Lake Ilo refuge hosts free outdoor yoga series this summer

The first mats went down at Lake Ilo National Wildlife Refuge on Sunday morning, May 31, as Sound & Flow at Lake Ilo opened a five-date outdoor yoga series in a setting that is as much about place as practice. The sessions run from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and are free for anyone ages 14 and up, with Dickinson-based Wild Elm Yoga leading the flow and the Dunn County Park Board sponsoring the series.

The schedule gives the region something more durable than a one-off wellness event. After the opening class, the series continues June 13, July 11, July 25 and Aug. 15, creating a recurring invitation for teens, families and casual yogis who may want to try an outdoor class without a studio commitment. Wild Elm Yoga presents itself as an outdoor-yoga business focused on helping people connect body and mind through classes in nature, and the refuge setting fits that mission almost too neatly.

Lake Ilo National Wildlife Refuge sits about 1 mile west of Dunn Center, North Dakota, along Highway 200, with visitor hours from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. The refuge was established on June 12, 1939, by Franklin D. Roosevelt through executive order, and today it spans 4,033 acres of wetlands, native prairie and planted grasslands. Lake Ilo itself covers 1,240 acres and reaches a maximum depth of 15 feet, while Lee Paul Slough adds 145 acres of marsh habitat connected by a canal.

That landscape carries a deeper history than any studio wall can offer. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the refuge holds archaeological and cultural resources tied to the ancestors of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara, with evidence from the Folsom period dating to roughly 10,800 to 10,200 years ago. A reconstructed stone tipi ring and interpretive panels near the trailhead add to the sense that a yoga class here is happening inside a public landscape shaped by both ecology and memory.

The refuge’s recent repair history also gives the summer series extra weight. In 2020, Fish and Wildlife Service staff documented seepage on the downstream side of the Lake Ilo dam, and the reservoir was kept low for a period because of concerns about seepage into a nearby coal seam. Repairs were completed and inspected on Oct. 16, 2024, with the Service saying the reservoir would be refilled gradually after securing $5.3 million through the Inflation Reduction Act and receiving $748,000 from Dunn County for additional work.

That is what makes Sound & Flow at Lake Ilo feel bigger than a class. It places yoga inside a refuge that is open, repaired and ready to be used again, turning a rural shoreline into a shared summer gathering spot where the setting is part of the practice.