Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge Encourages Visitors to ‘Walk for the Wild’

This year, Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge, located northeast of Detroit Lakes in Becker County, introduced a new activity to their park for Wildlife Refuge Week, which runs from October 7 to 15.

Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge will not host a Fall Festival this year, but with their daily, guided “Behind the Gates” walks, there will be plenty of opportunities to appreciate the natural beauty of the 43,000 acres of native plants and animals at the refuge.

“This is the time that we’re really celebrating all of the national wildlife refuges and the nation,” said Kelly Blackledge, Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Services Manager. “There’s over 550 wildlife refuges that support wildlife habitat, places for wildlife to thrive, and people, and that’s where the walk comes into play.”

Wildlife Refuge Week consists of many activities for visitors to enjoy, but the main attraction was the 5K Walk for the Wild, which allows trailblazers to more about Tamarac and support and raise awareness for refuges nationwide.

“Along the way they have inner signs with different questions and facts about Tamarac that you can learn about … and you learn about pine trees and the tamarack tree.” said Dave Schneider, a Friends of Tamarac board member. “And it’s just interesting walk plus exercise and being out in the forest is healthy, anyway.”

And with all the fall colors comes another reason to take that walk.

“This is a neat time to experience wildlife refuges, especially folks that might not otherwise have visited a refuge before,” said Blackledge. “In the fall, we’re kind of seeing the end of the fall, but in Tamarac Refuge, we will start to see another fall color season when we start to see the tamaracks start turning that beautiful gold, so it’s just a beautiful time to visit.”

You can find out information on Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge on their website. More on the 2023 Walk for the Wild, including a map of participating wildlife refuges, can be found here.