The National Key Deer Refuge was established in 1957 to protect and preserve Key deer and other wildlife resources in the Florida Keys. The refuge is located in the lower Florida Keys and currently consists of approximately 9,200 acres of land that includes pine rockland forests, tropical hardwood hammocks, freshwater wetlands, salt marsh wetlands, and mangrove forests. These natural communities are critical habitat for hundreds of endemic and migratory species including 17 federally-listed species such as Key deer, lower Keys marsh rabbit, and silver rice rat.

The National Key Deer Refuge headquarters is located on Big Pine Key which is 100-miles south of Miami and 30-miles north of Key West on Highway US-1. The refuge visitor center is located *-mile north of the traffic light on Key Deer Boulevard in the Big Pine Key Shopping Plaza. The administrative headquarters is located at the west end of Watson Boulevard.