Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge

In the Spring of 1847 William Clayton and Orson Pratt, among the first white men to travel into Nebraska’s Sandhills region, gazed out over the unbroken grass-covered sand dunes extending to the horizon and described them as a “tumultuous confusion of ocean waves” and looking like “large drifts of snow”.  One hundred and sixty eight years later I could describe the still-intact vista before me in those same terms.  While much of the Sandhills region of the western part of the state has been plowed, fenced and bulldozed, a large remnant has avoided this fate and remains relatively pristine within the boundaries of Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

While thousands of pioneers passed through the region on the nearby Mormon Trail few stayed, passing on in their relentless march to the gold fields and plains further west.  A few hardy souls elected to stay and try their hands at ranching or farming but the Sandhills were never heavily populated.  So in 1931 the establishment of Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge met with little resistance or little fanfare.

The refuge was established to conserve waterfowl populations, a goal which it has achieved to a spectacular degree and my primary reason for being here.  After hearing tales of the raw nature of the place, the huge numbers of waterfowl, raptors and other birds and healthy herds of pronghorn antelope and mule and white-tailed deer I had to make the trek to check it out myself.  Which is how I found myself standing atop a 400-foot high hill near the refuge headquarters building.
The vista below me is stunning--I gaze 360 degrees to the horizon and do not spy a single dwelling.  As far as the eye can see the ground gently undulates with smooth swales and grassy dunes.  Here and there small lakes and wetlands sparkle in the sunlight. But here’s what I don’t see: campsites, picnic tables, pavilions, toilet facilities.  Also, nowhere do I see another human.  In other words, this is not a place for casual visitors and tourists looking for a free and easy day with a touch of nature.  This is the outdoors at its untouched best and it’s hard not to get nostalgic when scanning this primitive land.  The 45,849 acres of the refuge are isolated and lonesome.  If you want to escape the madding crowd this is the place.

Refuge manager Rod Wittenberg says the refuge is lightly visited.  “We get a good number of hunters—pheasant and deer hunters, and a small but steady number of fishermen,” he says.  “And it is popular with birdwatchers. But it is very remote so we don’t get a lot of spur-of-the-moment visitors.”  He is right; the refuge is a long drive from almost anywhere,  The two nearest towns are Oshkosh and Alliance and either gateway town requires a 20 mile drive over gravel two-lane—and in some places one-lane—roads.

So after a leisurely drive from Oshkosh I set out to explore the far reaches of the refuge.  Not an easy task because the land is not inviting.  The Sandhills live up to their name, the shifting and seemingly bottomless sand presenting a challenge to even four wheel drive vehicles.  There are a limited number of two track roads into the heart of the refuge and they should be attacked carefully—miring up to your axle is easy.  So I opted to pull on my hiking boots and hike into the hinterlands.  Even this is not a piece of cake because hiking the dunes and swales is an arduous task since you sink into the soft sand with every step.  And there are few hiking trails so you are hiking off-trail.

But it’s all worth the effort.  The refuge provides nesting habitat, overwintering home and a migration stop for 275 bird species. If you are a birder you will delight at the numbers of waterfowl that include a dozen varieties of ducks, greater white-fronted geese, tundra swans, eared and western grebes and American bitterns and white pelicans.  Avid birders can easily spot ring-necked pheasant, bald eagles, sharp-tailed grouse and burrowing owls.

In addition to the birdlife, the refuge is home to coyotes, swift fox, white-tailed and mule deer, pronghorns and muskrat.