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Refuge Home PageFarming Lawsuit
By Fran Maiss, Assistant Refuge ManagerOne of the complexities of managing a National Wildlife Refuge consists of ensuring that all authorized activities are “compatible” with the purposes for which the individual refuge was established. Lower Klamath NWR was established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt “...as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds.” Later, in 1928, President Calvin Coolidge established the Tule Lake NWR “...as a refuge and breeding ground for wild birds and animals.”
As defined by the recently enacted National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, the term “compatible use” means “any use of a refuge that, in the sound professional judgement of the Director, will not materially interfere with or detract from the fulfillment of the mission of the System or the purposes of a refuge.”
Further complicating management at the Lower Klamath and Tule Lake NWR’s was the passage of a law commonly known as the Kuchel Act in 1964. This law has specific language on the management of these two refuges. Sec. 2 of this law states in part that these refuges “...are hereby dedicated to wildlife conservation...Such lands shall be administered by the Secretary of the Interior for the major purpose of waterfowl management, but with full consideration to optimum agricultural use that is consistent therewith.” Sec. 4 of this law states in part “The Secretary shall, consistent with proper waterfowl management, continue the present pattern of leasing the reserved lands...Leases for these lands shall be at a price or prices designed to obtain maximum lease revenues. The leases shall provide for the growing of grain, forage, and soil building crops, except that no more than 25 per centum of the total leased land may be planted to row crops.”
On December 8, 1997 the Klamath Forest Alliance and eleven other groups filed suit against Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt. This lawsuit has four major contentions: 1, that the current agricultural and water management practices on these two refuges are inconsistent both with the primary wildlife conservation purposes for which the those refuges were established and with proper waterfowl management and therefore violate Sections 2 and 4 of the Kuchel Act; 2, that the current commercial agricultural uses of and water management practices on these two refuges are not compatible with the major purposes for which those refuges were established and such uses violates the National Wildlife Refuge Administration Act; 3, that the current commercial agricultural uses of and water management practices on these refuges are not consistent or compatible with the mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System or with the specific purposes for which these two refuges were established and thus violates the National Wildlife Refuge Improvement Act of 1997 and; 4, that these alleged violations of law are in violation of the Administrative procedures Act.
Therefore, staff at the refuge have been spending considerable time assembling all pertinent documents from refuge files dealing with the Refuge’s individual compatibility statements on commercial agriculture administered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation at these two refuges, into an Administrative Record for the Court. As it stands now, this case will be going before the U.S. District Court in Sacramento, to decide how commercial agriculture on these two refuges will be operated in the future.
There is much more detailed background information on this issue, but the complexities and ongoing litigation preclude a full discussion and are beyond the scope of this newsletter. Hopefully, this article has helped to explain some of the basics related to this lawsuit, that many of you have heard and may have been inquiring about. {top of page}
As of April 10, wildlife photographers have another great opportunity on the refuges. Photoblind #1, also known as Hill Road Marsh & Waterbird Blind, which has been out of service for several years is now back in business and ready for action! This blind is located on the Tule Lake NWR only 2 miles south of Refuge Headquarters off of Hill Road...just 50 yards north of the hunter boat ramp.
A fiberglass cylinder blind, #1 will accommodate one photographer. It is arranged for early morning photography and should yield dynamite opportunities for a variety of species. It is located on a small mud flat overlooking a protected feeding and resting “lagoon”. According to Tom VandenBerg, “as we were initially scouting the area and setting up the blind, avocets and pelicans were constantly swirling around the area”. Some of the first photographers to use it reported great results with photos of pelicans, gulls, avocets, willets, teal, mallard, and even close up shots of white-fronted geese! Those intent on using this blind should wear tall rubber boots or hip-waders to negotiate the muddy 20 yard slog to the blind.
