Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge
Encyclopedia
The Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge is a 35,000 acre (142 km2) National Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuge is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the world's premiere system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife and plants...
located along the Tennessee River
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
near Decatur, Alabama
Decatur, Alabama
Decatur is a city in Limestone and Morgan Counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. The city, affectionately known as "The River City", is located in Northern Alabama on the banks of Wheeler Lake, along the Tennessee River. It is the largest city and county seat of Morgan County...
. Named after Major General
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
Joseph Wheeler
Joseph Wheeler
Joseph Wheeler was an American military commander and politician. He has the rare distinction of serving as a general during war time for two opposing forces: first as a noted cavalry general in the Confederate States Army in the 1860s during the American Civil War, and later as a general in the...
, it was established to provide a habitat for wintering and migrating birds in the eastern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Of the 35,000 acres (142 km2) of the refuge, about 4,085 acres (16.5 km2) are located within Redstone Arsenal
Redstone Arsenal
Redstone Arsenal is a United States Army base and a census-designated place adjacent to Huntsville in Madison County, Alabama, United States and is part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area...
. Approximately 1,500 acres (6 km2) of the Redstone Arsenal land is administered by the Marshall Space Flight Center
Marshall Space Flight Center
The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center is the U.S. government's civilian rocketry and spacecraft propulsion research center. The largest center of NASA, MSFC's first mission was developing the Saturn launch vehicles for the Apollo moon program...
. The facility has a sixteen person staff with a $1,694,000 annual budget.
Wheeler NWR is charged with the administration of four other National Wildlife Refuges including Fern Cave
Fern Cave National Wildlife Refuge
Fern Cave National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located in northeastern Alabama, near Paint Rock, Alabama in Jackson County....
, Key Cave
Key Cave National Wildlife Refuge
Key Cave National Wildlife Refuge is a 1,060 acre National Wildlife Refuge located in northwestern Alabama, along the Tennessee River downstream from Florence, Alabama. Additional purchases are under negotiation which will increase the size of the refuge to 1,800 acres .More than 6,000 visitors...
, Sauta Cave
Sauta Cave National Wildlife Refuge
Sauta Cave National Wildlife Refuge is a 264 acre National Wildlife Refuge located in northeastern Alabama, near the Sauty Creek embayment of Guntersville Lake....
, and the Watercress Darter National Wildlife Refuge
Watercress Darter National Wildlife Refuge
Watercress Darter National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located in Jefferson County, Alabama, within the city limits of Bessemer. Watercress Darter NWR consists of a pond known as Thomas Spring which is essential to the survival of the endangered watercress darter. A second pond...
. Until recently, Wheeler NWR also administered the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge
Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge
The Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge is a 3,577 acre National Wildlife Refuge located in central Alabama, along the Cahaba River downstream from Birmingham, Alabama. The refuge was established on September 25, 2002. Additional purchases were approved that will potentially increase the size of...
(now administered by the Mountain Longleaf National Wildlife Refuge
Mountain Longleaf National Wildlife Refuge
Mountain Longleaf National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located in eastern Alabama, near Anniston, Alabama on the former site of Fort McClellan...
).
History
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
began purchasing land as a bed for and buffer strip for Wheeler Reservoir
Wheeler Lake
Wheeler Lake is located in the northern part of the United States state of Alabama, between Rogersville and Huntsville. Created by Wheeler Dam along the Tennessee River, it stretches 60 miles from Wheeler Dam to Guntersville Dam...
. By 1936, the Tennessee River was impounded for flood control with the nearby Wheeler Dam providing hydroelectric power.
In 1938, the Refuge was established by Executive Order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
and became the first National Wildlife Refuge to be overlain on a multi-purpose reservoir. TVA impounded shallow backwater areas of the reservoir to control the mosquito
Mosquito
Mosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly...
population. By pumping these areas dry in the spring and summer, the mosquito breeding habitat was eliminated.
These impounded areas also produced natural waterfowl foods such as wild millet
Millet
The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...
, smartweed, sedge
Cyperaceae
Cyperaceae are a family of monocotyledonous graminoid flowering plants known as sedges, which superficially resemble grasses or rushes. The family is large, with some 5,500 species described in about 109 genera. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group...
s, and other seed bearing grasses that attracted waterfowl when the area was re-flooded in the winter. This food source allows the Refuge to be the home of Alabama's largest duck population as well as its only significant concentration of wintering Canada geese.
Redstone Arsenal
Redstone Arsenal is a United States Army base and a census-designated place adjacent to Huntsville in Madison County, Alabama, United States and is part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area...
boundary. Currently, about 1,500 acres (6 km2) of the 4,085 acres (16.5 km2) is administered by NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's Marshall Space Flight Center
Marshall Space Flight Center
The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center is the U.S. government's civilian rocketry and spacecraft propulsion research center. The largest center of NASA, MSFC's first mission was developing the Saturn launch vehicles for the Apollo moon program...
.
