The Oregon Shorebird Festival, one of the longest running bird festivals in Oregon, will celebrate 20 years in September. Birdwatchers of all skill levels are encouraged to join us and experience firsthand the wonder of shorebird migration on the scenic south coast from September 8, 9, and 10. The festival is headquartered at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in the small fishing community of Charleston, OR. The festival usually attracts between 50 to 90 visitors from all over the nation but primarily from the Pacific Northwest. The Festival is small compared to the larger wildlife festivals that have premiered in the past ten years; keeping the festival intimate so visitors are able to interact more closely with field trip leaders, guest speakers and other festival attendees.

Activities include expertly guided field trips to Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge, New River and the Coos Bay area; a Saturday pelagic trip hosted by The Bird Guide, Inc.; SEA watches for seabirds and marine mammals and evening programs on current bird research. The Friday evening presentation will be given by Ram Papish, Wildlife Artist, Seabird Biologist, and Bird Enthusiast. The photography-filled presentation is titled "The Birds' Turn: The wildlife of Tern Island" and will show glimpses of Tern's wildlife while describing on-going conservation efforts. The Keynote presentation on Saturday features Dr. Dennis Paulson, Director Emeritus of the Slater Museum of Natural History and author of Shorebirds of the Pacific Northwest. Dr. Paulson will present "Birds of the Wind and the Tides" a natural history of shorebirds, primarily those of the Pacific coast.

Bring your best pair of binoculars as Bandon Marsh and Coos Bay are renowned for shorebird watching and each year a few rarities have delighted festival attendees, rarities have included Ruff, Curlew sandpiper, Mongolian plover, and Hudsonian godwit. Regular migrants include Black-bellied plover, Semi-palmated plover, Pacific golden-plover, Western sandpiper, Least sandpiper, Dunlin, Whimbrel, Long-billed dowitcher, and Red-necked phalarope. Please join us on the southern coast of Oregon for a weekend of birding fun and challenges. To register for the festival or for more information please visit our website or contact Dawn Grafe at 541-867-4550.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been awarded a federal Transportation Enhancement Act grant to construct a Visitor Overlook Project on Cannery Hill at Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge, in south Tillamook County. At present, the Nestucca Bay Refuge is closed to the public and has no visitor facilities. The grant provides funds to the Service for the design and construction of facilities that will enable the Service to welcome visitors to a portion of the refuge.

The proposed project includes constructing two small parking lots and a paved, disabled-accessible trail that leads to an elevated viewing deck, installing a single vault restroom at one of the parking lots, and paving the access road from Highway 101 up to the Overlook trail. The paved trail and viewing deck would be atop Cannery Hill and would afford visitors a sweeping view of the Pacific Ocean, Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge (Haystack Rock at Pacific City), Nestucca Bay Refuge, the Coast Range, and the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway, also known as U.S. Highway 101. Interpretive signs would be located in the parking lots and on the viewing deck and would showcase the fish and wildlife of the Nestucca Bay estuary, future tidal marsh restoration, wayfinding and orientation to the Nestucca Region, and how the refuge and the dairy community work together to provide habitat for wildlife. Public use would be restricted to the trail, viewing deck and parking lots only.

The Service is developing an Environmental Assessment (EA) for this proposed project. The EA and other supporting documents will describe and evaluate the effects of the proposed project and alternatives on fish and wildlife, refuge habitats, and the community. Gathering information for and conducting analyses associated with these documents has taken longer than expected. All of the documents will be made available for public review and comments in fall 2006. At this time, construction of this project is proposed for summer 2007.