Refuge staff restores, enhances, and preserves the oaksavannaupland and sedge meadow wetland habitats historically found in extensive areas along the Fox River. Staff manage the wildlife populations that use these habitats, with special emphasis on those species dependent upon large expanses of natural marsh, such as the greater sandhill crane.
Other management objectives include protecting the habitats of any federal or state endangered or threatened species within the refuge, such as the state threatened Blanding's turtle, and to make the refuge available for outdoor recreation, environmental education, and other public-use activities compatible with the above objectives.