Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge

Overview

Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge is managed by Fish and Wildlife Service and is located near Kenmare, North Dakota.

Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge is designated a Globally Important Bird Area by the American Birding Conservancy and National Audubon Society. The Refuge provides essential habitat for rare grassland bird species such as Sprague's pipit and Baird's sparrow. Some of the larger, showy members of the mixed grass prairie include marbled godwit, upland sandpiper, and willet.

Native Americans, most recently the southern Assiniboine tribes, thrived in this area on abundant bison, waterfowl, and other game. Tipi rings, remnants of these previous residents, can be found at a number of locations on the Refuge. In the early-1900's, immigrants began to settle in the Lostwood area in response to the Homestead Act. The first settlers found few trees on the prairie. At one time, a small grove of trees was located near Lower Lostwood Lake. The settlers cut down the trees for firewood, a blizzard buried the wood, and the settlers were unable to find it. The nearby town of Lostwood and subsequently Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge is named for this "lost wood."

In 1964, the Wilderness Act was passed by Congress to protect large representative tracts of ecosystems across the United States. The 5,577-acre Lostwood Wilderness Area was created in 1975 to best represent and protect the northern mixed grass prairie of the Missouri Coteau. The Lostwood Wilderness is managed to preserve wild character, beauty, and native plants and animals.