National Wildlife Refuge · FWS · LA · Roosevelt connection
Breton National Wildlife Refuge
Alerts and conditions
All clear. The managing agency, the National Weather Service and wildfire reporting show no current alerts.
History
The designation history for this site (every law, proclamation and order, and the administration behind each) is being researched and checked by the Library’s historians.
The Roosevelt connection
Protected by T.R.
- October 4, 1904: as President, Theodore Roosevelt set aside Breton Island Reservation (federal bird reservation). Barrier islands off the Mississippi delta where terns and pelicans nest; Roosevelt came to see it for himself in 1915.
archive.org · standardebooks.org · fws.gov · presidency.ucsb.edu · Roosevelt’s Public Lands
His proclamations and orders
- October 4, 1904: Unnumbered order (Lord no. 98), “Breton Island Reservation, St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes, La., established as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds..” Today’s site began with this document. Second-oldest refuge in the system; 1,100 acres in St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes per the FWS fact sheet.
Unnumbered order (Lord no. 98) in Theodore Roosevelt’s Executive Orders and Proclamations - November 11, 1905: Executive Order 369-A, “Establishing Breton Island Reservation, Louisiana.” Today’s site includes land from this document. The islands it covered remain part of the refuge.
Executive Order 369-A in Theodore Roosevelt’s Executive Orders and Proclamations
What to see and do
Plan your visit
Check the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for current hours, fees and access.
Whose lands these are
These lands are the ancestral and present-day homelands of Native nations. A section on whose lands these are is being prepared with tribal review. In the meantime, Native Land Digital offers a starting point.
Pair it with
- Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge FWS · 39 miles
- Grand Bay National Wildlife Refuge FWS · 43 miles
- Delta National Wildlife Refuge FWS · 51 miles
- Bayou Sauvage Urban National Wildlife Refuge FWS · 62 miles
- Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge FWS · 69 miles
- Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge FWS · 69 miles