BRIGHAM CITY, Utah – The regular auto tour route at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge will temporarily close from Saturday, April 4 through mid-September. An alternate auto tour route will be available to visitors while water control structures are improved and replaced. Like the regular auto-tour route, this alternate route is a 12-mile, one-way vehicle route easily accessible from West Forest Street. Maps will be available at all refuge kiosks and at the visitor center while the alternate route is open.
The alternative auto tour route is in an area of the refuge normally closed to the public and vehicles. The route will take visitors down the refuge's O-Line Canal Road and onto the D-Line Canal Road which connects the refuge to the Great Salt Lake. These normally closed roads will allow visitors glimpses of a wide variety of wildlife not typically seen along the regular auto-tour route, including many nesting bird species such as the American avocet and other migratory shorebirds.
The refuge’s regular auto tour route and Unit 2 will re-open and be available for public use by the start of northern Utah’s youth waterfowl hunt opening weekend. The normal auto tour route’s day-use area will also remain open throughout the duration of the maintenance project enabling visitors to still utilize that area for fishing, birding and outdoor recreation.
Visitors will still be able to enjoy photography, wildlife watching, birding, hiking, cycling, running, hunting, fishing and painting in the other open portions of the refuge during the closure.
