Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a

National Wildlife Refuge The National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) is a system of protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), an agency within the United States Department of the Interior, Department of the Interi ...

established in 1937 and located in Chariton County,

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, south of the town of

Sumner Sumner may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Sumner, a mountain in the Rare Range, Antarctica * Sumner Glacier, southern Graham Land, Antarctica Australia * Sumner, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane New Zealand * Sumner, New Zealand, a seasi ...

. It is located near the confluence of the Grand and

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

s. Following the purchase of the land, the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

began work on the refuge creating

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s, constructing roads and buildings, and initiating the refuge farming program. The primary purpose of the refuge is to provide nesting, resting, and feeding areas for waterfowl, primarily ducks. Two hundred and forty-one avian species have been observed residing on or passing through the refuge; another fourteen birds, listed under accidentals on th
bird list
have been reported but are not normally expected to be present. An important secondary purpose was to preserve a remnant flock of prairie chickens. However, adequate grassland habitat to maintain a viable population of these birds was not available. Since establishment of the refuge, the primary emphasis on waterfowl species has been expanded to include the Eastern Prairie Population of

Canada geese The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), sometimes called Canadian goose, is a large species of goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North ...

. Canada geese were first observed using the refuge in the early 1940s, and numbers increased gradually to peak populations over 200,000 birds annually. Although these populations have steadily declined, Swan Lake is still considered a primary wintering area for Canada geese.

References

Refuge website
{{authority control National Wildlife Refuges in Missouri Protected areas of Chariton County, Missouri Protected areas established in 1937 Civilian Conservation Corps in Missouri Wetlands of Missouri Bodies of water of Chariton County, Missouri