Comprehensive Conservation Plan

This plan is for the following limited-interest national wildlife refuges: Appert Lake, Ardoch, Bone Hill, Brumba, Buffalo Lake, Camp Lake, Canfield Lake, Cottonwood, Dakota Lake, Half Way Lake, Hiddenwood, Hobart Lake, Hutchinson Lake, Johnson Lake, Lake George, Lake Otis, Lake Patricia, Lambs Lake, Little Goose, Lords Lake, Lost Lake, Maple River, Pleasant Lake, Pretty Rock, Rabb Lake, Rock Lake, Rose Lake, School Section Lake, Sheyenne Lake, Sibley Lake, Silver Lake, Snyder Lake, Springwater, Stoney Slough, Sunburst Lake, Tomahawk, Willow Lake, Wintering River, and Wood Lake.

The comprehensive conservation plan sets the management and use of 39 limited-interest national wildlife refuges in North Dakota for 15 years. The refuges are located across North Dakota from the Canadian border south to the Stateline of South Dakota.

As the name implies, these limited-interest refuges are unique among all other national wildlife refuges. The limited-interest refuge program began almost 70 years ago in response to declining waterfowl populations and the need to put people back to work. Hundreds of landowners signed refuge easements and flowage easements in exchange for jobs in their communities and impounded water on their lands. Today, 99 percent of the lands within the approved acquisition boundaries of these refuges remain in private ownership.

The purpose of the refuges is to provide habitat and breeding grounds for migrating waterfowl, shorebirds, grassland-nesting birds, and other wildlife.

• Approved acquisition boundaries established in the 1930s and 1940s.
• Comprise 47,296 acres of the 54,140 acres within approved acquisition boundaries.
• Range in size from 160 acres (Half Way Lake) to 5,500 acres (Rock Lake).
• Managed by six separate refuge and wetland complexes.

These refuges have similar wetlands and grasslands, although many have lost significant habitat due to development. In particular, most refuges have a water feature such as a lake, river, or impoundment. There is minimal public use on these refuges as the landowner controls access and must grant permission for public use of their private lands.

The Service developed this plan to give guidance for the future management and protection of these limited-interest national wildlife refuges and to develop a better partnership with the existing landowners. The following are major actions in the comprehensive conservation plan:

• Divest 7 of the 39 refuges because they have had a significant loss of biodiversity and because of the ownership patterns (such as lands owned or managed for wildlife by another Federal or Stateagency): Bone Hill, Camp Lake, Cottonwood Lake, Lake Patricia, Sheyenne Lake, School Section Lake, and Tomahawk limited-interest national wildlife refuges.

Comprehensive conservation plan (CCP)
CCP 2006 (17 MB PDF)

By section, for faster download:
Approval, contents, summary (PDF)
Chapter 1, introduction (PDF)
Chapter 2, the North Dakota limited-interest refuge program (1 MB PDF)
Chapter 3, alternatives (PDF)
Chapter 4, affected environment (2 MB PDF)
Chapter 5, environmental consequences (PDF)
Chapter 6, management direction (13 MB PDF)
Appendixes (PDF)

Draft CCP and environmental assessment (EA)
Draft CCP and EA 2005 (9 MB PDF)

By section, for faster download:
Plan (2 MB PDF)
Appendixes (8 MB PDF)