Summary

Description

The Master Plan developed for Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge proposed that a refuge administration office and maintenance facility be located on an upland area on the south side of the WilkieRice Lake Unit. This area was selected because of its central location in the refuge and because the area was believed to be one of the few within the designated boundary in the Valley out of the 100year floodplain. A specific site was not selected because of the unknown location of the future Highway 18 river crossing. A secondary and unstated reason for locating the administrative headquarters in that area was in response to a Scott CountyShakopee request that a facility be located in Scott County to offset the proposal for a major Wildlife Interpretation and Education Center in east Bloomington, Minnesota. In other words, the county and city leaders wanted some sort of facility at their end of the refuge, preferably a visitor facility.