Comprehensive Conservation Plan Completed for Protection Island and San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuges
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is pleased to announce the completion of a Comprehensive Conservation Plan that will guide the management of Protection Island and San Juan Islands national wildlife refuges for the next 15 years. The refuges are part of the Washington Maritime National Wildlife Complex.
The San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge includes 81 islands in the San Juan archipelago and 2 in the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca, totaling 454 acres. The islands include reefs, rocks, grasslands, and forests providing habitat for glaucous-winged gulls, cormorants, pigeon guillemots, tufted puffins, rhinoceros auklets, black oystercatchers, eagles and a variety of shorebirds. Harbor seals also haul out on several islands.
Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge is 364-acres of grass and low brush habitat with a small timbered area. It also has high sandy bluffs for seabird nesting and low sand spits on two ends of the island for shorebirds, seals and a variety of other wildlife. Seventy-two percent of the seabirds in Puget Sound nest on Protection Island and 35,000 pairs of rhinoceros auklets nest there. The island also provides important nesting habitat for glaucous-winged gulls, pelagic cormorants, tufted puffins, pigeon guillemots, double-crested cormorants, and black oystercatchers and is home to a bald eagle nest. Harbor seals use the island for pupping and as a hauling out area.
The Service selected Alternative B for the Refuges’ Comprehensive Conservation Plan. This alternative places greater emphasis on establishing and working through partnerships with state and federal agencies, tribes, non-profits, educational institutions and private citizens to accomplish needed wildlife and habitat inventories, restoration, surveys, monitoring and research, and opportunities for environmental education and interpretation.
Protection Island had a long history of habitat manipulation prior to being established as a National Wildlife Refuge and the plan calls for restoring vegetation on the island from non-native species to native grasses and forbs.
Wildlife-dependent public use will occur on Matia and Turn Islands in the San Juan Islands NWR with modifications to the camping program. Camping will be open to visitors arriving by human-powered watercraft only and the number of sites on Turn Island will be reduced from 13 to 8. The remaining islands and Protection Island will continue to be closed to the public to protect wildlife and habitat. Undisturbed island habitat in the Salish Sea has become increasingly rare and keeping these islands closed to public use will supply a crucial safe haven for seabirds, shore birds, bald eagles, harbor seals, elephant seals, Steller and California sea lions. Now that the plan is completed, the Service will begin implementing proposed projects and partnerships as funding becomes available.
If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the completed CCP, please contact the Refuge Complex office at (360) 457-8451 or go to http://www.fws.gov/pacific/planning/main/docs/WA/docsprotectionIs.htm
The San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge includes 81 islands in the San Juan archipelago and 2 in the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca, totaling 454 acres. The islands include reefs, rocks, grasslands, and forests providing habitat for glaucous-winged gulls, cormorants, pigeon guillemots, tufted puffins, rhinoceros auklets, black oystercatchers, eagles and a variety of shorebirds. Harbor seals also haul out on several islands.
Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge is 364-acres of grass and low brush habitat with a small timbered area. It also has high sandy bluffs for seabird nesting and low sand spits on two ends of the island for shorebirds, seals and a variety of other wildlife. Seventy-two percent of the seabirds in Puget Sound nest on Protection Island and 35,000 pairs of rhinoceros auklets nest there. The island also provides important nesting habitat for glaucous-winged gulls, pelagic cormorants, tufted puffins, pigeon guillemots, double-crested cormorants, and black oystercatchers and is home to a bald eagle nest. Harbor seals use the island for pupping and as a hauling out area.
The Service selected Alternative B for the Refuges’ Comprehensive Conservation Plan. This alternative places greater emphasis on establishing and working through partnerships with state and federal agencies, tribes, non-profits, educational institutions and private citizens to accomplish needed wildlife and habitat inventories, restoration, surveys, monitoring and research, and opportunities for environmental education and interpretation.
Protection Island had a long history of habitat manipulation prior to being established as a National Wildlife Refuge and the plan calls for restoring vegetation on the island from non-native species to native grasses and forbs.
Wildlife-dependent public use will occur on Matia and Turn Islands in the San Juan Islands NWR with modifications to the camping program. Camping will be open to visitors arriving by human-powered watercraft only and the number of sites on Turn Island will be reduced from 13 to 8. The remaining islands and Protection Island will continue to be closed to the public to protect wildlife and habitat. Undisturbed island habitat in the Salish Sea has become increasingly rare and keeping these islands closed to public use will supply a crucial safe haven for seabirds, shore birds, bald eagles, harbor seals, elephant seals, Steller and California sea lions. Now that the plan is completed, the Service will begin implementing proposed projects and partnerships as funding becomes available.
If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the completed CCP, please contact the Refuge Complex office at (360) 457-8451 or go to http://www.fws.gov/pacific/planning/main/docs/WA/docsprotectionIs.htm
