Project Profiles - United States

Buying Swampland: A Good Deal for Rattlers, Warblers, and People
by Daniel White, The Nature Conservancy

Following the interstate highways into Chesapeake and Virginia Beach, Virginia—one of the East Coast's fastest-growing metropolitan areas—a traveler would hardly expect to be within striking distance of some of the State's finest remaining wildlife habitat. Yet along the southern reaches of both cities, the tea-colored waters of the Northwest and North Landing Rivers wind through cypress swamps, hardwood forests, and freshwater marshes containing one of the highest concentrations of ecological diversity east of the Blue Ridge.

The Southeast Virginia Watersheds Project is helping to counter the threats of sprawling development faced by these valuable waterways. From July 2000 to May 2001, The Nature Conservancy used $378,210 in North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant funds to add four tracts, encompassing nearly 890 acres of forested wetlands, to its Northwest River Preserve.

"Protecting and restoring forested wetlands is one of our most urgent conservation priorities in the commonwealth," said Michael Lipford, the Conservancy's Virginia Executive Director. "These acquisitions not only conserve a shrinking habitat, but also help maintain water quality in the Northwest River, the main source of drinking water for Chesapeake's citizens."

A diverse collection of partners provided another $1,074,504 to the project. Landowners Michael and Donna Hart and Thomas and Faye Hart agreed to bargain sales, and actor Andy Griffith and his wife Cindi donated 319 acres to the Northwest River Preserve.

Additionally, state and federal agency partners restored approximately 350 acres of forested wetlands and freshwater marshes. This acreage includes private lands along the Pocaty River, a major tributary of the North Landing, and some 200 acres at False Cape State Park and Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The restoration projects will enhance habitat for Virginia's only known population of the eastern glass lizard. The public lands also provide habitat for people, giving them a place to enjoy recreational opportunities.

Southeastern Virginia is the State's last enclave for another reptile, the canebrake rattlesnake. Habitat loss poses the gravest threat to this State-listed endangered species. The animal inhabits both upland and wetland forests throughout the project area, so its chances for survival in the State received a significant boost from this conservation effort.

Waterfowl such as American black and wood ducks, as well as many other bird species, find year-round habitat in the region's cypress-gum and mixed-hardwood forests. This habitat is vital for the northern parula, prothonotary warbler, Swainson's warbler (a State "species of concern"), and dozens of other neotropical migrants. For songbirds migrating south from the Delmarva Peninsula, the Northwest River and its environs offer the first unbroken expanse of undeveloped land for the birds to rest and feed before continuing their journey toward North Carolina's Outer Banks and beyond.

The partnership has advanced the Conservancy's goal of maintaining an intact wildlife corridor stretching eastward from Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, along the Northwest and North Landing Rivers, and into Currituck Sound on the Outer Banks. Buying swampland for wildlife is really a good deal—it's a good deal for people, too.

For more information, contact Mary Kathryn van Eerden, Green Sea Program Director, The Nature Conservancy, 940-B Corporate Lane, Chesapeake, Virginia 23320-3641, (757) 549-4690, mkvaneerden@tnc.org.

The Nature Conservancy
Ducks Unlimited, Inc.
Benefits, Inc.
Andy and Cindi Griffith
Jim Hollingsworth
Michael and Donna Hart
Thomas and Faye Hart
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Natural Resources Conservation Service
Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries

These Wetland Restorations Are For the Birds
by Randy Stutheit, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission

Maintaining healthy grassland/wetland ecosystems in the intensively farmed agricultural landscape of south-central Nebraska is a formidable challenge for today's resource managers. Known as the Rainwater Basin, this 17-county area derives its name from the numerous, shallow, rain-filled, playa-like wetlands scattered across the landscape.

Roughly 90 percent of the original wetlands have been converted to other uses. However, for millions of ducks, geese, shorebirds, and other waterbirds, the remaining wetlands of the Rainwater Basin, in combination with the Platte River to the north, continues to be a crucial stopover during spring migration. This area of Nebraska, within the constriction of the Central Flyway's hour-glass-shaped route, was identified in the 1986 North American Waterfowl Management Plan (Plan) as a habitat area of major concern. The Plan's Rainwater Basin Joint Venture was formed to protect, restore, and enhance these critical habitats. Through the many partnerships formed under the umbrella of the joint venture, much progress has been made over the past few years to achieve its goals.