The refuge has 7 photoblinds available for use. There is a user fee of $5.00 per day. For more information, or to reserve a blind, contact Refuge headquarters at 530-667-2231. {top of page}
By Dave Menke
The alarm is set for 4:00 a.m.; but there is really no need. The photographer is awake by 3:30 a.m. with a sense of anticipation. A cup of coffee, two slices of toast and a thirty minute drive get the photographer to the parking area for photo blind #1 on Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Checking his equipment a second time he waddles into a pair of chest waders for the short hike to the blind. Packing camera, telephoto lens, four rolls of film, tripod and the all important “P” bottle he’s in the blind by 5:05 a.m. with just a faint glimmer of dawn to the east.
The hoot of a great horned owl and persistent calls of marsh wrens are all around as dawn brightens. The still dark shapes of what later show themselves to be a mallard pair and hen shoveler can be seen on the exposed mud flat only 20 feet away; plenty close but still much too dark for photography. By 6:30, close ranging species include a pair of avocets, green-winged teal, a killdeer, willets, coots, a pair of shovelers and a ring-billed gull. All of these are photographed at close range by 7:00 a.m. Not a Bad Start, He Thinks! About 7:15 a pelican moves in to the water’s edge about 30 feet away. Common and snowy egrets, ruddy ducks, bufflehead, cinnamon teal, and eared grebes all swim or wade by just a out of range for good close up photography.
But many more birds are starting to come in very close starting with an ever growing number of Boneparte’s gulls followed in quick succession by gadwall, killdeer, more pelicans, ring-billed gulls, Forester’s terns, and a Caspian tern or two. Later a Brewer’s blackbird pair perches briefly on a nearby stick for a quick picture. The pelicans, gulls, terns, avocets and willets stick close by most of the morning yielding plenty of chances for the photographer to exhaust his film supply.
By 9:15 the film is, predictably, gone and 13 species have been recorded as close-up images on film.
To learn more about photo blind opportunities contact the Refuge for
the photo blind flier or call Dave Menke or Tom VandenBerg at (530) 667-2231. {top of page}
New fees affecting tour route users, hunters and photographers on Tule Lake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges will be implemented starting July 1st of this year. Recent federal legislation allows all of these fees to benefit the program for which they are collected.
Fees for hunting and photo blind use will be $ 5.00 per day with several multi-day and season pass options. Auto tour route users will have a daily fee of $ 3.00 per car with the option to buy a $ 12.00 annual pass. Passes including the federal golden age, golden eagle and golden access passes will entitle the user to reduced fees for some Refuge programs. Fees and passes may be purchased through the mail, in person or by telephone using Visa/Mastercard. Several self-service fee stations will be located on the two Refuges for daily fee payments.
Duck Stamps, which have been required for waterfowl hunting since 1934, may now purchased for use as an entrance pass for the tour routes on Tule Lake and Lower Klamath Refuges. Duck Stamps, golden eagle, golden age and golden access passes will all be available for sale at the Refuge visitor center. The Refuges have a fact sheet which outlines fee implementation plans. The fact sheet may be obtained by contacting the Refuge office at (530) 667-2231. {top of page}
Tiger of the Sky | Waterfowl Census | Recent Sightings | Lizard Blood & Lymes Disease | {top of page}
By Leo Smothers, Refuge Volunteer
Recently, many visitors to the Refuge visitor center, have thrilled at the sight of a pair of great horned owls nesting on the nearby cliff face. As of this writing, there was at least one downy-gray owlet regularly visible from the visitor center parking lot and entryway.
The great horned owl was first scientifically collected and described in Virginia and given the scientific name Bubo virginianus meaning Virginian owl. This large, widespread predator truly lives up to its reputation of being a “tiger of the sky”. Cryptic coloration of browns and grays allow this large bird to seemingly disappear against a tree trunk or cliff face. Although mainly nocturnal, great horned owls will also hunt at dawn and dusk for just about anything that they can carry away...and with a wingspan of up to five feet, they can carry away quite a load. Extremely acute hearing, the ability to fly with absolute silence, powerful talons, and an aggressive nature make the great horned a predator seemingly without equal. Along with prey of a smaller nature such as grasshoppers, shrews, mice, and squirrels, the tiger of the sky will not hesitate to attack larger prey. Documented victims include: muskrat, mink, skunk, porcupines, Canada geese, herons, Northern harrier, Cooper’s, and even red-tailed hawks! If this weren’t enough, these owls have even been known to fly down chimneys to catch swifts, attack squirrel nests to flush their occupants into the open, grab crows right off their night perches, and attack people wearing fur caps!
