Steigerwald Refuge Offers Farmers Hay for Clearing Weeds

By Erik Robinson, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.

Apr. 15–The manager of the Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge is looking for farmers interested in taking a little hay off the refuge along the western edge of the Columbia River Gorge.

Jim Clapp said he hopes to hear from farmers willing to take hay from 120 acres of former cattle pasture. In return for the hay, Clapp said, the chosen farmer will agree to mow down or spray non-native weeds.

“We can either spend our gas and operate the tractor with our employee, or have someone else do it,” he said.

Clapp is floating the idea as a way for the refuge to improve the grass available to migratory geese in the fall. The area in question includes about 90 acres of pasture and 30 acres covered in reed canary grass.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has big plans for the 1,049-acre refuge.

A comprehensive plan for the area calls for vault toilets, a place to park, an informational kiosk and about two miles of new trails connecting the refuge to an existing trail atop a 15-foot-tall berm paralleling the Columbia River. Volunteers, meanwhile, spent several Saturdays over the past few weeks planting native shrubs in the area.

Interested hay farmers should contact Clapp by April 27 at 360-835-8767.

Did you know? The Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1984. It is one of five refuges included in the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge Complex. It contains 1,059 acres of historic lake-bed and river-bottomland habitat. It supports anadromous fish, breeding neotropical birds, and migrating and wintering ducks, geese and other birds.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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