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Aransas
National Wildlife Refuge
P.O. Box 100
Austewell, TX   77950
E-mail:
Phone Number: 361-286-3559
Visit the Refuge's Web Site:
http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/texas/aransas/		 Aransas NWR is the wintering location for the last migrating population of whooping cranes.
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  Overview
Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
The bugle of an endangered whooping crane echoes across the far reaches of the marsh. Only at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge do North America's tallest birds find an enduring winter stronghold. Here, too, pelicans, herons, egrets, roseate spoonbills, ducks, and geese dine in brackish waters and salt marshes teeming with fishes, blue crabs, and clams. On shore, javelinas, bobcats and deer wander oak woodlands. Alligators peer from still waters of ponds and sloughs. Ringed by tidal marshes and broken by long, narrow sloughs, this 59,000-acres refuge sprawls mostly across the Blackjack penisula, where grasslands, live oaks, and redbay thickets cover deep sandy soils. Storms and waters of the Gulf of Mexico constantly reshape this vital refuge, home to over 390 different bird species.


Getting There . . .
From Rockport, TX, take Highway 35 north approximately 20 miles. Turn right on FM 774, go approximately 9 miles to FM 2040. Turn right and follow FM 2040 for about 7 miles to refuge entrance.

Get Google map and directions to this refuge/WMD from a specified address:

Your full starting address AND town and state OR zip code


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NOTE: When using this feature, you will be leaving the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service domain. We do not control the content or policies of the site you are about to visit. You should always check site policies before providing personal information or reusing content.

These driving directions are provided as a general guide only. No representation is made or warranty given as to their content, road conditions or route usability or expeditiousness. User assumes all risk of use.

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Wildlife and Habitat
Strong winds push the bay waters over low-lying brackish tidal marshes among the short, salt-tolerant vegetation. It is this habitat that attracts thousands of migratory birds.

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History
The name Aransas is centuries old, and can be found in the Spanish chronicles of the 1700s. The Refuge shares its name with the historic locations of Aransas Harbor and Aransas Pass. The area was within the heartland of the Karankawa Indians, a widely scattered population of nomadic people who fished, hunted, and gathered every available food resource that the region had to offer. Their middens of discarded shell fish and their campsites dot the landscape, but ther were no permanenent settlements here.

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    Note
Aransas NWR now featured on video DVD

"AMERICA'S WILDEST PLACES" – Volume 1
Photograph of grizzly bear on DVD cover. Experience eight National Wildlife Refuges from Alaska to the Caribbean on this new two hour DVD.

See wildlife up close and personal – from grizzly bear and whooping cranes to red wolves and bald eagles. For more information, click on the photograph of the DVD cover.




Recreation and Education Opportunities
Fishing
Hunting
Interpretation
Photography
Wildlife Observation
 Learn More >>

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Managment Activities

The refuge protects the grassland meadows from invading scrub species through controlled or prescribed burning. Fire, while often considered destructive, can be used as a management tool to rid areas of invasive species and rejuvenate grasslands.