The refuge was launched with a donation of just 10 acres of land from the US-based Nature Conservancy, but could eventually grow to more than 150, 000 acres, connecting with conservation land near Naples, 175 miles to the southwest, and on through to the Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park that extends to the southern tip of the peninsula.

BBC: Florida��s newest wildlife refuge

VIENNA, Ill. (AP) This is the Illinois that many people never see the sparsely populated southern tip where flat farmland gives way to rolling hills, rocky outcrops, thick forests and cypress swamps.

NPR: Scenic, Struggling S. Illinois Braces For Oil Rush