Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Location	Chaves County, New Mexico, United States
Nearest city	Roswell, NM
Coordinates	33°31′00″N 104°24′30″W / 33.51667°N 104.40833°W / 33.51667; -104.40833
Area	24,536 acres (99.29 km2)
Established	1937
Governing body	U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Website	Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge
Ramsar Wetland
Official name	Roswell Artesian Wetlands
Designated	20 January 2010
Reference no.	1917[1]

Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge located in two separate sections in central Chaves County, New Mexico, United States, a few miles northeast of the city of Roswell. Both sections lie on the banks of the Pecos River. The refuge was established in 1937 to provide habitat for migratory birds such as the sandhill crane and the snow goose, but it is also notable for rare native fish and the over 90 species of dragonflies and damselflies that inhabit the refuge.

Where the Chihuahuan Desert meets the Southern Plains, Bitter Lake is one of the most biologically significant wetland areas of the Pecos River basin.