Anumber of wildlife refuges
contain areas of unique interest
and are specially managed.
These include wilderness, wild and
scenic rivers, wetlands of international
importance, shorebird reserves, national
natural landmarks, monuments,
memorials, and historic landmarks.
Some of these designations place
wildlife refuge land within national or
international protected networks, all
of which affect how the land is used
and cared for.
Wilderness is a special designation
applied to federal lands “where the
earth and its community of life are
untrammeled by man, where man is
a visitor who does not remain.” More
than 20 million acres on 66 wildlife
refuges have been designated as
wilderness and are managed in a way
that preserves the wild and undevel-oped
character of the land. There,
people can enjoy solitude and the
beauty of nature without many of
the intrusions of the modern world.
Nearly 1,000 square miles of Arizona’s
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife
Refuge is designated as
wilderness. One of the
wildest, most desolate
places in the country,
it was set aside in
1939 to save the
desert bighorn
sheep from extinction, and
it also has helped save the
extremely rare Sonoran prong-horn
antelope and a number of rare
plants. The wildlife refuge presents a
beautiful landscape, with mountains
suddenly soaring 3,000 feet above
the desert.
Wild and Scenic Rivers are rivers in
their natural state, free of dams or
power plants, that provide vital fish
and wildlife habitat or that possess
scenic, recreational, geologic, historic,
cultural or other unique values worthy
of preserving. The National Wildlife
Refuge System contains more than
1,400 miles of wild and scenic rivers.
A five-mile segment of the Niobrara
River flowing through Nebraska’s
Fort Niobrara National Wildlife
Refuge has been designated as wild
and scenic. Canoeing the river, which
runs through wooded areas and deep
canyons, provides an ideal vantage
point for seeing buffalo, deer, elk, red-tailed
hawks, great blue herons, and a
variety of wildflowers. A nearby nature
trail winds past the river’s waterfall.
Wetlands of International Importance
include a variety of marsh, peatland,
and salt, fresh, and brackish water.
Protected since 1971 by an interna-tional
conservation agreement, these
wetlands are home to an amazing
diversity of wildlife, and they offer
some of the best bird-watching oppor-tunities
in the world. So far, more than
100 countries have signed the
Convention on Wetlands
of International
Importance.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Areas of Unique Interest
The National Wildlife Refuge System
The National Wildlife
Refuge System is one
of America’s greatest
conservation success
stories. In its first
hundred years, it
helped save our
national symbol,
the American bald
eagle, from extinction
and has protected
hundreds of other wild
species—including—
fish, migratory birds,
and many other
plants and animals
and the habitats that
support them.
Rock Sandpiper | David Menke | USFWS
Seventeen areas within the National
Wildlife Refuge System have been
designated as wetlands of international
importance.
The world’s largest bed of aquatic
eelgrass attracts the entire world
population of Pacific black brants and
virtually all of the world’s emperor
goose population to the Izembek National
Wildlife Refuge, located on the southern
end of the Alaska Peninsula. Thousands
of migrating Taverner’s Canada geese
and ducks also pass through, as do rock
sandpipers, ruddy turnstones, and
semipalmated plovers. The wetlands of
Izembek are also home to Alaskan brown
bears, caribou, red foxes, river and sea
otters, sea lions, and harbor seals.
The Western Hemisphere Shorebird
Reserve Network exemplifies the
intense conservation challenge that
wetlands face, as well as the need for
international cooperation to protect
these areas. A voluntary coalition of
more than 200 private and public
organizations, the network links owners
and managers of crucial wetlands in a
program of research, training, and
environmental education. Seven coun-tries
manage lands within the network,
which includes 20 areas within the
National Wildlife Refuge System.
As a part of the shorebird reserve
network, Edwin B. Forsythe National
Wildlife Refuge employees manage
thousands of acres of salt marsh for
more than 300 bird species that call the
refuge home. The refuge’s bird list
includes Atlantic brant, American black
ducks, pied-billed grebes, northern
harriers, Cooper’s hawks, peregrine
falcons, ospreys, and least terns. The
wildlife drive allows visitors to view
these birds as they feed throughout
the marsh.