Topography
Located along the Tennessee River, the refuge provides a mix of bottomlandUpland and lowland (freshwater ecology)
In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland and lowland.-Definitions:Upland habitats are cold, clear, rocky, fast flowing rivers in mountainous areas; lowland habitats are warm, slow flowing rivers found in relatively flat lowland areas, with water that is...
hardwoods, mixed hardwood and pine uplands
Upland and lowland (freshwater ecology)
In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland and lowland.-Definitions:Upland habitats are cold, clear, rocky, fast flowing rivers in mountainous areas; lowland habitats are warm, slow flowing rivers found in relatively flat lowland areas, with water that is...
, shallow water embayments, and agricultural fields. Of the Refuge's 35,000 acres (142 km2), there are 19,000 acres (77 km2) of land and 16,000 acres (65 km2) of water. The area consists of some 10,000 acres (40 km2) of forested wetlands and upland hardwoods, with main species consisting of red and white oak
White oak
Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the pre-eminent hardwoods of eastern North America. It is a long-lived oak of the Fagaceae family, native to eastern North America and found from southern Quebec west to eastern Minnesota and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas. Specimens have been...
s, hickories
Hickory
Trees in the genus Carya are commonly known as hickory, derived from the Powhatan language of Virginia. The genus includes 17–19 species of deciduous trees with pinnately compound leaves and big nuts...
, poplar
Poplar
Populus is a genus of 25–35 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar , aspen, and cottonwood....
, ash
Ash tree
Fraxinus is a genus flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45-65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The tree's common English name, ash, goes back to the Old English æsc, while the generic name...
, and tupelo
Tupelo
The tupelo , black gum, or pepperidge tree, genus Nyssa , is a small genus of about 9 to 11 species of trees with alternate, simple leaves...
; 3,000 acres (12 km2) of pine plantations, much of this subjected to sanitation cuts in the mid-1990s due to Ips beetle and pine beetle infestations; and 4,000 to 5,000 acres (16 to 20 km2) of farmland, with the remainder including open shelves, rocket test ranges, and other areas. This mix of habitat provides for a wealth of wildlife diversity on the refuge.
Wildlife and protected species
Wheeler NWR has supported up to 60,000 geese and 100,000 duckDuck
Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
s, although recently these levels have declined to approximately 30,000 geese and 60,000 ducks. Since 1990, winter goose populations have dropped significantly due to many different factors; below 15,000 from 1990–1995 and about 2,500-5,500 in the last few years. Snow geese are now the most prominent component of the winter goose population, peaking near 1,500-3,200 in recent years.
In addition to migratory birds, the refuge hosts 115 species of fish, 74 species of reptiles and amphibians, 47 species of mammals, and 288 different species of songbirds. Some common mammals include squirrel
Squirrel
Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia...
s, raccoon
Raccoon
Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
s, opossums, rabbit
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
s, quail
Quail
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally considered in the order Galliformes. Old World quail are found in the family Phasianidae, while New World quail are found in the family Odontophoridae...
, and deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
. Approximately ten endangered species which live on the refuge.
Facilities
Hunting and fishing
Fishing is very popular at Wheeler NWR with an estimated 200,000 annual visitors. The Tennessee River provides excellent fishing opportunities for bassBass (fish)
Bass is a name shared by many different species of popular gamefish. The term encompasses both freshwater and marine species. All belong to the large order Perciformes, or perch-like fishes, and in fact the word bass comes from Middle English bars, meaning "perch."-Types of basses:*The temperate...
, sunfish
Centrarchidae
The sunfishes are a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes. The type genus is Centrarchus . The family's 27 species includes many fishes familiar to North Americans, including the rock bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, and crappies...
, crappie
Crappie
Crappie is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is P. annularis, the white crappie...
, sauger
Sauger
The sauger is a freshwater perciform fish of the family Percidae which resembles its close relative the walleye. They are members of the largest vertebrate order, Perciforms. They are the most migratory percid species in North America. Saugers obtain two dorsal fins, the first is spiny and the...
, and catfish
Catfish
Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...
. Public hunting is permitted on approximately 18,000 acres (73 km2).
Wildlife observation
The main visitor center provides an overlook of a waterfowl impoundment for birdwatching as well as the opportunity to see a red-tailed hawkRed-tailed Hawk
The Red-tailed Hawk is a bird of prey, one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk," though it rarely preys on standard sized chickens. It breeds throughout most of North America, from western Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West...
. Several other spotting scope stations are set up throughout the refuge. Additionally, the "Wildlife Observation Tower" is located on the north side of the Refuge and provides an elevated view of the Beaverdam peninsula, an area of the Refuge managed primarily for Canada geese.
Annual events
- March: Federal Junior Duck Stamp Contest.
- May: Youth Fishing Rodeo, FAWN Festival.
- Summer: Wheeler Day Camps.
- August: United Way’s Day of Caring Fishing Rodeo.
- October: Wet and Wild Festival, Southern Wildlife Festival.