iederal pird Refuges in Oregon 



ON AUGUST 18, 1908, by order of President Theodore Roosevelt, Malheur 

 Lake was made a Federal bird refuge. It was the third such refuge to be 

 established as a direct result of the interest aroused by the studies of 

 William Lovell Finley and Herman Theodore Bohlman in the spectacular 

 bird-population areas along the Oregon coast and in the great interior 

 marshes of the State. Ten days earlier, Klamath Lake Bird Refuge had 

 been established by Executive order, and on October 14, 1907, Three Arch 

 Rocks Bird Refuge was established. Since then, Cold Springs Bird Refuge 

 (1909), McKay Creek Bird Refuge (192.7), Upper Klamath Bird Refuge 

 (192.8), and more recently, Goat Island Migratory Bird Refuge have been 

 established, and a tract in Blitzen Valley has been acquired to be combined 

 with the Lake Malheur Bird Refuge, the combined areas to be known as 

 Malheur Migratory Bird Refuge. The locations of these refuges are 

 shown on the accompanying map (Figure 3). 



MALHEUR MIGRATORY BIRD REFUGE 



THE MALHEUR MIGRATORY BIRD REFUGE awakens the imagination and 

 kindles the vision of a naturalist. Before its possibilities all other Federal 

 bird refuges in Oregon pale to insignificance. Located in Harney County, 

 it was for many years the greatest waterfowl breeding ground in the West. 

 It has been known to ornithologists from Captain Bendire's time and has 

 had more written about it than any other spot in the State. As late as 

 192.0, the magnitude of its bird populations stunned the observer who 

 tried to classify the masses of birds into their component parts. Pelicans, 

 cormorants, grebes, herons, ibises, shore birds, cranes, rails, and myriads 

 of ducks and geese, gulls, terns, and swans made it their home. It held 

 in its teeming fastnesses the farthest-north colonies of egrets, White-faced 

 Glossy Ibises, and Black-necked Stilts. Dainty Wilson's Phalaropes trod 

 the small animals from the mud in approved whirling dervish style; and 

 long-legged Avocets scooped up the alkali flies with their upturned beaks. 

 Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbirds drifted over the marsh, like 

 clouds of gnats; while Caspian Terns, Forster's Terns, and California and 

 Ring-billed Gulls added their raucous voices to the din that at times 

 became deafening. The authors have stood late in August in helpless 

 bewilderment watching the clattering, clucking hosts, entirely at sea as 

 to how to estimate the numbers of birds and equally at a loss for words 

 adequately to paint the picture. 



After 192.0, the effects of drought, additional irrigation, and deliberate 

 diversion of water played havoc with this biological wonderland, until 