The horned owl will take up residence in an old nest of a red-tailed hawk, bald eagle, heron, crow, or sometimes even an old leaf nest of a tree squirrel. Our resident pair prefer the many cliff ledges and small caves behind the refuge visitor center. Pairs do a lot of hooting during courtship. At this time of the year, we hear them at headquarters everyday around 4 PM onward. Their call is usually a deep, soft, resonant six-noted hoot...whoo! whoo-whoo-whoo!, whoo! whoo! This call will carry remarkably long distances. The young on the other hand, when following the adults on the wing utter blood-curdling hunger cries.
When nesting, great horned owls will use a feeding roost near the nest. This is a safe location at which the prey will be torn to pieces. At the Refuge visitor center, one of the lampposts in the employee parking lot serves this purpose. Every morning, we arrive to find a new “offering” of coot feet, various bird wings, feathers, and regurgitated pellets of fur and bone dangling off the lamp and strewn about the lawn.
Stop by Refuge headquarters and take a look through our spotting scope.
The young should be in the nest through the month of June. Typically they will leave the
nest when still unable to fly and hide out on the ground or in a hole. Don’t get too
close...both adults will bring food to the grounded young and vigorously defend them until
they can fly. Take some time to see for yourself the beautiful tiger of the sky!
{top of page}
by Jim Hainline, Refuge Biologist
One of the most frequent questions received at the
refuge is “how many waterfowl are in the area”? We are usually able to provide
that information with some up to date survey sheets. Quite often the next question is
“how do you know or how do you do that.”? Most of the assessment of waterfowl
populations is accomplished by estimating numbers from an overflying aircraft. This task
appears quite mysterious to many people, but in fact it is a straightforward technique
that is easily learned, but takes time to perfect.
In order to a good job of aerial waterfowl census, there are some basic
requirements that have to be met by the people and equipment involved. The aircraft and
the pilot in command are just as important as the selection of the person or persons doing
the actual counting. Let’s first talk a little about the airplane.
To be ideal for wildlife census work, the airplane
should have good visibility to the front and sides. High wing aircraft are eminently more
useful since the wing doesn’t block the view of the ground. Perhaps you have flown in
a commercial airliner and your seat was right over the wing. Much of your view of the
ground was obscured, wasn’t it. It’s the same way with light aircraft. The plane
you chose must be capable of safely flying at low speeds (less than 80 mph) so that there
is time to look at the flocks of birds and formulate an estimate. There are, of course, a
multitude of federal regulations that must be met by the aircraft so that it may be used
for this work to insure airworthiness and safety.
The pilot in command is the most important person in
the aircraft. Without a competent pilot, there is no chance of success with the census
mission and, in fact, a pilot with inadequate skills can truly compromise the safety of
the mission. A good census pilot has to be comfortable with low level flying since most of
the work is done at elevations below 200 feet above the ground. He also has to do this at
low speeds. There is an old pilot saying that goes “low and slow, look out
below.” Mix this with lots of bird traffic, powerlines, radio towers, and other
obstructions and you can really appreciate what a demanding and difficult job this is. I
have been very fortunate to have had a number of highly experienced and very talented
pilots do this work for me during the 20 years I have been doing this work. Last, but
hopefully not least in the mix, is the observer. This, of course, is the person who will
actually do the estimates of waterfowl numbers. There are few attributes that make for a
successful observer. Obviously, they have to be able to tell one species from another.
