Cokeville Meadows National Wildlife Refuge

After the refuge made the first acquisitions of private lands from willing sellers, our biologists and managers worked with maintenance staff from Seedskadee and neighboring refuges, as well as contractors and neighbors, to re-vamp and update irrigation canals, dikes, and structures to ensure effective irrigation continues to provide quality wildlife habitat. Currently, the refuge has one employee who splits time with Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge, which lies 90 miles east of Cokeville Meadows. We rely heavily upon our neighbors and permitees to complete much of the day-to-day management and maintenance on the refuge.  Permitees, usually neighboring ranchers or former owners, lease part of the refuge through special use permits for farming, haying and/or grazing. Fence repairs, plowing, planting, cutting and baling hay, moving cattle, and more are all done by our permitees to help us accomplish our wildlife habitat treatments and goals.  Cooperation with neighbors has been the key to providing the best wildlife habitat we can on the refuge. 

Maintenance staff from Seedskadee, Partners for Wildlife biologists, Wyoming State Engineers Staff, neighbors, permitees, Wyoming Game and Fish staff, Ducks Unlimited, Lincoln County Weed and Pest, NRCS, Lincoln County Conservation District and many others have all had a hand in some part of opening the refuge to the public, improving irrigation management and infrastructure, ensuring water rights are held and correct ones are filed, helping hunters find information to inform their hunt on the refuge, ensuring grazing/haying/farming continues to be an integral part of future of refuge management, and helping plan the future of refuge management. As a relatively new refuge, we are still in the process of providing improved opportunities for the public to get out, enjoy their refuge, and find ways to connect to nature through the refuge. The partnerships we've built are essential to what we've accomplished thus far and the combined efforts of many will continue to move the refuge forward.