wildlife refuge

In the USA, a tract of land, body of water, or combination of both, set aside for the preservation of wild animals. The aims of the refuge system are to maintain fish and game stocks, protect endangered species, and preserve migration sites. The refuges are extensively used for research into all aspects of natural habitat conservation. Some sport fishing and game hunting is also allowed in the refuges under strictly controlled conditions. A similar system operates in Canada, where refuges are known as wildlife preserves.

The first National Wildlife Refuge in the USA was established in 1903 on Pelican Island, Florida. Nowadays, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, a bureau of the Department of the Interior, manages some 460 National Wildlife Refuges and 150 Waterfowl Production Areas, which together cover over 360,000 sq km/140,000 sq mi. (Commercial fisheries are administered by the Department of Commerce.) In addition, it is responsible for 130 research facilities and National Fish Hatcheries. There are also state wildlife refuge systems, some dating back to the 1870s, plus private systems such as that of the Nature Conservancy. In Canada, the first bird sanctuary in North America was created at Last Mount, Saskatchewan, in 1887. A plains bison preserve at Wainwright, Alberta (1907), preceded the founding, in 1922, of Wood Buffalo National Park, generally regarded as the world's largest wildlife refuge. The Canadian Wildlife Service has built a growing network of National Wildlife Areas (the first was set up in 1986 at Polar Bear Pass, on Bathurst Island in the Northwest Territories). International wildlife refuge systems were pioneered in 1986 by the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, a joint initiative by the USA and Canada to foster duck breeding.