Herald and News: Planning focuses on refuge

Planning focuses on refuge

By LEE JUILLERAT

H&N Regional Editor

January 29, 2007

The Klamath Marsh National Wildlife Refuge, a place few people visit, is the focus of a planning effort that officials hope will direct management over the next 15 years.

“We're trying to get a handle on what the public would like to see at the refuge,” said refuge manager Carol Damberg of two sessions planned at the Shilo Inn and at the Chiloquin Community Center. “It's just the very beginning of the planning process.”

The 40,646-acre refuge on former Klamath Indian Reservation lands is about 60 miles northeast of Klamath Falls within the Williamson River watershed along the Silver Lake Highway. Motorists traveling between Silver Lake and Highway 97 drive past the refuge, but relatively few stop.

Annual visitors

“Because it's so remote it doesn't receive a lot of visitation,” Damberg said, noting “vague estimates” put the number of visitors between 2,000 and 4,000 annually.

She says most visitors are bird watchers. Some are hunters and others canoe, kayak and fish at Wocus Bay Marsh. Most of the refuge is closed to public use to reduce disturbance to wildlife and to protect cultural resources.

“It's a really peaceful place,” said Damberg, who lives near the refuge headquarters office. “I think people come out for the solitude.”

The hearings are intended to collect public comments on what should or shouldn't be done at the refuge, which is primarily wetland habitat for migratory birds and predators. “This is our chance to listen, to hear what people have to say,” Damberg said, noting that information will be considered in developing alternatives on how the area will be managed.

15 year conservation plans

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is federally mandated to develop Comprehensive Conservation Plans to guide refuge management for 15-year periods.

Damberg said goals developed from public meetings and comments will serve as the foundation for specific management objectives.

She said the refuge has mandated management goals for protecting birds and wildlife. Birds include various migrating waterfowl, woodpeckers, bald eagles and yellow rails.

“We are one of the strongholds for yellow rails,” a species that's been the object of researchers.

Two brief slide presentations - one on the refuge history, a second on the planning process - will be shown at about 6:15 both nights followed by open discussion.

“This is an opportunity for the general public to meet with refuge staff,” Damberg said. “We want to know what people envision the refuge to be in the future.”

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