Apalachicola Bay is one of the least polluted, most undeveloped, resource-rich systems in the U.S., shaped by the interconnected upland, floodplain, riverine, estuarine, and barrier island environments of the Apalachicola drainage basin. The Apalachicola River basin drains the Chattahoochee and Flint River basins and carries huge amounts of fresh water into the river, supporting plants and animals that depend on abundant water to thrive. Where the river flows into Apalachicola Bay, it mixes with salt water to form a brackish estuary that serves as an ideal nursery habitat for many species, while salty water pushing into the Gulf of Mexico forms a briny halo around the bay that creates ideal spawning and nursery areas for many offshore fish species. Numerous state, national, and international designations, including Aquatic Preserve, National Estuarine Research Reserve, Outstanding Florida Water, Area of Critical State Concern, and Biosphere Reserve, recognize the Apalachicola River and Bay system as a unique and environmentally sensitive resource deserving protection. Because of its geographic location, Franklin County is also part of the Atlantic and Mississippi flyway, a major route for migrating birds, and in addition to native bird species, annual migration and nesting periods bring birds such as least terns, American oystercatchers, plovers, bald eagles, Peregrine falcons, marsh hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, merlins, kestrels, swallow tail kites, night heron, ospreys, indigo buntings, and summer tanagers. The Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve Visitor Center in Eastpoint features a nature center, and the reserve, established in 1979 as part of a national system to protect estuaries, encompasses nearly 247,000 acres of public lands and waters in the Florida Panhandle. It is part of a watershed of nearly 20,000 square miles stretching from the Gulf Coast of Florida to the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in North Georgia, and includes watery habitats such as the lower 52 miles of the Apalachicola River and the portion of Apalachicola Bay from Indian Pass eastward through St. George Sound, along with bottom land hardwoods, pine flatwoods, and coastal barrier islands. This estuary also provides people with shrimp, crabs, fish, and oysters.