Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) was established in 1963 to provide habitat for migratory birds and to provide for suitable wildlife-dependent recreation. The Green River runs through the heart of the 13,455-acre Refuge, providing the life blood for the wetlands and cottonwood forests. <P>The threatened Ute's ladies tresses orchid and hundreds of species of animals depend on the habitat that the Refuge provides. Migrating waterfowl stop to refuel, some staying to nest in the wetlands. In hard winters, several hundred elk and mule deer rely on the open grasslands. The Refuge's cottonwood forests provide critical migration habitat for hundreds of thousands of neo-tropical migratory songbirds in a land surrounded by a dry, semi-desert shrublands. But those same shrublands provide critical habitat for several species of concern including the loggerhead shrike, sage grouse, sage sparrow, sage thrasher, and Brewers sparrow. The Green River attracts wintering bald eagles, nesting osprey, river otters, beaver, and the endangered Colorado pikeminnow. <P>