 The refuge was established by the United States Congress in 1980 to provide habitat for non-game birds migrating south in the fall and north in the spring.The migration paths from Bon Secour lead south to lower Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America.The Bon Secour refuge also serves as one of the largest undeveloped parcels of land on the Alabama coast, with sand dunes which are a reminder of the Gulf Coast, as it formerly existed.