Increasingly recognized as one of the most important places on the continent for migratory birds, the Harney Basin is the northern anchor of...
Increasingly recognized as one of the most important places on the continent for migratory birds, the Harney Basin is the northern anchor of a string of wetlands that extends across the Southern Oregon/Northeast California (SONEC) region. During spring migration, more than five million ducks, a million geese, and 100,000 swans pass through here, stopping to feed and gather strength for the long journey to their northern breeding grounds.nnMalheur National Wildlife Refuge, one of the great refuges of the West and located within Harney Basin, is in serious trouble. Malheur Lake, the biological heart of the refuge, and the largest freshwater marsh in the West, is edging toward collapse, the victim of an exploding population of non-native common carp. Introduced decades ago, these destructive invaders have decimated the lake's natural marshes, uprooting vegetation and creating a vast murky expanse of open water where hundreds of thousands of breeding waterbirds previously found abundant food and cover. A lake that annually produced more than 100,000 ducks and geese and sustained peaks of more than half a million migrating waterfowl now supports less than 10 percent of those historic numbers.nnOn the floodplains outside the Malheur Refuge boundaries, private lands still host hundreds of thousands of waterbirds every spring. Traditional flood irrigation and annual haying and grazing create ideal spring conditions for migratory waterbirds on the Silvies River floodplain and other private lands. But this rich area is also at risk. Pressure is mounting for development and conversion to more efficient irrigation poses a threat to these critical seasonal wetlands.nnA coalition of stakeholders has gathered together to begin addressing the growing crisis in the Harney Basin. Building on the recent success of a collaboration to develop a new 15-year management plan for Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, this coalition has created the Harney Basin Wetlands Initiative. The goals of the initiative are two-fold: 1) implement basin-wide carp control strategies, and 2) work with private landowners to maintain flood-irrigation and haying practices that sustain important bird habitats. Oregon Wildlife has established the Restore Malheur Fund to support implementation of the Harney Basin Wetlands Initiative.nnYour tax-deductible gift to the Fund, in the short term, supports research to further develop and refine carp control strategies, and partnerships with private landowners to upgrade aging water management infrastructure helping ensure that the floodplain remains undeveloped.nnPlease join us and help restore health to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and protect critically important seasonal floodplain habitats on agricultural lands within the Harney Basin! http://www.owhf.org/restore-malheur Less
