Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge

Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge covers roughly 249 square kilometers of wetlands, marshes, and prairie grassland in northwestern Minnesota, sitting atop the ancient bed of glacial Lake Agassiz. Established in 1937 as Mud Lake Migratory Waterfowl Refuge under New Deal conservation programs, it was renamed in 1961 and in 1976 gained a 16-square-kilometer designated Wilderness Area. More than 280 bird species have been recorded here, including large nesting colonies of American white pelicans and eared grebes. The auto-tour route through the refuge offers close encounters with moose, white-tailed deer, and — especially in spring — extraordinary concentrations of migrating waterfowl, making it one of the premier wildlife observation sites in the upper Midwest.