We know many folks come here every spring and summer to boat, camp, fish, and swim as well as just enjoy the refuge, Doshier said. We are committed to making the refuge experience a quality one, and we see these changes as furthering that commitment.
Boaters will soon benefit from improved marina facilities at Playport Marina on Crab Orchard Lake. Marina services at Images Marine will continue through December 31, 2000, after which they will be consolidated at Playport. New facilities at Playport are expected to be complete before removal of Images Marine facilities requires boats to be relocated to Playport.
New swimming beach facilities are also planned. Carterville Recreation Area, known as Carterville Beach, will be closed because it lacks facilities needed to meet state heath department requirements. Because costs to upgrade Carterville Beach are prohibitive, an alternate beach location is currently being constructed at the Crab Orchard Campground, where support facilities are already available. Doshier says the new beach will be up and running in time for the popular Memorial Day weekend.
For the past year, visitors to Crab Orchard and a number of other refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System have been asked to purchase use permits under the Recreation User Fee program. The permits, available for one day, five days or the entire year, allow vehicles and boats to use the facilities on the refuge for a nominal fee.
The Recreation User Fee Program is an important boon to the refuge because unlike past systems, all dollars generated by the program are returned directly to the refuge for improvements such as roads, boat docks, parking areas, trails, and wildlife observation areas.
This system is a user-pay, user-benefit program, and we hope that folks understand that they become Refuge Supporters when they visit the property and participate in the program, Doshier said.
For more information on recreational opportunities or the user fee program at Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, contact Daniel Doshier at 618-997-3344.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://midwest.fws.gov
