February 2017 Newsletter

Annual Member and Volunteer Appreciation Dinner a Success!

The Friends' Annual Membership and Volunteer Appreciation Dinner was held on January 22nd, 2017 at the Ridgefield Community Center. A delicious main course was provided byThe Refuge Chef, and guests generously shared tasty side-dishes and desserts.

During dinner, our members, volunteers, sponsors, and community members were able to purchase items donated by local vendors during BirdFest, purchase raffle tickets for more fun prizes, and were given an accounting of past and future refuge projects from the Refuge Project Leader Chris Lapp. All of this was followed up with words of thanks from the President of the Friends Board, Jim Maul, as well as an introduction and presentation from Friends staff members, who spoke about their positions, why they love the Friends and the Refuge, and what they would like to work towards in the future.

A great addition to our event was when a few of our long-time supporters and volunteers came to the front to share their love of the Refuge, and to lend their support to our new Community & Nature Center Project, both financially and in a call for support from everyone in attendance. Many of our members followed up with this generosity, and money was collected to be used toward the project.

To wrap up a delightful afternoon of good food, good company and fun, we said a heartfelt goodbye to Russ Roseberry, who is leaving the Friends Board after many years of dedicated service. Russ was presented with a Chinookan paddle carved and presented by Sam Robinson, the Vice Chairman of the Chinook Indian Nation and a fellow Board Member, as well as a bag of fun goodies put together by Friends and Refuge staff members to memorialize his time working with the refuge. Russ will continue to work for and with the Friends as the Chairman of the Community & Nature Center Project Committee, and we are grateful for his continued support!

From the River 'S' Contact Station

Christmas Bird Count:It was tense, waiting for the day of the Christmas Bird Count for the Ridgefield/Sauvie Island Circle. We had to cancel our traditional date before Christmas and hope that Jan 2, 2017 would work for us. Luck was with us, and though it was a cold day to be out on the refuge, it was sunny and lovely. Many of our participants walk areas on the refuge to best find and count every bird they see. We have teams covering all the units, downtown Ridgefield, the Vancouver Lowlands, Burnt Bridge trail along Salmon Creek and all roads west of I-5.

Twenty-seven birders put in almost 80 hours of field work to find and identify just short of 50,000 birds in our circle, the greatest portion being on the refuge itself. Of interest was the shortage of owls found this year. We only had five Great Horned Owls found on the refuge, which is a third of the usual count for the circle. Seven Short-eared Owls were found on the refuge, one very early in the morning along the River ‘S’. Swans are a winter favorite. Over 2000 Tundra Swans were counted, a quarter of those being on the lakes of the River ‘S’ unit. If you want to see the scarce Trumpeter Swans, the Carty unit is the place to look as half of our counted 75 Trumpeters were on that unit. We are often asked about American Bitterns in winter. Our team on Bachelor Island found two, demonstrating that a few stay around in the winter, though they are very hard to find. Several days before the count day, there had been reports of swallows on the refuge. Probably the cold snap just before the count discouraged them from staying around as none were found on count day. A bit of a disappointment. And, yes, the Sandhill Cranes are around. We counted 1331 in the circle, with half of those being found in the Vancouver Lowlands area; the rest were scattered around the refuge. This is a good time to see Bald Eagles of course. With the numerous ducks around, there is plenty to eat for them. Bald Eagles were spotted at least 50 times during the day, but the population number is probably closer to 39 given the eagles move around so much and get spotted by multiple teams. Of course, the most numerous bird species was Cackling Geese as usual. But there were big numbers of sparrows around, the Golden-crowned Sparrow being the most numerous. A detailed report of the findings for the refuge will be posted at the contact station.

Kid’s Corner: We recently put up a new white board at the contact station which was installed at kid level. We have been encouraging kids to report what they are seeing on the refuge. Our first reports were Bald Eagle, Deer and Great Blue Heron. Making it more fun, the reports come with drawings. We welcome any additions to these sightings. Also available for our young visitors are photos of many of our wildlife friends found on the refuge. One of our frequent photographers, Jim Cruce, donated photos to the refuge, which we like to give out to kids to take home as a memory of their visit. Ask the volunteer at the contact station about the photos.

Reporting from the River 'S' Contact Station- Susan Setterberg, Volunteer

Tend Your Bird Feeders During Cold Weather

Feed the birds and you may be rewarded!

We all know that birds have a harder time finding food sources in the wintertime, cold temperaturesdrive insects underground, and seeds and nuts are scarce. For our year-round Anna's Hummingbird friends, finding nectar and insects can be difficult. A way to help them out is to keep your feeders full, and you may get a surprise!

These photos were taken in Beaverton Oregon during this last bout of snow storms, this could be your view if you keep your feeders full on a regular basis!

New Faces Around the Refuge!

Sean Davis: Habitat Restoration and Education Specialist

"Sean Davis is the new habitat restoration and education specialist. He will be getting his hands dirty alongside volunteers planting trees and pulling weeds, then working with school groups and other youth to expand stewardship, appreciation and a working knowledge of the Refuge.

