Horicon National Wildlife Refuge
In 1927, the state legislature, after pressure from conservationists beginning in 1921, passed the Horicon Marsh Wildlife Refuge Bill, providing for the construction of a dam to raise the water to normal levels and for the acquisition of the land by the government. During the 1940s, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service bought the northern portions of the marsh.
Presently, the marsh is 32,000 acres (130 km2) in area, most of it open water and cattail marsh. The southern third, approximately 11,000 acres (45 km2), forms the Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area (sometimes just Horicon Marsh Wildlife Area or, locally, the "State Area") which was established as a nesting area for waterfowl and resting area for migratory birds. Millions of waterfowl, including over 200,000 Canada geese, migrate through the marsh. It is owned by the state of Wisconsin and controlled by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
The northern two-thirds, approximately 21,400 acres (87 km2), forms the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge (locally called the "Federal Refuge"). Originally created as a nesting area for the redhead duck, it is controlled by the Fish and Wildlife Service.
The refuges are known for their many species of birds, especially ducks, great blue herons, and Canada geese (which have become increasingly common since the 1980s), as well as fish, frogs, snakes, turtles, mammals, insects and plants.
Horicon Marsh was designated a Ramsar site on December 4, 1990.
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