This is a little different because you are seeing everything from above. Wing speculum
characteristics are very useful in differentiating ducks. Geese are usually distinguished
from overall color, characteristics of the flock, and occasionally the coloration of the
tail fan. To be a successful observer, you have to be comfortable with flying in small
aircraft. A good job of counting is not possible by an observer who is overcome by fear or
airsickness! Of course, you have to be able to concentrate on the counting and not be
sightseeing when in the bird use areas.
So, now that we have a nice day for flying, a good
airplane, good pilot, and an observer who is comfortable with flying and can differentiate
waterfowl species, just how do we go about coming up with those numbers? Even though
everyone calls the result a waterfowl count, it is really an estimation of population
numbers. Normally, the aircraft is flown back and forth across the area to be censused in
transects that are separated by about 1/2 mile. During migration, the sizes of the flocks
are too large to actually count and we must make a quick estimate (educated guess) of
their numbers as they past by the plane. This is often confounded when the flock is made
up of a number of species. My technique in that case is to make one pass by such a flock
and estimate total numbers and then make a second pass to determine the percentages of the
various species. All the data taken in the air are usually dictated into a small voice
recorder and then later back in the office transcribed and assembled into tables.
As you have deduced by now, a lot of the validity of
the census data depends on the ability of the observer to estimate numbers. This is like a
lot of other skills in that if you don’t use it, you lose it. To keep in practice,
sometimes take pictures of birds that I am estimating and actually count the total birds
as a check. I am usually within 10-20% although sometimes high and other times low. I
believe that in general the errors pretty well cancel themselves out in the course of a
survey of large areas. There are other training aids such as computer programs that
randomly generate various visual images of bird aggregations in different habitat
circumstances, pictures of known large numbers of objects such as rice grains on a dark
background, and actual pictures of waterfowl concentrations that can be used to develop
and maintain estimating skills.
You should be able to see by now that although it is a
quite straightforward process, there are a lot of critical elements that have to come
together just right to result in a successful waterfowl census effort. I have spent more
than two thousand hours in the skies over the Klamath Basin estimating bird numbers and I
still find it one of the most exhilarating and rewarding jobs I do. So, when you pick up
one of the refuge waterfowl census reports remember that it probably represents about five
or more hours of time in the air as well as an equal amount of time preparing the report.
It is a lot of work, but it is one of our best measures of how well our habitats are
performing. {top of page}
Recent Sightings on the Refuges (see listing)
Spring wildlife observation opportunities have been excellent on the Klamath Basin Refuges. The peak of waterfowl migration occurs each year during the month of March. The Klamath Basin is the largest “truck stop” along the Pacific flyway, and this year approximately 1.8 million birds were refueling in the Klamath Basin. Over 130,000 snow/Ross’ geese and 126,000 white fronted geese stopped by on their northern journeys. Many are still here as of this writing. 20,000 tundra swans lingered for over a month at Lower Klamath and then abruptly headed north March. Many visitors were fortunate enough to see the rare Eurasian Whooper Swan and 4 Bewick’s swans at Lower Klamath..all of them lingered here until April, hopefully they will return next year. On February 28th, Kevin Spencer spotted a gyrfalcon at Klamath Forest Refuge! An extremely sharp eyed visitor also located a beautiful long-eared owl along Hill Rd.
The migrants are arriving daily, and visitors to the auto tour routes on Lower Klamath and Tule Lake NWR’s have spotted an incredible diversity of species including white pelican, white faced ibis, avocets, stilts, willets, long-billed curlew, Caspian and Forster’s Terns, western bluebirds, merlin, peregrine falcon, sandhill cranes, dunlin, black bellied plover, northern oriole, and common snipe.
Along with birds, mammal sightings are up as well. We are seeing herds of pronghorn along stateline hwy. south of Merrill, healthy populations of coyote, mule deer along hill road, river otters, muskrat, weasels, bobcats, and even badgers.
