The refuge contains the historic Cathlapotle townsite, which was visited by the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1806, and today is one of the best-preserved Native American sites in the Northwest United States. Ridgefield Refuge provides high quality wintering habitat for a variety of waterfowl, particularly dusky Canada goose and lesser sandhill cranes.

Currently hosting 165,000 visitors annually, the refuge provides excellent wildlife viewing opportunities via a 4-mile auto tour route and two developed hiking trails. It also provides excellent outdoor classroom opportunities for Portland/Vancouver area schools, including natural resource, cultural, and historic information.

Drive 3 miles west to Ridgefield, where you will see signs directing you to these units. To reach the Ridgeport Dairy Unit, take the Fourth Plain Boulevard exit from I-5 at the south side of Vancouver. Travel west then north, turning west at Vancouver Lake Park. The road then becomes Lower River Road; follow it to a turnaround at the north end of the road.

Click here for a map of the refuge.

Like farmers who tend their crops, refuge managers may intensively manage wildlife habitat to maximize the production of food for wildlife. Wetland flooding and draining, farming, grazing, mowing, invasive species removal, and regulating visitor use are common practices on refuge lands.

The primary focus of management is to provide habitat for wintering waterfowl, with a special emphasis on Canada geese. Of special concern is the dusky Canada geese, a subspecies which nests in the Copper River delta of Alaska and winters along the lower Columbia River and Willamette River valley in Oregon.

The refuge currently manages water levels on the River S, Bachelor Island, and Ridgeport Dairy Units, with water generally pumped into the unit prior to the arrival of wintering waterfowl and pumped out in the early summer to promote the growth of desirable moist soil waterfowl food plants. Water control structures can provide management of water levels within the wetlands.

The water delivery system provides water to wetlands during the winter for a variety of water birds, and is used to hold water in some units during the summer for rearing of wetland birds and other wetland dependent wildlife. Cooperating farmers and refuge staff farm approximately 1,500 acres to provide a variety of crops for wintering waterfowl--primarily improved pasture and corn.

The refuge allows cooperators to graze cattle and harvest hay between late spring and early fall; and both cooperators and refuge staff mow pasture and canarygrass. These activities provide short, tender grass for Canada geese when they are on the refuge from October through April.

Service biologists work cooperatively with State wildlife agencies to monitor wintering goose populations. Other important species monitored on the refuge include painted turtles, bald eagles, great blue herons, purple martins, sandhill cranes, and the threatened aquatic plant water howellia. Monitoring these native species and other resources helps guide refuge habitat management practices and conservation efforts.