Raising the Visitor Center—Literally—at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge

By Mike Bryant, Regional Representative North Caroline and South Carolina, National Wildlife Refuge Association and Coastal Wildlife Refuge Society, NC

In 1938 Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge was established by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s executive order as a refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife. In the same year, a presidential proclamation closed a 25,700-acre area encompassing the refuge and a portion of the Pamlico Sound adjacent to the refuge to migratory bird hunting. These were bold and visionary conservation actions in response to the loss of waterfowl habitat and the decline of waterfowl populations. 

Each fall tens of thousands of waterfowl have arrived at this refuge depending on the refuge’s 3 managed shallow water impoundments and the closed area in the sound for food and rest. Over the years refuge staff and visitors have witnessed the changes in the landforms and the wildlife populations, and the response has always been to step up and adapt to the mission of protecting, managing, and enhancing the refuge resources, whether it’s threatened sea turtles’ and piping plovers’ nests or the ever-present development pressures associated with other agencies’ requirements to maintain a navigation channel through Oregon Inlet and a transportation corridor through the refuge. The new, additional challenge is the accelerating rate of change in shoreline, recognized as being caused by climate-change-driven sea-level rise and more frequent and intense storms.  

One of the most innovative responses to the needs on this refuge is the establishment of a Friends organization to support the refuge. Our group, the Coastal Wildlife Refuge Society, began in 1989 to promote public appreciation of and support for this and the other refuges in eastern North Carolina. The Pea Island NWR visitor center and gift shop facility is one of many tangible ways that we support the refuge. The Society built and donated the building in 1995, and over the years it has made additions and improvements, the most recent of which was to “raise the visitor center,” an interim resiliency project in response to more frequent overwash from the ocean. This was a truly collaborative project involving Friends, donors, and the labor of a contractor, refuge staff, and volunteers.

The Society raised more than $30,000 to lift the building onto pilings. We also provided volunteer labor to help with the work. Funding included a gift from a supporter of refuges in the Southeast, memorial gifts in the names of long-time refuge supporters, and contributions from Society members and many others. Since the visitor center and gift shop reopened in June 2021, we’ve served 23,000 visitors and made $100,000 in sales. Proceeds go to supporting the refuge and enhancing visitor infrastructure. And of course, we see the need for a long-term sustainable response that will allow us to continue serving the visiting public and introducing visitors to the incredible concentration of wintering waterfowl, other migratory birds and wildlife, and their habitats along with the beautiful, dynamic landscape. 

We’re here to help people understand this refuge’s value to all people. Thousands of people love this refuge. A visit here in the late fall and winter, when there are 20,000 – 30,000 wintering waterfowl on the impoundments, or at any time of the year, especially at dawn when the sun is rising above the ocean or at dusk when it’s setting in the Pamlico Sound, is awe-inspiring. When I visit, I can feel “a peace that passes all understanding,” and so can you.