Fish and Wildlife Service, Ohio.
In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the 82 acre West Sister Island as a refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife. It was specifically designated to protect the largest wading bird nesting colony on the United States Great Lakes. The refuge is jointly owned by the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It received Ohio’s only federal wilderness designation in 1975.
Most of the island is covered with trees. Tall hackberry trees make up most of the canopy, with an understory of poison ivy that can grow 12 feet tall. Great Solomon's seal reaches seven to nine feet in height and below there is a great variety of ferns, wildflowers, mushrooms and other plant life. The island is composed of glacial fill over a limestone shelf. The island's rookery is a host for great blue herons, great egrets, snowy egrets, black-crowned night herons and double-crested cormorants. The water around the island is too deep for the wading birds to feed in, so they must travel an 18 mile round trip to the mainland marshes to hunt for food for themselves and their young.
The island took its place in history during the War of 1812. It was here, on September 10, 1813, that Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry sent the immortal message to General William Harrison after the Battle of Lake Erie: "We have met the enemy and they are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop."
To protect this vital nesting area, access is permitted for research only.
West Sister Island National Wildlife Refuge is closed year round; no visitation is allowed.