Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1938 as a wintering area for ducks, geese and other migratory birds. This 35,000 acre refuge attracts thousands of wintering waterfowl each year along with thousands of sandhill cranes. The refuge is comprised of diverse habitat types including bottomland hardwoods, wetlands, pine uplands, shoreline or riparian woodlands, agricultural fields, and
back water embayments. These habitats provide excellent feeding, resting, and roosting sites for wintering waterfowl and cranes, as well as nesting sites for migratory songbirds and many species of resident wildlife. The Wheeler NWR Complex is comprised of seven refuges spread across 12,500 square miles of northern Alabama. They include Sauta Cave NWR near Scottsboro, established in 1978 and formerly known as Blowing Wind Cave. Key Cave NWR near Florence was established in 1997. The other three refuges, Watercress Darter (1980) near Bessemer; Cahaba River (2002) near Brent and Mountain Longleaf (2003) near Anniston are directly managed from the Mountain Longleaf NWR.
