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Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge

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Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Facts ■ Concentrations of ducks, geese, and ■ Established: March 14, 1984. swans; wildlife diversity includes wading birds, shorebirds, raptors, ■ Size: 153,000 acres lying on the black bears, American alligators, mainland portions of Dare and white-tailed deer, raccoons, rabbits, Hyde Counties, North Carolina. quail, river otters, red wolves, ■ Location: 15 miles west of Manteo, red-cockaded woodpeckers, and NC on US Highways 64 and 264. neotropical migrants. Financial Impact of Refuge photo: USFWS photo: ■ Roughly 28 miles north to south and 15 miles east to west. ■ 29-person staff (includes Alligator River and Pea Island, Fire ■ Bordered on the west by the Program, and Red Wolf Recovery Alligator River and the Intracoastal Program). Waterway; on the north by Albemarle Sound; on the east by ■ 62,000 visitors annually. Croatan and Pamlico Sounds; and ■ Current budget (FY 07) $3,521,000 on the south by Long Shoal River (includes Alligator River and Pea and corporate farmland. Island National Wildlife Refuges, ■ Lead Refuge in NC Coastal Plain Fire Program, and Red Wolf Refuges Complex, which includes Recovery Program). Alligator River, Pea Island, Pocosin ■ Attracts visitors worldwide for Red photo: USFWS photo: Lakes, Mackay Island, Currituck, Wolf Howling programs. and Roanoke River National Wildlife Refuges. ■ Serves as a “gateway” to other eastern North Carolina refuges, ■ Comprehensive Conservation Plan encouraging visitors to venture was completed June 8, 2007. inland into the counties with fewer Natural History economic advantages. ■ Established to preserve and protect Refuge Goals a unique wetland habitat type “the ■ Inventory, protect, and manage pocosin” and its associated wildlife to maintain healthy and viable species. populations of threatened and ■ First ever attempt to re-establish endangered species (e.g., red wolf photo: USFWS photo: a species (the red wolf) that was and red-cockaded woodpecker), extinct in the wild. other priority wildlife (migratory birds and black bear), and fish. ■ Diversity of habitat types including high and low pocosin, bogs, fresh ■ Inventory and manage to provide and brackish water marshes, diverse, high quality mid-Atlantic hardwood swamps, and Atlantic Coastal Plain forested wetlands, white cedar swamps. marshes, aquatic habitats, and areas intensively managed for wildlife. photo: USFWS photo: ■ Plant species include pitcher ■ Mike Bryant, Refuge Manager plants and sun dews, low bush Provide safe, quality wildlife- Alligator River NWR cranberries, bays, Atlantic white dependent recreation opportunities P. O. Box 1969 cedar, pond pine, gums, red maple, for people to learn about and enjoy 708 North Highway 64 and a wide variety of herbaceous the wildlife resources and habitats Manteo, NC 27954 and shrub species common to the of the refuge and of the National Phone: 252/473 1131 East Coast. Wildlife Refuge. Fax: 252/473 1668 ■ One of the last remaining ■ Limit the adverse impacts of E-mail: [email protected] strongholds for black bear on the development to refuge resources Eastern seaboard. and allow natural processes to dominate on candidate wilderness areas. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Management Tools June-August: Summer Programs, need fire to reseed and maintain a ■ Restoration of historic water levels scheduled canoe tours (fee program). healthy stand. The FWS fires are altered by past logging and farming accomplished under “prescribed” operations. September: dove season, bow season conditions in which they can be for deer. managed safely to burn out the ■ Water management for waterfowl, October: National Wildlife Refuge accumulation of forest litter and shorebirds, wading birds, and other shrubs. wildlife. Week; Howl-O-Ween Howlings; primitive weapon and conventional Why is the Fish and Wildlife Service ■ Moist soil management for weapon hunting for deer, raccoon, introducing the red wolf, a predator, waterfowl, shorebirds, and wading squirrel, waterfowl, and opossum. into eastern North Carolina? birds. November: Wings Over Water, The endangered red wolf once ranged ■ Atlantic white cedar restoration. conventional hunting for quail, snipe, throughout the Southeast, but now it and rabbit. is threatened with extinction. By the ■ Approximately 2,500 acres of late 1970’s, the red wolf was extinct cooperative farming for black Questions and Answers in the wild, with only a few captive bears, red wolves, and waterfowl. What can I do to help Alligator River wolves surviving in zoos. Eastern National Wildlife Refuge? North Carolina was once part of the ■ Wildlife and habitat surveys. You can help this refuge by red wolf’s historic habitat, and may ■ Red wolf re-establishment. volunteering your time as a volunteer, again be able to provide the conditions donating your money to the Coastal necessary for its survival. At present, ■ Prescribed burning and wildfire Wildlife Refuge Society (the refuge there are 100-130 red wolves in the suppression. non-profit support group), and by wild in North Carolina. being a good steward for natural ■ Mechanical/chemical control of resources. Contact the Society (http:// Also, if mega-fauna, such as wolves, invasive plants. www.fws.gov/alligatorriver/cwrs. are able to survive and reproduce within an ecosystem, that provides ■ Deer, small game, and waterfowl html)! They’ll tell you all kinds of ways you can help! us with an excellent indication of hunting. environmental quality. Predators, like ■ Environmental education. Alligator River Refuge uses the red wolf, help maintain balance volunteers in a variety of program in an ecosystem by controlling ■ Wildlife interpretation. areas. Local volunteers work populations of prey species and regularly staffing the Visitor removing unhealthy animals. ■ Outreach. Center, maintaining interpretive Where can I go to see a wolf or bear? ■ Law enforcement. trails, putting up signs, conducting interpretive tours, and assisting with The chances of seeing a wolf are ■ Partnerships. biological and maintainance work. We slim. During some seasons, bear may also have programs for interns and be observed with some regularity. Public Use Opportunities resident volunteers. Weekly, during the summer, a guided ■ Universally-accessible foot trails “Bear Necessities” program begins and fishing dock. Why do you start fires on the refuge? at Creef Cut Trailhead on U.S. 64 Fire is a natural process. Much of in East Lake. Participants receive ■ Auto tour route (11 miles). the refuge is pocosin habitat, which an orientation to the refuge and its ■ Paddling trails (15 miles). typically has a natural fire cycle management programs and have an of three to seven years. Native opportunity to drive along the refuge ■ Wildlife observation and Americans were known to set fires to wildlife drive to see black bears, photography. aid in hunting game and to promote owls, and other wildlife. A ride down better access to the woods and Milltail Road near sunset will often ■ Hunting and fishing. marshes. Frequent fires had the produce bear sightings. ■ Guided interpretive programs, effect of pruning back the thickets including Red Wolf Howlings, Bear of shrubs and canes; consuming and Wolf talks and Canoe Tours accumulations of dead grasses, (fee program). pine litter, and woody debris; and recycling nutrients into the soil. The ■ Environmental education. results were more open conditions in the marshes and woodlands and Calendar of Events very diverse and productive wildlife April-December: Red Wolf Howlings. habitats. April: Earth Day, National Wildlife FWS “starts fires on the refuge” to Week, scheduled canoe tours (fee reduce hazardous fuel conditions program). and to mimic the natural fires of the May: International Migratory Bird past. Many plant species, such as Day. pond pine, are fire dependent and .
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