National Wildlife Refuge · FWS · LA · Roosevelt connection
Shell Keys 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.
- August 17, 1907: as President, Theodore Roosevelt set aside Shell Keys Reservation (federal bird reservation). Tiny shell islands in the Gulf south of Marsh Island, among the smallest refuges in the system.
archive.org · standardebooks.org · fws.gov · Roosevelt’s Public Lands
His proclamations and orders
- August 17, 1907: Executive Order 682, “Establishing Shell Keys Reservation as Reserve and Breeding Ground for Birds.” Today’s site began with this document. Eight acres in Iberia Parish, reached by boat, administered from the Southwest Louisiana refuge complex.
Executive Order 682 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
- Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuge FWS · 32 miles
- Mandalay National Wildlife Refuge FWS · 64 miles
- Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge FWS · 73 miles
- Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge FWS · 73 miles
- Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge FWS · 87 miles
- Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge FWS · 97 miles