FWS Refuges - Public Interaction (fwd)

[Carol Ratza <cratza@glc.org>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 97 10:52:48 MST
From: RICH_GREENWOOD@mail.fws.gov

     Study examines numbers
     1.2 million people visited    areas in 1995
     BYLINE:      JAY REED
     CREDIT:      Journal Sentinel outdoor writer
     EST. PAGES:  2   
     DATE:        01/19/97
     DOCID:       MLWK384187
     SOURCE:      The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; MLWK 
                  Dolan Media
     EDITION:     Final; SECTION: Sports; PAGE: 18
      (Copyright 1997)
     
         Four national wildlife refuges and two wetland management
     districts  in Wisconsin attracted 1,210,000 visitors during 1995, the
     most recent  accounting period, according to the U.S. Fish and
     Wildlife Service.
     
        Of that number, 543,000 visited to view wildlife, 190,000 fished,
     49,000 hunted and 17,600 schoolchildren participated in federal
     educational programs conducted on those lands and waters.
         This information, and much more, is contained in a new document
     called "The National Wildlife Refuge System  Promises for the  New
     Century."
     
        The publication contains an overview of the federal refuge
     system, its history, successes and challenges. Included is a fact
     sheet appropriate to local refuges.
     
        What the publication tells us, among many things, is that the
     174,546 acres in Wisconsin covered by the federal agency carry  a
     $5.3 million resource management budget.
     
        It points out that federal aid to state fish and wildlife programs
      in 1995 for Wisconsin amounted to $6.4 million for sport fish
     restoration  and $6.5 million for wildlife restoration and hunter
     education.
     
        And it also notes that with the state as a partner, the Fish and
     Wildlife Service helped private landowners restore 3,000 wetlands
     encompassing about 6,500 acres of fish and wildlife habitat in 1995.
     
        Horicon, the report notes, perhaps the best known federal property
      in the state, is home in the fall to about 800,000 Canada geese and
     other waterfowl species.
     
        The recently completed Visitor Center there highlights these
     waterfowl wildlife activities and highlights the incredible
     diversity of all wildlife that inhabit the 32,000-acre tract.
     
        The federal refuge at Necedah is in the process of restoring  more
     than 3,500 acres of oak and pine barrens, a rare community type  that
     supports rare species such as the federally endangered Karner  blue
     butterfly and the eastern massasauga rattlesnake, a candidate
     species for endangered listing.
     
        Bald eagles successfully nested on the refuge for the first  time
     in 25 years. Reintroduced trumpeter swans successfully nested  for
     the first time, and timber wolves have returned on their own.
     
        The agency's Green Bay field office is taking the lead in working
     with the state and with multiple corporate and private landowners  to
     develop a statewide habitat conservation plan for the endangered
     Karner butterfly. This will enable landowners to carry out
     land-altering  activities while ensuring the long-term protection of
     the butterfly.
     
        Last year the Necedah refuge held the first annual "Take only
     Pictures,  Leave only Footprints" scavenger hunt. Other
     opportunities for recreation  include deer, turkey and small game
     hunting, hiking, bird watching, fishing  and trapping. It also
     serves as host to open houses for Earth Day in April  and National
     Wildlife Refuge Week in October.
     
        The Upper Mississippi River Federal Refuge in western Wisconsin
     covers  42,000 acres and 35 river miles. It is best known, perhaps,
     for its hunting,  fishing and trapping opportunities. It is also a
     staging area for canvasback  ducks, a species of high public
     interest. And its wildlife areas include the "deltas" where the
     Black and Root rivers join the Mississippi.
     
        The 5,754-acre Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge provides
     resting, nesting and feeding habitat for waterfowl and other
     migratory  birds. It is also a major bald eagle nesting region.
     
        The Leopold Wetland Management District is 6 miles east of Waupun.
     It  manages waterfowl production areas in 14 southeastern Wisconsin
     counties  as well as conservation easements in 33 eastern Wisconsin
     counties.
     
        The St. Croix Wetland Management District is headquartered west of
      New Richmond. It manages waterfowl production areas in three
     counties  of northern Wisconsin and restores 100 to 200 wetlands per
     year on private  land. Its 5,600 acres cover 35 waterfowl production
     areas.
     OTHER TERMS: statistic