The Hewitt Lake National Wildlife Refuge is located in the northern region of the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

. This refuge is a part of the Bowdoin Wetland Management District (WMD), and is unstaffed. The refuge consists of 1,680 acres (6.8 km²) of which only half is federally owned, while the rest is an easement

Easement refuge

An easement refuge is a special type of National Wildlife Refuge under the auspices of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.On an easement refuge, the Refuge boundaries encompass private land but the Fish and Wildlife Service does not own the land...

 with local landowners. The refuge is managed from Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge

Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge

Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge is located in the U.S. state of Montana. Bowdoin NWR was established in 1936 as a migratory bird refuge. It is located in the short and mixed grass prairie region of North-central Montana and encompasses . The Refuge lies about northeast of Malta in the Milk River...

. Set aside as a protected area for migratory birds and other wildlife, the refuge consists of a small and shallow lake which is dry on occasion. The alkaline waters of the lake support little vegetation cover except near an earthen dam.