Jaya+Petrie

Dry Tortugas National Park Location:  Almost 70 miles west of Key West, Florida.

Park Size: The total area of the islets is about 580,000 square meters (143 acres).

General Climate: Low 70's in the Winter season/ High 80's in the Summer season.

Region of the U.S:  Gulf of Mexico **Visitors per Year:**  Around 67,000 per year.

 Popular sites in the park :

 **Fort Jefferson** - (l argest fortification in the western hemisphere and served as a Civil War federal prison).  **Tortugas Banks** - (Coral "skyscrapers", some up to 100 feet high.)  **Little Africa** – this is a reef and a great place to snorkel (got its name because it’s the shape of Africa just smaller). A popular venture is one by **seaplane** to see different views. (Spot sharks, dolphin, turtles and shipwrecks).

 

History

The first European to discover the islands was Spanish explorer Ponce de León. He gave them the name on his first visit in 1513. The islands get their name from their distinctive characteristics: Dry, because none of the islands has fresh water and Tortugas, because Ponce de León saw an abundance of sea turtles on the island. La Tortugas means ‘the turtles’. <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">This group of seven small islands is a massive fort with a moat around the whole island. Fort Jefferson, built in 1846 and worked on for 30 years, is the largest coastal fort in the entire country but fort was never fully completed. The first structure built was the lighthouse that was used to warn sailors.



<span style="display: block; font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px; text-align: center;">During the **Civil War**, the fort was used as a **prison for war prisoners**, and then by 1888, after several hurricanes, the Army gave the fort over to the Marine Hospital Service where they used it as a **quarantine stat**ion for the victims of yellow fever. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px; text-align: center;">It was **President Franklin D. Roosevelt** who designated the fort a national monument in **1935**. In 1970, the fort, Fort Jefferson, was listed on the national register of historic places. And in 1992, the Dry Tortugas including the fort were designated a national park. Now it is a tourist attraction with many interesting sights. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px; text-align: center;">The Dry Tortugas Islands are a natural piece of land because they were formed by the **ocean's tides**, but the Dry Tortugas National Park and the walls/ moat was man made to protect the Southern coast of the United States.

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;"> **Population:** There are only visitors now, but prisoners were kept there back in the day in desertion.

<span style="color: #81a8d9; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">Environmental Issues =<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Weather- Weather Forecast = =<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Geology- = The Dry Tortugas are an egg shaped chain of islands formed of coral, approximately 27 km long and 12 km wide with shallow water depths ranging from 12-20 m in channels between reefs. Deep drilling would have to be done in the coral reefs of Dry Tortugas to determine the geological column.

The region contains luxuriant coral reefs, other key hardbottom and softbottom habitats, and rich reef fish resources that play a critical role in the Florida Keys regional ecosystem function and dynamics.
 * Ecosystems-**

= = Comment: Hey Jaya! All this is awesome, but you forgot animals =[ Maybe add a list of the animals and plant life that are in the Dry Tortugas and add a few pictures to catch the readers! -Jessi
 * Water Quality-**
 * The tortugas have no fresh water because they are surrounded by ocean; salt water.**