Welcome to the Custer Mine Wildlife Management Area. Custer Coal Mine was originally developed and operated by the Truex Trayer Mining Company as a strip mine for lignite coal. The mine was operated from 1945 to 1964 and employed up to 60 employees. On the south end of the area were 23 buildings including Living quarters, kitchen, bunkhouse and a school. Prior to surface mining activity, an area on the property was underground mined and was known as the Hummel Mine. This area is evident by the presence of numerous sinkholes that developed as the underground caverns began to subside. Much of the coal in the area was under 45 to 50ft of overburdened soils.

The Hummel Mine was operated from approximately 1926 to 1938. In 1954, much of the spoil pile area and some untouched areas were leased to the North Dakota Game and Fish Department to determine if wildlife cover could be established on spoil piles left by the open pit method of mining coal. Beginning in the 1950s, the Garrison sportsman Club, as an annual project, hand planted about 40,000 trees and shrubs on the spoil piles. Many volunteers from the local area helped with this project and it was a big success as you can witness today.

Additional plantings on level ground were done by machine starting in the mid-1950s. In 1984, machine most of the former mine was deeded to the Game and Fish Department by then owner Consolidated Coal. A small portion on the western edge of the mine remains in private ownership. In the 1990s, the North Dakota Public Service Commission did a substantial amount of work on the area, reclaiming high wall areas, re-sloping steep areas, and developing wetlands and tree and shrub plantings. This work substantially improved the safety and accessibility, including improved shore fishing access to the fishing pond near the south end.

Today, the approximately 694 acres of land in public ownership is operated by the Game and Fish Department as a wildlife management area. It's managed as a wildlife habitat for wildlife production, hunting and fishing. Other wildlife related activities such as bird watching and wildlife viewing are considered compatible uses as well. This message is brought to you by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. I'm Mike Anderson in the North Dakota Outdoors.