About the Refuge

The old fields, woods, streams, and wetlands found in the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum had been, as recently as 1960, targeted for industrial expansion. Those plans were changed in 1972 when in response to intensive grassroots efforts by local citizens, Congress passed legislation which put the future of these lands into the hands of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; these 1,200 acres would become a National Wildlife Refuge, and this refuge would become the nation's very first National Environmental Center.

When Congress established it, they set three mandates by which the refuge should be managed: