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2019 Refuge Photo Contest Calendars!  The Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge Photo Contest Calendar is back for the 2019 calendar season! Check out the winners from the 2018 contest, learn about the subjects of the photos, and stay up-to-date on important events, volunteer opportunities, and more. Support volunteer programs like habitat restoration and educational programming, and host beautiful photos of wildlife and your refuge in your home the whole year through. Just $18.00 for the standard heavyweight gloss 8.5x11 (opens to 11x17) calendar, or $23.00 for the XL 11x14 (opens to 14x22) size! Choose your own preferred binding color- and keep a little piece of the Refuge right in your own home.
To buy in-store (8.5×11 only), find them at the Hometown Celebration on December 1st! Or check out these amazing locations:
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Save the Date for the Friends Annual Member and Volunteer Brunch!
Saturday, January 26th, 11:00am - 1:00pm
All members and volunteers of the Friends are invited to our annual gathering. We'll celebrate our accomplishments of 2018, look ahead to 2019, and conduct our board elections... all over a shared meal. Mark your calendars!
Saturday, January 26th, 11:00am - 1:00pm
Ilani Casino
1 Cowlitz Way, Ridgefield, WA 98642
Join us for our annual volunteer & membership meeting and brunch!
More details and RSVP information will be sent out in December. We look forward to bringing everyone together in January!
Not a current member, or need to renew?
Become a member & receive all the benefits of membership! Also, be able to vote in this year’s elections! Friends’ membership details & online payment can be found here!
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Ridgefield Refuge Complex
News & Events
Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge
Christmas Bird Count
 Every year between December 14th and January 5th, tens of thousands of volunteers throughout the Americas brave snow, wind, or rain to take part in the Christmas Bird Count (CBC). Audubon and other organizations use data collected in this long-running wildlife census to assess the health of bird populations, and to help guide conservation action. Ridgefield NWR has been a part of the “Sauvie Circle” since the 1960s. Our 15-mile diameter circle encompasses the Columbia River covering Sauvie Island and some of the Scappoose area on the Oregon side and west of I-5 from Vancouver Lake bottoms through the refuge and up to the Lewis River on the Washington side.
This year our count will be on December 23rd with a back up date on December 31st. Teams are assigned an area to survey, results are submitted to the compiler who puts it all together and submits the information to the National Audubon Society. Being part of the count can be as simple as counting at your own feeder if you are within the boundaries of the circle, surveying a park you like to visit for a couple of hours or spending all day in the field walking your territory. If you are new to the CBC, we can pair you with more experienced birders. There will be several teams on the refuge and adjacent areas who will be out that day. You will need binoculars, a good field guide or app, and likely good winter weather clothing and footwear. If being part of this big citizen science effort has appeal for you, check out the National Audubon website at https://www.audubon.org/conservation/science/christmas-bird-count. If you would like to participate this year, contact Susan Setterberg at smsetterberg@yahoo.com, preferable before December 7th, for more information.
Thank you for visiting the Refuge and supporting conservation. If you have any questions regarding activities and regulations on the Refuge, call the office Monday through Friday 7:30 am to 3:30 pm at
360-887-4106.
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Cathlapotle Plankhouse
Cathlapotle Plankhouse Second Sunday Series
The 2018 Cathlapotle Plankhouse Second Sunday Series has drawn to a close. This past year we were able to host six events in total, with our first ever off-site talk co-hosted with and at the Clark County Historical Museum (CCHM). This year’s Series brought in over 600 people to take in our speaker’s presentations, skills demonstrations, and family activities.
Our final lecture in the Series, Colonial Mythologies of the Oregon Indian Wars, with indigenous anthropologist Dr. David G Lewis was co-hosted with the CCHM at their location. The November lecture was successful with over 25 attendees filling the intimate space at the CCHM. Dr. Lewis’ lecture was especially well timed as it coincided with the final week Making Beauty: Native Beadwork of North America was on display at the Museum.
