MARC

H

3

,

1849

U S. . DEPARTME

N

T

O

F

THE INTERIOR

Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge

11978 Turkle Pond Road

Milton, DE 19968

302/684 8419

302/684 8504 Fax

E-mail: fw5rw_phnwr@fws.gov

http://primehook.fws.gov

Federal Relay Service

for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

1 800/877 8339

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

1 800/344 WILD

http://www.fws.gov

July 2002

Prime Hook

National Wildlife

Refuge

Canoe Trail

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
USFWS

Canoe Trip on Prime Hook Creek

This goose, designed by

J.N. “Ding” Darling, has

become the symbol of the

National Refuge System.

Welcome to Prime

Hook National

Wildlife Refuge's

Canoe Trail

This self-guided trail leads you into

the heart of a freshwater marsh along

Prime Hook Creek. Whether

listening to waterfowl during fall and

winter migration, watching an osprey

hover above the creek searching for

its next meal, or simply enjoying the

outdoors, the canoe trail offers a

memorable experience for everyone. 

Approximately seven miles long, the

trail is accessible at three locations.

At the trail's eastern end, you can

launch your canoe or kayak at the

boat ramp located at the refuge office.

At the trail's western end, you can

launch at a private boat ramp in

Brumbley Family Park, located on the

southeast bank of Waples Mill Pond.

Waples Mill Pond is located at the

intersection of Route 5 and State

Route 1. A small fee is required at

both launch sites. Parking is limited at

Brumbley Family Park (only six

parking spaces), and it is preferred

that large groups arrange to park

their vehicles at the parking lot at the

refuge office boat ramp. A third boat

ramp is located in the middle of the

trail at the State of Delaware’s Prime

Hook Wildlife Management Area.

Most canoeists launch from the

Waples Mill Pond site and canoe

eastward toward the refuge office. To

travel the entire trail, plan to have a

vehicle at the refuge office for canoe

transport. Remember, the trail has no

stopping or resting areas. Depending

on how fast you paddle, the trip

generally takes four to five hours. 

To reduce disturbance to wildlife,

canoeing is only permitted in the

main channels. When traveling west

to east, always bear right; however,

do not travel down small side ditches.

It is highly recommended that you

bring a compass. Please observe area

closed signs. 

The refuge office boat ramp and the

ramp at the State of Delaware’s

Prime Hook Wildlife Management

Area are closed each year from the

beginning of October to March 15. All

entry during this time is from the

Waples Mill Pond launch site and is

limited to the western most four miles

of Prime Hook Creek. For your

safety, do not pass the area closed

signs without a written permit.

Portions of the trail may be closed at

the discretion of the refuge manager.

Please check at the refuge office for

hunt dates and associated closures. 

Blue Goose

Lewis & Elizabeth Dumont
Description of

Trail Traveling

Eastward on

Prime Hook

Creek

Black-necked

stilt

Bill Buchanan/USFWS

Prime Hook Creek flows from 

Waples Mill Pond to the Broadkill

River. It is a non-tidal freshwater

creek meandering through forested

wetlands into an open marsh

impoundment. An impoundment is

like a shallow pond. Water levels in

the impoundment are manipulated

using water control structures to

optimize food resources for migrating

waterfowl and shorebirds, yet creek

levels are only minimally affected. At

the Waples Mill Pond launch site, the

canoe trail is very narrow and shallow

for the first 700 feet, after which it

widens into a moderately deep, slow

moving stream. After about 1.5 miles,

Prime Hook Creek becomes winding

and narrow. Approximately two miles

later, you will reach the refuge

maintenance area at Foord’s Landing.

No public entry or exit is permitted at

this dock. Past Foord’s Landing, you

will enter open marsh, which is only a

short distance from the refuge office.

Along with binoculars and cameras,

field guides to birds, trees, reptiles,

amphibians, aquatic vegetation,

mammals or flowers are recommended

and will help you enjoy all the trail

has to offer. Please remember this is a

natural area, if you carry it in, please

carry it out.

