San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge

Established in 1968, San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge is a diverse refuge that protects salt marsh and saltwater lakes, coastal prairies, freshwater lakes and marshes, intermittent streams, and riparian and bottomland forests. The refuge protects more than 70,000 acres from the Gulf beach to over 50 miles inland along the Brazos and San Bernard River floodplains.  Originally established for the protection of coastal wetlands for wintering waterfowl and migratory birds, the refuge expanded its focus in 1997 to conserve inland forests for migrating Nearctic-neotropical migrants and other migrant and resident wildlife. The refuge’s forest habitat serves as an entry point for neotropical migratory songbirds. Some are headed north to their summer breeding grounds, exhausted from their 600-mile crossing of the Gulf of America, while others are fall migrants flying south.  More than 320 species of birds call the refuge home for all or part of the year, making it a bird-watcher’s paradise. San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge and its companion refuges, Brazoria and Big Boggy, were designated an Internationally Significant Shorebird Site by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network.  While the refuge is managed for the benefit of wildlife, it is also here for you. San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge is a place for people to enjoy nature and the outdoors. Wildlife watching, photography, hunting, fishing, and environmental education programs are all available to the public.