Did you know? You can earmark a donation to the Cathlapotle Plankhouse Second Sunday Series or other specific programs the Friend of Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge provide to the community? Just enter the program name in the notes section when donating!
p.s. Stay tuned for the CCHM’s upcoming exhibit, Music, Movement, & Sound: An Exploration of Clary County’s Musical Roots, with a segment that features two Friends Board Members, Sam Robinson, Vice-Chair of the Chinook Indian Nation, and Tanna Engdahl, the Women’s Spiritual Leader for the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, on the Indigenous roots of music in the Pacific Northwest.
Preserve America is a national initiative in cooperation with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation; the U.S. Departments of
 Defense, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, and Education; the National Endowment for the Humanities; the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities; and the President's Council on Environmental Quality. |
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Habitat Restoration Updates & Events
Whereas October on the Refuge marks the return of the cranes, November brings in the swans. Carty Lake, River S, and Bachelor Island are all playing host to trumpeters (Cygnus buccinators) and mutes (Cygnus olor). If you are new to birding these would be two of the easier to spot birds to check off your list. I’m still looking for the one playing the bugle.
Then, if you are looking for a greater challenge we have three subspecies of Canada geese that frequent the refuge. Learn to tell them apart and you could be a potential candidate the next time we recruit refuge goose counters.
Habitat volunteers, when not distracted by all the waterfowl, were busy as beavers this month helping to restore wintering habitat for western pond turtles at the Pierce NWR, and clearing plastic grow tubes that did the intended job but needed to be removed from plantings at Carty Field and Long Meadow. The tubes were designed to be photodegradable, but seemed to be lasting longer than advertised. Recent information about plastic and microplastics in the environment, and the impacts to aquatic life and movement throughout the food chain, led us to choose the best worst option and send them to a landfill. This project took multiple work parties, two seasons, and removed thousands of tubes. Much gratitude to all that participated, especially those that braved the wasps and weather to help get it done.
Upcoming work parties will spend December clearing blackberries and old barb-wire fencing (not very exciting but beneficial to all who walk, crawl, run, or fly across the refuge) before we start our winter plantings after the first of the year.
General Habitat Questions? Contact Keith_Rutz@fws.gov for more information |
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Thank you Members, Donors and Sponsors Thank you to all the people who donated on Giving Tuesday, November 27th!
January 2018-November 2018 
Members and Donors 2018
3 Peaks
Alder Creek Kayak
Sharon Agnor
AnsleyArt
Marilyn Arnesen
Libby Adcock & Jack Bernhardsen
Jeanne Androvich
Backyard Bird Shop
Rollin Bannow
Bill & Kathy Baumann
Beck’s Original Woodworking
Chris Bidleman
Robin & Lyle Bradford
Ivan Brink
Rick Browne
Dan and Cindy Buell
Canyon Creek Metal Works
Eugene Carroll
Susan Calvert
Marion Cassidy
CatFish Photography
Jane Chinn
Jim Clapp
David Collier
Columbia Credit Union
Community Foundation for SWWA- Laspa Family Fund
Barbara Comnes
Pat Corkill
Dennis & Pat Cox
Jason A. Crotty
Sandra Day
Paul & Bonnie Donavan
Kay Duncan
Daniel and Lin Dzurisin
Catherine Eastman
Pat & Ron Eastman
Tanna & Lynn Engdahl
Dale Estes
Tom Finn
Fire & Ice Concession
Bob Flores
Garden Fever!
