Attention: Mark Twain NWR has been reorganized, and no longer exists by that name.
Brief Station History
Following construction of the lock and dam system in the 1940's, several wildlife management units were designated along the river between the Quad Cities and St. Louis from Corps of Engineers owned property. Those units were initially administered by the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge out of Winona, MN. In 1958 those “Divisions” and other designated areas were consolidated and Mark Twain National Wildlife Refuge was established. In subsequent years other lands were acquired, which resulted in over 45,000 acres scattered along 345 miles of the Mississippi River and short distances up the Illinois and Iowa rivers.
In 2000, Mark Twain NWR was split into five separate National Wildlife Refuges - Port Louisa NWR, Great River NWR, Clarence Cannon NWR, Two Rivers NWR, and Middle Mississippi River NWR. The former Refuge Headquarters, located in Quincy, IL, retained the Mark Twain name as a Refuge “Complex” administration office.
In early 2009, the Quincy office was closed and oversight for these five Refuges shifted back to the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge in Winona, MN.
![Photo of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain), three-quarter length portrait, seated, facing slightly right, holding pipe. Created [between 1900 and 1910], c1941. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.](images/mark_twain.jpg) |
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The Mississippi River - "The face of the water, in time, became a wonderful book - a book that was a dead language to the uneducated passenger, but which told its mind to me without reserve, delivering its most cherished secrets as clearly as if it uttered them with a voice. And it was not a book to be read once and thrown aside, for it had a new story to tell every day." -- Mark Twain; |
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is an agency of the Department of the Interior. Our mission is working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish and wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.
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Equal opportunity to participate in, and benefit from, programs of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is available to all individuals regardless of age, race, color, national origin, religion, sex, or disability. Persons who believe that they have been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should contact:
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