Significant Land Acquisition Accomplishments in Fiscal Year 2006

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acquired fee title or other interest in more than 116,00 acres of land in Fiscal Year 2006 and the number of national wildlife refuges increased from 545 in FY 2005 to 547 in FY 2006. The new units established as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System in FY 2006 were Neches River National Wildlife Refuge, Texas and Rocky Mountain Front Conservation Area in Montana.

On June 15, 2006, President George W. Bush issued a Presidential Proclamation establishing the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument. The monument, northwest of Hawaii is a 1,200 mile stretch of coral islands, seamounts, banks, and shoals. Within the monument, the Fish and Wildlife Service will have sole responsibility for management of the Hawaiian Island National Wildlife Refuge and the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. This Marine National Monument is the largest single area dedicated to conservation in the history of our country and the largest protected marine area in the world. The Fish and Wildlife Service co-manages the 139,793 square mile monument with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The largest refuge addition in FY 2006 was at the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. A total of 2,832.66 acres were purchased for $3,417,000. A donation of 249.74 acres raised the total to 3,082.04 acres acquired this fiscal year. This accomplishment was realized only with the close cooperation and partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The refuge is a productive and valuable wetland that provide wintering, migration and resident habitat for waterfowl, wading birds, neo-tropical migratory birds and other wetland-dependent species in a rapidly developing area to the south of Houston, Texas.

The Service acquired 1,241.07 acres of habitat easements and 16.13 acres of fee ownership at Northern Tallgrass Prairie National Wildlife Refuge. These recent acquisitions bring the total Refuge ownership to 4,071.59 acres. Funding from the Legislative Committee for Minnesota Resources has helped to facilitate the acquisition of several key fee and easement tracts. Partners such as the Brandenburg Prairie foundation and the The Nature Conservancy assisted the Service in our acquisition and protection efforts. Rather than a contiguous boundary with the aim of eventual ownership of all lands, this refuge spreads land acquisition across 85 counties throughout western Minnesota and northwestern Iowa. The Service is planning to acquire additional fee and easement lands from willing sellers with the goal of 77,000 acres. The Refuge is working with private landowners to develop stewardship agreements, as well as providing incentives and management assistance in the interest of preserving the prairie landscape regardless of ownership. The project includes prairie preservation and restoration, not only protecting the prairie ecosystem, but benefiting grassland birds as well.

With the assistance of The National Wild Turkey Federation and Ducks Unlimited, the Service acquired a large contiguous acreage of 501.45 acres at the Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. Habitat types are primarily bottom land timber with several open fields, sloughs, and open water scour holes. The land will provide habitat for floodplain dependent fish and wildlife. Migratory birds, resident birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, invertebrates and plants will all be considered in the management plans. Wildlife orientated recreation will also be permitted on these lands.
Established in 1994, Big Muddy NFWR is spread out as individual units along the Missouri River between Kansas City and St. Louis. These habitats benefit floodplain-dependent fish and wildlife species. Ultimately 60,000 acres will be acquired from willing sellers who want to see their properties set aside for the benefit of wildlife and the enjoyment of all.
The American Land Conservancy (ALC) contributed 658.97 acres of land to the Service as part of the Rockwood Island Donation, located in the Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge. The acquired land provides key habitat for a wide range of migratory bird species. In addition to the property, the ALC also constructed and donated to the Service a refuge headquarters building. The Refuge lands were purchased in response to the great flood of 1993 and are unique, lying within the uncontrolled portion of the Middle Mississippi River, below the confluence with the Missouri, where river levels are not regulated by the lock and dam system. Water levels may fluctuate greatly in this "open river" section of the Mississippi, and frequent flooding occurs on the lands.

The Service purchased its first two tracts of land totaling 91.02 acres at Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge. The parcels were acquired using funds from the Inholding and Emergency/Hardship accounts of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The refuge was established on October 26, 2004 with the donation of approximately 2,300 acres by The Nature Conservancy. The acquisition boundary of 35,750 acres and was established with the help and partnership of approximately 30 non-profit organizations, universities, government and other agencies. The refuge’s unique landscape was carved by wind and water over 12,000 years ago, as water levels in Glacial Lake Agassiz fluctuated. The variety of prairie grasslands and wetlands that formed provided the ingredients for a very diverse and continentally important biological community.
The Sauk County Waterfowl Production Area was established with the single purchase of 210.88 acres. This area in south-central Wisconsin is part of a larger cooperative project, a conservation partnership called Fairfield Marsh. Fairfield Marsh is a Service initiative that works with a community based group of local, state, and federal agencies, special interest groups and landowners who call themselves FACT (Farming and Conservation Together). The FACT group is working to provide conservation and restoration alternatives to landowners within the formerly proposed refuge area (Fairfield Marsh). The overall significance is in the sum of the parts: 86 projects covering 1,070 acres involving 44 landowners who manage approximately 4,700 acres in the Fairfield Marsh area.

