INTRODUCTION 
The Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge, with 
headquarters at Winona, Minn., was established by an act of 
Congress on June 7, 1924. This act authorized acquisition of 
284 miles of bottomlands along the Mississippi River from the 
Chippewa River in Wisconsin to Rock Island, Ill. At the present 
time, the Refuge (administered by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries 
and Wildlife, U. S. Department of the Interior) is managing 
194,000 acres of land within the limits defined by the act. This 
includes lands acquired in fee by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries 
and Wildlife, as well as lands made available by transfer from 
the Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, under cooperative agreement. 
In the early 1940's, the Bureau began negotiations with the 
Corps of Engineers for the right to administer the wildlife re- 
sources on lands acquired by the Corps between Rock Island and 
Alton, Ill. The Calhoun Unit, in 1942, was the first unit in 
this reach of the river to be placed under Bureau management. 
As additional lands between Rock Island and Alton came under 
Bureau management, they were also administered as a part of the 
Upper Mississippi Refuge. Ultimately, about 67,695 acres of land 
along that portion of the Mississippi River were made available 
for such purposes. When the last units were added as the result 
of a cooperative agreement in 1954, the Upper Mississippi Refuge 
was administering lands along 561 miles of the Mississippi River, 
roughly between Wabasha, Minn., and Alton, Ill. 
In August 1958, the reach of the river between Rock Island 
and Alton, Ill., was officially separated from the Upper Mississippi 
Refuge. This area was designated as the Mark Twain National Wiid- 
life Refuge, with headquarters at Quincy, Tl. 
Within the combined refuges, 261,695 acres of land are devoted 
to waterfowl management. These include 194,000 acrés on the Upper 
Mississippi Refuge and 67,695 acres on Mark Twain Refuge and lands 
licensed to the States between Rock Island and Alton, Ill. Over 
the entire area, there are 205,292 acres (78.45%) open to public 
hunting and 56,403 acres (21.55%) in sanctuary areas closed to 
hunting. 
