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Ridgefield Refuge Complex
News & Events
Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge
Wild in the City Open House March 3rd!
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Join us at Three Creeks Library in Vancouver, WA on March 3rd from 11am to 4pm! Learn more about your local National Wildlife Refuges this Saturday as the Refuge System comes to the city.
Learn about recreational opportunities, volunteering, upcoming refuge projects and habitat restoration practices.
This hands-on FREE family-friendly event will have something for everyone to enjoy.
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 7:30am to 3:30 pm at 360-887-4106.
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Spring Volunteer Naturalist Trainings!
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.jpg) Whether you want to work with students and the public to spread the conservation message, teach about local indigenous culture, or get your hands dirty doing habitat work, this training will show you how local refuges manage habitat and inspire people. This four part interactive series will include presentations, activities, and field trips. Topics being developed may include major restoration techniques such as fire management, oak restoration, wetland and field conservation for waterfowl, and floodplain restoration in the Gorge. Local indigenous culture and the long history of habitat conservation by First Peoples will be explored through the Cathlapotle Plankhouse. Species specific presentations and tours of the Refuge will highlight the wildlife that benefit from these activities and communication techniques to share this great work with our surrounding communities.
If any of this sounds interesting contact:
Josie Finley at 360-887-4106 or ridgefieldvolunteer@fws.gov for questions and to sign up.
Trainings will be Saturdays:
March 31-What Makes a Refuge Unique
April 7-Connecting People to Nature
April 14-Lifeways and Landscapes
April 21-Wetlands and Wildlife
*Note: March 14th will be Cathlapotle Plankhouse Day- Required for docents and Carty Trail Stewards
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Environmental & Cultural Education Program
Education Outreach
As part of a large community assessment done by the US Fish & Wildlife Service Urban Program, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge was able to identify Ridgefield 3rd, 4th and 5th graders as our Target Audience. Because of this, our team made it out to South Ridge and Union Ridge elementary schools to visit fourth graders in the community. Sean Davis and Juliet McGraw visited with students last Friday, giving the kids an interactive overview of the geography of Washington state, how climate and geography shaped indigenous cultures in the past, and showcased the Every Kid in a Park Pass for fourth graders.
The Every Kid in a Park Pass is the public lands pass that every fourth grader in the nation can get and use for their whole family. It gets them in to national lands (Parks, Wildlife Refuges, etc) free of admission (parking/camping still have a cost). Find out more here!
2018 Teacher Trainings (required)
Sessions still open and Clock Hours available!
This training will be good for three years. Sessions are held from 10am to 2:30pm on March 24th. Due to snow cancellations, more dates will be available soon. Sign up by emailing
ridgefieldeducation@fws.gov. Limited space will be available each day so attending sooner rather than later is suggested.
*For on-site Refuge field trips, one teacher each field trip day must have attended one of the orientation days.
2018 School Field Trips
Offered May and June, Tuesdays-Fridays.
Applications being accepted ONLINE ONLY February 1st through March 15th.
For information about the 2018 Education and Field Trips- including Classroom Visits, On-Site Visits and REQUIRED Teacher Trainings, click here!
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Cathlapotle Plankhouse
Update & Events
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Wild in the City
Join us at the Three Creeks Library in Salmon Creek and come check out the Cathlapotle Plankhouse booth at our open house this weekend! We will have hands-on activities, as well as items from the House for you to explore. We will have educators on hand to field your questions and help you learn more about the lifeways and landscapes that are unique to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.
Teachers – we will also be showcasing our NEW grab-and-go teacher-led activities that can be checked out from our Environmental & Cultural Educational Program.
Cathlapotle Plankhouse Second Sunday Series
We will be celebrating Lifeways and Landscapes throughout the 2018 season. Each Second Sunday of the month we will feature speakers, demonstrators, and other presenters focused on topics that relate to indigenous culture and the rich habitat provided by the Refuge. You can look forward to topics relating to indigenous women’s labor, ancestors and grandchildren, seasonality, ancestral oak stands, and of course our always popular Traditional Technologies Day.
Second Sundays begin in May and will continue through December. This year we are experimenting with a longer series and have added three additional events to the tail end of our series, extending it to the end of the year. We hope that you enjoy this additional programming and hope to see you often!
Save the Date!
Saturday, May 5th, the Cathlapotle Plankhouse opens to the public. Hours are from 12 to 4 Saturdays and Sundays. The House remains open until BirdFest 2018 in October.
Interested in learning more about local indigenous cultures? Do you have a passion for our regional landscape? Be sure to attend April 14, the Plankhouse Day, in our Naturalist Training Series! Come join our team of citizen educators, docents, and trail stewards at the Carty Unit.
Questions? Contact Juliet at Juliet_McGraw@fws.gov
or call (360) 887-4106
(click link to view the Plankhouse listing)
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
Frenetic February, Management March!
February on the Refuge brought us an early hint of spring before reminding us that winter is not yet ready to call it a day. The warm dry start to the month saw Indian plum (Oemleria cerasiformis) fooled into bloom and herbicide spray equipment pulled from the shed. Two weeks later we were canceling events because of snow and ice and rewinterizing. In spite of the frenetic weather, habitat work continued with the clearing of derelict barbed-wire fences from the Carty Unit and blackberries from the River S Unit.
In addition, along stretches of the auto-tour route, volunteer work parties prepped and...Keep Reading...
Now you can sign up to volunteer easily on our website! Check it out by clicking here!
Check out more about Habitat Restoration here!
Questions? Contact Keith_Rutz@fws.gov for more information
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From the Contact Station
I saw an eagle; it was so big!
Winter is a great time for seeing the “big birds.” Many are here to fuel up for the coming nesting season up north. Some are hunters and are easily seen flying over the refuge in search of prey. Some are stalking prey on the ground. Then others are on the open ponds or fields looking for a more vegetarian diet. Nevertheless, they standout. There are several ways to assess size of birds; weight, body length when perched or height when standing or wingspan come to mind. Let’s focus on wingspan for now as most of these birds can be seen flying around us Keep Reading...
-Susan Setterberg, Volunteer & Board President, Photo by Dennis Davenport - 2016 Photo Contest Honorable Mention
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Name that Bird!
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Welcome to our new monthly section in our E-Newsletter! Every so often, guests will send us photos to help identify wildlife on the Refuge, and we want to see if you can do it too! What do you think this lovely bird above is?
Email your answers to contact@ridgefieldfriends.org and we will announce who got it right, and what the answer is, in next month's newsletter! Stay tuned!
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2018 Events to Save the Date for:
Keep an eye out for more information on these events!
 Friends of Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge Annual Fundraiser 2018:
Friday, July 20th, 2018 - Evening, Lucy's Garden - 3302 NW Carty Rd, Ridgefield, WA 98642
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Partner Events to Save the Date for:
Tualatin River Bird Festival: May 19th, 2018
 The Friends of the Refuge, in conjunction with Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, welcome you to our 22nd Annual Tualatin River Bird Festival. This is a FREE family-friendly event! Join thee Friends of the Refuge for diverse family-friendly activities celebrating wildlife and wild places.
Check out the Friends of the Refuge's webpage here to stay up to date on this event, and what all is going on in Tualatin!
Big Paddle: June 2nd, 2018
There’s something for absolutely everyone on this fun-filled day  downtown and on Lake River. Breakfast, paddling, obstacle course, live music, beer & wine garden, BIG games and a Totally Awesome Scavenger Challenge! Registration is already open! Check out the schedule HERE, and sign up today!
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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, 89824. 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: William Lee, 2010 Photo Contest Honorable
Mention
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