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.