I am forwarding the following message on behalf of Doug Brewer, Refuge
Manager
The subject of daily auto tours at Ottawa NWR comes up sporadically, but
especially at this time of year, when the birds (and birders) pass through
the western Lake Erie basin. Auto tours are very popular events here and
on IMBD weekend, we normally have 1500-2000 cars pass through the refuge.
For those of you who have attended auto tours during that weekend, the
number of cars and people is impressive. Unfortunately, it also creates a
great deal of disturbance through the center of the refuge.
While there are refuges that have daily auto tours, the vast majority of
these are refuges are much larger than Ottawa NWR. Ottawa is small, as
refuges go, with just about 4500 acres in the main unit where the auto
tour runs. Compare that to Merritt Island NWR in Florida with over
140,000 acres, Seney NWR in Michigan with 95,000 acres or E.B. Forsythe
NWR in New Jersey with over 45,000 acres. These refuges have a much
larger buffer area to absorb some of the disturbance, and provide secluded
areas for birds and other wildlife away from the tour. At Ottawa, our
auto tour bisects the center of the refuge, and cars and people are
visible to birds and other wildlife throughout nearly all of the refuge.
In response to the reference to hunting - each hunter, if drawn from the
thousands of applications submitted, is allowed to hunt once per year at
Ottawa. Hunters are restricted to a blind on the periphery of the refuge,
and may only hunt from sunrise to noon on the day assigned. There is no
hunting in the center of the refuge, so that the majority of the refuge is
a sanctuary from disturbance during the waterfowl season. Deer hunts are
normally held just after Thanksgiving, in the more upland areas of the
refuge at a time when most of the refuge is frozen and migrants have moved
on.
For those of you who have been coming to Ottawa for a good many years, you
may recall that auto tours used to be restricted to just 2 events per
year, one in October and one in May. We have opened the refuge auto tour
once a month now for about 7 years. I, as manager, in consultation with
the biological and visitor services staff at Ottawa NWR, feel that the
level of disturbance from monthly auto tours is tolerable. In addition,
our maintenance and visitor services staffs (including law enforcement)
are not equipped or staffed to handle the added burden of a daily auto
tour. Auto tours also greatly increase the workload of refuge staff,
particularly those of road maintenance, law enforcement, and visitor
services staff. Given our other responsibilites to wildlife and the
public, for a refuge of Ottawa's size and staff, monthly tours are our
limit. We do have over 10 miles of hiking trails on Ottawa National
Wildlife Refuge, as well as observation areas on Stange and Krause Roads.
Please remember that although most refuges are open to the public, we as
refuge managers must put wildlife first in all of our decisions about
public use, including priority public uses such as wildlife observation,
hunting and fishing. Currently any new uses, or increases in present
uses, require that a Compatibility Determination is performed to ensure
that these proposed uses are compatible with wildlife. Decisions to
increase public use are not made lightly, and Compatibility Determinations
help to ensure that decisions about refuge uses are made based on good
science and sound reasoning. The bottom line to all of this discussion is
that on our National Wildlife Refuges we want to allow the public
opportunities for access and widely varied use of our federal natural
resources, but in all of our decision making, wildlife comes first!
We appreciate your interest in Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. If you
have further questions, please feel free to contact me.
Doug Brewer
Refuge Manager
Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge
14000 W SR 2
Oak Harbor, OH 43449
419-898-0014
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John Habig <[log in to unmask]>
Sent by: Ohio birds <[log in to unmask]>
06/16/2009 07:13 PM
Please respond to
John Habig <[log in to unmask]>
To
[log in to unmask]
cc
Subject
Re: [Ohio-birds] RFI: Ottawa NWR Yellow-headed Blackbirds?
I don't mean to stir anything up. I ask the following questions because
I love to bird Ottawa and opening the entire auto drive daily would help
the economy in NW Ohio and give everyone more flexibility in planning
trips (and finding their life bird).
I have always wondered why all of Ottawa NWR is only open to the public
once a month? I have been to many other NWRs that are open almost
everyday of the year. What is so special about Ottawa? Is there a rare
breeding species that I am not aware of? Are hunters limited to one day
a month during the hunting season?
NOTE: I did not contact Ken Beers by any means before sending this
e-mail so don't think he has anything to do with my questions so please
don't barrage him with e-mails concerning my post. I don't know what his
views are. He may or may not agree with me, I just piggybacked on his
originally post.
Please reply privately instead of to the entire list.
John Habig
261 Lantis Dr.
Carlisle, Ohio 45005
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-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio birds [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Ken Beers
Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2009 8:46 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [Ohio-birds] RFI: Ottawa NWR Yellow-headed Blackbirds?
The monthly Ottawa NWR auto tour is scheduled for next Saturday, June
20. I
am considering driving up in hopes of seeing one of my Ohio "nemesis
birds",
Yellow-headed Blackbird.
When the birds are present at Ottawa I understand they are usually seen
in
section "MS3" on the Ottawa map, a location only accessible to the
general
public during the auto tours.
The blackbirds have been reported on just about every summer auto tour
over
the past few years, including last month's.
I am interested to know if anyone knows if there are any Yellow-headed
BBs
resident or breeding at Ottawa this summer, and if so, are they in an
area
where they might possibly be visible from the auto tour route?
Thanks for any info!
Ken
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Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at
www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.
You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
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Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]
______________________________________________________________________
Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.
You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]
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