The Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge is a 35,000 acre (142 km2) National Wildlife Refuge located along the Tennessee River near Decatur, Alabama. Named after Major General Joseph Wheeler, it was established to provide a habitat for wintering and migrating birds in the eastern United States. Of the 35,000 acres (142 km2) of the refuge, about 4,085 acres (16.5 km2) are located within Redstone Arsenal. Approximately 1,500 acres (6 km2) of the Redstone Arsenal land is administered by the Marshall Space Flight Center. The facility has a sixteen-person staff with a $1,694,000 annual budget. Wheeler NWR is charged with the administration of four other National Wildlife Refuges including Fern Cave, Key Cave, Sauta Cave, and the Watercress Darter National Wildlife Refuge. Until recently, Wheeler NWR also administered the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge (now administered by the Mountain Longleaf National Wildlife Refuge). History In 1934, the Tennessee Valley Authority began purchasing land as a bed for and buffer strip for Wheeler Reservoir. By 1936, the Tennessee River was impounded for flood control with the nearby Wheeler Dam providing hydroelectric power. In 1938, the Refuge was established by Executive Order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and became the first National Wildlife Refuge to be overlain on a multi-purpose reservoir. TVA impounded shallow backwater areas of the reservoir to control the mosquito population. By pumping these areas dry in the spring and summer, the mosquito breeding habitat was eliminated. These impounded areas also produced natural waterfowl foods such as wild millet, smartweed, sedges, and other seed bearing grasses that attracted waterfowl when the area was re-flooded in the winter. This food source allows the Refuge to be the home of Alabama's largest duck population as well as its only significant concentration of wintering Canada geese. In 1940, a presidential proclamation renamed Wheeler Migratory Waterfowl Refuge to its present name. In 1941, for national security reasons, about 4,085 acres (16.5 km2) were included inside the Redstone Arsenal boundary. Currently, about 1,500 acres (6 km2) of the 4,085 acres (16.5 km2) is administered by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Topography Located along the Tennessee River, the refuge provides a mix of bottomland hardwoods, mixed hardwood and pine uplands, shallow water embayments, and agricultural fields. Of the Refuge's 35,000 acres (142 km2), there are 19,000 acres (77 km2) of land and 16,000 acres (65 km2) of water. The area consists of some 10,000 acres (40 km2)