National Natural Landmarks encom-pass
some of the best-known examples
of unique biological or geological fea-tures.
More than 40 natural landmarks
are located on wildlife refuges, where
they are maintained relatively free of
human disturbance to approximate a
stable environment.
Native grasses, sand dunes, brushy
bottomlands, seven lakes, and a red-rimmed
plateau surround the 10,090-acre
National Natural Landmark at Bitter
Lake National Wildlife Refuge, providing
a winter home for thousands of migratory
birds. The refuge's namesake is a
shallow playa lake, that often goes dry
during the summer, leaving only a
white alkaline lake bed. The water
from the springs is brackish and too
bitter to drink, but is a favored roosting
site for majestic sandhill cranes. Each
year more than 40,000 visitors arrive at
Bitter Lake refuge to see spectacular
flocks of waterfowl and millions of
colorful dragonflies against the rose-colored
western sunsets.
National Monuments and Memorials
include “historic landmarks, historic
and prehistoric structures, and other
objects of historic or scientific interest”
located on Federal lands, including
wildlife refuges.
During World War II, Midway Island
and the adjacent waters played a critical
role in the Allied victory in the Pacific.
The Battle of Midway, June 4-6, 1942,
one of the most decisive naval battles
in history, is often called the turning
point of the war. In fierce fighting,
the American defenders of Midway
withstood massive Japanese airstrikes,
while our carrier-based planes located
the enemy fleet and sank four Japanese
aircraft carriers, against the loss of
one American carrier. This forced the
Japanese invasion fleet to turn back,
securing the victory at Midway and
gaining the initiative for the United
States throughout the remainder of
the Pacific war.
Today, Midway Island is both a National
Memorial to that victory and a National
Wildlife Refuge, important to many
species of wildlife, including the famous
"gooney birds." Amid more than one
million birds, the refuge preserves
63 historic sites, including Marine
barracks and pillboxes above the water
and the beauty of the Pacific Ocean
below. Coral reefs surrounding the island
host Hawaiian spinner dolphins, green
sea turtles, and endangered Hawaiian
monk seals. More than 250 species of
fish swim within the lagoon, including
colorful coral fish, offering spectacular
views to visitors diving and snorkeling
around the island.
National historic places and national
historic landmarks on wildlife refuges
include archaeological and anthropological
sites, such as shipwrecks, historic plan-tations
and buildings, burial grounds,
lighthouses, and battlefields.
North Dakota’s Lake Ilo National
Wildlife Refuge is the site of an
ongoing archaeological study that is
teaching us about the behaviors and
habits of the earliest inhabitants of
the northern plains.
U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
National Wildlife Refuge System
4401 N. Fairfax Drive
Room 670
Arlington, VA 22203
1 800/344 WILD
http://refuges.fws.gov
July 2002
When President
Theodore Roosevelt
made Florida’s tiny
Pelican Island a
refuge for birds
in 1903, he wrote
the first chapter of
a great American
conservation success story. And the
story of safeguarding America’s
migratory birds, endangered
species, and other wildlife keeps
getting better and better. Entering
its second century, the National
Wildlife Refuge System comprises
95 million acres, protected within
more than 535 refuges and thou-sands
of small prairie wetlands
that serve as waterfowl breeding
and nesting areas. There are
wildlife refuges in every state, and
at least one within an hour’s drive
of every major American city,
providing much-needed refuge
for people as well as wildlife.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
is a Federal agency whose mission,
working with others, is to conserve
fish and wildlife and their habitats
for the continuing benefit of the
American people. Under the
management of fish and wildlife
professionals, the National Wildlife
Refuge System has become
the world’s premier network of
wildlife habitats.
America’s Best Kept Secret
