The Daily News (Longview) had an excellent story yesterday about new
developments at the refuge. Excepts below:

The 5,150-acre refuge along the Columbia River is in the midst of a massive
rebuilding project, with a new
road, bridge and tourist information signs. Total cost is more than $3
million, from a variety of funding sources.

Despite the new facilities, the goal is to restrict the areas where the
public is allowed, which has angered hunters and birders alike. But the
refuge is for the birds, said Melanson, the refuge manager. Between hunters
shooting from blinds and birdwatchers walking through the fields, "the birds
never get the time to use the refuge," he said.

(long section on hunting with emphasis on damage to Dusky Canada Geese)

Starting next month, non-hunting visitors will be able to drive on a new
four-mile loop road every day of the year. In the past, non-hunters were
barred from the refuge on the approximately 30 days a year when hunting is
allowed. (The River S unit is closed this month during construction.)

The gravel loop will pass by open fields and through wooded areas, near
channels where mallards dive and great blue herons flap skyward. It passes
through corn fields where sandhill cranes gather every fall. Interpretive
signs will explain the views.

However, from October through April - when the goose population swells to
about 40,000 -people will have to watch the birds from their vehicles.
Jogging and mountain bike riding may no longer be allowed, and only hunting
dogs will be permitted.

"Just a person walking on the top of a dike can flush birds out of a field,"
Melanson said. "But
they don't equate a vehicle with a predator."

Another change is a new $1 million bridge leading to Bachelor Island, the
part of the refuge closest to the Columbia, but the public will be allowed
only as far as an observation area at thebridge's end.

Also new will be a two-mile hiking trail off the road, to open May through
September, starting in 2001. (Long-range plans also include expansion of the
hiking trail on the refuge's Carty unit, several miles to the north.)

Providing good goose habitat means controlling the water level in the
refuge's fields and nurturing the grasses they like to eat. Heavy graders
and trucks are carving out some channels and building new dikes. Crews are
improving the refuge's pumping system.

And a big tractor is pulling a sled with three-foot diameter metal discs
that break up the canary grass that has taken deep root in the fields. The
non-native plant has little food value for birds.

"Now, we're setting the table for the birds to come in," Melanson said.

(The complete story is at http://www.tdn.com/news/thisday.cfm)

Grant Hendrickson
Redmond, WA
mailto:granth at halcyon.com