The View from the Top

From the top, the view west includes giant Canada goose pens and a display pool, where in spring and summer giant Canada geese raise their goslings, with the tree-lined Refuge boundary just beyond. To the east lie the Refuge's shop area and the widest portion of Sand Lake, an important staging area for migrating snow geese in spring and fall. North of the tower, trees are home to many songbirds and a small herd of white-tailed deer, while distant grass fields provide prime nesting habitat for ducks that migrate to the Refuge each year, and adjacent crop fields produce food for resident wildlife such as white-tailed deer and ring-necked pheasants. To the south, the southern expanse of Sand Lake provides marshes full of wildlife, a Refuge residence built by the CCC's in the late 1930s stands below and to the left, and across the lake the eastern side of the Refuge contains productive croplands that feed resident and migrating wildlife.

South Dakota · United States