Am back at Malheur National Wildlife refuge doing some more bird counts. Yesterday and this morning
drove out to look at the burned area from the Miller Homestead Fire, which is generally out but still listed as
"active." The fire was mostly west of highway 205; surrounded Frenchglen on the north and west, but did
not get to the town (they lucked out), and died out on the north side near Foster Flats Road.

First, drove up to the sage grouse lek on Foster Flats Road. The fire reached the lek and blasted it,
however this was the north edge of the burn. Just to the north, still on top of the "plateau" where the road
flattens out from below, there is still plenty of grass and sagebrush, so perhaps the area will recover
quickly. All along the west side of highway 205, running from just south of Krumbo Lane to a point 0.8 miles
north of Frenchglen, the landscape is bare of grass and sage, all just black, although many juniper,
especially on the tops of the ridges, appear green. The fire crossed the highway into the edge of the refuge
in several places, but was stopped by the west canal everywhere except at one place, which is just a little
south of a point due west of Benson Pond. There the fire caught underground peat. The refuge has dug
several trenches in the field and flooded them, in an ongoing effort to quench the underground fire. This
has drained the water out of most of the ponds, so Benson and others are bone dry. Boca Lake, West
Knox, and Derrick Lake (which is at double O) are still being kept pretty full, so that is where I am
concentrating counting now. Of those, only West Knox is open to public. Page Springs campground has re-
opened.

The few ponds with water are full of birds. Diamond Swamp and Krumbo Swamp were the best today.
Tomorrow or next day will check out Ruh Red Road.





-- Jerry Broadus
Puyallup, WA
jbroadus at seanet.com