A Naturalist’s Guide to the Great Plains

Abstract

This book documents nearly 500 US and Canadian locations where wildlife refuges, nature preserves, and similar properties protect natural sites that lie within the North American Great Plains, from Canada’s Prairie Provinces to the Texas-Mexico border. Information on site location, size, biological diversity, and the presence of especially rare or interesting flora and fauna are mentioned, as well as driving directions, mailing addresses, and phone numbers or internet addresses, as available. US federal sites include 11 national grasslands, 13 national parks, 16 national monuments, and more than 70 national wildlife refuges. State properties include nearly 100 state parks and wildlife management areas. Also included are about 60 national and provincial parks, national wildlife areas, and migratory bird sanctuaries in Canada’s Prairie Provinces. Numerous public-access properties owned by counties, towns, and private organizations, such as the Nature Conservancy, National Audubon Society, and other conservation and preservation groups, are also described. Introductory essays describe the geological and recent histories of each of the five multistate and multiprovince regions recognized, along with some of the author’s personal memories of them. The 92,000-word text is supplemented with 7 maps and 31 drawings by the author and more than 700 references. Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge • Agate Fossil Beds National Monument • Áisínai’pi National Historic Site of Canada • Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge • Alibates Flint Quarry National Monument • Alkali Lake • Altus-Lugert Wildlife Management Area • American Prairie Reserve • Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge • Anderson Prairie • Aransas National Wildlife Refuge , • Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge • Asessippi Provincial Park • Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historic Park • Atka Lakota Museum and Cultural Center • Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge • Audubon National Wildlife Refuge • Austin and vicinity • Austin City Park • Badlands National Park • Baker University Discovery Center • Baker Wetlands • Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge • Bamforth National Wildlife Refuge • Basin and Middle Lake Migratory Bird Sanctuary • Bauer WPA [waterfowl production area] • Bazille Creek Wildlife Management Area • Beaudry Provincial Park • Beaverhall Lake Provincial Ramsar Site • Beaver River Wildlife Management Area • Bell Museum of Natural History • Bend in the Bow • Benedictine Bottoms Wildlife Area • Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge • Big Bend National Park • Big Bend Ranch State Park • Big Boggy National Wildlife Refuge • Big Gumbo • Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area • Bighorn Mountains • Big Spring State Park • Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge • Big Thicket National Preserve • Birds Hill Provincial Park • Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge • Black Elk Wilderness • Black Hills National Forest • Black Kettle National Grassland (OK) • Black Kettle National Grassland (TX) • Black Mesa Preserve • Black Mesa State Park • BLM Recreation and Public Purposes site • Bluestem Prairie Scientific and Natural Area • Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary • Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge • Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge • Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuge • Boysen State Park • Bradwell National Wildlife Area • Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge • Brazos Bend State Park • Brickyard Hill Conservation Area • Brinton Museum • Broken Kettle Grasslands Preserve • Bud Love Wildlife Management Area • Buffalo Bill Center of the West • Buffalo Gap National Grassland • Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge • Buffalo Pound Provincial Park • Buffalo River State Park • Bump Sullivan Reservoir • Bureau of Land Management • Burnham Creek Wildlife Management Area • Bushy Creek Prairie • Caddo Lake State Park • Caddo Lake Wildlife Management Area • Caddo National Grasslands Wildlife Management Area • Campbell WPA [waterfowl production area] • Candy Cain Abshier Wildlife Management Area • Canton Reservoir and Wildlife Management Area • Canyon Ferry Reservoir and Wildlife Management Area • Caprock Canyons State Park and Trailway • Capulin Volcano National Monument • Carlsbad Caverns National Park • Carnahan Creek Park • Cayler Prairie • Cayler Prairie State Preserve • Cedar Hills State Park • Cedar Ridge • Cedar Ridge Nature Preserve • Cedar River National Grassland (ND) • Cedar River National Grassland (SD) • Center for Western Studies • Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge • Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge • Cheyenne Bottoms Waterfowl Management Area • Cheyenne River Indian Reservation • Chimney Rock National Historic Site • Chisholm Creek Park • Cimarron National Grassland • Clear Creek Wildlife Management Area • Colorado Bend State Park • Comanche National Grassland • Conata Basin • Confluence Area Interpretive Center • Connie Hagar Cottage Sanctuary • Connie Hagar Wildlife Sanctuary • Copper Breaks State Park • Coteau Prairie Waterfowl Production