The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is an agency of the United States Federal Government within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people."
Hyde County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 5,810, making it the second-least populous county in North Carolina. Its county seat is Swan Quarter. The county was created in 1705 as Wickham Precinct. It was renamed Hyde Precinct in 1712 and gained county status in 1739.
The protected areas of the United States are managed by an array of different federal, state, tribal and local level authorities and receive widely varying levels of protection. Some areas are managed as wilderness, while others are operated with acceptable commercial exploitation. As of 2020, the 36,283 protected areas covered 1,118,917 km2 (432,016 sq mi), or 12 percent of the land area of the United States. This is also one-tenth of the protected land area of the world. The U.S. also had a total of 787 National Marine Protected Areas, covering an additional 3,210,908 km2 (1,239,739 sq mi), or 37 percent of the total marine area of the United States.
Swan Quarter is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hyde County, North Carolina, United States. It is the Hyde county seat. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 324.
The Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge of the United States in northern California near the Oregon border. It covers 39,116 acres in the Tule Lake basin. It is part of the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex, and is a crucial part of the Pacific Flyway corridor for migratory birds.
Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge is a remote refuge located in the high altitude of the Centennial Valley, in the southwestern region of the U.S. state of Montana. Adjacent to Gallatin National Forest and near Yellowstone National Park, the refuge is an integral part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Red Rock Lakes is best known for being the primary location for the efforts saving the trumpeter swan from extinction, which by 1932 had fewer than 200 known specimens in the United States and Canada. By the year 2002, an estimated 3,000 trumpeters were wintering on the refuge, many having migrated south from their summer range in Canada. The trumpeters are now so plentiful that efforts are being undertaken to help them reestablish historical migratory routes to areas further south in the Rocky Mountains and the Great Basin region. The elegant trumpeter swan is North America's largest waterfowl, with a wingspans of 8 feet and they can weigh up to 30 pounds (13 kg).
Lake Mattamuskeet is the largest natural lake in North Carolina. It is a shallow coastal lake, averaging 2–3 ft feet in depth, and stretches 18 miles (29 km) long and 7 miles (11 km) wide. Lake Mattamuskeet lies on the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula.
The Plum Island Range Lights are a pair of range lights located on Plum Island in Door County, Wisconsin. They were part of the Plum Island United States Life-Saving Station. Plum Island was transferred to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 2007 and became part of the Green Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The life-saving station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. Plum Island is closed to the public to protect ground nesting migratory birds.
Santee National Wildlife Refuge is a 15,000-acre (61 km2) refuge alongside Lake Marion, an impoundment of the Santee River of Clarendon County, South Carolina. The refuge is especially important because its many wetlands support migratory birds. The refuge also contains the Santee Native American mound, which is the farthest eastern known representation of the Mississippian culture. Later built upon this same mound was the Revolutionary British Fort Watson, which was taken by Marion's Brigade in April 1781. The site has been an important site of archeological investigations.
The Whitefish Point Light is a lighthouse located in Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located on the southeastern shores of Lake Superior, it sits at the edge of Whitefish Point leading to Whitefish Bay. Constructed in 1849, it is the oldest operating lighthouse in the Upper Peninsula. All vessels entering or exiting Lake Superior pass near Whitefish Point. The area is infamously known as the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes" due to the high number of shipwrecks in the area, most famously the SS Edmund Fitzgerald.
Fairfield is a census-designated place (CDP) and unincorporated community in Hyde County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 258.
Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge is a 50,000-acre (202 km2) wildlife refuge operated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in southeast Indiana, United States near Madison, Indiana. The refuge is the largest of Indiana's three National Wildlife Refuges, and is located in parts of Ripley, Jefferson, and Jennings counties.
The Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge is located in North Carolina's Inner Banks on the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula in Hyde, Tyrrell, and Washington Counties, North Carolina. Its headquarters is located in Columbia.
Engelhard is a census-designated place (CDP) and fishing community in Lake Landing Township on the mainland of Hyde County, North Carolina, United States. It has access to Pamlico Sound. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 445.
The Swanquarter National Wildlife Refuge is located in Hyde County, North Carolina near the village of Swan Quarter. The area is a federally protected land and home to many species of wildlife and waterfowl. The refuge is administered from the nearby Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge has a total area of 16,411 acres (66.41 km2).
Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge of the United States located in southeastern Idaho. It has the largest hardstem bulrush marsh in North America. Located in a high mountain valley near Soda Springs, the refuge and surrounding mountains offer scenic vistas, wildflowers, and fall foliage displays. Lands adjacent to the 19,400-acre (79 km2) refuge are primarily wet meadows and grasslands. The refuge provides breeding habitat for species of mammals including moose, elk, mule deer, muskrat, badger, and weasel.
The Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge is a newly established United States national wildlife refuge that will include noncontiguous properties, especially tallgrass prairie patches, wetland properties, and oak savanna parcels, located in the northwestern region of the Chicago metropolitan area and the southern part of the Milwaukee area. The refuge's boundaries encompass parts of McHenry County, Illinois, and Walworth County, Wisconsin. The refuge will be operated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, known as USFWS. 85 percent of the refuge will be in Illinois, and 15 percent in Wisconsin.
Lake Mattamuskeet Pump Station, also known as Mattamuskeet Lodge, is a historic pumping station building located on Lake Mattamuskeet at the Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge near Swan Quarter, Hyde County, North Carolina. It was built in 1911, and is a three-story 14,977 square foot brick building. In 1934, it was remodeled as headquarters building and hotel accommodation for visitors after acquisition of Lake Mattamuskeet by the U. S. Government. The building contains 38 rooms and is connected to a 120-foot-high tower with stairway.
The protected areas of North Carolina cover roughly 3.8 million acres, making up 11% of the total land in the state. 86.5% of this protected land is publicly owned and is managed by different federal and state level authorities and receive varying levels of protection. Some areas are managed as wilderness while others are operated with acceptable commercial exploitation. The remainder of the land is privately owned, but willingly entered into conservation easement management agreements, or are owned by various nonprofit conservation groups such as the National Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy. North Carolina contains 1 National Park, and various other federally owned protected land including 2 National Seashores, 5 National Forests, 12 Wildlife Refuges, and the southern half of the Blue Ridge Parkway. North Carolina has an extensive system of 41 state parks, 34 of which are state parks, 4 that are recreation areas, and 3 staffed state natural areas, along with other designated units managed by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