One activity gaining momentum is the restoration and enhancement of wetland habitat on state-owned wildlife management areas. Many of these wetlands have been degraded due to conversion activities by the previous landowners. Most commonly, they attempted to reduce or eliminate wetland hydrology by constructing water-concentration pits, diversion dikes, and drainage ditches within the wetland's hydric-soil footprint. These activities had varying degrees of success and often, after "fighting" the wetland for several years, the owner would simply give up and sell the property to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (Commission).

Unfortunately, other priority commitments and a lack of funds constrained Commission staff to managing the wetlands as they were, but in 1997, things changed. The joint venture, the Commission, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) entered into an agreement under which the NRCS would provide surveying and engineering design services for wetland restorations on 26 wildlife management areas. In exchange, the NRCS would receive equipment, computers, and other materials needed to facilitate this increased demand on their time. These items were purchased with money from the Commission and a Nebraska Environmental Trust (Trust) grant awarded to the joint venture. The joint venture received a second Trust grant to help fund the on-the-ground restoration work.

The process of surveying and engineering-design began in earnest in 1998, and in 1999, the first two wetland restoration projects were completed. Four additional projects were completed in 2000, and three more in 2001. The remainder of the 26 are expected to be completed by 2004.

Much work remains to be done in the Rainwater Basin, but through successful partnerships, such as this one, the future looks bright for wetlands and the millions of waterbirds that pass through this region every year.

For more information, contact Randy Stutheit, Wetland/Wildlife Biologist, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, 2200 North 33rd Street, Lincoln, Nebraska 68503, (402) 471-5564, rstuth@ngpc.state.ne.us.

Preserving an Island in Time
by Marina Schauffler

The coast of Maine is experiencing a boom in real estate, with summer visitors, retirees, and new residents all seeking shorefront havens. Few properties are more coveted than wild coastal islands, which can offer quiet and private settings for building a retreat. When Wescott's Island, a small, wooded island near the historic village of Castine, appeared in real estate listings, six prospective buyers lined up within days.

Wescott's Island lies in the Bagaduce River, a scenic tidal estuary that winds through fields, woods, and salt marshes before emptying into Penobscot Bay. The collage of habitats along its shores makes the Bagaduce a prime wildlife corridor, especially for wintering American black ducks. According to Stewart Fefer, Project Leader of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Gulf of Maine Program, "Black ducks that summer in inland Maine and Eastern Canada depend on the Bagaduce for relatively undisturbed migratory and winter habitat. Its shallow, open waters and strong tides resist freeze-up, helping to provide food for migrating and wintering waterfowl, migrating shorebirds, and bald eagles."

To preserve the river's wildlife value, local and regional conservation groups have worked for more than two decades to protect key shorefront parcels. Wescott's Island was a prime candidate for protection, being a 3-acre gem set in a sheltered cove, ringed at low tide with an impressive 24 acres of salt marsh and tidal mudflats.

Recognizing the need to act quickly, the statewide land conservation organization Maine Coast Heritage Trust (Trust) submitted an offer to purchase the island. "We negotiated with the sellers' realtor," Trust Project Manager Ciona Ulbrich recounts, "reaching agreement just before another prospective buyer submitted an offer at the asking price." The Trust proceeded to closing and acquired the island, borrowing money from its Revolving Loan Fund.

Planning then began for the island's long-term management, based on a natural resources inventory and waterbird survey. Throughout the process of assessing wildlife value, the Trust received valuable guidance from the Gulf of Maine Program. Two local land trust partners, Blue Hill Heritage Trust and The Conservation Trust (of Brooksville, Castine, and Penobscot), supported the Trust's purchase and will assist in stewardship planning for the island.

With monies received from the Revolving Loan Fund, plus more than $25,000 in private funding, the Trust applied for and received a $40,000 North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant, which helped to cover the purchase price. This generous award will help preserve the island in perpetuity. Conservation ownership of Wescott's Island also gives land trusts an important stake in the region's future—helping to preserve the Bagaduce River's wildlife resources in the face of increasing recreational use, subdivision, and aquaculture.

For more information, contact Ciona Ulbrich, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, P.O. Box 669,
Mt. Desert, Maine 04660, (207) 244-5100, culbrich@mcht.org.

The Scenic Approach to Galveston Island
by Evangeline Whorton, SCENIC GALVESTON, Inc.

