At 6,400 feet in elevation, the Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Idaho is not a lake.
It’s the largest hardstem bulrush marsh in North America that houses the largest breeding population of sandhill cranes in this hemisphere.
And now, there’s more of it.
In 2024, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation worked with a conservation-minded landowner to close a two-phase project to protect and open public access to nearly 2,500 acres of land that overlooks the marsh.
And its wildlife benefits far exceed cranes, migrating waterfowl and the 250 bird species that call the refuge home.
The newly incorporated acreage serves as an elk calving area and prime habitat for moose and mule deer in the warmer months.
It is also part of a larger migration corridor and marsh-to-mountain transition stop-off for 3,000 elk and mule deer that -once the snow files- either head for winter range at the Tex Creek Wildlife Management Area to the north or to the Georgetown Summit Wildlife Management Area to the south.
The improved public access is a boon for hunting, hiking, bird-watching and other recreational activities.
Since 1984 RMEF has opened or improved public access to 1.6 million acres.
To view the sites and boundaries of RMEF land conservation and access projects, turn on the RMEF layer and use the code RMEF when you sign up for your onX subscription to receive a 20% discount.