Richard Garrison
Heather Gramp
Michael Greenstreet
Jim Gola
Mary Grout
Jan Haig
Bonnie Hankins
Richard Hannan
Irene Fisher & Craig Hansen
Dede & Ken Heath
Kristi Herron
Dan and Rita Hill
Randy Hill
Barbara Howard
Scott & Cathy Hughes- Ridgefield Hardware
Bob & Phyllis Hyatt
Ilani Casino & Resort
Lorre Jaffe
Dennis Johnson
Kevin Merchant Photography
Don & Helen Klopfenstein- In honor of their mother Vera
Lee Knottnerus
Julie Koch
Barb Kusik
Kent C. Landerholm
Sandor William Lau
Gloria Lawrence
Peter Lent
Mair Lewis
Beth Marlin Lichter
Ridgefield Lions
Michelle Maani
Joe & Donna MacKenzie
Marc Mathieu
Twila and Mark McCombs
Aletha McGee
Steven McLaughlin
McMenamin’s
Heather Memarian
Curt & Debbie Mohler
Annie Moorhead
MudSlinger’s Pottery
Nice Nests
NW Natural
Jim Nindel-Edwards
Elizabeth Oedell
Christine Olson
Leslie O’Rourke
Laura Pagano
Patagonia
Marilyn Pitts
David Phelps
Port of Ridgefield
Port of Vancouver
Steve Rauske
Ridgefield Floral & Gifts
Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge Fund- Community Foundation SWWA
Greg Robinson
Sam Robinson
Jim & Darcy Rourk
The Recovery Village Ridgefield
Cory Samia
Mel Sanchez
Claudia & Mark Sanzone
Virginia Scott
Susan Setterberg
Carol Silva & Mary Cox
James Smith
Russel Smith
Pat Snyder
Jill Spencer
Stephanie Stacker
Gary Suda- Suda Bowls
Dave & Julie Tanner
Bob & Marsha Taylor
Aschlie Moriah Town
Jane Tuck
Robert Vanderkamp
Henry VanWyhe
Janis VanWyhe
Susan Wickersham
Jennifer Wolcott & Daniel Heinrichs
Karen Wood
Tom and Lisa Zeiner
Everyone from our Annual Member Dinner, January 2018
Everyone who attended our Annual Fundraiser, July 2018
In Memory of Syndey Reisbick:
Jan Haig
Mrs. James Johnson
In Memory of Lance Wilson:
Enas H Wilson
In Honor of Greg Hranac:
Gary Blefgen & the USFWS Division of Engineering
In Honor and Memory of Mary Colleen
To protect our member's identities, you must opt-in to be added to this list. If your name is not on this list and you think it should be, please contact us. |
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Help the Friends and the Refuge When You Shop
When you link your Fred Meyer Rewards Card to the Friends, you help us earn donations from Fred Meyer Community Rewards. It doesn't change your regular personal shopping and fuel rewards, but it does make a meaningful contribution to our work on the Refuge.
It's easy to sign up. Just go to www.fredmeyer.com/communityrewards. You can search for us by our name, Friends of Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, or by our non-profit number, PK822. Then, every time you shop and use your Rewards Card, you are helping the Friends earn a donation to support the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. If you do not have a Rewards Card, they are available at the Customer Service desk of any Fred Meyer store.
Shop and Give Online at AmazonSmile.com
 Log on to smile.amazon.com, shop as you usually would and .5% of your purchase will be donated directly to the Friends. Use the special link, smile.amazon.com, with your existing user name and password.
To set up your AmazonSmile account, click this link: http://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-2018749. When prompted to select a charity, choose the Friends of Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge. Begin shopping as you normally would and the Friends will receive 0.5% of eligible purchases.
Or Shop Online and Give through Giving Assistant
 Giving Assistant makes it easy to donate to Friends of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge! Simply shop online, earn cash back, and donate as much as 30% of your purchase price—Giving Assistant facilitates the whole process. Now, you can help change the world for free while saving money at over 3,000 popular online retailers like Home Depot, ULTA, and Macy’s! Start HERE!
Thanks for being an EcoShopper and helping the Refuge!
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Follow the Friends on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!
Want regular updates on Refuge events and happenings? Follow the Friends on your favorite social media by clicking the logos below to stay connected even when you are off the Refuge.
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Header Photo Credit: Raul Moreno, 2nd Place, 2017 Refuge Photo Contest |
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