Introduction
The United States Congress designated the Chase Lake Wilderness (
map) in 1975 and it now has a total of
4,155 acres.
All of this wilderness is located in
North Dakota and is managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Description
If you were to tally up all of the white pelicans that nest on two islands in this isolated alkali lake, you'd find more than 20,000, one of the largest colonies in North America. That figure is all the more impressive (and heartening) when you consider that only 50 birds inhabited the region when the area was officially slated for protection in 1908. Birders may observe these creatures from a rise near the lake, but the islands themselves are strictly off-limits. In addition to pelicans, you may encounter ducks, geese, swans, sharp-tailed grouse, ring-necked pheasants, gulls, cormorants, white-tailed deer, and many smaller mammals. Facilities are not available on site, and camping is not permitted. Of the 4,385 acres of Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge, 230 (separated from the rest of the refuge by a powerline) were not designated as Wilderness. The lake itself takes up more than half of the area; the remaining acreage is grassland and wetland with very few trees.
