RED ROCK LAKES NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
RED ROCK LAKES NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is primarily a high elevation mountain wetland-riparian area. Red Rock Creek flows through the upper end of the Centennial Valley, within which the Refuge lies, creating the impressive Upper Red Rock Lake, River Marsh, and Lower Red Rock Lake marshlands. The rugged Centennial Mountains border the Refuge on the south, catching the snows of winter that replenish the Refuge's lakes and marshes. Red Rock Creek is near the headwaters of the Missouri River. This minimally-altered natural and diverse habitat provides for species such as trumpeter swans, moose, sandhill cranes, curlews, peregrine falcons, eagles, numerous hawks and owls, badgers, wolverines, bears, pronghorn, and wolves (in the backcountry). Native fish such as Arctic grayling and west-slope cutthroat trout thrive in this environment. <P>Red Rock Lakes NWR is designated a National Natural Landmark, as well as one of the few marshland Wilderness Areas in the country. As such, we continue to manage for primitive wilderness values where humans are visitors with minimal permanent impact on the landscape, and where wildlife moves throughout the Refuge with minimal human interaction. Formal trails are not designated or maintained. In keeping with the wilderness spirit, visitors are free to explore the country and follow numerous game trails and tracks made by moose, elk, and deer, and see the country the way wildlife sees it. <P>