Come on out to the Refuges and join in the fun! {top of page}
Lizards have for too long been overlooked as beneficial species! Recently, scientists have discovered why Lyme disease is so rare in California compared to the eastern United States...lizards! Ticks apparantly become completely cleansed of the disease when they feed on the blood of the western fence lizard-a common species in the Klamath Basin. The lizard’s blood apparently contains a heat sensitive protein which kills the Lyme disease bacteria. WOW! {top of page}
Survey Results | Volunteers | {top of page}
Signs
| Service | Brochures & Exhibits | OverallAs part of Vice President Al Gore’s National Performance Review, federal agencies have been directed to “put customers first” and to encourage those customers (in our case hunters, birdwatchers, refuge visitors, etc.) to evaluate services. The goal is to create a government that works better for the public and costs less. Last October, the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge was selected to participate in a 3-month National Customer Service Survey.
The Washington office sent the Tule Lake Refuge 1200 evaluation cards which were passed out on two selected days each week for 12 weeks. By answering several questions and rating the refuge on the facilities and services they used during their visit, visitors were able to give us valuable insight into what is working well and what needs improvement from a visitor’s perspective. This information helps refuge staff provide a stronger basis for public use operations and maintenance funding needs.
Of the cards returned to the testing center (postage was pre-paid), we
received a wealth of useful information about refuge visitors themselves. The primary
reason for visiting was split 50/50 between wildlife observation and waterfowl hunting
(the survey was conducted during the waterfowl season). 75 percent of visitors were not
from the Klamath Basin, and half of all visitation occurred during the weekends.
Some of the survey results in various categories are as follows:
Although 75% of visitors reported that refuge directional signs were good or excellent, 25% considered them fair to poor. Obviously, some work is needed in this area.
Visitors expect prompt courteous service and they seemed to have received it. Over 87% of visitors reported good/excellent service at the refuge.10% did not stop by headquarters or did not require service.
Visitors depend on quality maps and brochures for information and exhibits for education & enrichment of their refuge experience. Over 90% reported good/excellent quality of both.
For overall quality of services and facilities the Tule Lake Refuge received the following results:
“Excellent refuge volunteers”
“Too many hunters”
“Bald eagle viewing on the refuge is one of the great sights of
America”
“Please add mileage scale to maps”
“Need new exhibits in Visitor Center”
“Need more handicapped opportunities”
“Auto tour routes need to be graded/improved”
and
last but not least:
“Too many sky scrapers”
Thanks to all visitors who participated!
By Tom VandenBerg
It is always a pleasure to work with our dedicated group of volunteers.
Those visitors who explore the refuges on the weekends will be greeted by volunteers in
the visitor center. Without these dedicated people, the visitor center would probably not
be open on weekends. The results of the customer service survey (see page 6) speak for the
quality of our volunteers. Those who have staffed the center and assumed the role of
“visitor services specialists” during the last few months include Mike Miller,
Joan VanMatre, John & Marlene Bowden, Leo Smothers, Edna Guiducci, Dean & Lodena
Reeves, Karen Randall, Joe Cordonier, Jerry & Jessica King, Al & Jessie Larson,
and Paul Travis.
Special recognition also goes to those who helped me on various
“special assignments”. The Bowden’s have been a great help to me using
their artistic talents to periodically remodel our large bulletin boards near the
entrances of Lower Klamath and Tule Lake auto routes. Barbara Knapp designed an awesome
bald eagle suit which we used at the bald eagle conference with great success. Joan
staffed our information desk/display at the conference and assisted a myriad of eagle
seekers. Mike and Leo have become professors of “owl-ology” and have greatly
assisted me with some school field trips. Dean & Lodena helped plant trees &
install drip irrigation at the Discovery Marsh. May 9 was our annual volunteer
appreciation day! A trip to the High Desert Museum in Bend, OR was followed by lunch and
presentation of some fun awards. All in all, it was a day of great fun, friendship,
and learning. {top of page}