Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, National wildlife refuge in Pacific County, United States.
Willapa National Wildlife Refuge is a protected area on the coast of Washington State, made up of several separate sections around Willapa Bay and the Long Beach Peninsula. These sections cover tidelands, ocean beaches, streams, and patches of old-growth coastal forest.
The refuge was established in 1937 to protect habitat for migratory birds at a time when many coastal wetlands along the Pacific were being lost. Over the following decades, it grew to include more forest and shoreline sections.
The refuge sits along the Pacific Flyway, one of the main bird migration routes on the continent, so the wildlife you see changes completely depending on the season. Many visitors return several times a year to follow this rhythm.
The refuge is split into several separate sections that are not connected to each other, so you need to drive between them if you want to visit more than one. A visitor contact station near Willapa Bay is a good starting point for orientation.
Ledbetter Point, one of the refuge sections, has a small stand of shore pine growing on a sand spit, which is a very rare type of coastal habitat on the Pacific coast of the United States. This spot is also one of the few places on the coast where you can walk from tideflats to ocean beach in just a short distance.
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