Living in a big city doesn’t mean you don’t have access to the wild outdoors. The National Wildlife Refuge System, an initiative within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, manages 567 national wildlife refuges, including 101 urban national wildlife refuges located within 25 miles of cities housing populations over 250,000—serving the 80 percent of Americans who live in and around metro areas. We’re talking about massive plots of lands, immense networks of trails, and thriving biospheres of animals and plants in 36 states, all within an hour of places like Detroit or Birmingham, Alabama.
7 National Wildlife Refuges Just Outside Major Cities