Aransas National Wildlife Refuge – Austwell TX

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge is a 114,657-acre, federally protected area at San Antonio Bay on the coast of Texas. The refuge was established by Executive Order 7784 on December 31, 1937 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the Aransas Migratory… read more

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge – San Antonio NM

In 1936 the Bureau of Biological Survey (BBS) determined that Bosque del Apache site was suitable for a migratory bird refuge. Condemnation of the land was initiated through the 1931 Migratory Bird Conservation Act and concluded in December 1936. The… read more

Camas National Wildlife Refuge – Hamer ID

Camas National Wildlife Refuge lies in southeast Idaho along the Camas River and just west of the Grand Tetons of Wyoming.  Its 10,000 acres are half lakes, ponds, and marshlands and half grass sagebrush uplands, meadows, and farms.  It is… read more

CCC Camp – Valentine NE

The Omaha World-Herald announced in the June 13, 1933 edition that Nebraska’s sixth Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp was approved in Washington D.C. and that it would be located near Valentine. Officials arrived in September to make arrangements for the… read more

Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge – Ellsworth NE

Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1931 under the Hoover Administration, but was not improved until President Franklin Roosevelt came into office in 1933. The refuge lies on the southwestern edge of the Sand Hills of Nebraska and… read more

Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge – Valentine NE

Fort Niobrara NWR – Valentine NE Fort Niobrara Wildlife Refuge was established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 by Executive Order.  The principal aim was to protect bison and elk herds which had dwindled almost to extinction under the pressure… read more

Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge – Lakeview OR

Pronghorn Antelope at Hart Mountain National Animal Refuge - Lakeview OR

President Roosevelt signed an executive order on December 21, 1936 to establish the Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge in Lake County, Oregon. This area served the largest, remaining pronghorn antelope herd in the United States. Comprised of Hart Mountain and the… read more

Mattamuskeet Wildlife Refuge – Swanquarter NC

Mattamuskeet Migratory Bird (later Wildlife) Refuge was established in 1934, primarily as a refuge for migratory birds along the Atlantic flyway.  It was one of the first refuges created under President Franklin Roosevelt, an ardent bird fancier and conservationist, and… read more

Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge – Medicine Lake MT

Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge is located in northeastern Montana between the Missouri River and the Canadian border. Medicine Lake NWR encompasses 31,702 acres and consists of the 28,438-acre north tract, which includes Medicine Lake, and seventeen smaller water units…. read more

Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge – Muleshoe TX

President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Muleshoe Migratory Waterfowl Refuge by executive order on October 24, 1935. In 1940 the name was changed to the Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge. The original tract purchased for the refuge was 738 acres. The… read more

Patuxent Research Refuge – Laurel MD

Merriam Lab

President Franklin Roosevelt created Patuxent Research Refuge (PRR) with Executive Order 7514, December 16, 1936, and Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace dedicated it on June 3, 1939.  The refuge began with 2,670 acres and has since grown to 12,841 acres…. read more

Roaches Run Waterfowl Sanctuary – Arlington VA

In 1934-35, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) helped develop Roaches Run Waterfowl Sanctuary out of the marshes along the south shore of the Potomac River. Roaches Run  is located at the north end of National Airport, which was developed a… read more

Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge – Willows CA

Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1937 by Executive Order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. With funds from Emergency Conservation Fund Act of 1933, the Bureau of Biological Survey purchased the 10,775-acre Spalding Ranch to create what was originally called… read more

Seney National Wildlife Refuge – Seney MI

Seney National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1935 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt for the protection of migratory birds and other wildlife. It began under the Bureau of Biological Survey, which morphed into the US Fish & Wildlife Service in… read more

Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge – Humboldt County NV

The Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1931 in the desert landscape of northern Nevada and eastern Oregon and enlarged by order of President Franklin Roosevelt in December 1936, under the auspices of the Bureau of Biological Survey (Fish… read more

St. Marks Wildlife Refuge Improvements – St. Marks FL

What is today the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge was originally established in 1931 as the St. Marks Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, a key link in protecting the Atlantic flyway. It cover over 70,000 acres spread out between Wakulla, Jefferson, and Taylor counties… read more

Valentine National Wildlife Refuge – Valentine NE

Valentine Migratory Waterfowl Refuge was established in 1935 by an Executive Order of President Franklin Roosevelt.  Some 70,000 acres of land in the Sand Hills of Cherry County, Nebraska were purchased by the Bureau of Biological Survey “as a breeding… read more

Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge – Indiahoma OK

Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge began in 1901 when part of the Comanche-Kiowa-Apache Indian Reservation was set aside as a National Forest. The area was transferred in 1935 to the Bureau of Biological Survey to become a wildlife refuge under the… read more