Not long ago, the approach via I-45 to Galveston Island, Texas, an historic resort area in the Gulf of Mexico, may have left travelers wondering if they would be better off turning back. Flanking both sides of the highway at the Gateway to Galveston was a freshwater-influenced tidal marsh in the last throes of environmental death. This part of the Galveston Bay estuary was pierced with billboards, overlain with landfills, gouged with borrow pits, and marred with nude cabaret and topless bars. The marsh was a sight to behold—or not.

A dream in 1992, and on the drawing boards in 1993, SCENIC GALVESTON, Inc., a community-based, volunteer organization, began a crusade with more than 30 state and federal agencies, corporations, foundations, conservation groups, and individuals to reclaim the marsh for Mother Nature. Negotiations began in 1995 with 12 landowners to purchase tracts involving 900 acres along 5 miles of the highway, with the final parcel acquired in 2001. SCENIC GALVESTON added $2.5 million in private and state funds to a $400,000 North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant to achieve their goal.

As parcels were acquired, restoration work began. The 14.5-foot tall, quarter-mile-long, levee-walled containment area, where dredge spoil had been deposited atop an old landfill with borrow ponds, was bulldozed and the earth manipulated to create 45 acres of channeled wetlands. A gas pipeline gathering-facility pad and adjacent shallow-water areas were transformed into 9 acres of wetlands and bird nesting islands. A degraded site that had once housed a barbecue café, which had blown free of its moorings and into the marsh, was transformed into the Reitan Point scenic turnout, after partners purged the area of debris. A primitive road that had been constructed for oil exploration, and later used by locals to haul trash to be dumped into the marsh, was gated and turned into an adventure-hiking trail once trash was removed from the area. Volunteers have restored all the sites with plantings harvested from the marsh.

Partners' efforts have not only contributed to the delight of travelers along I-45 but also to the habitat and waterfowl population goals of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan's Gulf Coast Joint Venture. The site's usable wintering habitat, particularly for blue-winged teal, northern shoveler, and American wigeon, has increased by 8 percent. Wading birds, notably roseate spoonbill, white and white-faced ibis, and reddish egret, also find food value in the restored wetlands. Oyster catchers, black skimmers, and brown pelicans are among the marsh's many year-round inhabitants, and hundreds of least terns now nest on the created islands.

Even with all that they have accomplished, partners' sleeves are still rolled up: They have their eyes on the nude cabaret, so to speak, and some upland conservation awaits. Nevertheless, the estuary is now a designated site on Texas Parks and Wildlife's Texas Great Coastal Birding Trail, testimony to the birding opportunities awaiting on I-45—the scenic approach to Galveston Island.

For more information, contact Evangeline Whorton, SCENIC GALVESTON, Inc., 20 Colony Park Circle, Galveston, Texas 77551, (409) 744-7431.

I-45 Estuarial Corridor Partners

A Home for Herons
by Susanne Scholz, Lake County Land Trust

In 1998, the largest great blue heron rookery in northern California was facing eviction from its home, the 417-acre Rodman Ranch on the northeastern shore of Clear Lake. About 100 miles north of San Francisco, the ranch, which fronts on Rodman Slough, was listed for sale with a price tag of $1.3 million. Potential buyers had approached county supervisors about subdividing the ranch for a housing development. They were unaware that a tenacious competitor had another vision for the property—the Lake County Land Trust (Trust) thought preserving the land for wildlife and recreational use would be a better idea. The only thing keeping the Trust from manifesting its vision was the price tag.

To get things moving, the Trust organized the Adopt-A-Nest fund-raiser, which pulled in $40,000 from private donors. Grants were obtained through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act ($50,000) and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation ($56,000). The County of Lake contributed $56,000 to the project, and its Parks Director, Kim Clymire, obtained a matching grant from the California Department of Parks and Recreation's Habitat Conservation Fund ($112,000). The California Department of Fish and Game authorized distribution of $387,490 through the Wildlife Conservation Board to acquire the property's wetlands. Progress was being made, but finances were still about $600,000 short of the $1.3 million needed to close on the property.

The Trust's primary objective was to preserve the rookery, which meant saving the property's black-oak hillsides and the wetlands. The portion of the ranch planted with orchard trees was not essential to the success of the conservation objective; however, this patch of land became critical to the overall success of the project. As fate would have it, the orchard lands contain the exact soil type required for growing premium grapes. Taking this information to local family-farm growers, the Trust was able to interest them in the property. The orchard lands sold for $600,000. The final piece of the funding puzzle fell into place, and the herons were guaranteed a safe haven.

