President Roosevelt established the Refuge in 1936 through Executive Order 7509:

For more than 20 years, the Refuge has been managed by a resource management plan as part of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Record of Decision (ROD) signed in April of 1986.  Currently the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is going through the process of upgrading the 1986 EIS and ROD with a new Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP)(See Planning webpage) that will manage the Refuge for the next 15 years.  In conjunction with the CCP, the Service is completing another EIS as well.  Through all the Refuge's challenges such as fluctuation in available funding, remote location, and litigation, it has and will continue to manage the lands for its outstanding wildlife and habitat values.