Manager’s Update – Summer 2014
by Ken Sturm, Refuge Manager, Missisquoi NWR
Can it really be August already? The field season has been flying along and the refuge staff has been quite busy with a variety of projects and events. This year’s field season is quite a bit different from 2013, which saw cooler temperatures and plenty of rain. One obvious sign of a more “normal” year is easily seen driving along route 78 and gazing out at Cabot Clark Marsh. This time last year there was hardly a stem of wild rice growing as water levels peaked in Lake Champlain in mid July. This year, with a more typical summer lake level drawdown, wild rice is popping up all over the wetlands and starting to flower. That’s good news for the thousands of waterfowl headed our way this fall that will be relying on the refuge for food and rest on their way south.
Park Ranger Dave Frisque has been quite busy this summer hosting refuge programs and environmental education tours of the refuge to area schools and organizations. Over 300 students have visited the refuge in the last two months, keeping the visitor services program quite busy. Additionally, the refuge and the Friends of Missisquoi NWR hosted our annual International Migratory Bird Day event and our annual kids fishing “derby,” both of which were well attended.
On August 9th we held a family paddling day in cooperation with the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, and later in August will be our annual Junior Waterfowl Training Day. It is very rewarding to see the families who come to participate in these refuge events. It is my hope that through encouraging families to come to the refuge we will be fostering a continued exposure to the refuge and the environment for our area youth as parents get hooked into outdoor recreation and appreciation of the refuge’s conservation and management mission.
Our biologist, Judy Sefchick-Edwards has been busy working on a variety of wildlife- and habitat-related projects this summer. We are once again involved in a regional effort to census bat species on the refuge by using remote acoustic recording devices. Although the data is not yet completely analyzed, it is apparent that the main river corridor of the Missisquoi is heavily used by several species of bats.
The refuge has again hosted nesting Bald Eagles—two separate nests again, and both were successful. Although this may be good news for Vermont’s eagle population, we are once again noticing a disruption in the Great Blue Heron rookery on the refuge. Early in the season we noticed that at least one large section of the rookery had been completely abandoned. We will not have total numbers of successful nests until later in the summer, but it’s likely our heron production will be down considerably this year, likely due to the nesting Bald Eagles as well as the many juvenile Bald Eagles using the refuge as hunting grounds.
We are once again fortunate to be working with the Friends on a water chestnut control operation. The Friends were successful in receiving a grant from the Lake Champlain Basin Program this year. When added to the remainder of the State Invasive Species grant from 2013, we were able to fund another field season for contractors to hand pull this aquatic invasive plant from the refuge. The crew has been working for two weeks as of this writing and have harvested over 1200 water chestnut rosettes from refuge wetlands. We hope that by hitting this problem hard for two consecutive seasons we will be able to see water chestnut infestations drop to manageable levels, as they were prior to the flooding of 2011. Thanks to the Friends again for helping make this critical management project possible!
The refuge has recently advertised for the replacement of the Mac’s Bend boat ramps, a project we hope to begin by September. These ramps are open from September through December and are the primary boat access for our waterfowl hunters during the fall. The new ramps should improve access especially during low water levels, as are typical in the fall.
We have been fortunate to have several volunteers working with us this summer helping on a variety of projects from routine maintenance, working the Visitor Center on the weekends, and biological and outreach projects. If you haven’t met Ginger and Benny Bradford, our summer RV volunteers, please stop by the Visitor Center on the weekend and say hello. We have two students working with us this summer as volunteers: Ken Yamazaki from University of Vermont and Marnie Rickert from University of New Hampshire. Both have been exceptional volunteers and have provided the refuge with much needed help on biological and public use projects. We have also been lucky to have Doug Apirian back with us this summer. Doug and Marnie have been working together on many projects including trail work and invasive species control.
