National Wildlife Refuge |10630 Road 181 Ellsworth, NE 69340
Phone Number: 308-762-4893 |Visit the Refuge's Web Site:
|Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a vast sea of mixed-
grass habitats with wetlands found where the sandhills dip below
the water table.| Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge
Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is located
approximately 28 miles north of Oshkosh, Nebraska. The Refuge
was established in 1931 to help conserve waterfowl populations.
It is located at the eastern edge of the Nebraska panhandle in
Garden County, on the southwestern edge of the 19,000 square
mile Nebraska sandhills. The sandhills are characterized by
continuous grass and forb-covered dunes and swales and are
considered to be the largest body of sand in the world that is
not a desert. Where the swales dip below the water table, sub-
irrigated meadows, marshes, and lakes have formed. In most
cases, no stream systems exist between wetlands. Many lakes are
maintained solely by underground water sources.