Marais Des Cygnes NWR - nr Trading Post, KS
N 38° 15.466 W 094° 39.411
15S E 355038 N 4235713
The Marais Des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1992 just east along KS 52 from the US 69 near the MO/KS state line.
Waymark Code: WMGP8K
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 03/27/2013
Views: 8
From the US Fiush and Wildlife website: (
visit link)
"Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge
Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is located 39 miles south of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The 7,500-acre Refuge was established in 1992 to protect one of the most northwestern areas of bottomland hardwood forest in the United States as well as the largest contiguous tract of bottomland hardwood forest in Kansas.
The Refuge is named after the Marais des Cygnes River which runs through the middle of the Refuge and is the dominant natural feature of the region. The term "marais des cygnes" comes from the French language and means "marsh of the swans." It is presumed that trumpeter swans, which were historically common in the Midwest, used the wetlands adjacent to the Marais des Cygnes River during spring and fall migration.
The Refuge offers visitors the chance to view bottomland hardwood forest and tallgrass prairie. Both of these plant communities are rare in North America today. Bottomland hardwood forest has been reduced by 80 percent nationally since Euro-American settlement, and tallgrass prairie has been reduced by 99 percent.
Getting There . . .
Marais des Cygnes NWR is located 39 miles south of the Kansas City metropolitan area along U.S. Highway 69. At the intersection of U.S. Highway 69 and Kansas Highway 52, travel east 1 1/4 mile. The Refuge office is located on the south side of Kansas Highway 52." [end]
The day we were there, we could hear honking and see hundreds of large swans and some Canada geese flying -- but they were WAY overhead as they were flying north.