As you travel on the canoe trail, notice

the many colorful plants on the creek

side. The most common trees are red

Winterberry

Sylvia Pelizza/USFWS

maple and sweet bay magnolia. The

spring and fall colors of the red maple

are often spectacular. Late spring and

early summer are the best chance to

smell the fragrant white flower of the

sweetbay magnolia. Atlantic white

cedar, sweet gum, green ash, American

holly, and sandbar willows are some of

the other trees that line the banks of

Prime Hook Creek.

You’ll see a variety of shrubs on your

trip. Winterberry, sweet pepper bush,

bayberry, marsh mallow, and seaside

alder (a rare species in Delaware) are

common along the trail. The colorful

red berries of winterberry are an

important food for bluebirds, thrushes,

robins, yellow-bellied sapsuckers, deer,

and raccoons.

Marsh mallow, with its large pink and

white blooms, color the marsh in

August. The blooms attract butterflies,

bees and other insects. You may also

notice swamp rose, poison ivy,

common greenbrier, and redberry

greenbrier as you make your way

down the trail. As you take in the

sights on the creek banks, don’t miss

the many plants in the water.

Pickerelweed with its upright purple

flower, fragrant water lily, scytheshaped arrowheads, a variety of

sedges, and threesquare will be seen

throughout your journey. Keep your

eyes open too for nature’s engineers,

beavers and their dams occur

throughout the trail.

The tall bamboo-like plant in the

marsh is Phragmites australis.

Sometimes called feathergrass or

common reed, Phragmites is an

invasive plant that grows in dense

stands that crowd out other plants.

Because most wildlife prefer other

kinds of plants and dense stands of

Phragmites are at high risk of

wildfire, the refuge controls its spread

through a variety of methods. 

Marsh Mallow 

in Bloom 

USFWS

Phragmites on

Prime Hook

Creek

USFWS
Turkle 

Pond

PRIME HOOK 

STATE WILDLIFE 

MANAGEMENT AREA

Fleetwood 

Pond

Goose 

Pond

Prime

Deep Branch

Road

Hook Beach Road

Broadkill Beach Road 

To Milford

7 Miles

Waples

Mill Pond

Nassau

Delaware B

Prime Hook ay

National Wildlife Refuge

Canoe Trail

Refuge 

Headquarters/

Visitor Center

North

16

1

1

5

Foord's

Landing

Little Neck Road

Tu r k l e P o n d R o a d

Refuge Boundary

Management Area

Note: Refuge boundary does not extend to Delaware Bay.

LEGEND

Refuge Headquarters

Parking Area

Canoe Launch

Water

Canoe Trail

Private Property

Please Respect

0 1 Mile

0 1 Kilometer

Waples

Mill Pond

1

Prime Hook Creek Store

Sign "Brumbley Family Park"

Boat Launch

Private Road

5

Private 

Property
Snowy Egret 

Lewis & Elizabeth Dumont

In the shallow ponds along the canoe

trail, notice the narrow-leaved cattail,

patches of pickerelweed, arrowhead,

arrow arum and Phragmites. These

ponds are favorite feeding grounds

for long-legged wading birds like

egrets, herons, and bitterns.

Waterfowl use these ponds too. The

seeds of arrow arum are an important

food source for wood ducks. Geese

prefer the roots of cattail. Near the

refuge maintenance area at Foord’s

Landing there is a stand of old

growth loblolly pines.

A portion of Prime Hook Creek

forms the boundary of the Prime

Hook Wildlife Management Area

managed by the Delaware Division of

Fish &Wildlife.

As you travel east from Foord’s

Landing and make your way into the

open marsh, you’ll notice a change in

the plants. In the more fresh water

areas, cattail, wild rice, Walter’s

millet and rice cutgrass are common.

In brackish or slightly salty waters

you’ll see salt grass and cordgrass.

