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About the Refuge

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Welcome!

Plum Tree Island National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is one of four refuges that comprise the Eastern Virginia Rivers National Wildlife Refuge Complex.  The refuge is situated on the southwestern corner of the Chesapeake Bay in the City of Poquoson and is strategically located almost midpoint on the Atlantic Flyway.  It consists of 3,502 acres of saltmarsh, shrub-scrub and wooded habitats that provide a haven for waterfowl, marsh-birds, and shorebirds.

Previously owned by the U.S. Department of Defense, the area was used as a bombing range.  Much of the area remains dotted with unexploded ordnance.  Due to the unexploded ordnance hazard, Plum Tree Island Refuge is closed to the public for all purposes except permitted waterfowl hunting on the 200 acre Cow Island portion of the refuge.  Cow Island is adjacent to the main tract of the refuge and was never used as a bombing range.

History

Due to its isolation, the area that is now the refuge was historically used for stock grazing, hunting, and fishing.  It was acquired by the Federal Government for an Aviation Experimental Station in 1917.  Air Force records indicate that the area was used as a gunnery and bombing practice range until the latter part of the 1950's.  On April 24, 1972, the area was transferred to the Department of the Interior.  Attempts to clear the military munitions from the property have only been partially successful, largely due to the nature of the fragile wetlands.  Disruption of wetland soils cause the soils to become vulnerable to invasive species germination, thus making removal of subsurface ordnances biologically impractical and contrary to the refuge's primary objectives.

In the past, NASA has also used the area as a free flight zone for testing model aircraft.  It remains an emergency jettison zone for the Air Force.

In 2003 Eastern Virginia Rivers National Wildlife Refuge Complex began administering the Plum Tree National Wildlife Refuge.  Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach had previously managed it as an unstaffed satellite.

National priorities such as funding military operations overseas, homeland security, and hurricane relief have resulted in declining federal discretionary funding for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other Department of the Interior agencies. This decline is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, and the Service must make financial and human resource changes to manage effectively in this situation. Due to declining budgets and increased operating costs, the Service has designated numerous refuges as unstaffed satellite refuges. Three units of the Eastern Virginia Rivers NWR Complex, James River, Plum Tree Island, and Presquile national wildlife refuges, have been designated as unstaffed satellites and are being managed from the Complex headquarters in Warsaw, Virginia.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Eastern Virginia Rivers NWR Complex
P.O. Box 1030
Warsaw, VA 22572

Office: (804) 333-1470
Fax: (804) 333-3396
E-mail: Plum Tree Island National Wildlife Refuge