Setting Aside Land for Wildlife
A Region Rich in Birdlife
This is historic ground for the bird man. In the early seventies the well-known ornithologist, the late Captain Charles Bendire, was stationed at Camp Harney on the southern slope of the Blue Mountains, straight across the valley from where we stood. He gave us the first account of the bird life in this region. He saw the wonderful sights of the nesting multitudes. He told of the colonies of white herons [great egrets] that lived in the willows along the lower Silvies River. ~ William Finley, Trail of the Plume-Hunter
The Impact of Plume Hunting
In the late 1880s, plume hunters were decimating North American bird populations in the name of fashion. They collected breeding feathers for the hat industry, where the latest fad involved wearing part or all of a bird on ladies’ hats. Shorebirds and colonial nesting birds suffered the most because hunters targeted large flocks, injuring birds indiscriminately and orphaning chicks. During an era when an ounce of breeding feathers was worth more than an ounce of gold, plume hunters had strong financial motives to hunt birds on Malheur Lake.
When wildlife photographers William L. Finley and Herman T. Bohlman traveled to Harney County in 1908 to photograph nesting white herons—later renamed great egrets—on Malheur Lake, they learned that plume hunters had killed most of the white herons in 1898. Ten years later, the population still had not recovered.
Finley and Bohlman Visit Malheur Lake
In a 1910 Atlantic Monthly article entitled “The Trail of the Plume-Hunter,” William Finley described their time on Malheur Lake:
1908—Our longing to visit the Malheur country had at last been gratified...Here we were standing on the high headland looking out over the land of our quest. Here spread at our feet was a domain for wildfowl unsurpassed in the United States.
The following day we found the biggest colony of gulls and white pelicans I have ever seen. It was the sight of a lifetime. As we approached, out came a small delegation to meet us. When we got up to the colony, the whole city turned out in our honor. I have seen big bird colonies before, but never one like this. I was so excited I tripped over one of the oars and fell overboard with three plate holders [photographic plates for a large-format camera] in my hand.
After hunting for seven days we returned to camp for more provisions and set out to visit another part of the lake. This time we stayed out for nine days, and saw—two white herons! At the time we thought these must be part of a group that nested somewhere about the lake; yet more likely they were a single stray bird that came our way twice. I am satisfied that of the thousands of white herons formerly nesting on Malheur, not a single pair of birds is left.
Advocating for a Wildlife Refuge
Outraged by what they observed, Finley and Bohlman presented the situation to fellow members of the Oregon Audubon Society. The Society was facing similar circumstances at Klamath Marsh and pushed for both areas to be designated as wildlife refuges. As president of the Society, Finley approached President Theodore Roosevelt with the proposal.
Roosevelt was already familiar with Finley and Bohlman because of their involvement in establishing Three Arch Rocks Refuge in 1907 on the Oregon Coast. He was therefore amenable to Finley’s proposal.
The Lake Malheur Reservation
On August 18, 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt established the Lake Malheur Reservation by executive order. Roosevelt set aside unclaimed government lands encompassed by Malheur, Mud, and Harney Lakes “as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds.”
The newly established Lake Malheur Reservation was the 19th of 51 wildlife refuges created by Roosevelt during his tenure as president. At the time, Malheur was the third refuge in Oregon and one of only six refuges west of the Mississippi.