Wildlife and Nature News

Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

Controlled Burn On The Refuge

The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge plans to conduct a prescribed burn on the northwest corner of the auto tour route, unit 2c, sometime during the week of September 21-25, 2026, if weather and national preparedness levels permit.

If conditions allow the burn to occur during this time, the refuge will close the entire auto tour route on the particular day of the burn for public safety concerns, and notice of the burn will be posted on their Facebook page as well as appropriate signage on the refuge.

Auto Tour Route

As the construction winds down on the long-standing Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge auto tour route for the summer, the auto loop reopened on September 15, 2026, and the temporary auto tour route that took its place for the summer has permanently closed.

I drove the auto tour route on Tuesday, and the northern portion of the loop is still dry, as it looks like one of the bridges on the canal is still being worked on, but the main unit on the south end had water in it and was filling up nicely; both instances are shown below.