The dense stands of these plants

camouflage the nests of red-winged

blackbirds, marsh wrens, and other

marsh birds. In the early spring and

summer, listen for the calls of

secretive marsh birds, like sora,

Virginia rail, and bittern. In the fall,

the seeds of Walter’s millet and wild

rice feed tens of thousands of

migrating ducks.

As you make your travel through the

marsh, look carefully and you may

see the several species of frogs,

snakes, and various invertebrates

that call the refuge home. On sunny

days, you can catch the refuge

sunbathers, painted and redbelly

turtles, as they bask along the marsh.

River otters, muskrats, raccoons and

deer are the mammals that you may

encounter. Most visitors will see

many different kinds of waterfowl,

shorebirds, long-legged marsh birds,

and song birds.

Marshes are a type of wetland.

Marshes like the one you traveled

through today are very important to

plants, animals, and people. As you’ve

observed, there are a variety of

unique plants and animals that

depend on marshes for their survival.

Marshes are important to people too.

Marshes are like gigantic sponges.

They soak up water during wet

periods to reduce flooding and slowly

release the water during dry periods.

Marshes help to keep our water

cleaner. They are able to absorb or

break down many pollutants.

Ducks and Geese

Charles Darling

Eastern Box

Turtle

Sylvia Pelizza/USFWS

Fowler's Toad

Sylvia Pelizza/USFWS
Marshes and other wetlands were

once seen as wastelands. They were

drained and filled for development,

landfills, or agriculture. In fact in

North America, more than ninety

percent of wetlands have been

destroyed since 1900. As you’ve seen

today, marshes are a diverse system

that can be beautiful. 

In 1934, Congress passed the

Migratory Bird Hunting and

Conservation Stamp Act. More than

half a century later, more than $500

million has been used to buy and

preserve some 4.5 million acres of

wetland habitat.

The funds raised through the purchase

of duck stamps help provide unspoiled

areas where people can view and

photograph wildlife, hunt, fish and

simply enjoy nature. Many of the

more than 500 national wildlife

refuges, including Prime Hook, were

purchased entirely or in part with the

money raised from duck stamps. You

can help others enjoy wetlands by

purchasing the current duck stamp at

the refuge office.

We hope you enjoyed your trip along

Prime Hook Creek. Please come back

again. Double Crested

Cormorant

Lewis & Elizabeth Dumont

U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service

Prime Hook is one of more than 530

refuges in the National Wildlife

Refuge System administered by the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The

National Wildlife Refuge System is a

network of lands and waters managed

specifically for the protection of

wildlife and wildlife habitat and

represents the most comprehensive

wildlife management program in the

world. Units of the system stretch

across the United States from

northern Alaska to the Florida Keys

and include small islands in the

Caribbean and South Pacific. The

habitat of the refuges is as diverse as

the nation itself.

Prime Hook was established in 1962

under the authority of the Migratory

Bird Conservation Act. The refuge is

located in a key position in the

Atlantic flyway and each year, hosts

tens of thousands of migratory birds.

The Refuge’s primary objectives are

to provide habitat for waterfowl,

waterbirds, other migratory birds,

and endangered species; and to insure

the availability of these resources to

the American people for their

enjoyment now and in the future.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service also

manages National Fish Hatcheries

and provides federal leadership in

habitat protection, fish and wildlife

research, technical assistance, and the

conservation and protection of

migratory birds, certain marine

mammals and threatened and

endangered species.

Equal opportunity to participate in

and benefit from, the programs and

activities of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife

Service is available to all individuals,

regardless of age, race, religion, color,

sex, national origin or disability. For

more information contact: U.S.

Department of the Interior, Office of

Equal Employment Opportunity, 

1849 C Street N.W., Washington, D.C.

20240.

Male Wood Duck

Lewis & Elizabeth Dumont

Wood Duck

Nesting Box

Sylvia Pelizza/USFWS