Table of Contents
GENERAL USAGE
GUIDELINES
Refuge visitors are welcome
to enjoy a wide range of wildlife-dependent activities here. The Refuge
headquarters is located at
24 Kimbles Beach Road
in Cape May
Court House and is open weekdays from 8 am – 4:30 pm.
The Refuge is open daily from dawn to dusk.
Pets must be on a short hand-held
leash. Pets are prohibited on the Two
Mile Beach Unit.
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PROHIBITED
ACTIVITIES
- Use of motorized and nonmotorized vehicles, including ATV’s and dirt
bikes.
- Disturbing, injuring, destroying, collecting
of plants, wildlife or other natural objects.
- Picking fruits or flowers.
- Feeding wildlife.
- Entering closed areas.
- Camping, swimming, kite flying, fires.
- Horses.
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WILDLIFE OBSERVATION
Existing foot trails through
the Refuge's varied habitats provide excellent opportunities for bird watching,
photography and environmental education. (In
fact
Cape May
Peninsula
has been described as one of the ten top birding spots in
North
America
!) There are four maintained trails on the Refuge, two
trails in the Delaware Bay Division),
one at the Two Mile Beach Unit and one in the Great Cedar Swamp Division. (All
require Adobe Acrobat Reader).
Songbird Trail - This 0.4-mile-long trail begins at the Headquarters Office off of
KimblesBeach Road
This trail is a wheelchair accessible trail
that begins in the parking lot, extends to the edge of shrub/scrub habitat,
winds through a forest segment with vernal pools and ends along
Kimbles Beach Road
Often seen on this trail are American
kestrels, bluebirds, and box turtles. Frogs regularly call from the vernal
pools.
Woodcock Trail - About 0.4 miles south of
Kimbles Beach Road
off of
Route 47 is a residential road called Woodcock
Lane.At the end of this road is a
parking area for access to Woodcock Trail.This trail is a one-mile-long loop through grassland habitat. There are also side trails of 0.4 miles that
extend through a forested section and end at a view of the
Delaware
Bay
salt marsh. Often seen
here are great crested flycatchers, blue grosbeaks, a variety of sparrows, spotted
turtles, and frogs.
Dune Trail - The Two Mile Beach Unit offers a 0.9
mile trail (1.8 mile round trip) which begins at the north boundary of the
Refuge next to
Diamond Beach
and ends at the
south boundary next to the US Coast Guard: Loran Support Unit. The trail traverses behind the beach
dunes that host rare maritime forest habitat. Migrant songbirds are plentiful
in spring and fall, as well as butterflies and dragonflies. This trail offers two access points midway
through the trail, one off of
Loran
Drive
across from the first parking lot, on the
right, and another access point from the second parking lot, on the left. The second access point also offers
disabled-accessible parking next to a boardwalk which leads to an observation
platform overlooking the beachfront. (Please note: Access to the beach is prohibited April 1 to September 30
each year. The trail, however, is open throughout the year).
Cedar Swamp Trail - This one-mile long trail is located on Tyler Road, which is located north of Route
50 and south of Route 631. This trail
leads through a grassland and a mixed pine/hardwood forested swamp.Look and listen for songbirds in the red
maple and Atlantic white cedar trees and owls roosting in the trees.
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GENERAL
HUNTING GUIDELINES
Seasonal deer hunting and
migratory game bird hunting are allowed in designated areas of the Refuge under
State and Federal regulation. As well as following State regulations, see this page for Refuge regulations.Please contact Refuge headquarters for
additional information. For Delaware Bay
Division hunting map, click here.For Great Cedar Swamp Division hunting map, click here. (All maps required Adobe Acrobat
Reader).
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ACCESS TO TWO
MILE BEACH UNIT
The
Two Mile Beach Unit (TMBU) is located in
Lower Township
south of Wildwood Crest. It is accessed off of
Ocean Drive
by
Loran Drive
. TMBU was transferred to the
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service from the U.S. Coast Guard in 1999. As part of
Cape May National Wildlife Refuge, the 507-acre site is managed to protect one
of the last remaining tracts of undeveloped maritime forest and beach in
New Jersey
.
The hiking trail and boardwalk area are open throughout the year. The 0.7-mile-long beach
portion of TMBU is closed April 1 to September 30 each year. The purpose of the
closure is to provide an undisturbed area for birds that require beach habitat
to survive. This includes birds that nest, feed, roost or migrate through the
area, such as the Federally threatened piping plover , the State endangered least tern, American
oystercatcher, black skimmer, red knot, dunlin, and many other shorebird
species.
Between
October 1 and March 31 activities such as wildlife observation, photography,
nature study, and surf fishing are permitted on the beach portion of TMBU. The
following activities are PROHIBITED at all times on any portion of the Two Mile
Beach Unit: swimming, sunbathing, surfing, pets, picnicking, kite flying, shell
collecting or entering closed areas.
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