Steigerwald Lake
National
Wildlife Refuge
A Community Perspective
Kelly Brenner
Tech Topics
Spring 2007
Steigerwald National
Wildlife Refuge
S
A Community Perspective
Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife
action the site saw was the
teigerwald Lake is locatRefuge has a very deep history involving Na- Bretz Floods between 12,000 ed in the mouth of the
tive Americans, duck hunting owners, a port
Columbia River Gorge ownership, attempts to destroy the wetlands, 15,000 years ago. While some
on the Washington side British rule, and the naming of Mt. Hood. It of the namesake typography
of the river between has seen the likes of Lewis & Clark and Lt. isn’t apparent on this site, the
Camas and Washougal. The William Broughton. It also has a very promis- evidence is there in the form
refuge contains 1,406 acres ing future with a Comprehensive Conserva- of flood deposits known as the
tion Plan by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
of which 75% is owned by
Troutdale Formation. The site
as well as the Columbia Gorge Refuge
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
is no stranger to floods and is
Stewards involvement.
Steigerwald Lake Refuge is
has been regularly flooded for
part of the Ridgefield Complex which includes the years, which has created a topography with many
Ridgefield Refuge as well as two closer refuges, poplar trees and sand bars.
The first Europeans to discover the mouth
Franz Lake (552 acres, established in 1990) and of the Columbia River was Capt. Robert Gray in
Pierce 319 acres, established in 1983).
1792 with George Vancouver following close behind to verify the discovery. Lt. William Broughton
Wildlife
There is a multitude of wildlife regularly observed was sent up the Columbia to map it and near the
end of 1792 he arrived on Coton the refuge. Canada Geese upwards
tonwood Beach, part of the curof a thousand have been seen there with
rent refuge, from where he named
nearly as many ducks which include Wood
the visible mountain after Admiral
Ducks, Cinnamon Teal, Mallards, Pintail,
Hood who happened to be the
Hooded Mergansers and more. Great
voyages sponsor. At this point, the
Blue Herons nest in a rookery on nearly
refuge was actually under British
Reed Island and regularly use the refuge
rule.
for foraging. Due to the location along the
In 1806 during the months
Pacific Flyway, the refuge sees occasionof March and April, Lewis and
al rare visitors. Among these are WhiteClark made camp near the current
faced Ibis, Cattle Egret, American Avocet,
refuge and it was from this locaWhite Tailed Kite and the Mute Swan aftion they scouted the Willamette
fectionately named ‘Lonesome George’ by
River. Five years later, David
the Stewards. Among the mammals are
Thompson was commissioned by
Black-tailed Deer, coyote and raccoons.
the Northwest Company to chart
the entire Columbia River and he
History
also camped at the same location
The history of this site dates back
as Lewis and Clark.
for many years with the first noticeable
The lakes name comes from Allen Normal
Steigerwald, a longtime Portland resident who established the Rose City Nursery and Fruit Farm,
from which came Steigerwald Dairy, located near
the present day refuge. The dairy outlet is a well
known Portland landmark located off Sandy Boulevard. Most residents have seen it transform from
a large dairy bottle to a 7-Up bottle and most recently to a beer can. Steigerwald wasn’t the only
well known connection to the refuge, the Kerr family, of Kerr Canning Jars, owned a field on the west
side of the refuge.
The Port of Camas-Washougal also has a
large part in the history of the refuge. After the area
was surrounded by a dike the Port moved in as the
entire floodplain was zoned heavy industrial.
Gibbons
Creek
runs
through the refuge and was channelized after 1966. Prior to this,
Coho Salmon, Sea-run Cutthroat
Trout and Steelhead used the
creek. However, when the tide
gate which had been installed at
the mouth was not maintained,
most of the fish were lost.
The beginning of the restoration process came in 1975
during the first Vancouver Audubon Society meeting with guest
speaker Keith O’Neil, the Regional Director of the Washington Department of Game. He questioned
the Society about whether they
were going to do anything about
Steigerwald Lake and spoke
about the potential of the
site to be used as a hunting
preserve. It was at this point
Wilson Cady of the Vancouver Audubon Society began
his 30 year interest in the
site beginning with counting
birds on the site. Because the
property was privately owned
by Don Stevenson, Earl Martin and George Straub he had
to sneak through the forested
area to count birds. Stevenson used the lake to duck
hunt and according to Cady,
if there were no birds there when he arrived he
would have his helicopter fly up the gorge and
flush the fowl to his lake.
The industrialization of the wetlands was
questioned and the current owners insisted there
were no birds on the property, despite the property being leased for duck hunting. This began a
battle between the Vancouver Audubon Society
and the property owners. At this point the major landowner, Stevenson proceeded to create a
ditch in an attempt to drain the lake and reduce
the amount of wetlands, cleared 30 acres of poplars and attempted to dispose of the braided Gibbons Creek. However, with a sense poetic justice for the Audubon group, his bulldozer broke
down in the stream bed and he was fined for not
having a hydraulic permit to alter the stream.
The challenge for the
Audubon Society continued as
the Washington Department of
Game conducted a study analyzing the potential of the site for
wildlife value. At this point the
Port applied for a grant through
the US Economic Development
Agency. However, the congressman at the time, Mike McCormick successfully omitted
all environmental stipulations.
The Port then used the grant
for nearby offices and used the
money originally for the offices
to expand the industrial park.
Steigerwald Refuge was nearly the
home of a nuclear power plant, a fourwheel drive club and a crystal growing operation who wanted to produce
phosphine (mustard gas) and aresene
(gaseous arsenic).
A Cascade Indian and former
National Park Representative for Friends of the
Earth, Chuck Williams, was instrumental in creating the Columbia Gorge Coalition which led to
the creation of the National Scenic Area in 1986.
