Optima National Wildlife Refuge is a 4,333-acre protected area in the middle of the Oklahoma Panhandle, encompassing grasslands and wooded bottomland along the Coldwater Creek arm of the Optima Lake project. In the surrounding area, it is paired with the larger, state-managed Optima Wildlife Management Area, which covers 8,062 acres on the Beaver River arm of the same lake project. Together these two areas create a protected landscape around different arms of Optima Lake, with the national refuge serving a central role in conserving habitat.