One of Montana’s great pheasant habitats is in danger!
The Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge Complex near Malta is undertaking a Comprehensive Conservation Plan. This Plan will set out the management and use of the Refuge Complex for 15 years. Our Chapter members have supported the Refuge Complex for many years by providing cost-share dollars for irrigation equipment, and worked closely with the Refuge staff to acquire and improve upland bird habitat on the nearby Beaver Creek WPA (Copple and Masters Tracts).
The Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Assessment is available on-line at :http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/planning/ccp/mt/bwd/bwd.html. Written comments are due July 25, 2011. A public meeting will be held in Malta on June 28, 2011, 6:30-8:30 PM at the Great Northern Hotel.
The Plan, if implemented will negatively impact the pheasant population on the refuge complex. This will impact our Chapter members.
The refuge and surrounding area has an abundance of Russian Olives, considered an invasive species on the refuge. These trees provide both shelter and a very abundant winter food source for non-native pheasants and native sharptail grouse. As many of our Chapter members have recently seen, the Refuge has undertaken a very aggressive and expensive program to eradicate Russian Olives from the Refuge. In winters like the one we have just experienced, the upland birds on the refuge are now being deprived of this important food source. The Comprehensive Conservation Plan calls for removal of 75 additional acres of Russian Olive from the refuge.
The Conversation Plan also calls for removal of all shelterbelts on the refuge, to be replaced with native grasses, forbs and shrubs. The Plan calls for replacement of non-native grasses with prairie grasses.
The Conservation Plan does not mention the effects to the pheasant population from the proposed habitat changes. Also, it predicts the local economy will benefit by an increased number of hunters and visitors as a result of converting much of the upland habitat to prairie habitat.
We need our Chapter members to review the Plan and submit comments. Without your input, we stand to lose one of the great public pheasant habitats in the State.
