Jay Norwood "Ding" Darling, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist and a leader in the conservation movement, visited Captiva Island in 1935 and later became a seasonal resident. Appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt to head the Bureau of Biological Survey, now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, he helped create the Federal Duck Stamp Program to generate revenue for the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund. His conservation advocacy led to the establishment of the Sanibel National Wildlife Refuge, created on December 1, 1945, during the administration of President Harry S. Truman. At that time, the refuge preserved 2,392 acres of mangrove forest adjacent to Tarpon Bay and Pine Island Sound, and in 1967 it was renamed in honor of its principal advocate. Today, the 6,400-acre refuge protects one of the country's largest mangrove ecosystems as well as submerged seagrass beds, cordgrass marshes, and West Indian hardwood hammocks. Established in 1982, the "Ding" Darling Wildlife Society raised funds for the refuge's Visitor and Education Center, which opened in 1999, and supports conservation internships and scholarships, educational trails and exhibits, biological research, and land acquisition.