Key West National Wildlife Refuge protects a vast lower Florida Keys landscape between Key West and the Dry Tortugas, most of it open marine habitat with only a small portion above sea level on remote, unpopulated keys. Established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt, it was created to safeguard native birds and other wildlife as wading birds were being killed for the feather trade. The first refuge in the Florida Keys and among the nation’s earliest, it provides important habitat for more than 250 bird species and for endangered sea turtles, including the only U.S. breeding site for the hawksbill turtle.