 Swanson Lakes Wildlife Area is approximately 21,000 acres, of which 1,280 acres are leased from DNR. Managed as one unit, Swanson Lakes is located in Lincoln County, about 10 miles south of the town of Creston, in the upper portion of the Crab Creek Watershed. Reardan Audubon Lake Wildlife Area, a 277-acre property at the town of Reardan further east in Lincoln County, is managed as a separate unit.
It has numerous pothole lakes, a handful of rim rock lakes, and one intermittent stream, Lake Creek, a tributary of Rock Creek. Within the channeled scablands of the Columbia Plateau, it also includes plateaus, buttes, and channels. Shrub-steppe and riparian/wetlands are the main habitats. Much of the area is rangeland, with some old Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields and several hundred acres of restored grassland habitat. A small amount of leased cropland produces cereal grains and hay. Elevation ranges from about 1,640 feet in the southwest to about 2,490 feet in the northeast.
Swanson Lakes was acquired mainly between 1993 and 1997 as a Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) wildlife mitigation project, primarily for Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, a state threatened species. It also supports a mix of species, including mule deer, upland game birds, raptors, songbirds, and several reptiles and amphibians.
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