The rookery, built atop the hillside stand of black oaks, is adjacent to Rodman Slough, a habitat rich with wildlife. White pelicans winter there, black-crowned night-herons roost in willows on the slough's islands, and migrating songbirds meander through the lush riparian habitat on their way to breeding grounds. An osprey has built a nest along the property's shoreline. The slough's marshes provide spawning grounds for warm-water fish and naturally filter nutrients from water flowing into Clear Lake. At the place where a public road, which cuts through the property, meets the Rodman Slough Bridge, locals and tourists can fish and launch boats, canoes, and kayaks. Adding to the property's conservation value is its location: It abuts a proposed County of Lake marsh restoration area.

Through the financial support of project partners, the donations of area residents, and the conservation grants, the great blue herons now have a secure home—and a significant bioregion has been protected.

For more information contact, Susanne Scholz, Lake County Land Trust, P.O. Box 711, Lower Lake, California 95457, (707) 995-1398, susanne@jps.net.

Lake County Land Trust
County of Lake
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
California Department of Parks and Recreation
California Department of Fish and Game

Securing a Future for the Northern Coteau
by Todd Frerichs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

During the summer of 2001, Northern Coteau Project partners completed the second phase of a multi-phased project to conserve over 1.3 million acres of prairie pothole habitat. Between phase one, initiated in 1993, and phase two, begun in 1997, partners protected, restored, and/or enhanced 41,713 acres of wetlands and associated uplands in six counties in northwestern North Dakota.

Two North American Wetlands Conservation Act grants totaling $1,025,800, matched by $1,223,000 from partners, went a long way in helping to achieve the project's goal. Many private landowners, primarily farmers and ranchers, who own approximately 95 percent of the land in the project area, participated in the effort. Without their involvement, the vast majority of the project's work could not have been accomplished. In phase two alone, more than 75 landowners agreed to host habitat projects on their land: 7,734 acres were protected by conservation easements, 5,061 acres were leased, 317 wetland acres were restored, 111 wetland acres were created, and 10,727 upland acres were enhanced.

Individual habitat projects completed during the second phase varied in size, from the creation of a 1.8-acre wetland to the development of a 2,250-acre grazing system. Wetland restorations complemented the grassland conservation of the Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program. The technical and financial assistance offered by project partners provided the incentive for landowners to do more.

"If I had tried to do it myself," said landowner Ron Aadnes, "I could not have afforded the expense of restoring all the basins. Likely, I would have only been able to do one or two of the larger ones." With the partners' help, Mr. Aadnes restored 17 wetland basins on his land, totaling 24 acres.

North Dakota's wetlands provide critical migration and breeding habitat for waterfowl. Since 1996, the State's habitats have been responsible for producing about 16 percent of the continental-survey-area duck population and for supporting nearly one-half of the breeding ducks in the Prairie Pothole Region of the United States. Of the States' physiographical regions, the Missouri Coteau is the most important for breeding waterfowl, and the project area lies in the heart of the Coteau.

The restored and enhanced seasonal wetlands benefit breeding American bittern, sedge wren, Virginia rail, and black tern, among others. The project's uplands provide habitat for ground-nesting bobolink and Baird's sparrow. The enhanced grasslands are crisscrossed with the passageways of microtine rodents, prey for numerous raptors such as the northern harrier.

Just as in the project's first two phases, future efforts will require the cooperation of and funding from many partners. Mr. Aadnes best expressed the kind of commitment needed: "We in North Dakota tend to take what we have here for granted, and just assume it will always be here. I have five grandchildren and one on the way. I want to do what I can today to ensure that it is here for them tomorrow."

While conserving habitat to secure a future for wildlife, we should never forget that future generations of humans are also depending on our success.

For more information, contact Todd Frerichs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Lostwood Wetland Management District, 8315 Highway 8, Kennare, North Dakota 58746, (701) 848-2466, todd_frerichs@fws.gov.

North Dakota Game and Fish Department
Ducks Unlimited, Inc.
North Dakota Natural Resources Trust
The Nature Conservancy
The Bush Foundation
North Dakota Department of Agriculture
West McLean Soil Conservation District
Delta Waterfowl Foundation
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Splendor in the Valley
by Chadd Santerre, California Waterfowl Association

The wetlands and agricultural fields of California's Central Valley support some of the highest concentrations of wintering waterfowl in North America. An estimated 60 percent of the Pacific Flyway's waterfowl population (excluding seaducks), which represents 20 percent of the entire continental waterfowl population, either winter or migrate through the valley.

