Cedar Point NWR was donated to the Service in 1964 and is closed to all other public use except fishing from June to August. The Refuge's 2445 acres are primarily marsh. A dike system with its associated electric pumps, isolates the marsh from the adjacent Lake Erie and divides the Refuge into three pools.
All pools are predominantly cattail, bulrush, and other emergent vegetation.
The Refuge provides habitat for migrating waterfowl and other marsh and water birds. Up to 70 percent of the Mississippi Flyway population of black ducks can be found in the Lake Erie marshes during the fall migration. The preservation of a portion of the Lake Erie Marshes is an important objective. The managed units account for portions of what remains of the Lake Erie Marshes and Great Black Swamp Habitats. Refuge areas were historically important for migratory birds, neotropical passerines, fish and waterfowl.