About Cokeville Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
Cokeville Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is a relatively new addition to the public lands of Wyoming. In 1992 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service completed the studies and assessments needed to fulfill NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act of 1969) requirements to start a wildlife refuge. The first land purchase from a private rancher in 1994 officially established Cokeville Meadows as a unit within the National Wildlife Refuge System. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was authorized to acquire up to 27,000 acres within the Bear River Valley south of Cokeville to the Utah border. Today the refuge has grown to just under 6,500 acres of wet meadows, riparian area, farm ground and sagebrush uplands. These acres are managed primarily for wildlife, with other uses - such as hunting, hiking, wildlife observation, interpretation, and wildlife photography being allowed as long as those uses are compatible with or help us achieve wildlife habitat goals. Another 2,800 acres are held in conservation easements, which will preserve the land as a working landscape and ensure its value as open space remain available to wildlife. The value of the wildlife habitat provided along the Bear River through Lincoln County is top notch waterbird habitat for Wyoming. This type of shallowly flooded wet meadow and semi-permanent water habitat might not have been so extensive had it not been for the area's early settlers, who build the extensive water delivery system. Dave Lockman explained it best in his 1984 paper which assessed wetland wildlife values along the Bear River in Lincoln County, Wyoming. “Prior to development of the water conveyance systems, it was surmised that the zone of seasonal flooding was much less than that observed today. Based on flow data from more recent years, flooding from the Bear River channel occurred for only a short time in late May through mid-June in most years. A high water table and short periods of flooding probably resulted in extensive acres of alka
