Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge is located in western Sweetwater County in 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 Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

and includes 26,400 acres (106 km²). Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is located in southwestern Wyoming. The refuge is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The Shoshone

Shoshone

The Shoshone or Shoshoni are a Native American tribe in the United States with three large divisions: the Northern, the Western and the Eastern....

Indians inhabited the region since the year 1300 and the current name is a derivative of the Shoshone language word "Sisk-a-dee-agie", which translated means "river of the prairie hen". The refuge lies along the banks of the Green River

Green River (Utah)

The Green River, located in the western United States, is the chief tributary of the Colorado River. The watershed of the river, known as the Green River Basin, covers parts of Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. The Green River is long, beginning in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming and flowing...

for a distance of 36 miles (56 km) and the river provides a water source for shrubs and cottonwood trees which flourish in an otherwise arid region. The refuge area was first visited by white explorers in 1811 and was later a crossroads for the Oregon

Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...

and Mormon Trail

Mormon Trail

The Mormon Trail or Mormon Pioneer Trail is the 1,300 mile route that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveled from 1846 to 1868...

s; many of the original wagon tracks left by early pioneers can still be seen.

The refuge was established in 1965 to mitigate wildlife habitat loss resulting from the construction of Fontenelle Dam

Fontenelle Dam

Fontenelle Dam was built between 1961 and 1964 on the Green River in southwestern Wyoming. The high zoned earthfill dam impounds the Fontenelle Reservoir. The dam and reservoir are the central features of the Seedskadee Project of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the Fontenelle...

upstream and Flaming Gorge Dam

Flaming Gorge Dam

The Flaming Gorge Dam is a concrete thin-arch dam in the Flaming Gorge of the Green River, a major tributary of the Colorado River, in the U.S. state of Utah. One of the largest dams in the American West, Flaming Gorge Dam forms the Flaming Gorge Reservoir, which extends into southern Wyoming,...

downstream on the Green River.

220 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

of birds have been identified on the refuge including migratory bird species that use the refuge for nesting. Trumpeter swan

Trumpeter Swan

The Trumpeter Swan, Cygnus buccinator, is the largest native North American bird, if measured in terms of weight and length, and is the largest living waterfowl species on earth. It is the North American counterpart of the European Whooper Swan.-Description:Males typically measure from and weigh...

s, Bald eagle

Bald Eagle

The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...

s, Sage grouse

Sage Grouse

The Sage Grouse is the largest grouse in North America, where it is known as the Greater Sage-Grouse. Its range is sagebrush country in the western United States and southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. A population of smaller birds, known in the U.S. as Gunnison Sage-Grouse, were recently...

, and numerous species of duck

Duck

Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...

s can be found. Dozens of species of mammal

Mammal

Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

s including coyote

Coyote

The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...

, porcupine

Porcupine

Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that defend or camouflage them from predators. They are indigenous to the Americas, southern Asia, and Africa. Porcupines are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and the beaver. Most porcupines are about long, with...

, pronghorn

Pronghorn

The pronghorn is a species of artiodactyl mammal endemic to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is often known colloquially in North America as the prong buck, pronghorn antelope, or simply antelope, as it closely resembles the true antelopes of the Old World and...

, mule deer

Mule Deer

The mule deer is a deer indigenous to western North America. The Mule Deer gets its name from its large mule-like ears. There are believed to be several subspecies, including the black-tailed deer...

, bobcat

Bobcat

The bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae, appearing during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago . With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States...

and moose

Moose

The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...

are indigenous to the region and protected under law. A catch and release program for native fish such as the Cutthroat

Cutthroat trout

The cutthroat trout is a species of freshwater fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. It is one of the many fish species colloquially known as trout...

and Brown trout

Brown trout

The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....

ensures protection of these less common fish species.

Visitors to the refuge should follow Interstate 80

Interstate 80

Interstate 80 is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States, following Interstate 90. It is a transcontinental artery running from downtown San Francisco, California to Teaneck, New Jersey in the New York City Metropolitan Area...

west from Green River, Wyoming

Green River, Wyoming

Green River is a city in and the county seat of Sweetwater County, Wyoming, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 11,808 at the 2000 census....

for 6 miles (9.6 km) to exit 83. Travel north from there on Wyoming Highway 372

Wyoming Highway 372

Wyoming Highway 372 is Wyoming State Road, named La Barge Road, located in Sweetwater and Lincoln counties.-Route description:Wyoming Highway 372 begins its southern end at Wyoming Highway 374, west of James Town, near exit 83 of Interstate 80/U.S. Route 30. Highway 372 travels northwesterly,...

for 27 miles (43 km) to the refuge main entrance.

See also