The National Wildlife Refuge System is a system of protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency within the Department of the Interior. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife, and plants.
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👉 National Wildlife Refuge in the context of Estuaries of Texas
The U.S. state of Texas has a series of estuaries along its coast on the Gulf of Mexico, most of them bounded by the Texas barrier islands. Estuaries are coastal bodies of water in which freshwater from rivers mixes with saltwater from the sea. Twenty-one drainage basins terminate along the Texas coastline, forming a chain of seven major and five minor estuaries: listed from southwest to northeast, these are the Rio Grande Estuary, Laguna Madre, the Nueces Estuary (Corpus Christi Bay), the Mission–Aransas Estuary (Aransas Bay), the Guadalupe Estuary (San Antonio Bay), the Colorado–Lavaca Estuary (Matagorda Bay), East Matagorda Bay, the San Bernard River and Cedar Lakes Estuary, the Brazos River Estuary, Christmas Bay, the Trinity–San Jacinto Estuary (Galveston Bay), and the Sabine–Neches Estuary (Sabine Lake). Each estuary is named for its one or two chief contributing rivers, excepting Laguna Madre, East Matagorda Bay, and Christmas Bay, which have no major river sources. The estuaries are also sometimes referred to by the names of their respective primary or central water bodies, though each also includes smaller secondary bays, inlets, or other marginal water bodies.
These water bodies include some of the largest and most ecologically productive coastal estuaries in the United States and contribute significantly to the ecological and economic resources of Texas. They are included in a number of national protected areas such as National Wildlife Refuges, a National Seashore, and a National Estuarine Research Reserve, as well as various state parks and other regional protected areas. The two most economically important (the Nueces and Trinity–San Jacinto Estuaries) have been designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as estuaries of national significance under the National Estuary Program. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway runs through each of the major estuaries, linking Texas ports with others along the Gulf Coast of the United States.
In this Dossier
- ⭐ Core Definition: National Wildlife Refuge
- 👉 National Wildlife Refuge in the context of Estuaries of Texas
- National Wildlife Refuge in the context of Becharof Wilderness
- National Wildlife Refuge in the context of Jarvis Island
- National Wildlife Refuge in the context of Johnston Atoll
- National Wildlife Refuge in the context of Desecheo National Wildlife Refuge
- National Wildlife Refuge in the context of Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge
- National Wildlife Refuge in the context of Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuge in the context of Becharof Wilderness
Becharof National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge in the Aleutian Range of the Alaska Peninsula of southwestern Alaska. It is adjacent to Katmai National Park and Preserve. This national wildlife refuge, which covers an area of 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km), was established in 1980 to conserve major brown bears, salmon, migratory birds, caribou, marine birds, and mammals and to comply with treaty obligations. It lies primarily in the east-central part of Lake and Peninsula Borough, but extends eastward into the mainland portion of Kodiak Island Borough. The refuge is administered from offices in King Salmon.
Becharof Wilderness it comprises approximately 500,000 acres (2,000 km) and is bordered by the Katmai Wilderness on the north. It was designated a wilderness area in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
National Wildlife Refuge in the context of Jarvis Island
Jarvis Island (/ˈdʒɑːrvɪs/; formerly known as Bunker Island or Bunker's Shoal) is an uninhabited 4.5 km (1.7 sq mi) coral island located in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and the Cook Islands. It is an unincorporated, unorganized territory of the United States, administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service of the United States Department of the Interior as part of the National Wildlife Refuge system. Unlike most coral atolls, the lagoon on Jarvis is wholly dry.
Jarvis is one of the Line Islands and, for statistical purposes, is also grouped as one of the United States Minor Outlying Islands. Jarvis Island is the largest of three U.S. equatorial possessions, which include Baker Island and Howland Island.
National Wildlife Refuge in the context of Johnston Atoll
Johnston Atoll is an unincorporated territory of the United States, under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force (USAF). The island is closed to public entry, and limited access for management needs is only granted by a letter of authorization from the USAF. A special use permit is also required from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to access the island by boat or enter the waters surrounding the island, which are designated as a National Wildlife Refuge and part of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument. The Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge extends from the shore out to 12 nautical miles, continuing as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System out to 200 nautical miles. The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument extends from the shore out to 200 nautical miles.
The isolated atoll has been under the control of the U.S. military since 1934. During that time, it was variously used as a naval refueling depot, an airbase, a testing site for nuclear and biological weapons, a secret missile base, and a site for the storage and disposal of chemical weapons and Agent Orange. Those activities left the area environmentally contaminated. The USAF completed remediating the contamination in 2004 and performs only periodic monitoring today.
National Wildlife Refuge in the context of Desecheo National Wildlife Refuge
The Desecheo National Wildlife Refuge (Spanish: Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre de Desecheo) is a National Wildlife Refuge in Puerto Rico. It is part of the Caribbean Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
The island of Desecheo is located 14 miles (23 km) west of Puerto Rico and is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the north and the Caribbean Sea on the south. The refuge encompasses the entire rugged island. From 1940 to 1952 the island was used as a practice target for aerial bombardment by the US War Department and from 1952 to 1960 Desecheo was used as a survival training area for the U.S. Air Force. Although formerly containing a colony of 15,000 brown boobies and 10,000 red-footed boobies, currently no successful booby breeding is known to occur on the island.
National Wildlife Refuge in the context of Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge
The Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge is a 9,125-acre (37 km) National Wildlife Refuge made up of several parcels of land along 50 miles (80 km) of Maine's southern coast. Created in 1966, it is named for environmentalist and author Rachel Carson, whose book Silent Spring raised public awareness of the effects of DDT on migratory songbirds, and of other environmental issues.
The refuge's parcels include protected areas between Kittery and Cape Elizabeth, including land in Wells, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Biddeford, Saco, and Scarborough.
National Wildlife Refuge in the context of Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge
The Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge is a 14,000-acre (5,666-hectare) National Wildlife Refuge in eastern and central Minnesota. Located just south of the city of Minneapolis, it is one of fourteen Regional Priority Urban Wildlife Refuges in the nation. Many parts of the refuge are near large establishments of Minneapolis–Saint Paul; the Bloomington Education and Visitor Center and two trailheads are located just blocks from the Mall of America, the Wilkie Unit is just east of Valleyfair, and the Louisville Swamp Unit is just south of the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.
The refuge stretches southwest through Minneapolis's outer-ring suburbs to Henderson, Minnesota. There are eleven refuge units strung along 70 miles (113 km) of the Minnesota River. The various refuge units are interspersed with units of the Minnesota Valley State Recreation Area. Although the National Wildlife Refuge is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the state recreation area by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, both agencies share a consistent signage to simplify visitation.