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 signifi-
cant 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 nat-
ural 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, photog-
raphy 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 pre-
serve. 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 ‘‘Con-
gressman 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 ‘‘Con-
gressman Lester Wolff Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge’’. 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.