Mysterious Castle Rock… Birds Welcome, No Public Allowed

The mystery of Castle Rock National Wildlife Refuge is palpable. Located a temptingly-close .5 of a mile on Crescent City’s shoreline, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) oversees this magnificent 14 acre migratory bird sanctuary and mammal refuge.

No Public is allowed atop the island nor the surrounding waters off Pebble Beach Driven and Washington Blvd.

Absolutely no drones allowed.

Prominent among its hundreds of thousands of avifauna is the almost-extinct Aleutian Cackling Goose which nests atop the plateau, 335 ft above the oft-times tumultuous Pacific.

Observation points at Pebble and Washington provide a “birds-eye” view of Castle Rock.

For centuries. The Tolowa di-Nee foraged upon but never lived on Castle Rock. The Tolowa hunted seal foraged eggs, and fished the waters around Castle.

Settlers moved in about 1850 and sadly took down the local native populations, a sad legacy.

The American government took control in the late 1800s.

The USFWS assumed control a century back. Its mission is simple: Conserving, restoring the Wildlife habitat; Protect the migratory birds and sea mammals. Even ranger visits have declined since state-of-art cameras were installed about  a decade back and dot the island. All measures are taken to prevent disturbance at Castle Rock.

Castle Rock is one of 14 specially closed to-the-public national refuges in the  Golden State.

Today, Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Loleta continues to protect this National treasure  Be sure to bring your binoculars.

Special recognition is given to the team of U.S Rangers who contributed to this story.