Hunters are split in the
Oregon Fish and Wildlife Com
mission’s decision to open por
tions of the Fern Ridge Wildlife
Management Area (WMA) to
hunting this season after a four
year closure.
In 1979, the Oregon Depart
ment of Fish and Wildlife
(ODWF) initiated a develop
ment program at WMA, located
five miles west of Eugene, in an
attempt to increase the water
fowl population in the area. At
that time the population was
estimated at 300,000. ODWF set
a goal to increase that number to
1.7 million. •
Although that goal hasn't
been attained yet, many hunters
began getting impatient this
year feeling that the current
estimated 985,000 waterfowl in
Fern Ridge was good enough.
They wanted to stop waiting
and hunt. The Fish and Wildlife
Commission said okay, but
there will be restrictions.
The WMA East Coyote unit,
south of 11th street, will be
open Nov. 3 to the end of the
season. ODWF is currently
planning only one drawing to
issue 10 to 12 hunting permits
each day for the unit except on
Saturday and Wednesday mom
ings which will be limited to
only a few hunters. All duck
hunters will be assigned to
blinds.
The West Coyote area will be
closed from Nov. 1 to March 31
to allow a sanctuary for the
waterfowl and Fisher Butte will
be open Nov. 1 to Nov.30, but
the West Coyote area will be
closed from Nov. 1 to March 31
to allow a sanctuary for the
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birds.
Waterfowl population counts
have decreased dramatically
since the 1950s. Population
highs had ranged from 30,000
to 100,000 until the mid to late
1970s when the number drop
ped to a only few thousand.
One of the reasons for this
drop has been related to the
creation of Ankeny, Basket
Slough and Finley national
wildlife refuges which caused
dispersion among the waterfowl
populations, according to Jim
Greer, district wildlife biologist
for ODFW. Greer says that
possible influences have also
been linked to migrating flight
shifts, poor nesting conditions
in the northern regions of the
Pacific Flyway and changes in
local agriculture practices.
Greer says the 1979 ODWF
development program for WMA
entailed establishing sanctuary
restrictions and developing the
water system through extensive
irrigation and establishing
seven water impoundments.
Agricultural development was
also initiated, with 100 acres of
com, 250 acres of a sudanmillet
mixture and 15 acres of
buckwheat currently growing in
various stages at the Fem Ridge
area.
The program, financed in
cooperation with the Army
Corp of Engineers, has been
quite succesful, bringing in
954,266 waterfowl in 1982-83
and 985,000 last year.
Greer says that the ODFW is
reopening Fern Ridge this
season as an experiment to
measure what effect hunting
will have on the waterfowl
population. Future hunting will
depend on the decrease of
waterfowl through the season.
He believes Fem Ridge will
always have some kind of
refuge, but recently there has
been a lot of support to open the
area permanantly although it is
Oregon's last existing refuge
under sanctuary restricions.
wnai snouia oe loreniusi is
what is best overall for the
sportsmen who funded the pro
ject,” said local hunter, Milton
Decker. Money from Oregon
hunting licenses has been the
total financer of the Fern Ridge
area until the Army Corp of
Engineers came in.
But Bud Thompson, chair of
the Waterfowl Committee of the
Izaak Walton Lake conservation
organization, believes more
time is needed.
“We want the birds to get
really established in this end of
the valley,” says Thompson.
“We want to be darn sure that
there is some part (of Fern
Ridge) that is absolutely safe for
the ducks. We don’t want them
to shoot them all to hell before
they get a groove here,” says
Thompson.
Story by Shannon Kelley
Photo by Michael Clapp