Sometime in the past 50 years, Wisconsin lost a couple of islands.

Minnesota found them and, like a good neighbor, is giving them back.

The islands are in the Mississippi River just north of Lock and Dam 4, downstream from the marina in Alma, Wis. They are part of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The only people affected will be those who hunt and trap on the islands, said Mary Stefanski, Winona (Minn.) district manager for the refuge. Wisconsin hunting and trapping regulations will apply this fall, and Wisconsin hunting licenses and stamps will be needed.

Hunters were the first to realize the islands had been "lost."

Maps from when the refuge was created in 1924 show the islands belonging to Wisconsin, Stefanski said, as do 1932 Corps maps designating areas that would be flooded by construction of Lock and Dam 4.

But Wisconsin lost track of the islands after refuge managers closed the area to hunting in 1957.