H. R. 263 

One Hundred Sixteenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Friday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and twenty 

An Act 

To rename the Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge as the Congressman Lester 

Wolff Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

The Congress finds the following: 

(1) The Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge was created 

in 1968. It is located on the north shore of Long Island in 

eastern Nassau County, is the largest refuge in the Long Island 

National Wildlife Refuge Complex, and receives the most public 

use of all the refuges in the Complex. 

(2) The State of New York designated Oyster Bay a significant coastal fish and wildlife habitat. It is especially important 

for wintering waterfowl such as black duck, greater scaup, 

bufflehead, canvasback and long-tailed ducks. Management 

activities include wetland restoration and protection of the natural shoreline and vegetation. 

(3) The refuge is unique in consisting solely of bay bottom 

and adjacent shoreline up to the mean high-tide mark. Ninety 

percent of New York’s commercial oyster harvest comes from 

the refuge. Visitors enjoy fishing, wildlife observation, photography and environmental education. The refuge is truly a 

national treasure. 

(4) Many visitors are unaware that were it not for the 

tireless work and advocacy of then-freshman Congressman 

Lester Wolff, this area would today be an 8.5-mile causeway 

and bridge across Long Island Sound between Oyster Bay and 

Rye, New York, connecting Nassau and Westchester Counties. 

(5) The bridge was first proposed by Robert Moses, the 

well-known New York City Planner, to divert traffic from New 

York City. Former Governor Nelson Rockefeller signed into 

law legislation creating the bridge authorized by the New York 

State Legislature in 1967. 

(6) Congressman Wolff, elected in 1964, quickly decided 

the bridge would be an intrusion in a pristine area, and that 

Long Island Sound was a very precious resource that was 

despoiled. The conservation threats in the mid-1960s were 

suburban development, wetland filling, and industrial pollution. 

The fight to preserve this land became an enormous political 

fight and is considered to be a turning point in New York 

State’s environmental legacy. 

(7) With State and local political and community leaders, 

and especially the North Shore leaders and the Committee 
H. R. 263—2 

to Save the Long Island Sound, Congressman Wolff arranged 

a meeting with Department of the Interior representatives and 

local leaders where the idea of creating a wildlife refuge from 

municipal and privately owned wetlands was created. 

(8) The Town of Oyster Bay, in which one end of the 

bridge was to be located, deeded 5,000 acres of wetlands to 

the United States to be maintained as a Federal wildlife preserve. It was stipulated that if the Department of the Interior 

agreed to an intrusion of the property, it would revert to the 

town. Creating a Federal wildlife preserve provided the land 

with Federal protection. 

(9) Because of the vision, dedication, and perseverance 

of Congressman Lester Wolff, all of us and future generations 

can enjoy the beauty and magnificence of this refuge. 

SEC. 2. RENAMING THE OYSTER BAY NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE 

AS THE CONGRESSMAN LESTER WOLFF OYSTER BAY 

NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE. 

(a) RENAMING.—The unit of the National Wildlife Refuge 

System known as the Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge and 

located near Oyster Bay, New York, shall be known as the ‘‘Congressman Lester Wolff Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge’’. 

(b) REFERENCES.—Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 

document, paper, or other record of the United States to the unit 

of the National Wildlife Refuge System known as the Oyster Bay 

National Wildlife Refuge is deemed to be a reference to the ‘‘Congressman Lester Wolff Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge’’. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.