It is the core area of the Long Point Biosphere Reserve, created in 1986, and has been recognized as a Ramsar site since 1982.

It comprises a complex system of dunes, wetlands, and marshes offering numerous habitats for flora and fauna.

The area was once part of the Neutral and Mississaugas hunting grounds before being settled in the early nineteenth century.

The National Wildlife Refuge is located on Long Point, a 40 km-long sandy peninsula north of Lake Erie.

[3] The subsoil is composed of sedimentary rocks dating from the Silurian and Devonian periods (between 443 and 359 million years ago).

[3] The point is fed by the erosion of sand and clay cliffs located up to 95 km to the west of the peninsula.

[5] The north of the peninsula features a vast system of marshes and wetlands alternating with sand dunes.

[8] Around 900, the population gradually began to adopt the cultivation of maize, beans, and squash trio, also known as the Three Sisters.

[10]The independence of the United States of America marked the beginning of colonization; the Loyalists arrived as early as the 1780s.

The townships of the region were cadastrated at the end of the eighteenth century and the area became known as Long Point Settlement.

[16] It has also been recognized as an international reserve for the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) following a bi-national agreement with Mexico.

The first plants to colonize the newly created dunes were eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides) and Virginia juniper (Juniperus virginiana).

These were replaced by swamps of tamarack (Larix laricina), eastern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis), forests of white pine (Pinus strobus), savannahs of paper birch (Betula papyrifera) and northern red oak (Quercus rubra).

Carnivores present in the region include the coyote (Canis latrans), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), raccoon (Procyon lotor), Stoat (Mustela erminea), the long-tailed weasel (Mustela frenata), the American mink (Neovison vison), the American badger (Taxidea taxus), the striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis), the river otter (Lontra canadensis), and the Canadian lynx (Lynx canadensis).

Small mammals found in the reserve include the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), the Cinereus shrew (Sorex cinereus), the Smoky shrew (Sorex fumeus), the Northern short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda), the North American least shrew (Cryptotis parva), the hairy-tailed mole (Parascalops breweri), the Star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata), the Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), the European hare (Lepus europaeus), the Eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus), the Groundhog (Marmota monax), the grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), the red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), the flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans), the Canadian beaver (Castor canadensis), the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus), the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), the Southern bog lemming (Synaptomys cooperi), the muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus), the Woodland vole (Microtus pinetorum), the meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus), the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus), the common mouse (Mus musculus), the Meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius) and the American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum).

The peninsula's southerly position means that a number of species that are rare in Canada can be observed, including the small shrew, the eastern pipistrelle, the American badger, the grey fox, the northern bat, the small flying squirrel, and the woodland vole.

Besides the waterfowl, the reserve is also home to the following migratory species: the Eurasian whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), the Bonaparte's gull (Chroicocephalus Philadelphia), and the common tern (Sterna hirundo).