Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge

The Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife & Fish Refuge (Refuge) Winona offices recently recognized Beverly Spande of Winona, MN as the 2020 Volunteer of the Year. Bev has contributed hundreds of hours since she started volunteering for the Refuge in 1996. She is a mainstay of the annual Youth Ice Fishing event and fishing and…

Although we aren’t able to offer the Swan Watch this year, we hope that you are out and about enjoying the annual visit of the Tundra Swan. News8000.com ran a nice story that we wanted to share with you: www.news8000.com/flight-of-the-tundra-swan/

The City of Winona, Minnesota (City) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge (Refuge) entered into a 25 year Lease Agreement to manage the lands and waters of Aghaming Park in March 2018. Under this agreement, the City maintains ownership of 1,139 acres of lands donated to…

The Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge (Refuge) announced that Refuge special use permits and trap tags for the 2020-2021 furbearer trapping season will be issued by mail. Trappers who received trap tags and returned their fur catch report for the 2019-2020 season will receive instructions for obtaining their permit and tags at…

This year the trapping auction at the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge will be run a little differently than it has in past years. In the interest and safety of trappers and staff we will not be holding a public gathering to auction the units so we’ll be setting up a bidding process by mail to…

Friends and Volunteers, we are experiencing an inundation of yet another invasive species known as flowering rush. Like many other invasive plants, it is beautiful but detrimental. Below is a news release and a photo of the plant. If you are on the river and see it, please let us know the location but, as…

The 4th of July is just around the corner.  If you are heading to the Mississippi River for a boating or camping trip, just a reminder – no fireworks are allowed on the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge (Refuge) because of their disturbance to wildlife as well as the litter they leave behind. …

We hope everyone is well and enjoying the outdoors as much as possible. We at the Refuge have been assured that field work will start up again in the near future and perhaps will lead to some volunteer opportunities once again. Unfortunately, we have cancelled all of the regular fishing events with Project Compass for…

Friends and Volunteers, I hope this message finds you in good health and spirits. In my last message I said we were moving and we are now officially at 102 Walnut Street. Unfortunately, the open house/party will need to wait as none of us have been allowed to work on-site to unpack boxes or put…