These birds need healthy wetlands to successfully complete their life cycle; unfortunately, more than 90 percent of the State's estimated 5 million acres of historic wetlands has been lost. Currently, less than 450,000 acres of natural wetlands remain. In the Central Valley, only 290,000 wetland acres are available, a result of agriculture, urban development, water diversions, and flood-control measures. As a percent of base, California's wetland loss exceeds that of any other state. Of the remaining wetlands, 70 percent are on privately owned land and many are managed for duck hunting clubs. Much of this habitat either lacks protection by conservation easement or is in need of restoration or enhancement.

The California Waterfowl Association and its partners received an $870,000 North American Wetlands Conservation Act (Act) grant in the spring of 1999, which was the stimulus needed to start the second phase of a three-phase project in the North Sacramento Valley. Completed in 2001, phase two affected 21,494 acres of private lands, state wildlife areas, and federal wildlife refuges. Partners protected 6,457 acres with perpetual conservation easements; restored 2,564 acres of cropland to wetland, riparian, and upland habitats; and enhanced 12,473 acres of existing wetland, riparian, and upland habitats.

Restoration and enhancement work included recontouring agricultural fields, constructing new levees, installing concrete flashboard risers, improving water-delivery systems, rehabilitating degraded wetlands, seeding upland areas for nesting cover, and planting trees and tules.

Project goals were to maximize wintering waterfowl and shorebird resources. Most of the activities included elements beneficial to local waterfowl and upland game bird populations, such as providing nesting cover and brood water during critical periods in late spring and early summer.

The partners invested nearly $13 million in these projects. Participating private landowners received grant funds totaling 50 percent of their restoration and/or enhancement costs. The California Waterfowl Association provided engineering, design, and construction services at no cost to the landowner.

"The program provided me with a great incentive to do some much needed improvements to my wetlands," said property owner Fred Holmes. "The biologists built better drainage into the project to get rid of a wiregrass problem I've had for years. Their expertise helped to solve a number of problems." The Act's grant has not only increased wetland acreage in the Central Valley—advancing the habitat goals of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan's Central Valley Habitat Joint Venture—but also has helped to expand current programs and foster many new partnerships. Californians will never again experience the natural splendor associated with those original 5 million acres of wetlands, but the partners of the Act's North Central Valley Wetland Habitat Project plan to give them a taste of what it was like.

For more information, contact Chadd Santerre, California Waterfowl Association, 4630 Northgate Boulevard, Suite 150, Sacramento, California 95834, (916) 648-1406, chadd_santerre@calwaterfowl.org, www.calwaterfowl.org.

North Central Valley Wetland Habitat Project Partners

California Waterfowl Association
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
California Wildlife Conservation Board
California Department of Fish and Game
Private Landowners

Undoing 100 Years of Undoing
by Doug Stotz, Field Museum

The 273-mile-long Illinois River heads west from its origin at the juncture of the Kankakee and Des Plaines Rivers some 40 miles southwest of Chicago. Near Depue, it turns south, finally feeding into the Mississippi River a bit north of St. Louis, Missouri. At one time, wildlife and fish thronged this river valley. In 1942 and 1943, 1.2 million mallards and American black ducks were counted on just one of the river's lakes.

However, more than a century of use has dramatically changed the river's quality; it has been leveed, channelized, dammed, and joined via a series of canals to Lake Michigan near Chicago. It has served as a highway between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi and, also, as Chicago's sewer system. The habitats along the river were converted to agricultural fields. With these changes, the river's aquatic life largely disappeared, and much of the wildlife vanished.

Three years ago, The Wetlands Initiative, a non-profit, wetlands conservation organization in Illinois, identified the Hennepin Drainage and Levee District—approximately 2,600 acres—as the site to begin the undoing of 100 years of undoing. The acreage is located on the river's east bank a few miles south of the Village of Hennepin. Originally, Hennepin and Hopper Lakes, wetlands, prairie, and savanna covered this area; it was converted to soybean and corn fields.

