Monday, July 27, 2009

Have Summer Plans? Go Wild! Our guest blogger today is Martha Nudel of the Department of Interior's National Wildlife Refuge System. Want to try something wild this summer? You don't have to go far or spend a bundle. National wildlife refuges, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are teeming with out-of-the-ordinary seasonal events. Here is a sampling: * As bird watching grows in popularity, new trails are popping up around the country, many on national wildlife refuges. The new Makoke Birding Trail in central Iowa is a collection of 22 separately mapped sites, none more than 40 minutes from downtown Des Moines. One of those 22 sites is Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, where tallgrass prairie restoration is bringing back habitat for more than 200 species of birds. A guide to the trail can be loaded: http://www.iowabirds.org/places/documents/Makoke_Trail.pdf. * The new Sun and Sage Loop of the Great Washington State Birding Trail features more than 200 of the state's 346 annually recorded bird species. Among the 52 stops in southcentral Washington is # 29, Toppenish National Wildlife Refuge, with its 1,700 acres of seasonal wetlands and shrub-steppe. Each fall, 30,000 waterfowl arrive at the Toppenish Refuge and stay for winter. You may spot Pied-billed grebes, northern pintails, northern shovelers and perhaps even short-eared owls. For a downloadable trail guide: http://wa.audubon.org/BirdingTrailMaps/TM_index.html. * All summer long, track wolves at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in Manteo, N.C., during the red wolf howling safari. Cars caravan to the howling site on Wednesday nights, weather-permitting. $5 to participate in the two-hour guided program. Bring a flashlight and insect repellant. For more information: www.redwolves.com or www.fws.gov/refuges/profiles/index.cfm?id=41630 or 252-473-1131 * Learn how Native Americans made hunting tools from stone and bone August 9 at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, WA. Enjoy demonstrations of historic Chinookan tool making, plant harvesting and weaving from natural materials, noon to 3:30 p.m. at the Cathlapotle Plankhouse. The plankhouse is open regularly on weekends from noon to 4 p.m. through October. For more information: www.plankhouse.org or 360-887-4106. * Take your camera when you visit national wildlife refuges so you can become part of an online wildlife photo mosaic. Go to http://yououtdoors.org/ to get started. This summer, go wild!! For more information about national wildlife refuges, go to: http://www.fws.gov/refuges/. - Editor [Gov Gab: Your U.S. Government Blog] 10:25:44 AM

© Copyright 2009 Jocelyn Shaw. Last update: 8/3/2009; 10:36:24 AM. Photo curtesy of Marjorie O'Brien