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US Fish & Wildlife Service - Journal Entry Oregon Coast NWR Complex Hosts Congressional Staffers Field Trip Region 1, August 16, 2005 Five of the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) Complex's six refuges were briefly visited and enjoyed on August 16, 2005 during a week long field trip by Congressional Staffers. The August 15 - 20 trip, intended to highlight the Federal Lands Highway program in western Oregon, provided the eight participants with an opportunity to see how the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service and National Park Service address different transportation related issues associated with their lands and public use programs. Topics addressed during the visit included transportation planning, off-road vehicle use, public use, resource management, habitat restoration, community involvement and partnerships with conservation organizations and local and state agencies. Oregon Coast NWR Complex Project Leader (PL) Roy Lowe and Refuge Operations Specialist (ROS) Dawn Grafe hosted the group for a very full day as they toured five of the six refuges of the Oregon Coast NWR Complex. Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, a site with extremely heavy public visitation, was the first of seven stops featuring Friends Groups, transportation projects, and refuge resources. Friends and volunteers of the Haystack Rock Awareness Program and Friends of Haystack Rock (Oregon Islands NWR) met with the group and shared how they work to protect the seabirds using the refuge rock by managing heavy public use through an educational beach program. At Cape Meares NWR and State Scenic Viewpoint, the group was shown the Refuge Roads project that is in the planning phase and when completed will reconstruct the parking lot area and repave the entrance road that is used by more than 400,000 visitors annually. The group also viewed Phase II of the Interpretive Project completed in 2003, that includes two fully accessible wildlife viewing decks and a paved trail developed in partnership with the Friends of Cape Meares Lighthouse and Wildlife Refuge and the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. Further south at Nestucca Bay NWR, Oregon Department of Transportation staff met with the group at the Cannery Hill Overlook Project site, a future Transportation Enhancement Act project that will open a portion of the refuge to public use (see related ARS report "Nestucca Bay NWR Awarded $559,100 TE Grant by the State of Oregon for the Cannery Hill Overlook", September 2005). A tidal marsh restoration project along the Little Nestucca River Unit of the refuge, visible from Cannery Hill, was also discussed. A quick tour of Siletz Bay NWR highlighted the recent tidal marsh restoration project to improve habitat for anadromous fish, waterfowl and shorebirds. One last stop before dinner was to Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, a headland and rock intertidal habitat managed by BLM and overlooking Oregon Islands NWR, to discuss BLM/Refuge cooperative management and conservation efforts spanning two decades. The group's ambitious agenda included a visit on Monday August 15 to the northern Oregon coast where participants met with NPS staff and toured Fort Clatsop, site of the 1805-06 winter encampment of the 33-member Lewis and Clark Expedition. For the remainder of the week following the Oregon Coast Refuges tour, the congressional staff members continued on to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, then to the Willamette Valley NWRC, Tualatin River NWR, and Ridgefield NWR, and the week ended with a quick visit to Mt St. Helens National Monument. The visitors included Ellen Stein, Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Staff Director, Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure; Malia Somerville, Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Research Assistant; Bailey Edwards, House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, Legislative Assistant; Clayton Hall, Congressman Jim McCrery (LA-4th), House Ways and Means Committee, Legislative Assistant; Sean Furniss, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Coordinator Refuge Roads Program; Steve Bekkerus, Fish and Wildlife Service, Congressional and Legislative Affairs, Senior Legislative Specialist; Teresa Davies, Department of the Interior, Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs, Associate Director; Christine Eustis, Fish and Wildlife Service, Congressional and Legislative Affairs, Chief. No contact information available. Please contact Charles Traxler, 612-713-5313, charles_traxler@fws.gov