The Wetlands Initiative and its partners used a $500,000 North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant to help tie a bow around the acquisition/restoration package, costing more than $5.3 million. In early April 2001, the pumps that had drained the land were turned off and water levels began to rise. Immediately, waterbirds found the site. In April, flocks of green- and blue-winged teal carpeted the shallow pools, and during May, large flocks of Bonaparte's gulls and black terns dropped in along with 18 species of shorebirds. Although restoration of the plant communities had not yet begun, the State-threatened pied-billed grebe was found during the breeding season nesting in the first flush of aquatic vegetation erupting from a dormant seed bed.

Soon after, muskrats, frogs, and other amphibians arrived on the scene. Wood ducks nested in the flooded woods at the edge of the property, and grassland birds, such as dickcissels, grasshopper sparrows, and eastern and western meadowlarks, exploited the uplands, where a mixture of native and exotic grasses spread across the erstwhile cropland. By fall, about one-half of the acreage was under water, and flocks of thousands of migrating waterfowl, including northern pintails and American wigeons, canvasbacks, and redheads, had discovered the partners' handiwork.

Meanwhile, The Wetlands Initiative, in consultation with partners, continues to work on a long-term management plan to make this site a showpiece for wetlands restoration. The Hennepin and Hopper Lakes' restoration represents one step taken toward the revitalization of the Illinois River Valley, a crucial corridor for wildlife and fish. It will be a long but satisfying journey.

For more information, contact Faye Yates, The Wetlands Initiative, 53 West Jackson, Suite 1015, Chicago, Illinois 60604-3703, (312) 922-0777, fyates@wetlands-initiative.org, www.wetlands-initiative.org.

The Wetlands Initiative
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
National Resources Conservation Service
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program
Farm Services Administration
Ducks Unlimited, Inc.
Hennepin Drainage and Levee District
Putnam County Soil and Water Conservation District
Sue Dix Foundation
The Nature Conservancy
Grand Victoria Foundation
Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation
Village of Hennepin
Monsanto Corporation
More than 300 private donors

Making a Big Difference in Texas
by Michael Lange, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

When John M. O'Quinn focused some of his time, energy, and money to save another piece of the Texas landscape, no one much noticed. It's just something John does...regularly...in a major way. But this time the effects of his contribution may have exceeded even his expectations.

John donated 657 acres of forested land to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), saving one of the largest tracts of old-growth bottomland hardwoods now in public ownership. His donation was used as a match for a $361,000 North American Wetlands Conservation Act (Act) grant, and a new partnership was born. Its destiny: Save Austin's Woods, an ecosystem internationally significant for the conservation of neotropical migratory birds.

The partnership used the grant funds to purchase an additional 562 acres in Austin's Woods. With the donation, 1,219 acres were added to the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge). The State of Texas purchased 3,500 acres to the north of this tract and the Service acquired an additional, adjacent 714 acres.

Birdwatchers, sportsmen, and naturalists have long appreciated this lush, jungle-like, wetland forest. It once covered 1,000 square miles of floodplain along the Brazos, San Bernard, and Colorado Rivers. More than 75 percent is now gone, cleared for agriculture, timber, and home sites. However, many tracts remain and some have the look and feel of a tropical rainforest, even though they are just 15 miles south of Houston, Texas, on the Gulf Coast.

Researchers have found that Austin's Woods is a magnet for migratory songbirds. A long list of warblers, vireos, tanagers, flycatchers, and other songbirds arrive in the forest after a difficult 600-mile trip across the gulf. Some birds stay to breed in the forest. Millions stop to feed and rest and then fly to destinations throughout North America. In the fall they return and feed, preparing for the flight to Central and South America. Austin's Woods is a vital link for their survival.

The Service completed a conservation plan for the project in 1997, proposing the acquisition of 28,000 acres for the Refuge and 42,000 acres by other government and private organizations. Following John's lead, additional partners have come on board. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has secured mitigation funds for acquiring habitat. The Trust for Public Land, the State of Texas, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, The Nature Conservancy of Texas, and the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory are making significant contributions. A total of 5,000 acres have been added to the Refuge as of October 2001. The State of Texas has conserved 3,500 acres, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service has purchased 2,000 acres in conservation easements.

John's donation and the Act's grant were the sparks that ignited the development of a partnership that is conserving a rare and threatened ecosystem and the migratory songbirds of the Americas that depend on it. What more could one wish for than to make a difference?—and this partnership is.

For more information, contact Michael Lange, Wildlife Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge Complex, 1212 North Velasco, Suite 200, Angleton, Texas 77515, (979) 849-7771, michael_lange@fws.gov.