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PARKS
Savannah Coastal National Wildlife Refuges
Savannah NWR |
Blackbeard Island NWR |
Wolf Island NWR |
Tybee NWR |
Pinckney Island NWR |
Wassaw NWR |
Harris Neck NWR |
Barrier Islands |
The Low-Country
The Savannah Coastal Refuges
Parkway Business Center, Suite 10
1000 Business Center Drive
Savannah, Georgia 31405
(912)652-4415
There are seven National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) administered from headquarters in downtown
Savannah, Georgia (U.S. Court Building). The chain of coastal refuges comprising the Complex extends
from Pinckney Island NWR near Hilton Head, South Carolina to Wolf Island NWR near Darien, Georgia.
Between these lie Savannah (the largest unit in the Complex), Wassaw, Tybee, Harris Neck and
Blackbeard Island refuges. Together they span a 100-mile stretch of coastline and total over 53,340
acres.
Savannah
National Wildlife Refuge
Savannah NWR, established April 6, 1927, consists of 25,608 acres of freshwater marshes, tidal rivers
and creeks and bottomland hardwoods. The 3,000 acres of freshwater impoundments managed for
migratory waterfowl were formerly the rice fields of plantations dating back to the mid or late 1700's.
Many of the dikes enclosing these pools were originally built with slave labor. All dikes are open to foot
travel during daylight hours, unless otherwise posted, and provide excellent wildlife observation points.
About half the refuge is bottomland, composed primarily of cypress, gum and maple species. Access to
this area is by boat only.
Waterfowl are most abundant from November through February, while alligators and other reptiles are
common from March through October. Birdwatching opportunities are good all year but are best from
October through April when temperatures are mild and many species of waterfowl and other wintering
birds are present. Motorists are welcome on Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive, off U.S. 17, which meanders along
four miles of earthen dikes through managed freshwater pools and hardwood hammocks. Cistern Trail
and other walking routes are also available to the visiting public. From November 1 to March 15, entry
into the impoundment area north of U.S. 17 is prohibited to reduce disturbance while wintering waterfowl
numbers are at a peak. Fishing is permitted in the freshwater pools from March 15 to October 25 and is
governed by South Carolina and refuge regulations. The refuge administers deer, feral hog, and squirrel
hunts during the fall and winter. Permits to hunt on the refuge must be obtained from the Coastal office in
Savannah.
Savannah NWR is located on U.S. 17 eight miles south of Hardeeville, South Carolina, Exit 5 off 1-95 (or
four miles north of Port Wentworth, Georgia on U.S. 17 - take I-95 Exit 19 to U.S. 17 North).
Blackbeard Island
National Wildlife Refuge
Blackbeard Island was acquired by the Navy Department at public auction in 1800 as a source of live oak
timber for ship building. A Presidential Proclamation in 1940 changed its designation from Blackbeard
Island Reservation to Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge. Today, the refuge's 5,618 acres include
maritime forest, salt marsh, freshwater marsh, and beach habitat. In 1975, three thousand acres of the
refuge were set aside as National Wilderness.
Blackbeard Island offers a variety of recreational activities year-round. Wildlife observation, especially
birdwatching, is excellent throughout the year. In winter months, waterfowl utilize the freshwater pools
and marshland, while songbirds abound in the wooded acres in the spring and fall. The existing trails and
roads provide hikers with scenic paths ideal for nature study. Saltwater creeks which pass through refuge
marshland are open to fishing the entire year. Presently, two archery hunts for deer are scheduled on the
island in the fall and winter (for exact dates and hunt regulations contact the Coastal Refuges'
headquarters).
Blackbeard Island is accessible only by boat. Transportation to the island is not provided by the Fish and
Wildlife Service. Arrangements for trips to the refuge can be made at Shellman's Bluff. To reach
Shellman's Bluff, travel south from Savannah on U.S. 17 for approximately 51 miles to Shellman's Bluff
Road which terminates at Shellman's Bluff on the Julienton River. A public boat ramp on Harris Neck
NWR (Barbour River Land) may also be used as a launching site for trips to the island.
Wolf Island
National Wildlife Refuge
Wolf Island NWR, which includes Egg Island and Little Egg Island, was established on April 3, 1930.
The refuge consists of a long narrow strip of oceanfront beach backed by a broad band of salt marsh. Over
75% of the refuge's 5,126 acres are composed of saltwater marshes.
Wolf Island NWR was designated a National Wilderness in 1975, therefore no public use facilities are
planned on the refuge. Though the refuge's saltwaters are open to a variety of recreational activities, all
beach, marsh, and upland areas are closed to the public. Visitors must make their own arrangements to
reach the refuge Marinas in the Darien, Georgia area may offer transportation to Wolf Island NWR.
Tybee
National Wildlife Refuge
Tybee NWR was established on May 5, 1933 as a breeding area for migratory birds and other wildlife.
