The Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1990 to protect, conserve, and restore habitat for wildlife native to the river and its floodplain. Refuge islands are gradually returning to forested conditions after years of farming, oil and gas extraction, and other activities. Migratory birds and endangered freshwater mussels are among the important wildlife emphasized for protection on the refuge, which consists of twenty-four islands and four mainland tracts scattered along 362 miles of the upper Ohio River. Most of the refuge's 3440 acres of land and underwater habitat are located in West Virginia; however, Pennsylvania and Kentucky each have two refuge islands. The refuge is important in conserving the "wild" Ohio within one of our nation's busiest inland waterways.