Bird refuge celebrates opening of wildlife center

As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service celebrates the grand opening today of an education center at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, the agency also is in the midst of reviewing rules on hunting migratory birds.

The James V. Hansen Wildlife Education Center, a $7.5 million, 29,000-square-foot facility, is expected to welcome school groups and bird-watchers from around the world to the wetlands that are famous for the number and diversity of birds that nest in and pass through the area.

Next year the Fish and Wildlife Service plans to update its supplemental environmental-impact statement, which identifies various management practices for the sport hunting of migratory birds — the same birds that pass through the refuge each year. The Fish and Wildlife Service is now taking comments on the hunting rules and plans to hold a public meeting on the topic next Monday in Salt Lake City.

Since 1928, a portion of the Bear River near the Great Salt Lake has been maintained as a bird sanctuary, and people sometimes question how a sanctuary can allow hunting, said Al Trout, the refuge's manager.

But it was hunter-conservationists who established the refuge, Trout said. "They knew that their love of hunting was doomed unless they maintained a core population of birds," Trout said. "Teddy Roosevelt is the best example. He was a hunter right up there with the best of them."

Roosevelt started the National Wildlife Refuge system, which now comprises more than 100-million acres among 500 refuges. Fees that hunters pay for various stamps go toward the purchase of more land for the refuges, Trout said.

Each fall, parts of the refuge open to hunters looking for coots, ducks, geese, snipe and swans. Elsewhere in the nation, hunters can also shoot cranes, doves, pigeons, rails and woodcock, but hunting those birds is currently prohibited at Bear River.

The Fish and Wildlife Service sets bag limits based upon surveys of the bird populations that fly from Canada to South America and back each year.

Kenn Kaufman, a world-famous naturalist and author, who will be at the refuge for the dedication, said though he doesn't hunt, he doesn't have a problem with those who do.

"We've got really good game laws," Kaufman said. "There's so much attention paid to wildlife management."

Dave Livermore, Utah State director of the Nature Conservancy, said Utah is fifth in the nation in terms of numbers of unique species and ecosystems. "For years, there have been hunting programs on our national wildlife refuges," he said. "Hunters have paid more than their share to preserve places like Bear River."

The public can comment to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about the hunting regulations in a meeting Monday at 7 p.m. at the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, located at 1594 W. North Temple.

All comments are due May 30 at the Fish and Wildlife Service office in Washington, D.C., and can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com