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Necedah National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
Necedah National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
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Necedah National Wildlife Refuge is a 43,696-acre (177 km2) National Wildlife Refuge located in northern Juneau County, Wisconsin near the village of Necedah. It was established in 1939 and is famous as the northern nesting site for reintroduction of an eastern United States population of the endangered Whooping Crane. Other threatened or rare species at the site include the Karner Blue butterfly, massasauga rattlesnake, Blanding's Turtle, and gray wolf.
Nestled in central Wisconsin is a landscape that was epitomized by early homesteaders as the Great Wisconsin Swamp. A mosaic habitat of sedge meadow, savanna, prairie, and pine-oak forest established in 1939, Necedah National Wildlife Refuge is home to ringed boghaunter dragonflies, whooping cranes, trumpeter swans, wolves, Karner blue butterflies, badgers, and red-headed woodpeckers. Necedah National Wildlife Refuge has one of the largest savanna restorations taking place in Wisconsin. These efforts have provided habitat for more than 110 species of migratory birds, three species of amphibians, 14 types of reptiles, and more than 44 species of butterflies in central Wisconsin The restorations on the refuge are invaluable to the continued survival of many of these species such as the state threatened Blanding’s turtle; federally endangered Karner blue butterfly and whooping crane; red-headed woodpecker, golden-winged warbler, and bobolink. The refuge also has a successful reintroduction record with the release of Canada geese in1939, wild turkey in 1952, mallards in the 1960s, trumpeter swan in 1994, and is currently working to restore an experimental population of whooping cranes. The Friends of Necedah National Wildlife Refuge help provide visitors with an opportunity to view whooping cranes, sandhill cranes, Karner blue butterflies, whitetail deer, turkeys, red-headed woodpeckers, wolves, swans, migratory wildfowl, songbirds and black bear. 
Located at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center
Necedah National Wildlife Refuge
N11385 Headquarters Rd. Necedah, WI 54646 Phone: 608-565-2551 |
