Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge

Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Marshall County in northwestern Minnesota. It was established in 1937 as " Mud Lake Migratory Waterfowl Refuge ", renamed in 1961 and covers an area of ​​about 249 square kilometers ( 61,500 acres). 1976 an area of ​​16 km ² (4000 acres) was placed under the protection status " Wilderness Area".

The nature reserve is located in the Prairie Pothole transition between the region and the coniferous forest zone in the Aspen Parkland region and in the area of ​​prehistoric Agassiz. It represents an important reserve for breeding and migratory birds; 294 bird and 49 mammal species were recorded here. Among the latter are several packs of wolves and moose. The area recorded annually up to 20,000 visitors. The park management has eleven employees.

The area is made up of 151 km ² of wetlands, 47 km ² bushland, 40 km ² of forest, 7 km ² grass steppe and 0.6 km ² of arable land. together It houses one of the most western swamp sites with mixed stands of black spruce and larch Ostamerikanischer. In the area of the nature reserve are the two bog lakes Kuriko Lake and Whiskey Lake.

Before 1994 the area berbergte 10,000-40,000 breeding pairs of Präriemöwe. 2007 and 2008 was a major part of the nests Pädatoren victim, the colonies were abandoned.