General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was established on August 18, 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt as the Lake Malheur Reservation. Roosevelt set aside unclaimed government lands encompassed by Malheur, Mud and Harney Lakes as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds. The newly established Lake Malheur Reservation was the 19th of 51 wildlife refuges created by Roosevelt during his tenure as president. At the time, Malheur was the third refuge in Oregon and one of only six refuges west of the Mississippi.
In the late 1880s, plume hunters decimated North American bird populations in pursuit of breeding feathers for the hat industry. Hunters targeted large flocks of colonial nesting birds and shorebirds, killing birds indiscriminately and orphaning chicks. Eventually, the large numbers of colonial nesting birds on Malheur Lake were discovered by plume hunters. In 1908, wildlife photographers William L. Finley and Herman T. Bohlman discovered that most of the white herons (egrets) on Malheur Lake had been killed in 1898 by plume hunters. After 10 years the white heron population still had not recovered. With backing from the Oregon Audubon Society, Finley and Bohlman proposed establishment of a bird reservation to protect birds using Malheur, Mud, and Harney lakes.
The refuge now encompasses 187,757 acres of wildlife habitat. The 65,000 acre Blitzen Valley was purchased in 1935 and added to the refuge to secure water rights for Malheur and Mud Lake. With the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933, the refuge was able to use this additional manpower in 1935 to begin major improvements on the refuge. The CCC constructed most of the infrastructure in the Blitzen Valley including the Center Patrol Road which travels through the center of the refuge. The 14,000 acre Double-O unit was added to the refuge in 1942 and provides important shorebird habitat, as well as waterfowl nesting areas. Malheur Refuge is situated within the Harney Basin in southeastern Oregon. Located in the Northern Great Basin, this portion of the State is lightly populated, generally arid with cold winters, and characterized by wide open spaces.
The Refuge constitutes a small percentage of the Northern Great Basins total acreage but is a tremendously important source of wildlife habitat relative to other portions of the Northern Great Basin. The Refuge represents a crucial stop along the Pacific Flyway and offers resting, breeding, and nesting habitat for hundreds of migratory birds and other wildlife. Many of the species migrating through or breeding here are highlighted as priority species in national bird conservation plans.
http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Malheur/
rjsquirrel
(4,762 posts)Beautiful place, important too.
Now feds, get those malicious armed white supremacist terrorists off the peoples' land.
SoLeftIAmRight
(4,883 posts)hope there are a few extra charges for these low functioning mindless yahoos
JEB
(4,748 posts)Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)I love that part of Oregon...I visit (from Portland) several times a year.
A Simple Game
(9,214 posts)Now what do you think Teddy would have done with these terrorists?
starroute
(12,977 posts)What else?
A Simple Game
(9,214 posts)HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)Whatever wintering wildlife is present is likely going about it's daily activity, what ever they may be this time of year, just fine.
What appears to be happening at the HQ is a sudden and unexpected increase in observation of hominid ritualized displays of group defiance. The creation of coalitions and noisy displays by these subdominants is fairly common among gregarious apes.
demtenjeep
(31,997 posts)our government needs to make sure this doesn't happen again .
Something needs to be done because every time the idiot III% get to do something like this they feel more validated and get more emboldened.
lastlib
(22,981 posts)...we blame it on North Korean separatist terrorists, and never hear from them again. Simple and effective, and has deterrent value for the next bunch o' morans....
What's not to like about it? (other than having to rebuild the building.....)
Marty McGraw
(1,024 posts)Have made an affront and declared war on all the rest of us! It's gonna take a while to clean up all their filth they leave in their selfish tantrum induced wake.
assholes!