The Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge is located in southwestern Elko County and northwestern White Pine County in the northeastern section of the state of Nevada in the western United States. Established in 1938, it encompasses 37,632 acres (152 km²) of wetlands in Ruby Valley, just east of the Ruby Mountains and just south of Harrison Pass. It is 16 miles long, up to 3 miles in width, and lies at an elevation of 6,000 ft (1,830 m). Once the bed of a 200 foot (60 m) deep lake, it is now a network of spring-fed marshes and shallow ponds serving as a habitat for hundreds of species of native and migratory birds and mammals.