Woodruff refuge officials need ideas
By DINAH VOYLES PULVER
ENVIRONMENT WRITER
DELEON SPRINGS — Hikers, anglers, hunters and anyone who uses Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge or lives nearby can weigh in tonight on just what they´d like to see happen there in the future.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is hoping for a full house at a meeting to talk about how the agency should manage the refuge during the next 15 years.
"This is a good opportunity for folks to learn more about the refuge system and to talk about the refuge in their own backyard," refuge manager Harold Morrow said.
The plan may cover such things as prescribed fires, preventing litter, species protection and controlling water levels in the refuge canal system. It will be the first comprehensive plan prepared for the 42-year-old refuge.
"They´re looking for concerns, solutions or ideas for the future," said Cheri Ehrhardt, a natural resource planner for the wildlife service.
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the Volusia County Agriculture Center auditorium in DeLand.
"It´s very informal. You don´t have to stand up. You don´t have to say who you are or who you represent," Ehrhardt said. "We´ve had meetings where six showed up and meetings where 83 showed up."
Litter and environmental education come up at every meeting.
Getting a better handle on the number and variety of plants and animals is a key element of the plan. For example, a pair of whooping cranes has adopted the refuge as its own each winter but isn´t on the list of managed species. The wildlife service drafts biologists from state and local agencies and other local experts to help. One of those is Stetson University Professor Terry Farrell, who has studied species at the refuge, especially snakes, for 15 years.
"It´s a wonderful local resource and a beautiful place," Farrell said.
Even the more plentiful species are an important part of the refuge, he said.
He remembers once having a 4-foot yellow rat snake fall about 20 feet from a palm tree near where he was working.
"It was wrapped around a squirrel," Farrell said. Eventually the snake won and then crawled up a tree, his belly fat with the dying squirrel.
While including six national priorities, each plan also is supposed to reflect each refuge´s specific purpose, she said.
In the case of Lake Woodruff, that means managing the unspoiled sanctuary and its migratory birds. It´s an important winter refuge for water birds, shore birds and songbirds.
In the late summer, it also becomes the location of the state´s second largest colony of swallow-tailed kites as they gather to fatten up before flying to South America for the winter.
At this stage, commenting is easy. It can be done anonymously, and in person tonight, by e-mail to lakewoodruffccp@fws.gov or by letter. The ag center is at 3100 East New York Avenue, State Road 44, about 1/4 mile east of Interstate 4.
For more information, visit the wildlife refuge´s Web site at: www.fws.gov/lakewoodruff/ .
The Defenders of Wildlife organization has created a citizens guide to refuge planning. It´s available on the Web at: www.defenders.org/pubs/refuge00.html .
The National Wildlife Refuge System
How many are there? 545
Where are they? 50 states and five territories
How many acres in total? 100 million
When was Lake Woodruff established? 1964
How big is it? 21,552 acres
Why write a management plan? Congress said so, in 1997. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is being required to write 15-year management plans for every refuge.
What drives the plans? Six priority public uses: Hunting wildlife; fishing for wildlife; observing wildlife; photographing wildlife; participating in environmental education and participating in environmental interpretation.
Did You Know?
Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge was named after Major Joseph Woodruff:
Major Woodruff acquired the DeLeon Springs property, which was then known as Spring Garden, back in 1823.
SOURCE: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Serial story: ENDANGERED