The James River National Wildlife Refuge is a

National Wildlife Refuge National Wildlife Refuge System is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the system of public lands and waters set aside to c ...

located along the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

in eastern

Prince George County, Virginia Prince George County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 43,010. Its county seat is Prince George. Prince George County is located within the Greater Richmond Region of the U.S. stat ...

. Its management is overseen by the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

. One of four refuges that comprise the

Eastern Virginia Rivers National Wildlife Refuge Complex The Eastern Virginia Rivers National Wildlife Refuge Complex is a complex of four National Wildlife Refuges in Virginia whose management is overseen by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The four refuges are: *James River National Wildl ...

, James River National Wildlife Refuge was founded in 1991 to protect

nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materia ...

ing and

roost Roost may refer to: Animal resting * Roosting, resting behavior of birds * Communal roosting, a behavior of some birds and other animals * Monarch butterfly roosts, communal resting sites in monarch butterfly migration * Bat roost, a list of pla ...

ing habitat of the

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

from development. The refuge's of forest and

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s are bordered by Powell Creek to the west, and by

Flowerdew Hundred Plantation Flowerdew Hundred Plantation dates to 1618/19 with the patent by Sir George Yeardley, the Governor and Captain General of Virginia, of on the south side of the James River. Yeardley probably named the plantation after his wife's wealthy father, ...

to the east. The land that is now the refuge was the site of Powellbrooke Plantation, whose owner Captain Nathaniel Powell (one of the original 1607 colonists), his wife, and ten others were killed during the

Indian Massacre of 1622 The Indian massacre of 1622, popularly known as the Jamestown massacre, took place in the English Colony of Virginia, in what is now the United States, on 22 March 1622. John Smith, though he had not been in Virginia since 1609 and was not an ey ...

, and later

Merchant's Hope Merchant's Hope was the name of a plantation and church established in the Virginia Colony in the 17th century. It was also the name of an English sailing ship, ''Merchant's Hope'', which plied the Atlantic bringing emigrants to Virginia in the ea ...

Plantation during colonial times.

References

External links

James River National Wildlife Refuge
* National Wildlife Refuges in Virginia Protected areas of Prince George County, Virginia Protected areas established in 1991 1991 establishments in Virginia Wetlands of Virginia Landforms of Prince George County, Virginia {{PrinceGeorgeCountyVA-geo-stub