Mark Hatfield, an Oregon politician created Steigerwald National Wildlife Refuge as mitigation for
the Second Powerhouse at Bonneville Dam. His
reasoning being he didn’t want visitors to Crown
Point Vista House to look down on smokestacks
on the Washington side.
The refuge was officially established in
1987 after the Trust for Public Lands and then
Ronald Regan purchased the property. Finished
in 1992, Gibbons Creek was directed over the
lake bed and a new fish ladder was created at
the mouth of the creek.
Columbia Gorge Refuge Stewards
The Columbia Gorge Refuge Stewards is a nonprofit organization established in 2006 whose
goal is to “support three National Wildlife Refuges in Clark and Skamania Counties”. Some
of the Stewards activities on the refuges include
testing water quality, conducting invasive species surveys, surveying visitor use, providing orientation/talks to school groups, designing an interpretive kiosk, grant writing and planting native
plants. They help with projects that aren’t funded
or can’t be accomplished with
the single staff person overseeing all the refuges.
Since 2006 the group has planted
roughly 700 native trees and shrubs. The
plants were purchased by the Fish & Wildlife Service and also by The Vancouver Audubon
Society, the Georgia Pacific Mill in Camas and individual donors as well. The Camas Georgia Pacific Mill also donated many tools such as rakes,
shovels, wheelbarrows, brooms, pruners and
even binocular education kits.
Much of the work has been planting native
plants, but another just as large part has been the
removal of invasive species. Reed Canarygrass
and Himalayan blackberries dominate the refuge
and have been fought by the volunteers. In fact,
they’ve spent more time removing the grass and
blackberries than planting natives.
There is a huge diversity of volunteers and
board members in the Stewards group. The president is Gay Leslie, from the Office of Policy and
International Affairs, U.S. Department of Energy.
Leslie’s expertise comes with oil and gas issues,
public land issues, oceans policy and coastal management and international issues. Carol Kohler
serves as the vice president with about 20 years
of birding experience including many trips around
the Pacific Northwest. She is also an active Audubon member. Wilson Cady acts as a board member. Cady is partly responsible for the establishment of the refuge and acted as Vice President
of the Vancouver Audubon Society and President
of Friends of Gibbons Creek. He is also a regular
organizer and leader of many birding trips. Sallie
Jones is another board member with experience
with many other community groups including the
Friends of the Washougal Library, Oregon Mycological Society and USACOE Fisheries Field Unit.
Joan Durgan serves as the groups Treasurer with
experience in Vancouver
Audubon group and a local financial institution. Willemina
Niosi acts as secretary and
also acted as an organizer
and leader in local groups.
Steigerwald Lake Refuge
In May I visited the site with
Carol Kohler, Vice President
of the Stewards group. Because the site is currently
closed to the public with the
exception of the dike along the river, it’s impossible to see without somebody involved with the
restoration. The first thing she showed me was the
Purple Martin nest houses they recently installed.
The area around the ground was cleared of blackberries and several very tall posts were installed
with a cross bar near the top which holds several
nesting houses. The Purple Martins had already
adapted to them and many sat on the cross bars.
Next on the tour was the beginning of Gibbons Creek. On the other side of the dike away
from the river the volunteers have planted many
willow trees alongside the creek. Many are doing
very well and are well over seven feet tall already.
At first they were planting one single willow and
marking it, but after some time they decided it
was better to plant a triangle of willows in each
area. This will improve the water temperature for a
hopeful return of the many fish that once habited
this creek.
Further up the creek on the opposite side of
the dike the volunteers have planted hundreds of
native plants. First they had the Reed Canarygrass
cut down and then planted row upon row of native
plants. Each plant is situated in a plastic tube with
a two foot surrounding area cleared out and then
marked with a colored flag. The tubes protect the
new plants from deer, although not well enough as
was evident by the many chewed off tips that had
broken free of the top of the tubes. The cleared
area allows rodents to be easily seen by birds
of prey. And of course the colored flags identify
the kind of plant located in those tubes. Among
the plants seen here include Mock Orange, Pacific Ninebark, Nootka Rose, Douglas Spiraea,
Snowberry and many others. The rows of plants
are very impressive as to the scale of the project.
Many of the plants are doing very well to the point
the roses are blooming inside their tubes and despite the constant deer nibbling, they are growing
a great rates regardless.
Directly to the North from the planting area
is a small stand of Oregon White Oaks that have
also been targeted for restoration. The Stewards
and volunteers spent much time tearing out the
mangle of blackberries that dominated the undergrowth. They then bought a native grass seed to
spread under the oaks unknowing just how tall that
specific grass would become. Before it grew that
tall however, they planted some more native plants
and native strawberries. Most of the native plants
have been swallowed up by the grass but some
strawberries can still be seen, a few even with berries on board. The group has plans to start more
oaks from acorn and plant them further and further
to the East in an attempt to expand the stand.
The Stewards are all very excited about this
project, putting many hours of their free time into
the refuge. The day I visited they had a booth set
up at the local town’s plant sale to raise money for
the refuge. Many of the plants have been grown
by volunteers and Steward members. This community saw the potential at this refuge and the opportunity to do something for future generations,
not only for kids, but for future generations of wildlife and plants as well. It goes to show just what
‘regular’ people can really accomplish.
-Kelly Brenner, University of Oregon Student
Sources:
Cady, Wilson. Wilson Cady’s Not-So-Brief History
of the Steigerwald Lake NWR.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Comprehensive Conservation Plan - Steigerwald Lake NWR, Franz
Lake NWR, Pierce NWR.
All Photos by Kelly Brenner