The majority of the 100 acre-refuge is covered with sand deposits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers'
dredging activities in the Savannah River. The more stable portions of the island are densely covered with
such woody species as eastern red cedar, wax myrtle, and groundsel. Saltwater marsh borders parts of the
island. At low tide the shoreline provides a resting and feeding place for many species of migratory birds.
The refuge is located in the mouth of the Savannah River directly opposite Fort Pulaski National
Monument which is 12 miles from Savannah on U.S. 80. Tybee NWR is closed to public use.
Pinckney Island
National Wildlife Refuge
Pinckney Island NWR, established December 4, 1975, was once included in the plantation of Major
General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, a prominent lawyer active in South Carolina politics from 1801 to
1815. Few traces of the island's plantation life in the 1800's exist today.
The 4,053-acre refuge includes Pinckney Island, Corn Island, Big and Little Harry Islands, Buzzard
Island and numerous small hammocks. Pinckney is the largest of the islands and the only one open to
public use. Nearly 67% of the refuge consists of salt marsh and tidal creeks. A wide variety of land types
are found on Pinckney Island alone: salt marsh, forestland, brushland, fallow field and freshwater ponds.
In combination, these habitats support a diversity of bird and plant life. Studying, viewing and
photographing the island's wildlife and scenery are popular activities throughout the year. Over fourteen
miles of trails are open to hiking and bicycling. No motorized vehicles are allowed north of the public
parking lot.
When necessary for management purposes, a deer hunt is held on Pinckney Island (for hunt dates and
regulations contact the Coastal Refuges' Office).
The refuge entrance is located on U.S. 278,18 miles east of Hardeeville, South Carolina, or .5 miles west
of Hilton Head Island.
For more information on the Pinckney Island NWR, please click here!
Wassaw
National Wildlife Refuge
Wassaw, one of Georgia's coastal barrier islands, was designated a National Wildlife Refuge on October
20, 1969. Unlike many of Georgia's Golden Isles, little development and few management practices have
modified Wassaw's primitive character. The 10,070-acre refuge includes beaches with rolling dunes, live
oak and slash pine woodlands, and vast salt marshes.
Refuge visitors may enjoy recreational activities such as birdwatching, beachcombing, hiking and general
nature studies. The 20 miles of dirt roads on Wassaw Island and seven miles of beach provide an ideal
wildlife trail system for hikers. Birdwatching is particularly fruitful during the spring and fall migrations.
The island supports rookeries for egrets and herons, and a variety of wading birds are abundant in the
summer months.
In summer, telltale tracks on Wassaw's beach attest to nocturnal visits by the threatened loggerhead sea
turtles which come ashore for egg laying and then return secretively to the sea. The Fish and Wildlife
Service, in cooperation with the Savannah Science Museum, monitors the nesting activities of the giant
loggerheads. Under the supervision of qualified museum personnel, the public is permitted to assist in this
ongoing research project. Selected participants must pay a fee covering transportation and lodging
expenses.
Deer hunts (both bow and gun) are scheduled in the fall and winter. The Coastal Refuges' office can
provide a schedule of hunt dates and issue hunt regulations. The saltwaters of the refuge marshland are
open to fishing throughout the year.
Wassaw NWR is accessible only by boat. Both Wassaw and Pine Island are open to the public during
daylight hours: other upland areas are closed. Transportation to the refuge must be arranged by the
visitor. Several local marinas in the Savannah area (at Skidaway Island and Isle of Hope) and a public
boat ramp adjacent to the Skidaway Island bridge can serve as launching sites for trips to Wassaw.
Harris Neck
National Wildlife Refuge
Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1962 by transfer of federal lands formerly
managed by the Federal Aviation Agency as a WWII Army airfield. The refuge's 2,765 acres consist of
saltwater marsh, grassland, mixed deciduous woods and cropland. Because of this great variety in habitat,
many different species of birds are attracted to the refuge throughout the year. In the summer, hundreds of
egrets and herons nest in the swamps, while in the winter large concentrations of ducks (especially
mallards, gadwall and teal) gather in the marshland and freshwater pools. Over 15 miles of paved roads
and trails provide the visitor easy access to these areas. Some portions of the refuge may be closed
seasonally to protect wildlife from human disturbance.
Fishing is allowed in the tidal creeks bordering the refuge. Piers have been constructed for public use on
Harris Neck Creek at the Ga. Route 131 entrance. Access to refuge tidal waters and Blackbeard Island can
be gained from a public boat ramp located on the Barbour River (at the termination of Ga. Route 131).
The Barbour River Landing is open daily from 4:00 a.m. to midnight, or as posted.
Deer hunts are managed on the refuge in the fall and winter. Hunters may obtain a schedule of hunt dates
and hunt regulations from the Coastal Office.
To reach Harris Neck, take Exit 12 off I-95 and travel south on U.S. 17 for approximately one mile, then
east on Ga. Route 131 for seven miles to the main entrance gate.
