District of Assateague Island extends from the Maryland state line south to the Chincoteague Inlet. This area of the island is designated as the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and is managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). However, the National Park Service operates with a recreational beach, lifeguarded area and visitor center within a one-mile parking and visitor use section. This collaboration between the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service is defined in an agreement or Memorandum of Understanding.The Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on the southern end of Assateague Island should not be confused with Chincoteague Island, the neighboring island to the west with a residential community on it. One must drive through Chincoteague Island in order to reach the Virginia District. Geology and hydrology Assateague Island is part of a chain of barrier islands that extend from Maine to Texas. The island is built from sand moving south via longshore drift building the island's length. The source of the sand is erosion and run-off from the Appalachian Mountains. The island is moving westward as a result of natural barrier processes during storms. Water washes over the island, sending beach sand backward toward the bay. This barrier island “rollover” is accelerated as the climate changes and the sea level rises. This condition is most pronounced at the northern end of the island, where Ocean City's jetties have stabilized the islands north of the Ocean City Inlet and have starved Assateague of new sand. As a result, Assateague's beach is shifted several hundred meters westwards compared to Ocean City's. The inlet was formed during the 1933 Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane, separating Fenwick and Assateague islands, and a jetty was immediately constructed to stabilize the inlet. After severe nor'easters in 1998, a sand replenishment program was undertaken to restore a sand supply to the north end of Assateague and to ensure a continuing supply. History Before the national seashore was created in 1965, the island was going to be turned into a private resort community called Ocean Beach, Maryland. Some 5,000 private lots comprising what is now NPS property were zoned and sold for resort development in the 1950s. However, the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 halted the plans for development. The nor'easter destroyed the few existing structures on the island that had been built and ripped the roads apart. Realizing that the island was too unstable to