Defenders' Experts
Wildlife Refuges and Global Warming
Global warming is the single greatest threat imperiling the National Wildlife Refuge system as a whole. Wholesale changes to ecosystems and habitats will reduce the Refuge System's ability to support wildlife and visitor programs.

Click on each of the orange dots on the map to learn how global warming will affect wildlife refuges and the animals that depend on them in different parts of the U.S.
Refuges and wildlife are threatened by:
- sea level rise resulting from melting polar ice and glaciers caused by climate change
- the drying up of prairie pothole ponds due to the effects of climate change.
Refuges in Alaska are on the front lines of global warming. Learn More
Learn More
- Read our in-depth report on refuges and global warming
- Solutions to the global warming problem
- How should the government protect wildlife refuges from global warming?
Read our in-depth comments focusing on global warming and the comprehensive conservation plans for the following refuges
|
|












