The primary role of the Medicine Lake NWR Complex is to conserve its diverse wetlands and grasslands as a "refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife." This draft comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and environmental assessment (EA) will guide management of these lands for the next 15 years.

Every spring and fall, the big sky country of northeast Montana is fi lled with the clamor of bird calls. Many migrating birds stop along the glaciated rolling plains between the Missouri River and the Canadian border, at the Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), the Northeast Montana Wetland Management District (WMD), and the Lamesteer National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), which are managed together as one refuge complex. With a bird list that includes some 283 species, the refuge complex has been designated as one of the top 100 globally important bird areas in the United States by the American Bird Conservancy (Chipley 2001).