Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1966 to preserve migrating bird habitat and waterfowl migration routes along Maine's southern coast. Originally called Coastal Maine National Wildlife Refuge, it was renamed in 1969 to honor scientist, author, and ecologist Rachel Carson. As new land is acquired, the refuge has grown to 10 divisions spanning more than 50 miles of coastline from Kittery to Cape Elizabeth. It conserves wildlife and natural resources through landscape-level projects, protects threatened and endangered species, and enhances disappearing or degraded habitats across coastal, freshwater, and upland environments. The refuge is part of the National Wildlife Refuge System, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Rachel Carson, born in Pennsylvania in 1907, studied marine biology and zoology and worked for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, later writing Under the Sea Wind, The Sea Around Us, and The Edge of the Sea. After evidence mounted that excessive and improper pesticide use was polluting the environment and harming wildlife, she wrote Silent Spring, published in 1962 despite government and industry pressures. The book led to the banning of DDT, helped give rise to modern environmentalism, and advanced the idea of an interrelated world. Carson died of breast cancer in 1964. The refuge also carries out restoration, protection, and research for species including the New England cottontail rabbit, the piping plover, and the saltmarsh sharp-tailed sparrow.
