J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge is located along the Souris River

Souris River

The Souris River or Mouse River is a river in central North America. It is about 700 km in length and drains about . It rises in the Yellow Grass Marshes north of Weyburn, Saskatchewan...

 in Bottineau

Bottineau County, North Dakota

-Major highways:* U.S. Highway 83* North Dakota Highway 5* North Dakota Highway 14* North Dakota Highway 43* North Dakota Highway 60* North Dakota Highway 256-National protected areas:*J...

 and McHenry Counties

McHenry County, North Dakota

-National protected areas:*Cottonwood Lake National Wildlife Refuge*J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge *Wintering River National Wildlife Refuge-Demographics:...

 in north-central North Dakota

North Dakota

North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....

. The refuge of 58693 acres (237.5 km²) extends from the Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

 border southward for approximately 45 miles (72.4 km) in an area which was once Glacial Lake Souris. The area is old lake bottom and has extremely flat topography

Topography

Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...

 and a high density of temporary wetland

Wetland

A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....

s.

The Souris River originates in southern Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

, flows southwest to Velva, North Dakota

Velva, North Dakota

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,049 people, 436 households, and 275 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,359.7 people per square mile . There were 483 housing units at an average density of 626.1 per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 99.33% White, 0.10%...

, and then generally north to join the Assiniboine River

Assiniboine River

The Assiniboine River is a river that runs through the prairies of Western Canada in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It is a tributary of the Red River. The Assiniboine is a typical meandering river with a single main channel embanked within a flat, shallow valley in some places and a steep valley in...

 in southern Manitoba. The United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 portion of the river is 358 miles (576.1 km) long and has a drainage basin

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 of 9000 square miles (23,309.9 km²); 371 miles (597.1 km) of river and 15000 square miles (38,849.8 km²) of the basin are in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Approximately 75 miles (120.7 km) of the Souris River are within the boundaries of the Refuge.