Desert National Wildlife Refuge

Desert National Wildlife Refuge
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Desert environment in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge
Map of the United States
Location	Clark County, Lincoln County, Nevada, United States
Nearest city	Las Vegas, Nevada
Coordinates	36°46′N 115°26′W / 36.767°N 115.433°W / 36.767; -115.433
Area	1,615,000 acres (6,540 km2)
Established	1936
Governing body	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Website	Desert National Wildlife Refuge

The Desert National Wildlife Refuge is a protected wildlife refuge, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, located north of Las Vegas, Nevada, in northwestern Clark and southwestern Lincoln counties, with much of its land area lying within the southeastern section of the Nevada Test and Training Range. The Desert NWR, created on May 20, 1936, is the largest wildlife refuge in the lower 48 states of the United States,^[1] encompassing 1.615 million acres (6,540 km²) of the Mojave Desert in the southern part of Nevada.^[2] The refuge was originally established at 2.25 million acres. In 1940 840,000 acres were transferred to the Department of Defense.

This Range is part of the larger Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex, which includes the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, the Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge, and the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge. All of these refuges are managed from a central office, have similar ecology, and similar management needs. Fish and Wildlife Service staff are shared between all of these refuges.^[3][4]