Paul Kroegel, a German immigrant, arrived in Sebastian, Florida in 1881, and homesteaded with his father on an ancient shell midden on the west bank of the Indian River Lagoon. From his home Kroegel would look out to Pelican Island, a five-acre mangrove island where thousands of brown pelicans and other water birds would roost and nest. He took an interest in protecting the island’s birds. Without state or federal laws to protect the birds, Kroegel would sail out to Pelican Island with his gun and stand guard.
Kroegel was visited by many influential naturalists who stayed at the nearby Oak Lodge from the 1880s to the early 1900s. One of those naturalists was a well-known ornithologist, Frank Chapman, who was curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and a member of the American Ornithologist’s Union. Chapman discovered that Pelican Island was the last rookery from brown pelicans on the East Coast of Florida, and pledged his support to protect the birds.
In 1901, the American Ornithologist’s Union and the Florida Audubon Society led a successful campaign to pass legislation in Florida calling for the protection of non-game birds. Kroegel was one of four wardens hired by the Florida Audubon Society to protect water birds from market hunters. Two of those wardens were murdered in the line of duty.
Chapman and his fellow bird protection advocate, William Dutcher, knew that protecting the birds of Pelican Island required additional protection. Chapman and Dutcher were acquainted with President Theodore Roosevelt, who had assumed the Presidency in 1901. They visited Roosevelt at his home in Sagamore Hill, New York, and appealed to his strong conservation ethic. (Read about Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation legacy at theodoreroosevelt.org.)
On March 14, 1903, without fanfare, President Roosevelt signed an executive order establishing Pelican Island as the first federal bird reservation. He would establish a network of 55 bird reservation and national game preserved for wildlife - the forerunner to the national wildlife refuge system. But Pelican Island was the first time that the federal government set aside land for the sake of wildlife.
Paul Kroegel was hired as the first national wildlife refuge manager. He was paid $1 a month by the Florida Audubon Society, as Congress had not set aside funds for this executively created refuge.
http://www.fws.gov/pelicanisland/history.html#immigrant
We watched a band perform on this same mobile stage in this youtube video, Friday night. Park was full of people our age. No clue who they were. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W51RV2Z9TE
St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park
http://www.sjrwmd.com/recreationguide/stsebastianriver/
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