Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge
  Visitor Services

Assateague Island National Seashore:

Assateague Island National Seashore encompasses the entire island and 
adjacent bay areas from the Ocean City, Maryland inlet to Fishing Point on Toms Cove Hook in Virginia. Three public agencies manage specific areas of the island. In Maryland, Assateague State Park (680 acres) is owned and managed by Maryland's Department of Natural Resources. Except for 418 acres of wetland in holdings owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service(FWS), the National Park Service (NPS) owns and manages the remaining Maryland portion of Assateague Island. Chincoteague Refuge, the Virginia portion of the seashore, is owned (with the exception of 448 acres of Park Service in holdings) and managed by FWS. 

On the Virginia side, the NPS assists the FWS in providing public use programs and recreation management in the refuge's Toms Cove area. NPS maintains beach parking, picnic, and bathhouse facilities. The NPS visitor center serves as their Virginia administrative base from which they conduct interpretive walks and evening programs. The NPS provides lifeguards, law enforcement, and first aid care during the summer beach season. 

On the Maryland side, the NPS manages beach facilities as well as picnic areas and campgrounds at North Beach. Canoe or hike-in campsites are scattered along the bayside. Off-road vehicles are allowed by permit on over 12 miles of designated trails between the Maryland/Virginia state line and the north tip of the island. 

The National Park Service offers a broad range of interpretive programs. The Seashore Visitor Center is also the NPS's administrative facility. It is located on the mainland next to the Verrazano Bridge that crosses Sinepuxent Bay to the Park and Seashore entrances.  For more information on the Assateague National Seashore, visit their website at 
www.nps.gov/asis/

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Herbert H. Bateman Center

Chincoteague National Wildlife refuge visitor contact station records up to 100,000 visits annually. That makes the refuge one of the top four highest visited refuges in the country. 

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Trails:

The refuge maintains several miles of trails for either hiking or biking. Major recreational activities include wildlife/wildland observation, photography, education, and sheer enjoyment of the outdoors. About half are paved while the rest are open to foot traffic only. 

The Wildlife Loop is a 3 1/4 mile loop around a moist soil management unit and is a great place to observe wildlife, especially waterfowl and wading birds. It is always open to walkers and bikers but vehicles are only permitted to drive on it from 3:00 P.M. till dusk. 

The Lighthouse Trail is a 1/4 mile foot path through the woods to the historic Assateague Lighthouse. It is for walking only. 

Swans Cove Trail which branches off of Wildlife Loop Trail is about 1 1/2 miles long and takes you to the beach. 

The 1 1/2 mile Woodland Trail takes hikers and bikers through a beautiful pine forest and leads to an overlook where you can sometimes see wild ponies. 

Black Duck Marsh Trail also branches off of Wildlife Trail. It is about 1 mile long and provides you with access to Woodland Trail. These two trails are only for walking and biking. Besides these trails foot access is permitted on the 7.5 mile service road. Access to the beach from this road is allowed. 

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Hunting& Fishing:

Hunting is sometimes needed to help manage wildlife. For example, deer can become so numerous that there is not enough food for all of them. Without hunting to reduce their numbers, many would starve or become sick. Hungry deer can also damage the natural habitat that provides them and other animals with food and cover. Too many deer can also cause auto accidents when they try to cross the highways to find food. Deer may also damage property by eating corn or fruit trees because their is not enough natural food for them to eat in the forest. Also, outbreaks of disease can occur when wild animals become too plentiful. For instance, raccoons and foxes are susceptible to rabies and distemper, which can be transmitted to cats, dogs, farm animals, and even people. Hunters have been the backbone of wildlife conservation programs in the United States. 

Hunting today is strictly regulated by State and Federal governments. Wildlife managers use hunting as a tool to help conserve and manage wildlife habitat. Hunting also provides billions of dollars annually to our economy and to supporting wildlife conservation practices. 

Although conducted for management purposes, the refuge conducts a white-tailed deer and sika hunt when needed to control the size of the herd. There are both archery and firearm hunts permitted at designated times, as well as a reserved hunt for handicap hunters during the first week of the sika elk firearm season. Waterfowl and rail hunting is permitted in some areas of the refuge on Thursdays, Fridays, an Saturdays of the Virginia waterfowl season. 

Fishing and shellfishing are also a popular activities. 

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Toms Cove Beach:

Toms cove beach is managed by the National Park Service(NPS), and is open year-round to walking, shell collecting, sun-bathing, birding, and many other recreational activities. The NPS maintains beach parking, picnic, and bathhouse facilities. Their visitor center serves as their Virginia administrative base from which they conduct interpretive walks and evening programs. The NPS provides lifeguards, law enforcement, and first aid care during the summer beach season. 

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Visitor Trends: 

Annual visitation figures, for Chincoteague NWR, have exhibited a sharp rise over the past twenty five years peaking in 1987 at 1,568,608. In 1987 the refuge had the third highest number of visits to any refuge in the country. 

In general, refuge visitors include a broad spectrum of people who travel from near and far to appreciate the wildlife and wildlands, or simply to enjoy loafing in a natural setting. More than half of the refuge's total annual visitation comes during summer vacation season. Sunny summer weekends draw city and suburb-dwelling professionals from the Washington D.C.-Baltimore area and urban centers on the Delmarva Peninsula to the beach. The annual pony roundup draws predictably large crowds. Avid birdwatchers from all parts of the world come to observe the richly diverse shorebird species that stop to rest and feed 
during their late summer southern migration. 

Although almost all summer visitors use the beach, surveys indicate people choose Assateague Island beaches because of the wildlife viewing and wildlands experiences offered by the refuge and national seashore. 

In autumn, passerine bird and waterfowl migrations draw visitors who enjoy the Wildlife Loop and walking trails with more comfort, as the bug season wanes. Autumn yields some of the year's best saltwater fishing opportunities; however, visitor use declines during the late fall as hunting season gets underway, and remains low during the winter, although this is a fine season to view the thousands of waterfowl that winter on the refuge's moist soil management units. Visitation picks up again in spring as people come to watch the spring migrations, nesting, and foaling, and as the fishing improves.

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Website designed and donated by Kathryn Schroer