Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge
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| Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge | |
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| IUCN Category IV (Habitat/Species Management Area) | |
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| Location: | Montana, USA |
| Nearest city: | Malta, MT |
| Coordinates: | |
| Area: | 15,551 acres (61 km²) |
| Established: | 1936 |
| Governing body: | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |
Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge is located in the U.S. state of Montana. Bowdoin NWR was established in 1936 as a migratory bird refuge. It is located in the short and mixed grass prairie region of North-central Montana and encompasses 15,551 acres (6,293 hectares). The Refuge lies about 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Malta in the Milk River Valley of Phillips County. Managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bowdoin is one of over 540 refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System - a system of lands set aside to conserve wildlife and habitat and as a place for people to enjoy today and for generations to come.
Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge's primary purpose is to preserve and enhance resting, feeding, and breeding habitat for migratory birds and other wildlife. The Refuge attracts migrating waterfowl and shorebirds by the thousands and provides breeding and nesting habitat for ducks, geese, grassland songbirds, and colonial nesting water birds. The area is equally important to a variety of resident wildlife, including raptors, white-tailed deer, pronghorn antelope, sharp-tailed grouse, and coyotes. Threatened species using the Refuge include the bald eagle and piping plover and on occasion peregrine falcons.
North-central Montana is made up of many depressional wetlands created by glaciers 12,000 years ago. Although geologic history indicates that Lake Bowdoin was once an oxbow of the pre-glacial Missouri River channel, today the Missouri River lies nearly 70 miles (110 km) south of Bowdoin NWR. Major habitat types on the Refuge include saline and freshwater wetlands, native prairie, planted dense nesting cover and shrubs. Refuge wetlands total 7,226 acres (2,924 hectares), with the remaining habitat consisting of uplands.
[edit] External links
- Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Retrieved on 2006-08-16.
- Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge. Recreation.gov. Retrieved on 2006-08-16.
