From Washington To You
Bluffs and shoreline of Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Photograph by USFWS Pacific. Public domain.

From Washington to you

Protection Island

Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge · Jefferson County · established 1982

A 364-acre refuge closed to the public holds puffins, auklets, and harbor seals, with a 200-yard watercraft buffer around the shore.

Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1982. FWS lists the island at 364 acres in Jefferson County. The refuge is closed to the public. A 200-yard watercraft closure surrounds the island.

FWS lists tufted puffins, rhinoceros auklets, bald eagles, pigeon guillemots, cormorants, and harbor seals among the wildlife. A 48-acre Zella M. Schultz Seabird Sanctuary is part of the island's protected ground.

The island is managed for birds and seals, not for landing. The sources below are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuge page and a Service photograph of the puffin colony.

  • Wildlife & Ecology

Sources (2)

Last reviewed: September 20, 2026

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