Sean cut his teeth in the classroom teaching ESL in New York City before deciding his talents were better served in the outdoor classroom. Prior to arriving in Ridgefield, Sean has shared his love and wonder of nature with school groups in Georgia, California, and Hawaii as an environmental educator.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, Sean has worked in the North Cascades interpreting hydro-electricity production on the Skagit River, as well as teaching Pacific Northwest ecology to 5th graders from Bellingham. In Eastern Oregon, Sean led a small crew of high school students on a summer survey of the Malheur and Umatilla National Forests. And in Southern Oregon, Sean taught students in the Rogue Valley of the salmon life cycle. Sean hopes to expand science programming on the Refuge by engaging more visitors and school groups in citizen science efforts and inquiry projects."

Ridgefield Refuge Complex

News & Events

Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Voices from the Urban Refuge Support Team

Follow some of our highlights and let us know if you would like to be more involved.

Mesha Wood

Club Aves

The winter storm has had many of use thinking about warmer weather - which inspired me to get together with our partners from Club Aves, a youth birding group in NE Portland, to discuss spring and summer programming. I, along with other USFWS staff, look forward to helping lead neighborhood walks, focused on connecting youth from the Cully neighborhood with the outdoors. The Service has provided transportation funding to the group…helping make visits to nature places beyond their neighborhood more attainable. If you have ever wanted to join an energetic group of youth and see the world of birding through their lenses, contact me at mesha_wood@fws.gov to see how you can get involved.

Pat Stark

Youth Mentoring Collaborative Job Fair (Check out the video)

Dozens of young people in Portland came to Matt Dishman Community Center on December 30th to meet with local environmental organizations and learn about job opportunities in the coming year. Through the Urban Refuge Program, the USFWS supported the event with funds and planning support. Jenny worked closely with the Youth Mentoring Collaborative (YMC) to organize the event. YMC is a coalition of organizations working together to advance professional opportunities in the environmental field, particularly for youth of color. Pat attended the event, co-hosting a table with Rose Community Development, to recruit youth for the upcoming Daycation Youth Engagement Program. The Daycation program will invite small teams of young people (ages 14-19) to learn and engage in friendly competition while creating adventures for the new Daycation Mobile App, which the USFWS is developing in cooperation with partners of the Intertwine Alliance.

Jenny de la Hoz

DEI and Intertwine

DEI stands for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The Intertwine Alliance is a coalition of over 160+ public, private and nonprofit organizations working to integrate nature more deeply into the Portland-Vancouver region. With financial and staff assistance from the Urban Refuge Support Team, Intertwine is actively working to create an environmental movement that is inclusive and representative of all. Intertwine is expanding and refining their tested “cohort model” of engagement to offer programming to 40 local organizations to create an ongoing learning community focused on DEI. Beginning in late February and early March, we are convening four cohorts from these organizations to learn to address different aspect of DEI and environmental work. Curious and want to learn more? Drop me a note jenny_delahoz@fws.gov.

Kim Strassburg

Positive Youth Engagement and the Outdoors

Our whole team has been working closely with a new partner, I’M Hooked, whose mission is to use fishing as a platform to reach urban youth, giving them an alternative to the many negative influences they may encounter. Together, we are planning to provide local youth opportunities to learn new skills, to make a difference in their community, to interact with other youth from diverse cultural backgrounds, and to gain experiences in leadership and shared decision making. Through our combined efforts, we aim to instill an appreciation for nature, conservation, restoration and education by way of water, rod, and reel. Look for I’M Hooked at our May 20^thTualatin River Bird Festival, helping to teach kids casting skills. And we will support I’M Hooked’s signature Family Fishing Weekend at Henry Hagg Lake June 3^rd & 4^th. This event has serving up to 1,500 participants annually for 28 years and continues to deepen its impact. Won’t you join us at both events to help share your love of nature with kids and families? Drop me a line at kim_strassburg@fws.gov.

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Thank you for visiting the refuge and supporting conservation. If youhave any questions regarding activities and regulations on the refuge,call the office Monday through Friday 7:30am to 3:30 pm at 360-887-4106.

Habitat Restoration

Updates & Events

Habitat work on the refuge took a short pause last month thanks to a continuous barrage of Pacific moisture and an influx of arctic temperatures. We saw trees falling, hillsides slumping, and many of our avian neighbors leaving for open water. It was all quiet on the River ‘S’ except for the occasional coyote foraging for what hides beneath the snow.

And then the rain washed it away and we got back to work. Volunteer crews continued releasing maturing trees from planting tubes and constructing beaver barriers. We will continue this project on the Carty Unit through February with continued support from community volunteers. I would like to take a moment to thank the UNFI employees who have not only donated many hours of work to this project, but generously contributed an assortment of quality snacks in support of the effort. If you were thinking about coming out for a Wednesday event I would remind you that we now have an assortment of quality snacks.

We will also have a couple Saturday events and a President’s Day blackberry reduction party in February so we hope you can join us in freeing trees and frustrating beavers.

The volunteer event on President's Day, Monday February 20th, will go from 9am - 12:30 pm, email: SeanfoRidgefield@gmail.com to sign up!

(click this poster to view larger and download)

Questions? Contact Keith_Rutz@fws.gov for more information

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Header Photo Credit:MargueriteHills