National Wildlife Refuges

National Wildlife Refuge is a designation for protected areas managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.  The National Wildlife Refuge System is the world's premiere system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife and plants. It was the idea of President Teddy Roosevelt (My Hero) in 1903 by executive order. By 1908 he had gotten Congress to agree to establish a System. The System has grown to more than 150 million acres in 555 national wildlife refuges. 

National Wildlife Refuges manage a full range of habitat types, including wetlands; prairies; coastal and marine areas; and temperate, tundra and boreal forests. The management of each habitat is a complex web of controlling or eradicating invasive species, using fire in a prescribed manner, assuring adequate water resources, and assessing external threats like development or contamination. Many of the Refuges have "Visitor's Center's" and many do not.

These refuges are home to some 700 species of birds, 220 species of mammals, 250 reptile and amphibian species and more than 200 species of fish. Many of the National Wildlife Refuges have been established with the primary purpose of conserving 280 threatened or endangered species.

First UP: Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado, 1967

Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1967 to furnish waterfowl with a suitable place to nest and rear their young. It is located in an intermountain glacial basin south of Walden, county seat of Jackson County, Colorado. The thriving metropolis of Walden has but one restaurant. It is so small the best they can do is a Motel 3. (hee, hee)

The basin is approximately 35 miles wide and 45 miles long. It is the northernmost of four such "parks" in Colorado and is known locally as North Park. North Park opens north into Wyoming and is rimmed on the west by the Park Range, on the south by the Rabbit Ears Mountains, on the southeast by the Never-Summer Range, and on the east and northeast by the Medicine Bow Range. Numerous slow, meandering streams are interspersed on the basin floor and eventually come together to form the headwaters of the North Platte River. Most of the flood plain along the streams is irrigated meadow, while the low rises adjacent to the flood plain and the higher rises on the refuge are characterized by sagebrush grasslands. 

I go to Jackson County primarily looking for Moose. And, Arapaho NWR has been lucky for me. First, a waterfowl photo of White Pelicans, then some Moose photos:

White Pelicans

Bull Moose along the Illinois River

Bull Moose

Bull Moose Walking toward food

Bull Moose Resting

Bull Moose Eating