The following information illustrates the change in population within the watershed during the past few decades. Statistics shown are only for the watershed area within the boundary of this Water Atlas.

Total Population within each Watershed from 1970-2020

Watershed	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2020
Caloosahatchee River Basin	99,993	188,925	274,831	317,772	390,989	464,709	Graph
Charlotte Harbor Basin	5,488	24,732	16,072	23,959	33,926	37,096	Graph
Dona & Roberts Bay Basin	18,459	51,973	56,519	69,537	78,527	84,219	Graph
Estero Bay Basin	11,431	25,641	63,086	116,680	181,785	226,012	Graph
Lemon Bay Basin	4,666	8,061	31,968	37,217	40,154	47,511	Graph
Myakka River Basin	5,965	5,362	27,700	47,814	90,197	108,194	Graph
Peace River Basin	195,591	283,401	355,051	423,678	471,548	527,378	Graph
Pine Island Sound Basin	6,949	11,414	24,219	40,188	82,443	107,730	Graph
Totals for All Watershed Areas	348,542	599,509	849,446	1,076,845	1,369,569	1,602,849

Source(s): U.S. Department of Commerce

The Florida Natural Areas Inventory is the primary source for information on Florida's conservation lands. The Inventory database includes boundaries and statistics for more than 1,400 federal, state, local, and private managed areas, all provided directly by the managing agencies. National parks, state forests, wildlife management areas, local and private preserves are examples of the managed areas included.

Land Cover categorizes the land in terms of the observed physical surface characteristics. For example, while the land use may be classified as agricultural, the land cover may be classified as upland or wetland. Learn more about land use and land cover »