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Excerpts from the Fall 2006 Avocet

President's Message
Tim Armstrong

We did it! Thanks to all of you who contacted your congressional representatives concerning funding for the Baca National Wildlife Refuge. Based on our request, Senator Allard has requested $324,000 for the Baca for fiscal year 2007, which starts in October. The money, which is for basic operations and maintenance, will allow the refuge to meet some of its most pressing needs like replacing water control structures and posting signs. Senator Allard's request made it through the Senate Appropriations process and now the Senate's version of the budget must be reconciled with the House's version.

That's the good news. The not so good news is that the money for the Baca came as an "earmark" instead of an "add-on." The difference between the two is that an add-on, which is what we requested, is new money for the refuge system. Right now, there is not a lot of "new" money in Washington as we continue to spend billions in Iraq. An earmark is when a Congressman directs an agency to spend money that is budgeted for one purpose on something else. In this case, Senator Allard directed the US Fish and Wildlife Service to take $324,000 from its construction budget and use the money to fund the Baca instead. I don't pretend to understand the intricacies of the federal budget process, but my understanding is that once money is earmarked, it is removed from an agency's budget in the next fiscal year. This is one of the dangers of Friends groups. Like the old saying that "all politics are local," most Friends groups are interested primarily in their local refuges. But each time Friends groups lobby their Congressman for earmarked money for "their" local refuges, the money is then lost from the US Fish and Wildlife Service's budget. Opinions concerning the impact of earmarked money differ however. Some argue that any money for refuges is a good thing, but it seems to me that in the long term, this process threatens the entire refuge system. In our Appropriations request to Senator Allard, we specifically asked that any funding for the Baca be in the form of an add-on instead of an earmark, but we had no control over how Senator Allard requested the money. Our job next year will be to continue to work on finding permanent funding to run the Baca within the US Fish and Wildlife Service's budget, and to make sure that the money that was provided for the Baca this year is not removed from the US Fish and Wildlife Service budget.

Like virtually all federal agencies that manage our natural resources, the US Fish and Wildlife Service's budget has not increased as they have acquired additional lands to manage (like the Baca). The long-term answer is to increase funding for natural resource management, but the only way that this will happen is if we let our policy makers in Washington know that this is a priority. One nice way to do this is to thank each of our Congressional representatives for their help obtaining funding for the Baca, and at the same time mention that conserving our country's natural resources is important to you. We submitted our Appropriations request through Senator Allard's office, but both Congressman Salazar and Senator Salazar helped with the process.

You can email or call them via the Contact link on the following websites:

Senator Allard: allard.senate.gov
Senator Salazar: salazar.senate.gov
Congressman Salazar: www.house.gov/salazar

Closer to home, thanks again to all of volunteers who worked for the refuges over the summer. Activities included cleaning up the lawn around the Baca office buildings, staffing a booth at the Rio Grande Watershed Kid's Water Festival, and painting signs for duck nest transects, which is an ongoing project.

New Deputy Assistant Refuge Manager
at San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuges

Clarke Dirks took over responsibilities as the Deputy Project leader for the San Luis Valley complex of refuge's on August 21, 2006. Dirks comes to the refuge with over 17 years of experience with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. After graduating in 1987 from Montana State University with a bachelor's degree in Fish and Wildlife Management, he began his career with temporary positions across the northern Great Plains of Montana, and North Dakota. Dirks accepted his first Refuge Management position in 1991, as Refuge Operations Specialist at Lake Alice NWR in Devils Lake ND. From there he began a trek southward, moving to the Assistant Manager position at Lacreek NWR in Martin, SD, then accepting his first Refuge Manager position at Big Lake NWR in Manila, AR. There Dirks met his wife of the last seven years Kim, before moving to the Refuge Manager position at Reelfoot, and Lake Isom NWR's in Union City, TN. Dirks then transferred to the Project Leader position at Piedmont and Bond Swamp NWR's in Central Georgia.

Dirks feels the biggest asset he brings to the San Luis Valley is his breadth to experience, and his ability to adapt to various habitat types and issues. " I have worked with waterfowl for the majority of my career, from production refuges in the Dakota's and Montana, to wintering refuges in Arkansas and Tennessee, so providing nesting and migration habitat within the San Luis Valley should come pretty naturally to me."

