Located about 60 miles ENE of La Crosse, Wisconsin, the landscape of Necedah National Wildlife Refuge is the remnant of a vast, post-glacial swampland. Plowed flat by the Pleistocene ice sheets and coated with sandy deposits, this area is characterized by thin, nutrient-poor soil and abundant surface water. Efforts to drain the land for agriculture met with limited success and the old canals are now used to manage water levels within the preserve; in fact, the name of the refuge is a Native American term meaning "Land of Yellow Water," reflecting coloration from its high mineral content.
Established in 1939, this 44,000 acre refuge harbors a mosaic of sedge meadows, lakes, wetlands, bogs, grasslands and scattered parcels of forest; the latter are dominated by aspen, jack pine and Hill's oak, giving the visitor a taste of the great Northwoods. To many, Necedah is best known for its role in re-establishing an eastern flock of whooping cranes, a project that began in 2001. The refuge has also been instrumental in returning the trumpeter swan to Wisconsin and is home to other rare species such as the Karner blue butterfly and Blanding's turtle. Nesting birds of note include sandhill cranes, trumpeter swans, bald eagles, ospreys, northern goshawks, common loons, least bitterns, soras, black terns, northern saw-whet owls, sedge wrens, bobolinks, golden-winged warblers and swamp sparrows.
Necedah National Wildlife Refuge is also a hunting ground for the southern-most pack of North American gray wolves and offers prime habitat for badgers, porcupines and white-tailed deer. Access to this vast preserve is via a network of sand-gravel roadways; the primary entry road, which leads to the refuge office, cuts north from State Highway 21, a few miles west of the town of Necedah.
