Fish and Wildlife Service · Illinois
Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge was established on August 5, 1947. The refuge is made up of 44,000 acres of land with a great diversity of flora and fauna. The major habitats on the refuge include oak hickory upland forest, bottomland hardwood forest, cropland, grazing units, brushland, prairie, wetlands and lakes.
Reservations for Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge are made through Recreation.gov. In peak season, the most popular campgrounds are typically claimed within minutes of each release — which is why the park reads as "sold out" for most of the year.
Sold out is not final, though. People book far ahead and plans change, so cancellations return to the official calendar throughout the season — with no announcement, at any hour. A cancelled site is bookable by whoever sees it first.
| Managed by | Fish and Wildlife Service |
|---|---|
| Book through | Recreation.gov |
| Location | Marion, IL |
| Campgrounds | 1 |
| Official listing | Recreation.gov |
Set a watch on the whole park, or go straight to the campground you want — each one has its own availability and cancellation pattern:
| Devils Kitchen Group Pavilion | 8 sites |
|---|
We scan the official Recreation.gov calendar for Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge around the clock. The second a site that matches your dates and equipment opens up, you get a text with a direct link to that exact site. You book it yourself, in your own account, at the normal price. We never book, hold, or resell anything — monitoring is all we do, and it's what your fee pays for. Openings are first-come, so a text beats an email every time.
Page data refreshed 2026-10-29. Availability facts come from the official directory listing for Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge; cancellation statistics come from our own scanning logs.