From Washington To You
Open ponderosa pine forest on Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
Photograph by USFWS Pacific Region. Public domain.

From Washington to you

Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge · Klickitat County

At the foot of Mount Adams, this valley holds Washington's only breeding greater sandhill cranes — about 25 pairs — and rare Oregon spotted frogs.

Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge sits near the foot of Mount Adams in the Cascades. FWS describes lush seasonal marshes and forested uplands of oak, pine, and aspen, with wetlands, grassy prairies, and streams.

The refuge supports Washington's largest and healthiest populations of several rare plants, including Oregon coyote-thistle, rosy owl-clover, Kellogg's rush, dwarf rush, and long-bearded sego lily. The rare Oregon spotted frog breeds in wetlands throughout the refuge. Elk are plentiful along refuge roads.

Conboy Lake also supports the only breeding population of greater sandhill cranes in Washington, around 25 pairs. Settlers arrived in the 1870s. The Whitcomb-Cole Hewn Log House still stands and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The source below is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuge page.

  • Wildlife & Ecology

Sources (2)

Last reviewed: September 21, 2026

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