The refuge is also once again hosting a Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC) crew this summer. This year the refuge has the pleasure of working with an all-female Leadership Development Crew, a special smaller group working to develop their individual leadership skills. Their dedication to the job and their passion for working outdoors and on the refuge have been obvious and well-appreciated by the refuge staff. I hope that many visitors have seen the VYCC at work and have stopped to thank them personally!
Summer is a great time on the refuge and is always the main season that keeps the refuge staff on its toes. We hope you have been able to get out onto our trails or paddle the rivers to experience this incredible wetland resource and see some of the great work our volunteers and staff have been doing to make this refuge a truly exceptional part of Vermont’s natural heritage.
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All programs and tours are free, but registration is required where noted.
Photography Workshop Saturday September 13 (tentative date), 9:00 am to 2:30 pm
Robert Chaperon Jr. will lead a photography workshop for Beginning through Intermediate photographers. Topics will include: Sensor size; File formats; Exposure Triangle: Apertures, Shutter speeds and ISO; the Creative Triangle: Depth of field, Motion and Grain; and Color temperatures, Focus and Composition. Classroom instruction and discussion will be held in the morning, followed by a lunch break at noon (bring your own lunch) and field work in the afternoon.
Please call 802-868-4781 to register for this activity and to confirm the date. Class size is limited to 12 participants. Meet at the Refuge Visitor Center on Tabor Road.
Fall Open House Saturday September 27 (tentative date)
A Fall Open House is currently in the planning stages. Please check the Friends website for more information as it becomes available.
Volunteer Tree Planting Saturday October 4, 9:00 to 12:00 noon
Volunteers are needed for tree planting! Join refuge staff to plant trees across the river from the Black/Maquam Trail parking lot. Planting will be to help stabilize the river bank and encourage the restoration of the riparian forest corridor along the Missisquoi River.
Gloves will be provided. Bring a shovel if you can. Meet at Black/Maquam Trail parking lot on Rte 78, approx 2-1/2 miles west of Swanton. Don’t be late or you’ll miss your boat ride! Please contact the refuge at 802-868-4781 for any additional information and to let refuge staff know you are planning to help. Hope to see you there!
Monthly Nature/Photography Walks 1st Saturday of each month, 9:00 am to 11:00 am
Join Friends of Missisquoi NWR members Joe Belanger, Mark Batchelder, and Bob Chaperon for nature/photography walks on various refuge trails, held the first Saturday of each month. Registration is not required. Bob Chaperon will be trying something new with a “photography topic” for each walk, beginning in October. Come have fun with us!
September 6: Jeep Trail. Meet at the Louie’s Landing boat access area. We will drive in to the trail head at Mac’s Bend.
October 4: Stephen Young Marsh Trail. Photography topic will be on exposure. Meet at the parking lot on Tabor Rd, about a mile past the refuge headquarters and across the road from the marsh.
November 1: Maquam/Black Creek Trail. Photography topic will be on depth of field. Meet at the parking lot located on Rte 78 approx. 2 ½ miles west of Swanton.
Monthly Bird Monitoring Walks 3rd Saturday of each month, 8:00 am to 10:00 am
Friends of MNWR members Ken Copenhaver and Julie Filiberti will lead bird monitoring walks year-round on various refuge trails on the third Saturday of each month. The purpose of the walks is to gather long-term data on the presence of birds, their abundance, and changes in populations. Observations will be entered into the Vermont eBird database where data is stored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society. These walks are appropriate for birders of all skill levels and provide a wonderful opportunity to learn about birds throughout the seasons. After 53 months of walks we have recorded 133 species of birds. Registration is not required. The schedule for the next three months is:
September 20: Stephen Young Marsh Trail. Meet at the parking lot on Tabor Rd, about a mile past the refuge headquarters and across the road from the marsh.
October 18: Old Railroad Passage Trail. Meet at the parking lot on Tabor Rd, about a mile past the refuge Visitor Center and across the road from the Stephen Young Marsh.
November 15: Maquam/Black Creek Trail. Meet at the parking lot located on Rte 78 approx. 2 ½ miles west of Swanton.