Lake Andes Wetland Management District

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Lake Andes Wetland Management District
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
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Location South Dakota, United States
Nearest city Lake Andes, SD
Coordinates 43°10′58″N98°26′49″W / 43.18278°N 98.44694°W / 43.18278; -98.44694 Coordinates: 43°10′58″N98°26′49″W / 43.18278°N 98.44694°W / 43.18278; -98.44694
Area 82,731 acres (334 km2)
Established 1961
Governing body U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Website Lake Andes Wetland Management District

Lake Andes Wetland Management District is located in the U.S. state of South Dakota and includes 82,731 acres (334 km2). The refuge is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Of the land area in the district, the U.S. Government owns only 19,177 acres (77.6 km2), while the remaining area is managed as an easement to help protect Waterfowl Production Areas from future development. The district oversees numerous wetland zones in an effort to ensure species protection. During Spring and Fall migration periods, tens of thousands of migratory birds can be found here, representing over 100 different species. The district is a part of the Lake Andes National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Bald eagles, northern pintail, mallards, snow geese, great grey owl, American kestrel, red-tailed hawk and prairie chicken are some of the more impressive bird species that can be found in the district.

U.S. state constituent political entity of the United States

In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are currently 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory and shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders. Four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names.

South Dakota State of the United States of America

South Dakota is a U.S. state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who compose a large portion of the population and historically dominated the territory. South Dakota is the seventeenth largest by area, but the fifth smallest by population and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. As the southern part of the former Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889, simultaneously with North Dakota. Pierre is the state capital and Sioux Falls, with a population of about 187,200, is South Dakota's largest city.

Wetland A land area that is permanently or seasonally saturated with water

A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is inundated by water, either permanently or seasonally, where oxygen-free processes prevail. The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other land forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil. Wetlands play a number of functions, including water purification, water storage, processing of carbon and other nutrients, stabilization of shorelines, and support of plants and animals. Wetlands are also considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to a wide range of plant and animal life. Whether any individual wetland performs these functions, and the degree to which it performs them, depends on characteristics of that wetland and the lands and waters near it. Methods for rapidly assessing these functions, wetland ecological health, and general wetland condition have been developed in many regions and have contributed to wetland conservation partly by raising public awareness of the functions and the ecosystem services some wetlands provide.

Various mammal species inhabit the region, including white-tailed deer, coyote, and badger, muskrat which are all relatively common in the district.

Mammal class of tetrapods

Mammals are vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia, and characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex, fur or hair, and three middle ear bones. These characteristics distinguish them from reptiles and birds, from which they diverged in the late Triassic, 201–227 million years ago. There are around 5,450 species of mammals. The largest orders are the rodents, bats and Soricomorpha. The next three are the Primates, the Cetartiodactyla, and the Carnivora.

White-tailed deer species of mammal

The white-tailed deer, also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced to New Zealand, Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, the Lesser Antilles, and some countries in Europe, such as Finland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Serbia. In the Americas, it is the most widely distributed wild ungulate.

Coyote species of mammal

The Coyote, Canis latrans, is a canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological niche as the golden jackal does in Eurasia, though it is larger and more predatory, and is sometimes called the American jackal by zoologists.

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