John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum - History

History

The history of Tinicum Marsh, the largest remaining freshwater tidal wetland in Pennsylvania, goes back to 1634 and the region's first settlements. Dutch, Swedish and English settlers diked and drained parts of the marsh for grazing. At that time, the vast tidal marshes stretched over 5,700 acres (23 km2). Rapid urbanization since World War I has reduced tidal marshes to approximately 200 acres (0.8 km2). The remnant of this once vast tidal marsh is protected by the refuge.

A diked, non-tidal area of 145 acres (0.6 km2), adjacent to the eastern end of Tinicum marsh, was donated by the Gulf Oil Corporation to the City of Philadelphia in 1955. This area, administered for the benefit of wildlife and people, was known as Tinicum Wildlife Preserve. The areas of open water along with the adjacent heavily vegetated tidal wetlands, formed an ideal habitat for thousands of migratory waterfowl.

In 1969, the remaining area was threatened by plans to route Interstate 95 through it and by a sanitary landfill on the tidal wetlands. These activities started a long series of injunctions, public hearings and extraordinary efforts by private and public groups to secure rerouting of the highway and termination of the landfill operation.

Among these groups was The Philadelphia Conservationists, a group of bird watchers who, following the success of efforts to protect the marshes at Tinicum, went on to conserve natural areas along the east coast and were incorporated in 1961 as Natural Lands Trust, a conservation organization that continues to conserve and steward open land in Pennsylvania and New Jersey out of its headquarters in Media, Pennsylvania.

Under legislation passed by Congress in 1972, authorization was given to the Secretary of the Interior to acquire 1200 acres (4.9 km2) to establish the Tinicum National Environmental Center.

In November 1991, in a bill sponsored by Congressman Curt Weldon (R-PA), the name of the refuge was changed to John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum to honor the late Senator who helped preserve Tinicum Marsh.