Area • Crane Trust, The • Crazy Horse Memorial • Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge • Crosby Wetland Management District • Cross Ranch Nature Preserve • Cross Ranch State Park • Cross Timbers State Park • Crow Creek Indian Reservation • Crow Flies High Butte Historic Site • Cupola, The • Custer State Park • Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park • Dakota Prairie Grasslands • Dallas Museum of Natural History • Dallas Nature Center • Davis Mountains State Park • Delta Marsh Bird Observatory • Delta Marsh Wildlife Management Area • Delta Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Station • Delta Waterfowl Research Station • Denver Museum of Nature and Science • Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge • DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge • Devils Lake Wetland Management District • Devils Tower National Monument • Diamond Grove Prairie • Dinosaur Provincial Park • Dinosaur Valley State Park • Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center • Double Ditch Indian Village State Historic Site • Douglas Provincial Park • Draper Museum of Natural History • Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park • Duck Mountain Provincial Park • Duncairn Reservoir Migratory Bird Sanctuary • Dunn Ranch–Pawnee Prairie • Elk Island National Park • Elk Point Wildlife Management Area • Ellis County Wildlife Management Area • Eubank Woods Sanctuary • Facus Springs • Fancy Creek Wildlife Area • Farm Island State Recreation Area • Felton Prairie Scientific and Natural Area • Felton Prairie Wildlife Management Area • Fergus Falls Wetland Management District • First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park • Five Ridge Prairie • Flint Hills National Wildlife Refuge • Folsom Man archeological site • Folsom Point Preserve • Forneys Lake Wildlife Management Area • Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park • Fort Atkinson State Historical Park • Fort Belknap Indian Reservation • Fort Berthold Indian Reservation • Fort Burford State Historic Site • Fort Cobb State Park • Fort Cobb Wildlife Management Area • Fort Kearney State Recreation Area • Fort Mandan Historic Site • Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge • Fort Peck Indian Reservation • Fort Pierre National Grassland • Fort Robinson State Park • Fort Sill Military Reservation • Fort Stevenson State Park • Fort Supply Wildlife Management Area • Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site • Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge • Foss State Park • Four Bears Park • Franklin Mountains State Park • Freezout Lake Wildlife Management Area • Galveston Island State Park • Gardner Wetlands (Kansas City Power and Light Company Wetland Park) • Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area • George Lake • Giant Springs Heritage State Park • Gitchie Manitou Prairie • Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge • Glendo State Park • Golden Prairie • Goose Island State Park • Grand River Grasslands • Grand River National Grassland • Grasslands National Park • Great Plains Nature Center • Grulla National Wildlife Refuge • Guadalupe Mountains National Park • Guernsey State Park • Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge • Hamden Slough National Wildlife Refuge • Hand Hills Ecological Reserve • Hay-Zama Lakes Wildland Provincial Park • Hazel Bazemore Park • Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Area • Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary • Hecla-Grindstone Provincial Park • Heron Lake Wetlands • Herron Lake Playa Wetland • High Island Audubon sanctuaries • Highland, Kansas • Hitchcock Nature Center • Hitchcock Nature Center HawkWatch • Homestead National Monument of America • Houston Arboretum and Nature Center • Houston Museum of Natural Science • Hudson-Meng Bison Kill Research and Visitor Center • Hueco Tanks State Park • Huron Wetland Management District • Hutton Lake National Wildlife Refuge • Iain Nicolson Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary • Indian Cave State Park • Indian Museum of North America • Inglewood Migratory Bird Sanctuary • Iowa Indian Reservation • Isabel Wildlife Area • Jackson Lake State Park • James Kipp Recreation Area • J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge • J. Clark Salyer Wetland Management District • J. C. McCormack Wildlife Area • Jewel Cave National Monument • John E. Williams Nature Preserve • John Martin Reservoir State Park • Joslyn Art Museum • Kanopolis State Park • Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism miscellaneous wetlands • Karl Mundt National Wildlife Refuge • Kaslow Prairie • Kelly’s Slough National Wildlife Refuge • Kiowa National Grassland • Kirwin National Wildlife Refuge • Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site • Kulm Wetland Management District • Lac Qui Parle Wildlife Management Area/State Park • Lacreek National Wildlife Refuge • Laffite’s Cove Nature Preserve • LaFramboise Island Nature Area • Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge • Lake Alice National Wildlife Refuge • Lake Andes National Wildlife Refuge • Lake Andes Wetland Management District • Lake DeSmet • Lake Francis Wildlife Management Area • Lake Ilo National Wildlife Refuge • Lake McConaughy State Recreation Area • Lake Meredith National Recreat