Mille Lacs National Wildlife Refuge

Mille Lacs National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1915 and is known as the smallest refuge in the National Wildlife Refuge System. The refuge is comprised of two small islands (0.57 acres total) over a mile from shore on Lake Mille Lacs in north-central Minnesota. The islands are boulder and gravel outcrops important for colonial nesting birds, including common terns, ring-billed and herring gulls, and double-crested cormorants. The refuge harbors one of only four common tern breeding colonies (a state threatened species) in Minnesota.