DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge

DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge is located midway between the farming communities of Blair, NE, and Missouri Valley, IA, just off of U.S. Highway 30. It lies on the wide plain formed by prehistoric flooding and shifting of the Missouri River. Each spring and fall, spectacular flights of ducks and geese have marked the changing seasons along this traditional waterfowl flyway. Vast changes have taken place in the Missouri River Valley since settlement in the early 1800's. Land clearing, drainage projects, river channelization, and flood control measures have transformed the floodplain from diverse wildlife habitat to fertile farmlands. DeSoto is part of a network of refuges devoted to preserving and restoring increasingly scarce habitat for migratory waterfowl and other wildlife. It serves as a seasonal resting area for up to one-half million waterfowl, primarily lesser snow geese and mallards. It has also become an important wintering area for up to 120 bald eagles. Warblers, gulls, shorebirds, and other species also visit the refuge during the fall and spring migration.

A former oxbow of the Missouri River, DeSoto Lake provides recreational use for up to 350,000 visitors annually. The 1968 excavation of the steamboat Bertrand, which sank in 1865, adds a major historical emphasis to the refuge program. The 200,000 artifacts in the Bertrand Collection provide one of the most significant assemblages of Civil War era artifacts in the Missouri River region. The DeSoto Visitor Center, opened in 1981, exhibits much of the Bertrand Collection and contains interpretive displays on the historical development of the Missouri River Basin, the ecological impacts of that development, and the natural history of the area and its wildlife.

Boyer Chute NWR, which is located approximately 4 miles southeast of DeSoto NWR on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River, is managed by DeSoto under an agreement with Region 6.

Visitor Opportunities
DeSoto is open year-round except Christmas, New Years, Easter, and Thanksgiving Days during daylight hours only. Most of the refuge is closed to visitation during the winter to minimize disturbance to wintering eagle, waterfowl and resident wildlife populations during this especially stressing time of year. The North Entrance, off U.S. Highway 30, is open year-round. The South Entrance, at the end of SR 362, is open during the spring and summer. An entrance fee of $3/vehicle/day or $10/vehicle/year is required. A Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp (Duck Stamp) will also satisfy the fee requirement and disabled and senior citizen passes are available.

DeSoto's Visitor Center, a 26,000 square-foot, five-million-dollar building, was opened in 1981. It is the permanent home of the Bertrand Collection and contains exhibits interpreting the importance of the Bertrand, as well as the historical development of the Missouri River basin and the resulting ecological changes. The facility overlooks DeSoto Lake. Large viewing areas provide excellent wildlife observation opportunities, especially in November when a half-million or more migrating lesser snow geese may be roosting and loafing on the lake and dozens of bald eagles may be seen feeding on sick and injured waterfowl. A variety of audio-visual equipment provides interpretation on the wildlife, history, and ecology of the refuge and surrounding area. A disabled accessible trail is located just south of the Visitor Center and provides additional viewing opportunities. Several other nature trails are located throughout the refuge. Throughout the year, films, special exhibits, and other programs are presented at the Visitor Center, which hosts an average of 160,000 people annually.

Fishing is allowed in the 788-acre DeSoto Lake during the spring and summer. The lake was renovated in 1985 and restocked with bass, bluegill, northern pike, walleye, crappie, and other species. Although the fishery has begun to decline in recent years due to an increase in the gizzard shad population, good to excellent fishing opportunities still exist. Two disabled accessible piers, one on either end of the oxbow lake, are maintained. Boats are allowed in the lake during the fishing season, but a no-wake speed limit is enforced to protect the shoreline from erosion. Five boat ramps, at three different sites, are maintained. Ice fishing is allowed when conditions permit.

Sixteen miles of paved and gravel roads traverse the refuge. During the fall, an auto tour route, with numbered stops corresponding to a special interpretive brochure, is open. The auto tour goes as far as the Bob Starr Overlook (named after a former volunteer who was exceptionally dedicated to DeSoto Refuge). The overlook is located by the preferred roost site of the snow goose flock. Needless to say, exceptional wildlife viewing opportunities are available at this disabled accessible facility in November.

Other visitor opportunities include, in season, archery and muzzle-loader deer hunting, a controlled waterfowl hunt, and mushroom gathering.

Management Programs
DeSoto's primary wildlife management role is to serve as a stopover area for migrating ducks and geese. During typical years, 500,000 plus lesser snow geese use the refuge as a resting and feeding area during their fall migration. Peak populations of 50,000 or more ducks, mostly mallards, are common on the refuge during the fall migration. Spring waterfowl migration peaks are much smaller.

Managed waterfowl habitat includes two moist soil management units totaling 75 acres and approximately 25 acres of freshwater wetlands maintained by pumping. These areas supplement naturally occurring wetlands and open-water areas on the refuge, which are used by waterfowl.

Nearly 2,000 of the refuges 7,800-plus acres are farmed by neighboring farmers through formal agreements with the refuge. A portion of the crop is left in the field as a supplementary food source for resident wildlife and migratory birds. Over 1,500 acres of agricultural fields on the refuge have been reverted to grasslands since 1965. This trend will continue until the farming program reaches optimum size for serving as a demonstration biological farming program and for providing minimal amounts of high energy grain to refuge wildlife.

In response to the developing mid-continent lesser snow goose overpopulation crisis, and requests from local hunters, the refuge has been reducing the amount of grain made available to geese in recent years to encourage them to feed off refuge where they can be hunted. In conjunction with continent-wide efforts to reduce the snow goose population, the refuge will develop strategies in the coming years to increase the snow goose harvest on the refuge as well.

In addition to reducing the number of cropland acres, grassland reversions provide important nesting habitat and winter shelter for many species of wildlife. They also provide for a more diverse natural area. Prescribed burning and mowing are used to maintain healthy stands of native grasses in these areas.

Directions & Additional Information
From Council Bluffs, Iowa take I-29 north to the Missouri Valley, Iowa exit. Follow the signs west on U.S. Highway 30 to the refuge entrance; the Visitor Center is approximately one mile south along the refuge entrance road.

If you need additional information, please contact the field station directly.

DeSoto NWR
1434 316th Lane
Missouri Valley, IA 51555-7033
Phone (712) 642-4121
Fax (712) 642-2877