Coronavirus (COVID-19) Notice
Although most refuge lands and outdoor spaces have remained open for the public to enjoy, we ask that you recreate responsibly.

  • Check alerts and local conditions on this website and call ahead for current information. Operations vary based on local public health conditions.
  • Consistent with CDC recommendations, all visitors (age 2 and older), who are fully vaccinated are required to wear a mask inside of federal buildings in areas of substantial or high community transmission.. All visitors who are not fully vaccinated must continue to wear masks indoors and in crowded outdoor spaces.
  • Most importantly, stay home if you feel sick and continue to watch for symptoms of COVID-19 and follow CDC guidance on how to protect yourself and others.


Features

Around the Refuge

Public Events

Interpretation

There are events for the whole family year-round at Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Check out our calendar for a list of upcoming events.

Events Calendar

Get Involved

Young volunteers on the refuge - USFWS.

There are many ways to get involved at Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, from helping out with Wild School Day to planting trees for our forest restoration projects. Visit our Get Involved page to learn more.

Get Involved

Visitor Activities

Kids Birding

There are activities year-round at Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge including wildlife viewing, cross-country skiing, hunting, photography and environmental education. Learn more on our Visitor Activities page.

Visitor Activities
Updates

Updates on the new multi-use facility

New Facility Picture Promo

The US Fish and Wildlife Service received funding in 2018 to build a new administrative facility at Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Tucker County, WV. The facility houses refuge staff as well as the staff of the West Virginia Field Office and the West Virginia Office of Law Enforcement. For updated information visit our website dedicated to this project.

Multi-use facility at Canaan Valley NWR website

History

Land of Canaan

Tracking an enormous black bear one morning in the mid 1700s, George Casey Harness came to a spot, “on the western slope of the Alleghenies which overlooked a wide, well-watered, wooded and grassy valley. The breathtaking beauty of the wild valley so impressed young Harness that he involuntarily cried out, ‘Behold! The Land of Canaan!’”* This story is but one of the ways that the valley may have gotten its name. *Quoted from Jack Preble’s book Land of Canaan, (1960, McClain Printing Company, p.1)

Refuge History

About the NWRS

National Wildlife Refuge System

NWRS Logo

The National Wildlife Refuge System, within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, manages a national network of lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife, and plants.

Learn more about the NWRS
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