The Monte Vista NWR is the site of one of the longest-running waterfowl data sets in the country. "Duck Nest Transects" have been conducted here for the last 42 years by biologists, managers, students, and volunteers who walk approximately 167 miles through marsh, ditch, and even greasewood at times, looking for duck nests. The purpose is to document the number of duck nests and combined with subsequent counts of ducklings (brood counts) get an estimate of number and species of ducks produced on the refuge.

In 1961 the refuge's first wildlife biologist, Robert Ballou, tested a variety of ways to search for duck nests. He determined that "transects" which are lines either marked or unmarked, across the landscape where a biologist systematically moves along and records information, were the most effective. In 1964, 142 transects, running due north-south, were established throughout the entire refuge. To walk all of these ~300 miles and look for nests took a tremendous amount of work and despite the best recruiting efforts, it became too burdensome. In the early 1970's every other transect was removed. Since then refuge staff and others have walked 71 transects, which is about 167 miles, each May and June.

Each transect is marked by a linear series of tall poles located every 0.5 mile that have yellow wooden signs with the transect number painted on them. Using binoculars, the poles can be lined up, marking the transect to walk. Biologists walk through everything that is "on line"; including waist deep water, tall and almost impermeable cattails, and sedge wetlands. Each walker looks for and records data on all duck nests within 2.5 meters on each side of the transect line. For each nest found duck species, number of eggs, age of eggs, and characteristics of the surrounding vegetation is recorded. Extreme care is taken to limit the disturbance to ducks and the surrounding habitat. Nest location is marked at some distance away, to allow relocation to determine the fate of eggs (hatched or destroyed). The transects are all re-walked in June to determine the fate of May nests and to locate nests of species that nest later in the season, such as gadwall. In July the refuge biologist relocates and checks the fate of all nests found in June.
From 1977 to 2000 the average number of nests located on transects was 109. Many nests go undetected, so the total number of nests found is just an indication or index of the number of nests actually present. During that same period the average number of ducks produced was about 15,000, quite a few ducklings! From 2000 to present the average number of duck nests dropped to 31, primarily due to the drought and its impact on wetland vegetation. Wetland conditions, however, are improving.
The wooden signs on the transect posts are weathering and many are falling apart. The Friends started painting new signs this summer; they will make about 250 of them which will then be available for volunteers and others to post. We are very grateful for this help and "walking the line" will be much easier next spring thanks to you!

If you would like to help with this on-going project please call Jenny Nehring 852-3619.

Oil and Gas Drilling on the Baca NWR
Ron Garcia

Somewhere along the line of history on this incredible piece of land called "The Baca Ranch" the property rights were severed leaving the surface rights in one ownership and the subsurface rights (mineral rights) in the hands of a different owner. In May of 2005 when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) acquired the lands which make up the Baca National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge), those portions of land associated with the former "Baca Ranch" came only with the surface rights attached. This situation is not new to the Service, in that there are several refuges in the system with severed property rights.
In the case of the Baca Refuge, the owner of the mineral rights on lands associated with the former Baca Ranch is Lexam Explorations Inc. (Lexam). Lexam, a Canadian based investor, funded firm recently notified the Refuge of it's intent to advance on what they call "The Baca Grant Oil and Gas Project". Based on evaluation of data from previous seismic surveys of the area, Lexam believes there are two prospect targets beneath the Refuge which may have the potential to produce Oil and/or Gas.

Oil and Gas (O&G) production on National Wildlife Refuges is also not new to the Service. In fact, about one quarter of all refuges in the Service's National Wildlife Refuge System (system) have past or present oil or gas activity on them. Over 150 of the 575 refuges in the system contain a total of over 4,400 oil/gas wells either active or inactive. O&G activities on refuges occur not only when mineral rights have been separated from surface property rights (similar to the Baca NWR), but also in situations where the federal government owns 100% of the property rights.

On the Baca Refuge, Lexam has proposed the drilling of two exploration wells on what they call "The Crestone East Prospect". They believe this area, which is located along the willow creek drainage of the Refuge, is well defined geologically. The plan is to drill the two wells into identified target zones between 12,000 and 14,000 feet below the surface. If these "Wildcat" wells produce gas or oil, Lexam will convert and develop them as production wells. In addition, Lexam is proposing to carry out a more intensive seismic survey encompassing a larger area. With this they hope to better define their second prospect which is currently known as the "The Crestone West Prospect" and is located further to the west in the Wiseman Lake area of the Refuge. Based on the results of the survey, which will incorporate ultra-modern technology to produce 3D subsurface imagery, Lexam will decide if additional drilling will be proposed.

