Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge is a barrier island off the Georgia coast. The island is part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex headquartered in Savannah, Georgia. Blackbeard Island was acquired by the Navy Department at public auction in 1800 as a source of live oak timber for ship building. From 1880-1910 the island served as the South Atlantic Quarantine Station for yellow fever. In 1924 the island was placed under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Biological Survey to be maintained as a preserve and breeding ground for native wildlife and migratory birds. A presidential proclamation in 1940 changed its designation from Blackbeard Island Reservation to Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge. In 1975, three thousand acres of the refuge were set aside as National Wilderness.

The island consists of 5,618 acres; composed of 1,163 acres of freshwater impoundments and wetlands, 2,000 acres of saltwater marsh, 2,115 acres of maritime forests and 340 acres of sandy beaches. It is located in McIntosh County, Georgia, eight miles north of Eulonia, GA, then seven miles east on Harris Neck Road, then 18 miles southeast by boat.

Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge sea turtle project has the longest continuous running data set for sea turtles in Georgia, starting in 1966. The refuge has the highest density of nests per kilometer than any other island in GA. Data are collected according to USFWS and GA DNR protocol and in accordance with the Loggerhead Sea Turtle Recovery Plan. Active management, protection and research of sea turtles are conducted every summer on Blackbeard Island by refuge staff and interns.