John E. Williams Preserve

Once known locally as the “Valley of the Moon,” the 2,100-acre John E. Williams Preserve showcases a stark landscape with wide-open vistas. This land was shaped by the last Ice Age when continental glaciers retreated and left behind a patchwork of prairie pothole wetlands, shallow lakes and alkali basins. The lakes at the preserve have no outlet, so minerals accumulated over time, creating highly alkaline lakes with salty shorelines and limited vegetation. Today, the preserve's nearly treeless grasslands, expansive skies and distinctive rocky and salty shorelines create one of North Dakota's most unique natural areas.

The Williams preserve is internationally important for birds. It supports one of the largest breeding concentrations of piping plovers in the world. This federally threatened shorebird nests along the open shoreline of the alkaline lakes where their eggs blend into the surrounding gravel, helping protect them from predators. The preserve’s shallow lakes serve as vital stopover habitat for migrating waterfowl and sandhill cranes in spring and fall, while gulls and cormorants nest on islands in Lake Peterson and Pelican Lake during the summer. To protect nesting birds, beach areas around the lakes and wetlands are closed to visitors during May, June and July.

Native mixed-grass prairie, saline meadows and marsh wetlands support a rich diversity of plants and wildlife, including Baird’s sparrows, American avocets, willets, northern harriers and grasshopper sparrows.

There are no visitor facilities, potable water or designated trails at the preserve. Conditions are often windy, and wood ticks can be abundant at certain times of year. The preserve is open to hunting, visit our website for preserve and hunting rules. Services are available nearby in Turtle Lake.