Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge
Encyclopedia
Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge is the oldest National Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuge is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the world's premiere system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife and plants...
in the state of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, having been established in 1935. It is located about twenty miles (32 km) south of Muleshoe
Muleshoe, Texas
Muleshoe is a small city in Bailey County, Texas, United States. The town of Muleshoe was founded in 1913 when the Pecos and Northern Texas Railway built an line from Farwell, Texas to Lubbock through northern Bailey County. In 1926, Muleshoe was incorporated. The population was 5,158 at the 2010...
, the seat of Bailey County
Bailey County, Texas
Bailey County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2010, the population is 7,165. Its county seat is Muleshoe. Bailey is named for Peter James Bailey, a defender of the Alamo...
. It is some fifteen miles (24 km) north of Morton
Morton, Texas
Morton is a town in Cochran County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,249 at the 2000 census. The population has been in steady decline since the 1960s and is estimated to have dropped by approximately 15% from the 2000 number when the 2010 Census is completed. Morton is the county seat of...
on Texas State Highway 214
Texas State Highway 214
State Highway 214 or SH 214 is a Texas state highway that runs from Adrian to Seminole.-History:The route was originally designated in 1938 from Muleshoe to Morton, and was extended from Friona to Seminole in 1939. The section from Friona south to Muleshoe was removed in 1940, only to be...
.
The refuge includes several intermittent salt lakes, some of which have been modified to extend their wet periods. Paul's Lake, on the east side of Highway 214, is spring fed, and hosts wildlife during times when the other lakes are dry.
The 5000 acres (20.2 km²) refuge is a stop for migratory waterfowl flying between Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. If sufficient water is present, during the winter it hosts tens of thousands of sandhill crane
Sandhill Crane
The Sandhill Crane is a large crane of North America and extreme northeastern Siberia. The common name of this bird references habitat like that at the Platte River, on the edge of Nebraska's Sandhills in the American Midwest...
s. The largest number of cranes ever recorded was 250,000, during February, 1981.
The cranes are most visible at dawn and at dusk, as they leave the lakes during the day to feed in nearby fields.
Other wildlife includes wood warbler
Wood Warbler
The Wood Warbler is a common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe, and just into the extreme west of Asia in the southern Ural Mountains...
s, meadowlark
Meadowlark
Meadowlarks are birds belonging to the genus Sturnella in the New World family Icteridae.This genus includes seven species of largely insectivorous grassland birds...
s, raptor
Bird of prey
Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as birds that primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
s, burrowing owl
Burrowing Owl
The Burrowing Owl is a tiny but long-legged owl found throughout open landscapes of North and South America. Burrowing Owls can be found in grasslands, rangelands, agricultural areas, deserts, or any other open dry area with low vegetation. They nest and roost in burrows, such as those excavated...
s, blacktailed prairie dog
Prairie dog
Prairie dogs are burrowing rodents native to the grasslands of North America. There are five different species of prairie dogs: black-tailed, white-tailed, Gunnison's, Utah and Mexican prairie dogs. They are a type of ground squirrel, found in the United States, Canada and Mexico...
s, jackrabbits, cottontail rabbit
Cottontail rabbit
The cottontail rabbits are among the 16 lagomorph species in the genus Sylvilagus, found in the Americas.In appearance, most cottontail rabbits closely resemble the wild European Rabbit...
s, coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
s, and badger
Badger
Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the weasel family, Mustelidae. There are nine species of badger, in three subfamilies : Melinae , Mellivorinae , and Taxideinae...
s.
The prairie
Prairie
Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
ecosystem includes plant life such as wildflower
Wildflower
A wildflower is a flower that grows wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. Yet "wildflower" meadows of a few mixed species are sold in seed packets. The term "wildflower" has been made vague by commercial seedsmen who are interested in selling more flowers or seeds more...
s, grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
es, yucca
Yucca
Yucca is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40-50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flowers. They are native to the hot and dry parts of North...
, cacti
Cacti
-See also:* RRDtool The underlying software upon which Cacti is built* MRTG The original Multi Router Traffic Grapher from which RRDtool was "extracted".* Munin -External links:******...
, and mesquite
Mesquite
Mesquite is a leguminous plant of the Prosopis genus found in northern Mexico through the Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan Deserts, and up into the Southwestern United States as far north as southern Kansas, west to the Colorado Desert in California,and east to the eastern fifth of Texas, where...
. Rangeland management techniques include controlled burning and grazing.
Northeast of White Lake is a small area of white gypsum
Gypsum
Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...
dunes, similar to those found at White Sands National Monument
White Sands National Monument
The White Sands National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located about southwest of Alamogordo in western Otero County and northeastern Dona Ana County in the state of New Mexico, at an elevation of 4235 feet...
in New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, though these are much less expansive.
See also
- Grulla National Wildlife RefugeGrulla National Wildlife RefugeGrulla National Wildlife Refuge is located primarily in eastern New Mexico in Roosevelt County, southwest of the intersection of State Highway 88 and the Texas - New Mexico border about 25 miles southeast of Portales, New Mexico and southeast of the tiny community of Arch...
- Buffalo Lake National Wildlife RefugeBuffalo Lake National Wildlife RefugeNot to be confused with Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge Once buffalo grazed the shortgrass prairie seen today at Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Randall County of the Texas Panhandle. Once a lake reflected the clouds. The buffalo vanished. The lake has dried...
- Blackwater DrawBlackwater DrawBlackwater Draw is a dry stream channel about long, heading in Curry County, New Mexico, about southwest of Texico, New Mexico and trending generally southeastward across the Llano Estacado to the city of Lubbock, Texas, where it joins Yellow House Draw to form Yellow House Canyon at the head of...
- Llano EstacadoLlano EstacadoLlano Estacado , commonly known as the Staked Plains, is a region in the Southwestern United States that encompasses parts of eastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas, including the South Plains and parts of the Texas Panhandle...