Big Muddy National Fish & Wildlife Refuge, Missouri

The pre-development Missouri River as documented by Lewis and Clark was considerably different from today's river. The historic Missouri was a broad, slow-moving, shallow river with braided channels. To put it in perspective, Lewis and Clark didn't float up the Missouri River, they pulled and poled their boats up. These past river conditions created a haven for wildlife, which included vast floodplain forests of giant trees, marshes, and even wet prairies. Today's river is channelized. It is deeper and faster, and controlled by levees, dikes, and other containment structures. These controls make the river more navigable and the surrounding floodplain ideal for agriculture.

The Big Muddy Refuge is allowing the Missouri River to be a river again. In locations where we have acquired enough land and are not affecting preferred conditions of adjacent private lands, we are allowing the river to enter its floodplain. This occurs during minor flood events. We have created side channels, cut down levees, and allowed the floodplain vegetation to return. Currently, in many places the refuge is an impenetrable thicket of young trees and vegetation, but, as the trees grow and the refuge matures, its appearance will change. The process may take decades or even centuries, but we are committed to the future benefit of fish and wildlife resources in the Missouri River floodplain. Come grow with us.