Located along Florida's southwest Gulf coast in Lee and Charlotte counties, the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) Complex includes the J.N. "Ding" Darling NWR and four satellite refuges: Pine Island, Matlacha Pass, Island Bay, and Caloosahatchee NWRs (Figure 1). J.N. "Ding" Darling NWR (Figure 2) was established in 1945 as Sanibel NWR and later renamed as a memorial to Jay Norwood "Ding" Darling, the noted editorial cartoonist; conservationist; and first Chief of the U.S. Biological Survey, the founding agency of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service). The 6,406.79 acres 2,592.74 hectares (ha)] of the refuge support hundreds of species of wildlife and plants, providing protection for 14 federal-listed and 49 state-listed species, migratory birds, and native wildlife and habitat diversity through a mix of habitats, including tropical hardwood forests, beaches, mangrove swamps, mixed wetland shrubs, salt marshes, open waters and seagrass beds, and lakes and canals.