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Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge

Also known as: Upper Mississippi River Refuge, Upper Mississippi NWR

240,000+ acre national wildlife refuge stretching 261 miles along the Upper Mississippi River from Wabasha, Minnesota to Rock Island, Illinois — the longest refuge in the lower 48 states. Established 1924 to protect the upper Mississippi flyway's migratory waterfowl, today the refuge is one of North America's most important migratory bird corridors and the western boundary of the Driftless Area bioregion. Annual migrations include 40% of all North American waterfowl, hundreds of thousands of tundra swans, and significant populations of bald eagles (the refuge holds one of the country's largest concentrated wintering populations along the open-water reaches near lock-and-dam structures).

Scientific

The Upper Mississippi River Refuge follows the river through four states across 261 miles of floodplain, backwater sloughs, marsh islands, and forested bottomland. Habitat is structured around the Army Corps of Engineers lock-and-dam system (built in the 1930s for navigation) — the open-water pools above each dam create the deep-water habitat that wintering waterfowl and bald eagles depend on, while the surrounding floodplain forests, sloughs, and marshes hold the breeding and migratory-stopover habitat for hundreds of bird species.

The refuge supports an estimated 40% of North America’s migratory waterfowl during the spring and fall migrations. Tundra swans stage on the upper-river pools by the tens of thousands in November. Canvasback ducks, lesser scaup, and redhead populations concentrate on specific pools known regionally for vallisneria (water celery) beds. [[bald-eagle|Bald eagle]] wintering populations along the open water below lock-and-dam structures are among the densest in the lower 48; the eagles concentrate where shad and gizzard shad are killed by the dam turbines and surface for easy harvest.

Practical

The refuge is open daily, free, with hundreds of public-access points along the river corridor. Multiple visitor centers along the route (Brice Prairie WI, Trempealeau WI, Onalaska WI, Winona MN, McGregor IA, Thomson IL) hold interpretive exhibits and refuge maps. Boating, fishing, hunting (in season), and wildlife observation are the principal public uses. The fall migration (October–November) and wintering eagle concentration (December–February) are the signature visitor seasons.

See also

Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.

  • Shares approach with: [[bombay-hook-nwr]]
  • Operated by: [[us-fish-and-wildlife-service]]
  • Member of: [[organization]]
  • Contained by: [[driftless-area]]

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Scientific

contains

  • Driftless Area 240,000+ acre national wildlife refuge along the western edge of the bioregion

shares approach with

2 inbound links · 4 outbound