O&G activity is, for the most part, new to the San Luis Valley, and as a result there are several questions and concerns surrounding it. Most concerns deal with the management and oversight of oil and gas operations and their effects on the environment. To help get answers to many of the questions being asked, the Refuge has organized a series of public meetings.


In August of 2003 the Government Accountability Office (GAO), issued the report National Wildlife Refuges: Opportunities to Improve Management and Oversight of Oil and Gas Activities on Federal Lands. In this report, the GAO pointed out shortcomings and inconsistencies within the system in the Service's management and oversight of O&G exploration and extraction activities on refuges.

Recently, the Service has taken several steps to improve O&G management on refuges. Included are the creation of an Oil and Gas Management Handbook (Draft, designed to provide appropriate technical, administrative and legal information), the development of appropriate training specifically designed for refuge managers, and the creation of a system-wide oil and gas operation coordination position.

The Refuge has invited 1The Sonoran Institute to facilitate the meetings. Jim Spehar, Director of The Sonoran Institute's Central Rockies Office and a west slope resident with extensive experience working with communities and oil and gas operators on Best Management Practices for Oil and Gas Operations, will assist with the meetings. The first meeting was held on August 9th and was used to outline the processes and get a general feel for the types of concerns out there. A subsequent meeting scheduled for Tuesday, September 12, 2006 at 6:30 p.m. at the Baca Property Owner's Association Buildling in Crestone will feature representatives of Lexam outlining their proposal and taking questions, in addition, the director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission will be present to talk about the state's regulatory authority over oil and gas activities in Colorado, and finally Peggy Utesch of the Grand Valley Citizens Alliance will talk about experiences on the west slope and how they've effectively dealt with similar issues

For the Baca Refuge, the fact that the federal government does not own the mineral rights to all portions of the Refuge limits our ability to completely regulate O&G operations. However, the Service has several resources to provide adequate oversight to make sure that the process is as environmentally friendly as we can make it. In addition, we plan to continue enlisting as much expertise (both in house and out) as we can to help us identify the best practices available and to help with oversight. Realizing the sensitivities surrounding O&G activities on a National Wildlife Refuge, and the fact that the Refuge is going far beyond it's boundaries for input on the subject, Lexam has proven thus far, to be willing to work with us on ensuring that the environment and it's natural resources are adequately protected.

For more information on this proposed activity contact Ron Garcia, Refuge Manager of the Baca National Wildlife Refuge at (719) 256-5527.

Volunteer!
Mark and Tracy Rawlings / Resident Volunteers, Baca NWR

In May of this year we were extremely fortunate to receive a call from a volunteer couple who were looking for a place to set their RV and call home for the summer in return for their services. With a few modifications to an existing abandoned home site, we were able to accommodate them near the old Baca Ranch headquarters site.

The couple (Mark and Tracey Rawlings) arrived on June 5th and were promptly assigned the job of headquarters caretakers, which encompassed everything from maintenance of buildings and grounds, to office setup and providing visitor information. Both quickly took on additional duties such as fence removal to facilitate elk movement in the area, the design and creation of a volunteer handbook for the refuge, and the design and creation of a visitor friendly bird & plant ID book for all three refuges in the Complex.

When Mark realized how little the Refuge had, in terms of tools and equipment, to carry out operation and maintenance of this large landscape and all it contains, he set his sights on remedying the situation. In the three months that the Rawlings have been at the Refuge Mark has solicited donations of tools and supplies worth over $50,000 for the Refuge. Mark has then used these (tools and supplies) to build everything from shelving units to work benches and many other much needed items for the Refuge.

During his stay at the Refuge, Mark has brought his total volunteer time to over 4,000 hours with the Department of Interior, for which he'll receive Presidential recognition.

Mark and Tracey have decided to move on for the winter and will be leaving shortly after Labor Day. Their time spent on the Baca Refuge has been truly appreciated and they know that because of their efforts they will leave behind a Refuge much better prepared to take on the daunting task of managing a landscape of over 70,000 acres with no appropriated funding.

The Rawlings will also leave knowing that the door is always open to them on the Baca National Wildlife Refuge.