Canoeing, deer and small game hunting, and fishing are also popular activities. An adjacent 31,500 acre area of open water in Apalachee Bay is closed by Presidential proclamation to the taking or harassing of migratory birds. Waterfowl hunting is not permitted. The use of airboats by commercial fishers along the shores in the proclamation area and elsewhere on the refuge is a problem that nagged White and one that Barnett still faces. Not only are the boats disturbing to feeding and resting water birds, they also spray larvae and other marine organisms out of water where they perish.
Discontinuation is complicated because it involves state jurisdiction of the water and the bottom.
The now electrically powered light is reportedly seen 15 miles away. The list of watchable wildlife is almost endless. From February to May, the refuge is blessed with blankets of glorious wildflowers. Thousands of monarch butterflies come to the refuge in late October and early November, pausing on this last landfall before tackling the migratory flight across the Gulf of Mexico. Alligators are common with some 2,500 estimated to be in the refuge along with white-tailed deer, cotton tail and marsh rabbits, armadillo, and feral hogs.