesĭespite its urban setting, Tampa Bay hosts a wide variety of habitats -– from freshwater springs and subtropical hardwood forests to beaches, dunes and extensive seagrass beds – that are home to more than 200 species of fish and some of the most diverse colonial waterbird nesting populations in North America. The Service recognizes, however, that now is not the time to be content as continued rapid urbanization and potential effects from climate change necessarily focus our attention looking forward. In fact, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program reports that their 1995 goal of restoring seagrass acreages to levels not seen since the 1950s was exceeded in 2015. Efforts by conservation partners over the past couple of decades have proven that this challenge is not insurmountable. This growth, coupled with the fact that one in every five jobs in the focal area depends on a healthy Tampa Bay, suggests that the greatest conservation challenge for this focal area is that of maintaining a healthy ecosystem while simultaneously balancing the need to mitigate past environmental impacts with acknowledging current and future human needs. It is estimated that more than four million residents currently live in the three counties surrounding Tampa Bay, with at least 500 new residents moving to the area per week.
Turtlegrass, a submerged aquatic vegetation. The suite of island refuges found in Tampa Bay (i.e., Passage Key, Egmont Key and the Pinellas NWRs) is important to the natural and cultural history of the area. Tampa Bay proper is Florida’s largest open water estuary (400 square miles) and encompasses four Aquatic Preserves (Boca Ciega Bay, Cockroach Bay, Pinellas County and Terra Ceia Bays) and drainage from several major rivers and more than 100 tributaries. The Tampa Bay watershed drains approximately 2,400 square miles and portions of six counties within the western-central Florida peninsula.
Map of the Tampa Bay focal area by Roy Hewitt, USFWS. Next Steps for a Healthy Gulf of Mexico Watershed Tampa Bay Landscape at a Glance