Comprehensive Conservation Plans provide long-term guidance for management decisions; set forth goals, objectives and strategies needed to accomplish refuge purposes; and, identify the Fish and Wildlife Service's best estimate of future needs. These plans detail program planning levels that are sometimes substantially above current budget allocations and, as such, are primarily for Service strategic planning and program prioritization purposes. The plans do not constitute a commitment for staffing increases, operational and maintenance increases, or funding for future land acquisition.

In the midst of 2.5 million people, down the road from the largest shopping mall in the nation, Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge is a small vestige of Minnesota wildness. Bald Eagles nest here, Woodcock preen, and Black-crowned Night Herons stand poised on the edge of ponds, still as statues, waiting for the glint of an unlucky fish. Waterfowl nest here, and Tundra Swans rest up from a long migration. River otters play, beavers build their meticulous and highly effective dams, and foxes den within a few miles of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.