UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER NATIONAL WILDLIFE AND FISH REFUGE

UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER NATIONAL WILDLIFE AND FISH REFUGE. Visited annually by more than 3.7 million people to hunt, fish and enjoy the backwaters and marshes, the UMRNWFR is the longest contiguous river refuge in the continental. It includes 261 miles from Wabash, Minnesota to Rock Island, Illinois. The refuge, which is open to the public at no cost, is home to 306 types of birds that migrate through the refuge including 50% of the world's canvasback ducks. It provides habitat for 51 species of mammals, 42 types of freshwater mussels, and 119 species of fish.

The 100th anniversary of the refuge occurred on June 7th, 2024. The refuge protects over 240,000 of MISSISSIPPI RIVER floodplain between the high bluffs of the Driftless Region. It is designated a Wetland of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention and a Globally Important Bird Area. Managed by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it is owned by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

The history of the refuge began in 1923 when Will Dilg, first president of the Izaak Walton League, learned of a plan to drain backwater sloughs of the Mississippi River near Lansing, Iowa to create farmland. Dilg's effort to save a long stretch of river as a federal refuge led in 1924 to the passage of the Upper Mississippi River Wild Life and Fish Refuge Act which authorized the purchase of the land by the federal government. As a result, the northern protected area can be differentiated from the lower portions of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri where the river is contained by levees to protect valuable farmland.

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Source:

Heim, Madeline, "Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge, Which Saved the Floodplain from Being Turned into Farmland, Turns 100," Milwaukee Sentinel, February 27, 2024.