Through a partnership comprised of Wal-Mart’s “Acres for America” program, The Conservation Fund, American Electric Power, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Service, 6,273 acres of seasonally flooded bottomland in one of the most important and vulnerable wetland areas of the Mississippi River Delta were added to Catahoula NWR. The adjacent Catahoula Lake is one of only 22 wetland sites in the United States recognized by the Ramsar Convention as Wetlands of International Importance. The addition of these acres will help secure the future of the refuge and accomplish on-going goals of providing habitat for native and migratory waterfowl and other wildlife, including the more than 175 wetland-dependent bird species that the refuge.

In southeastern Georgia, the Service accepted a donation of approximately 6,782 acres as an addition to the Okefenokee NWR from The Conservation Fund. The property, part of a 16,000-acre tract purchased in 1994 by the DuPont Corporation, was initially proposed as a site to strip-mine titanium dioxide deposits. Following years of negotiations with local officials and interested groups, a “no-mining option” was selected whereby DuPont agreed to retire without compensation the mineral rights to the 16,000 acres it had intended to mine. DuPont, through its Land Legacy Program, then donated the property to The Conservation Fund, which in turn donated 6,782 acres to the Service. The upland pine habitat on the property will support endangered species such as the red-cockaded woodpecker and the Indigo Snake.

Thanks in part to the “Centex Homes Land Legacy Fund”, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Conservation Fund and Centex Homes successfully added the Jackson Bluff tract, more than 850 acres of hardwood forest and wetland habitat that supports the newest wood stork rookery in upper coastal South Carolina, to Waccamaw NWR. This acquisition allows the Service to protect the 107 nests that were located in the rookery this year. Waccamaw NWR is a haven for migratory birds that makes up a large portion of the Winyah Bay drainage basin. This isolated forested wetland is a very important wintering area for wood ducks and other migratory waterfowl, and there have also been consistent sightings of a bald eagle pair, as well as a swallow-tailed kite pair, in the area. The successional regeneration of the area provides scrub/shrub habitat for neo-tropical migratory birds and in particular the Swainson’s Warbler.

Working with the Trust for Public Land (TPL), the Service acquired another 1,875 acres in a multi-year land acquisition/carbon sequestration project at Tensas River NWR. Prior to this project, the refuge consisted of two non-contiguous forested refuge units totaling approximately 65,000 acres and separated by agricultural land. Completion of this project and restoration of the native bottomland hardwood forest will reconnect the refuge units thereby increasing the size and continuity of forested refuge lands, providing habitat for a variety of species including the threatened Louisiana black bear. In addition to TPL, partners on this project have included Entergy Services, Inc., The Detroit Edison Company, and The Nature Conservancy.

The Service acquired 384 acres of valuable bottomland hardwood and riparian habitat, suitable for waterfowl management, for the Clarks River National Wildlife Refuge. The majority of the land acquired in this recent acquisition is bordered on the north by Clarks River, one of the few rivers in the area that has not been channelized. This addition will provide habitat for a diversity of wildlife associated with the Clarks River floodplain including wintering habitat for migratory waterfowl, nesting habitat for wood ducks, and habitat for non-game migratory birds. It will also afford opportunities for environmental education, interpretation and wildlife-dependent recreation.

Black Bayou Lake NWR, established in 1997 through a unique partnership with the city of Monroe, Louisiana, consists of pristine wetlands associated with a 2000-acre, shallow, cypress-studded lake, riparian areas, and reforested cropland. The lake and adjacent wetlands are vital as wintering habitat for migratory waterfowl, primarily mallard, pintail, redhead, canvasback and scaup. The extensive stands of buttonbush, cypress and tupelo trees provide ideal breeding and brood-rearing habitat for resident wood duck. This year the Service acquired 615 acres from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF). Prior to this acquisition, the Service managed the property as part of the refuge under a lease with the LDWF. Acquisition of the LDWF property almost completes the Service’s acquisition at this refuge with only three private ownerships remaining within the refuge boundary.

At Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge, the last remaining privately owned in-holding within the boundary of the refuge’s Gouldsboro Bay Division in Maine was acquired, completing the 621-acre Division with funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund In-holding Account. The property included two potential building lots and a road right-of-way through the refuge. The Gouldsboro Bay Division habitat consists of spruce-fir forests, shrub, and herbaceous upland, as well as intertidal wetlands. The coast supports nesting bald eagles. The saltmarshes and mudflats of the mainland attract waterfowl, wading birds, and shorebirds. Black ducks, great blue herons, and American bitterns utilize the saltmarsh, while semipalmated sandpipers, dowitchers, greater and lesser yellowlegs, and dunlins probe the mudflats for invertebrates.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and the Service partnered in the acquisition of 23 acres in the Fort River Division of Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge (NFWR). This was the first acquisition in the Fort River Division and contains significant river frontage along the longest free-flowing tributary of the Connecticut River in Massachusetts. Working with TPL has enabled the Service to complement and expand the mosaic of conserved grassland and riparian habitat in the Fort River area. The collective efforts of the partnership will benefit plants, fish, wildlife, and people by conserving critical habitat, protecting water quality in the vicinity of a municipal well, and creating public outdoor recreational opportunities within a rapidly developing area.

Thirty acres of the 82-acre Dixon Tract at Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR were acquired for $2,250,000. This important acquisition was accomplished in close cooperation with The Nature Conservancy’s Virginia Coastal Reserve and the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. The same partners assisted the Service to protect the nearby 496-acre TNC/Bull Tract. The Service acquired the first 210 acres for $2,000,000. The funding was a combination of $220,000 in Land and Water Conservation Fund $780,000 in Migratory Bird Conservation Funds, and $1,000,000 in North American Wetlands Conservation Act funds. VADCR is acquiring the 386-acre remainder of TNC/Bull parcel using $4,240,000 in State bonds and Federal grants.

The Service established the Rocky Mountain Front Conservation Area, Montana, by purchasing the first conservation easement of 4,177 acres for $1,535,000. The Service paid $ 1,000,000, TNC donated $100,000 and the landowner donated the remaining $435,000 in value.

The Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado accepted a transfer from the Department of Army for 7,258 acres from secondary control to primary control. Now, 12,188 acres are under Primary Control 12,188 and 3,895 remain under secondary control. The annual report shows a negative number because of this transfer which accumulated the Fiscal Year 2004 transfer.

The Service purchased 79.96 acres in the Arctic NWR. The parcel is located on the banks of Cane Creek, which provides habitat for grizzly bears, moose, caribou, wolves, and furbearers such as beaver, marten, wolverines, and river otters. Dall sheep inhabit the surrounding mountains, which are also important wintering areas for the Porcupine caribou herd.

The Service purchased 159.99 acres in the Innoko NWR. The parcel is located on the east bank of Hather Creek and the west bank of Magitchlie Creek, about 3 miles upstream of the Innoko River. This parcel provides prime winter habitat for moose and black bears, as well as breeding areas for waterfowl. This habitat also provides important furbearer habitat throughout the year. In addition, the sloughs and backwaters surrounding this parcel are important northern pike and whitefish summer habitat.

The Service purchased 8.84 acres of land adjacent to the Kenai NWR for use as a staging area for access to the designated Wilderness Area within the Refuge.

One 79.98 acre tract was acquired by the Service in the Koyukuk NWR. Located on the banks of the Koyukuk River, this parcel lies in a rich floodplain that supports a diverse assemblage of plants and animals. Black bears, wolves, wolverines, lynx, marten, red fox, otter and beaver are common in the area. However, the area is particularly noteworthy for the large number of moose that are attracted to the riparian willows and alders along the river.

Four tracts were acquired totaling 519.92 acres in the Togiak NWR. These acquisitions include high quality stream habitat which supports all five species of Alaskan salmon. In addition to the fisheries resource, the area also provides habitat for brown bear, moose and caribou, as well as nesting and breeding habitat for numerous species of migratory waterfowl. 199.97 acres of the acquired lands are located in the designated Wilderness Area.

Six tracts encompassing 1,079.73 acres were acquired at the Yukon Flats NWR. The properties encompass several habitat types to include high quality wetlands that support nesting and breeding for migratory waterfowl. It is also excellent moose habitat which is an important subsistence resource to the local residents. These areas also favor neo-tropical migratory songbirds.