Ways to Get Involved
Whether you want to further conservation, learn more about nature or share your love of the outdoors, you’ve come to the right place! National wildlife refuges provide many opportunities for you to help your community, fish and wildlife by doing what you love.
National wildlife refuges partner with volunteers, youth groups, landowners, neighbors, and residents of urban and coastal communities to make a lasting difference.
Find out how you can help make American lands healthier and communities stronger while doing something personally satisfying.
Volunteers: Gain new experiences and meet new people while helping to advance wildlife conservation.
Friends: Join neighbors in helping refuges restore habitat and expand access to green space.
Landowners: Learn how you can partner with the Fish and Wildlife Service to voluntarily restore land
Local Groups: Find out how communities can work with refuges better for wildlife and people.
Youth: Explore paid and unpaid opportunities to learn and develop leadership skills.
Volunteering
Lacreek Refuge happily welcomes volunteers! Contact us and we'll find a project for you based on your interests and our needs. There is no set time commitment. We think volunteering ought to be fun, so arrangements are easy to make!
Please contact:
Todd_Schmidt@fws.gov or Lacreek@fws.gov
605-685-6508
Our Partners
Wildlife does not recognize human-made boundaries. In order to conserve our natural and cultural resources effectively, we must work with others to bridge these boundaries. Partnerships foster creative solutions to challenging situations and often the results are greater than the sum of the parts.
The National Wildlife Refuge System is committed to building partnerships which encourage conservation and preservation of our natural and cultural resources. Partnerships with the Refuge System bring innovative approaches to solving land management and water disputes in the most environmentally protective manner. Scientifically informed and technologically-based stewardship of our public lands, waters, wildlife and special places must be collaborative efforts between the Refuge System, other government agencies, and private organizations if conservation efforts are to succeed.
The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is to work with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish and wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service's Partners for Fish and Wildlife program helps accomplish this mission by offering technical and financial assistance to private (non-federal) landowners to voluntarily restore wetlands and other fish and wildlife habitats on their land. The program emphasizes the reestablishment of native vegetation and ecological communities for the benefit of fish and wildlife in concert with the needs and desires of private landowners.
Lacreek National Wildlife Refuge plays an active role in promoting the Service's Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program in western South Dakota. The private lands program at the Refuge is working with landowners, local Natural Resource Conservation Service and Conservation District offices in a seven county region which includes Bennett, Haakon, Jackson, Jones, Lyman, Mellette, and Pennington Counties. Currently, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, South Dakota Fish, Game and Parks, and Ducks Unlimited are serving as funding partners to help finance private landowner wetland creations. Any landowner living in the seven counties listed above interested in participating in thePartners for Fish and Wildlife program can call the Refuge Private Lands Biologist at (605) 685-6508 and ask for further assistance.
Education Programs
College and university educators bring their research students to the Refuge to engage in studies with insects, aquatic species, and plants. Students also visit in relation to thesis work and gain experience relevant to their college degree. If you're looking for a location to study or put time in towards course credit, please call! Younger students also begin their outdoor education at the Refuge on school trips. Due to limited staff availability, we may not be able to actively engage with your group, but we will certainly answer questions about the Refuge and potential areas of interest. Please email Lacreek@fws.gov.
