Friends of Rydell and Glacial Ridge Refuges Association

10/15/2026

We are almost through National Wildlife Refuge week!

Feel free to share this image and/or your favorite refuge memory!

10/14/2026

🦌 Hunting seasons are in full swing on both Rydell and Glacial Ridge NWRs!

🛑 And with that said, Rydell NWR will be closed to all public use (including general hunting) tomorrow, Thursday 10/15 through Saturday 10/17 as we host the 31st Accessible Deer Hunt for people with disabilities.

📌 In line with changes to huntable species on both refuges, we have a new hunting brochure for Rydell and a new hunting tear sheet for Glacial Ridge - both of these can be found at the Rydell office or visitor center or online. Special rules apply when hunting on national wildlife refuges, so please familiarize yourself with refuge-specific regulations.

10/04/2026

🐦🦢🦆

About 400-600M birds are predicted to migrate across the U.S. each night this weekend!

Lights at night can be very disorienting to birds during their long fall migration. To help prevent deadly bird collisions, turn off or dim unnecessary lights!

Graphic: CornellLab, BirdCast

10/01/2026

10/01/2026

🪧 Refuge staff have started putting up new entrance signs at Glacial Ridge. One up, two more to go! 👏

Come and see how good they look! 👀

09/18/2026

📖 The FRGRRA along with USFWS staff are excited to announce our new feature to Golden Pond Trail.

🚶‍♀️‍➡️The new Story Stroll has 15-20 stops along the trail and each stop displays a page from a nature themed children's book - a fun, outdoor experience for kids and adults!🚶‍➡️

📚 The Story Stroll promotes literacy while also encouraging outdoor physical activity - a creative way to make reading fun!🏃‍♂️‍➡️

📅 We plan to change out the stories periodically, so be sure to check back for new stories!

09/10/2026

🍂 Fall is a beautiful time to visit Rydell National Wildlife Refuge!

🗺 Use the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Fall Color Finder to plan your best fall trip!

The Fall Color Finder is live 🍂🍁

Track the gorgeous shift from summer green to autumn splendor with our iconic map! These subtle changes are observed by dedicated park staff across all Minnesota state parks and reported weekly to bring you the latest map every Thursday. If you want to dive deeper, you can even use the slider function on the webpage to move backwards or forwards to compare how the map looked in past years. It's like having a personal fall color guide right in your pocket!

The next time you see park staff while on the trails, give them a smile, wave or thank you—they make the beloved Fall Color Finder map what it is!

Follow us for weekly fall color updates, or go to mndnr.gov/fallcolors for more fall color data!

09/07/2026

08/22/2026

Caught: A monarch munching on a milkweed seed pod in the front Rydell pollinator garden. 🐛🦋😍

08/15/2026

Come see us at the Mentor Farmers Market today! We'll be here until noon! We have swag, Terry's birdhouses, Refuge and Friends group info, and lots of smiles! 🐦😁