DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge spans 8,362 acres along the Missouri River on the Iowa-Nebraska border near Blair, Nebraska. Established in 1958, it preserves river-bottom habitat centered on DeSoto Lake, a seven-mile oxbow created after channelization shifted the river’s main course in 1960. The refuge is an important stop along the Central Flyway, supporting major migrations and diverse resident wildlife. Once heavily used for boating and watersports, it is now managed more firmly for habitat, with limited public access through trails, permit hunting, and fishing. It also preserves the history of the steamboat Bertrand, whose 1865 wreck yielded more than 500,000 recovered artifacts after its excavation in 1968.