Cape May National Wildlife Refuge

Every summer, millions of tourists descend upon southern New Jersey’s Cape May peninsula for a bit of rest and relaxation. But beginning in the fall, when the crowds move out, a new set of visitors flock to the area: hundreds of thousands of migrating birds. In fact, the fall bird migration is one of the area’s signature tourism events.

The Cape May National Wildlife Refuge is renowned for its spectacular winged migrations. Each year millions of shorebirds, songbirds, and raptors, including the piping plover, least tern, red knot and Cape May warbler, converge on Cape May to rest and feed along its shores and wetlands. Today, those birds have more room to stretch their wings.

Saving Land From Development

The Fund has helped add nearly 500 acres to Cape May NWR. In December 2008, as part of a 437-acre deal facilitated by the Fund, Cape May NWR acquired more than 370 acres of grasslands, salt marshes and forestlands along Bidwell Creek, a tributary of Delaware Bay. Bordered almost entirely by the refuge’s existing protected lands and faced with the threat of development, this property ranked as a high conservation priority. Cape May County acquired an additional 66 acres, contiguous to the property, for passive recreation and wildlife habitat. Prior to this addition, we worked on behalf of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to acquire nearly 25 critical acres of coastal marshlands as an addition to the refuge’s Two Mile Beach.

Globally Significant Important Bird Area (IBA)

In 2011, the Delaware Bay coast in New Jersey was named a Globally Significant Important Bird Area (IBA), becoming one of only 149 in the United States. What does this special designation mean? A panel of experts has identified the land as critically important to birds, particularly the red knot and ruddy turnstone, ensuring conservation efforts can be focused in the area. Learn more about the designation here. Read about how the Delaware Bayshore gained this recognition here.

In addition to the 360 species of birds that inhabit the 11,000-acre Cape May NWR, more than 30 different mammals and 45 varieties of reptiles and amphibians call this area home, making it a popular wildlife-viewing destination. Many of these species need large areas of unfragmented habitat to thrive, and protecting these 437 acres creates a large contiguous block of land where wildlife can roam.

Caribou
Photo by Wendi Lyn/Flickr

Nearly half a million Western Arctic Caribou—the second-largest caribou herd in North America—migrate through Kobuk Valley National Park in Alaska. According to the National Park Service, caribou typically migrate across the Kobuk River from late August through October and then again in March. The caribou have adapted to living on the tundra and are capable of navigating both the soft, thawed ground in summer and the frozen snow surface in winter. They migrate in search of food, mainly shrubs and berries, twigs and a variety of grasses that grow on the tundra.
Grizzly Bear
Photo by Linda Mirro/iStockphoto

The Rocky Mountain Front in Montana is home to one of the last grizzly populations in the lower 48 states and the last plains grizzlies in the world. For hibernation, grizzlies prefer a high mountain slope surrounded by deep snow that serves as insulation. When spring arrives, the grizzly heads down to lower elevations to forage for food. The Front’s landscape—high mountains next to low prairies—decreases the time between ending hibernation and finding sustenance. Learn more about our efforts to save habitat in the Rocky Mountain Front.
Mississippi Flyway
Photo by Don DeBold/Flickr

Millions of birds travel each year along the migration route known as the Mississippi Flyway, which runs the length of the United States, generally mirroring the path of the Mississippi River. The route narrows as it winds down to the Gulf Coast, making habitat in states like Louisiana critical. During the fall and winter, these habitats flood, setting the table for wintering waterfowl looking to plump up. In late summer, the water recedes within open-water wetland pools, creating mudflats for migrating shorebirds. But here's the thing: Louisiana’s once lush forests and waterways have been cleared, dammed, and leveed leaving less habitat for our partners in flight. Our Go Zero program is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore forests on key tracks of land.
Florida Manatee
Photo courtesy David Hinkel/USFWS

Endangered Florida manatees migrate to warm waters and often return to the same wintering areas year after year. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that there are only about 3,800 manatees in Florida. Each winter, more than 150 manatees congregate in the waters of Three Sisters Springs, a location we helped protect.
Path Of The Pronghorn
Photo by Mark Gocke/www.markgocke.com

The pronghorn has the longest land migration in the lower 48 states—traversing a 150-mile route across Wyoming. Known as the “Path of the Pronghorn," in 2008, this became the first designated wildlife migration corridor in the nation. The pronghorn is also one of the fastest animals, with a top running speed of about 55 miles per hour—surpassed on land only by the cheetah. However, speed doesn't help the pronghorn if its migration route isn't clear: Today, pronghorn must cross subdivisions and highways as well as private ranchland. Since 2008, the Fund, with our partners, has protected more than 8,000 acres of private land and enhanced more than 90,000 acres of public land.
Red Knot
Photo by Greg Breese/USFWS

The red knot makes one of the longest migrations of any bird, traveling 15,000 miles from its breeding grounds in the Arctic to South America and back each year. An estimated 80% of migrating red knots use Mispillion Harbor in Delaware as a feeding and resting area during their annual migration, making this coastal habitat critical to the red knot’s survival. Given threats to coastal lands and declining populations, the red knot is recognized as a "Species of High Concern" by the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan. That's why when a mile of beachfront property went on the market in Mispillion Harbor, we agreed to help protect it.
Salmon
Photo by Olga N. Vasik/iStockphoto.com

Salmon have one of the most dramatic and arduous migrations of any animal. In Southwest Alaska —perhaps the world's greatest stronghold of wild salmon, with all five Pacific salmon species abundant and widespread—salmon drive the region's ecology, economy and culture. Today, geographic remoteness no longer protects the region and forces that have devastated wild salmon elsewhere are now at work here. In order to safeguard this fragile ecosystem, we launched, with our partners, the Southwest Alaska Salmon Habitat Initiative.

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