When the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island fully reopens its Visitor & Education Center, it debuts a remastering of its popular Junior Ranger program with a new 20-page activities booklet for visitors of all ages, plus a cool new wooden badge. Admission to the Visitor & Education Center is free. The center holds the Refuge Nature Store, hands-on exhibits, special art exhibitions, and interpretive restrooms, recipient of the 2018 America’s Best Restroom Award.
The “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge (dingdarlingsociety.org), which celebrates 40 years in 2022, has opened a second Refuge Nature Store at 2250 Periwinkle Way on Sanibel Island. While the new space carries some of the same logo merchandise as the on-campus Nature Store, it focuses on one-of-a-kind gifts and local artwork found nowhere else on the island. Visit ShopDingDarling.com to order “Ding” Darling logo clothing, books, games, nature-inspired jewelry, and other unique-to-the-refuge gifts online. 100 percent of profits from the e-commerce store and two physical stores directly benefit Refuge conservation education, wildlife and water research, and land acquisition.
The Refuge Complex encompasses 7,718 acres comprising the main campus on Sanibel-Captiva Road, Tarpon Bay Recreation Area, Bailey Tract, Tract, and other on-island tracts and offshore refuges not accessible to the public.
The Refuge is home to about 250 species of birds, 18 species of mammals, 102 species of fish, and 60 species of reptiles and amphibians. Fourteen of its resident species are federally listed including manatees, loggerhead sea turtles, wood storks, and smalltooth sawfish.
Refuge activities include driving, bicycling, and hiking along 4-mile Wildlife Drive; trails; kayaking; canoeing; stand-up paddleboarding; nature boat and paddling tours; fishing; and wildlife photography. Tarpon Bay Explorers (tarponbayexplorers.com), the refuge’s recreation concession, rents equipment and conducts tours, including a narrated tram tour of Wildlife Drive.
Wildlife Drive welcomes nearly a million visitors each year. It opens dawn to dusk. In 2021, the Refuge added a viewing scope for color blind visitors to its observation tower along the drive. Admission fees to Wildlife Drive are $10 per vehicle, $1 per cyclist and hiker. Annual passes are available. For more refuge information, please visit fws.gov/refuge/JN_Ding_Darling or dingdarlingsociety.org.