Barrier Islands
The Spanish called them Guale, these Golden Isles, and since the 1500's they have unfolded a continuing
drama of both regional and national significance. The islands have been battlegrounds and playgrounds;
have provided solace and inspiration; enjoyed fabulous prosperity; suffered ruin and abandonment.
Surviving wars and natural disasters, they continue to offer man and wildlife a unique combination of
beach, woodland, and marsh environments for a multitude of uses.
Barrier islands are so named because they form a barrier between the ocean and the mainland. They are
an integral part of a continuous chain of islands and beaches, stretching from Maine to Texas that protect
the coast from hurricanes and storms. Nowhere can there be found a more completely developed system of
large barrier islands than on the Georgia Coast.
Behind the barrier islands lie salt marshes, described by some as the world's most productive acreage.
Here nutrients from both fresh and salt water mix, providing organic material that moves into the sea to
become a major link in the marine food chain. These marshes are also the nurseries for countless marine
organisms, including shrimp, oysters, crabs, striped bass, and other commercial and sport species that are
particularly important to the coastal economy. Without the protection afforded by the barrier islands, the
tidal creeks and salt marshes would be no place for the delicate juvenile stages of so many species.
Such an abundance of life in the salt marsh invites other animals to rest, feed or nest. Located on the
Atlantic Flyway, the islands are important to migrating waterfowl, especially those displaced from the
rapidly disappearing marshes further up the Atlantic coast. The islands themselves provide ideal habitat
for a wide variety of plants and animals, including endangered species like the American alligator,
peregrine falcon, wood stork, loggerhead sea turtle and southern bald eagle.
Anyone who has spent time at the beach is at once aware of two major forces which affect barrier
islands: wind and tides. The energy released by these natural elements is awesome indeed, and has
battered our coastline unceasingly for thousands of years. To counter this force, nature has come up with a
remarkable defense system; sand. Sand offers enough resistance to absorb and dissipate the tremendous
energy of coastal storms and yet responds predictably to gentler wind and waves. Thus, man and his
structures on the mainland are protected from the full violence of storms by the barrier islands.
The Low-Country
Bordered on the west by sandhill ridges and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, lies a band of low land
extending from Georgetown, South Carolina, to St. Mary's, Georgia, known locally as the Low-Country.
For over two centuries the diversity of fauna and flora within this region has attracted such naturalists as
Alexander Wilson, Mark Catesby, John James Audubon, and William Bartram. While the Carolina
parakeets and ivory-billed woodpeckers which once inhabited the freshwater swamps within this coastal
lowland have vanished, many rare and uncommon species remain. The southern bald eagle still soars
majestically over the remnants of vast bottomlands such as those contained within the Savannah National
Wildlife Refuge. Egrets and herons, once hunted nearly to extinction by the plume hunters of the early
1900's, continue to nest in rookeries such as those on Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge.
The variety of birdlife within the Low-Country is enhanced by its location on the Atlantic flyway. During
the winter months, thousands of mallards, pintails, teal and as many as ten other species of ducks migrate
into the area, joining resident wood ducks on the coastal refuges. In the spring and fall transient
songbirds and shore birds stop briefly on their journey to and from northern nesting grounds. Among
these casual visitors are the diminutive warblers (magnolia, prairie, blackpoll...) and sandpipers (buff-
breasted, white-rumped, pectoral...). Many migrant songbirds and shorebirds terminate their southern
journey and spend the winter. The hermit thrush, ruby-crowned kinglet, yellow-rumped warbler, black-
bellied plover, and sanderling, are a few of the winter residents.
In the heat of the humid summer months, the Low-Country's native flora ripens. The sweet magnolia
blossoms, symbolic of the deep South, are abundant and lush beards of Spanish moss thicken with every
rain. The live oak trees sport vibrant green manes of resurrection fern. Visions of the Old South when rice
was king in the Low-Country best comes to mind during these lazy summer months. The plantation
homes and the associated gracious manner of living are gone, but the vast rice fields which made them
possible live on. Though rice is no longer grown, the old fields have found new service as habitat for
waterfowl and wading birds. Northing remains of Laurel Hill Plantation which once stood at the present
main entrance to Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, but many of the dikes, originally built by slaves and
itinerant Irishmen, and modernized rice field trunks (water control structures) continue to serve in
management of the historic Low-Country's marshland.
Regulations
Questions regarding specific regulations for individual refuges should be directed to the Coastal office.
Here, in brief, are some general regulations:
Defacement, damage, or removal of any government structure, sign, or marker is prohibited.
Feeding, capturing or hunting wildlife is strictly prohibited unless otherwise authorized.
All of the refuge's historical, archaeological, and natural resources are protected. Antique and artifact hunting is not allowed. Do not pick flowers or remove vegetation.
Shell collectors are asked to take no live shells and to limit their collection to a handful or so.
Dogs, cats and other pets are not permitted.
This information provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
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