Refuges receive stimulus money
The Modoc National Wildlife Refuge near Alturas will receive more than $1 million in federal stimulus money for improvements, while lesser amounts are going to three other Klamath Basin refuges.
Alexandra Pitts, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s California regional office, said the $1.08 million at the Modoc will be used to build housing for volunteers and seasonal employees, replace a shop building and help fund a student employee.
A 1,200-square-foot building for seasonal workers and volunteers will replace a converted mobile home. The new 4,000-square-foot shop will replace the existing shop built in the 1960s. Both will be solar compatible.
The student will participate in the agency’s STEP — Student Temporary Employment Program — that is effectively a paid internship.
Pitts does not know when the construction projects will go to bid, but all work must be done within 18 months.
“These projects are important to the refuge and the program,” she said.
Lower Klamath and Tule Lake
The Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge will receive $210,000 for various deferred maintenance projects, including replacing water control structures and improving roads, while the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge will receive $245,000 for its Walking Wetland restoration program.
The Walking Wetlands program involves leasing
agricultural lands on the refuge that are cycled
between shallow water wetlands and crops. The
project builds wetland infrastructure on refuge
lands leased to local farmers.
The stimulus money will be used to create
a block of 1,300 acres that will be flooded for two
years this fall. In 2010, the land will be returned
to crops for three to five years. The lands will
then be flooded for two years, repeating the cycle.
Other refuges in the Klamath Basin complex
— Clear Lake, Klamath Marsh, Bear Valley and Upper
Klamath — did not receive funding.
Sheldon-Hart
The Sheldon-Hart Mountain National
Wildlife Refuges Complex in
Lakeview will receive $185,000, mostly for deferred
maintenance projects.
Sheldon-Hart complex manager Paul Steblein
said the funds would be split between the two
refuges. The Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge
is located in eastern Lake County near Plush while
the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge is east of
Lakeview just south of the Oregon-Nevada state line.
He said projects would focus on energy conservation,
with the work being coordinated through an ongoing
partnership with Oregon Institute of Technology.
“For us, most of the work qualifies as
deferred maintenance,” Steblein said.
Malheur
The biggest Southern Oregon refuge project
will
be at the Malheur National Refuge, a favorite place
for birders.
Most of nearly $3.7 million will be used
to repair or replace aging dams and water delivery
structures to ensure that redband trout can make it
to their spawning grounds.
The work, which will result in about 30
jobs, includes repairing 2.8 miles of a water
delivery canal that is the principal fish passage
and primary diversion structure in the Blitzen River
system; replacing the unscreened 45-foot Buckaroo
Dam; modifying Page Springs dam; and replacing fish
passage systems and screens at Grain Camp,
Busse, Sodhouse and Dunn Dams.
The refuge also will implement energy
efficiency improvements at refuge buildings.
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