Deer Creek Marsh Wildlife Management Area is a 1,195-acre protected tract on Lake Ontario’s eastern shore in Richland, Oswego County, with a 4,500-foot sandy beach at the southern end of a 17-mile barrier beach system that shelters lagoons and marshes. Assembled by New York State in 1979 after private ownership and sand mining had threatened the landscape, it was acquired through eminent domain after conventional purchases failed. Following severe storm erosion that year, restoration focused on removing debris, rebuilding dunes, and replanting native beachgrass, whose decline had worsened erosion. The area became important both for habitat conservation and for broader dune restoration efforts, while also supporting low-impact recreation.