Make Your Preferences For Area Known

The time has come, the Fish and Wildlife Service says, for the creation of a 15-year management program for the Little Pend Oreille Wildlife Refuge, one of the largest refuges in Washington state. The refuge is about 70 miles north of Spokane.

Officials of the federal agency have developed five alternatives for managing the refuge and will present them to fishermen, hunters, wildlife watchers, environmentalists and even Air Force representatives at public meetings this week.

The meetings will be 5 to 8 tonight in Colville and Thursday in Spokane at the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council meeting room, 6116 N. Market.

The alternatives range from no changes in management to operating the refuge as an ecological reserve.

The 40,198-acre refuge is home to and attracts nearly 200 bird species, 58 mammal species and 14 reptiles and amphibians. Incidentally, two logging companies, Stimson Lumber and Boise Cascade, own most of the 6,500 acres of private land within the boundaries of the refuge.

There are about 200 miles of roads, mostly on private land, on the refuge. However, 5,520 roadless acres in the southeast corner “may have potential for wilderness designation,” refuge officials say.

Although the refuge has existed for 60 years, it’s not as well-known as such refuges as Turnbull south of Spokane and the Columbia refuge south of Moses Lake. In fact, relatively few Spokane residents, even those interested in wildlife, know anything about the refuge, let alone how to get to it.

However, the refuge has been popular with the region’s fishermen, hunters and wildlife enthusiasts for many years. And thousands of Air Force personnel have learned survival techniques on and near the refuge for 33 years.

Bayley Lake, a fly fishing-only water, is one of the most popular and productive lakes in the Spokane region. Fly fishers often see geese and several duck species, as well as eagles, as they fish for big rainbows and brook trout at Bayley each spring. And they hear ruffed grouse drumming in the woods lining the lake.

Although McDowell Lake, also a fly fishing-only water, has had its troubles the last few years, it’s still popular with anglers, as well as campers. And the Little Pend Oreille River, which flows along and through the refuge, attracts anglers who like to fish streams.

The refuge is home to whitetail deer, waterfowl, ruffed grouse and wild turkeys. Raptors, including bald and golden eagles and goshawks, are seen periodically. Deer hunters prowl the woods every fall.

Refuge personnel outlined the five management alternatives in a combination Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement.

Lisa Langelier, refuge manager, said that the FWS’s “preferred” alternative is Alternative E, under which a wide range of recreational activities would be supported, including hunting, fishing, wildlife observation, camping, horseback riding and photography. However, snowmobiling would be banned and livestock grazing discontinued. The Air Force survival training program would be phased out over five years.

The region’s fly fishers likely will prefer Alternative E, although they won’t like a proposal to stop stocking Bayley Lake and Potter’s Pond with brook trout. Brook trout are not considered a native fish species. Hunters should prefer the alternative because it would expand hunting opportunities, specifically offering the state seasons for turkeys, grouse, deer and elk bow hunts.

Principal features of the five alternatives follow:

Alternative A - no action.

Alternative B - new emphasis on habitat restoration, existing uses and recreational activities will be modified, livestock grazing would be moved out of riparian zones and high elevation areas.

Alternative C - hunting, fishing, wildlife observation and environmental education would be continued but camping, horseback riding and snowmobiling would be eliminated, Air Force survival training program would be discontinued.

Alternative D - some hunting, fishing and wildlife observation would be continued, hunting of predators would be stopped, horseback riding, livestock grazing and survival training would be eliminated.

Alternative E - combination of Alternatives B and C.

Mushroom and berry gatherers, as well as antler collectors, won’t like any of the alternatives. Such activities are considered incompatible uses and will not be permitted on the refuge.

Under all the alternatives, any group involving more than 25 persons, including dog sledding and search and rescue, will have to obtain a special use permit.

Although hunting and fishing long have been the most-popular recreational activities on the refuge, other uses, particularly bird watching and photography, have increased the last dozen years.

The Washington Department of Fish and Game managed the refuge from 1965 to 1994 under a cooperative agreement with the FWS.

Persons who are interested in future management of the refuge can comment on the alternatives at the public meetings this week. Those who can’t get to the meetings can comment on them until June 30 by writing to the Refuge Manager, Little Pend Oreille NWR, 1310 Bear Creek Rd., Colville, WA 99114.