Summer is winding down. A new school year is starting up. The bird migrations, hunting seasons and other outdoor recreation opportunities of fall are fast approaching. Now is a fine time for “A Beginner’s Guide to the National Wildlife Refuge System,” a primer about the largest network of lands and waters dedicated to ensuring the long-term future of America’s fish and wildlife heritage.
Managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the lands and waters of the Refuge System fall mostly along the nation’s rivers, coasts and wetlands and across its heartland. But they also extend into deserts, forests, mountains, oceans and the Arctic. From the Caribbean to the Pacific and Maine to Alaska, there are 566 national wildlife refuges.
The Refuge System also includes 38 wetland management districts, most of them in Prairie Pothole Region of the upper Midwest. Wetland management districts have been called “jewels on the prairie.”
And the Refuge System includes five marine national monuments. Four are in the Pacific: Papah?naumoku?kea, Pacific Remote Islands, Rose Atoll and Mariana Trench. One is in the Atlantic: Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.
You can experience America’s wildlife heritage at a national wildlife refuge near you. On hundreds of wildlife refuges, you can fish, hunt, walk a trail, photograph wildlife and enjoy environmental education programs. There is at least one national wildlife refuge in each state. To find one near you, go here and write in your Zip Code.
“A Beginner’s Guide to the National Wildlife Refuge System,” is part of a series of photo essays that highlight the conservation work and visitor opportunities at national wildlife refuges, wetland management districts and marine national monuments. New photo essays are posted regularly on the Refuge System home page. The essays are archived here.