Summer on the Siskadeeagie

by Mac Blewer

Ed Abbey was right. All advocates need to take time and enjoy their lives by finding solace in the wild and the beautiful. Hit the trail, or in this case, the Green River, as my fellow WOC staffers and I recently did.

I arose before dawn. The evening before had been unusually cold. No mosquitoes, I noted happily. Nothing but the sound of great-horned owls and poor-wills in the early hours. As I boiled water for coffee, nine white pelicans soared over our camp, primeval, avian bombers with nine-foot wing spans. An osprey hovered downstream and then plunged sharply into the river, sending up sprays of silver into the golden morning light.

We were on our first group field trip together in several years and our mission was simple: canoe down the Green River through the Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge and immerse ourselves in nature.

My companions soon gathered around the coffee pot: Christine Lichtenfels, Bonnie Hofbauer, Michele Barlow, Nancy Debevoise, Tom Darin, Dan Heilig and our mascot, Charlie, Dan's amiable, alpha-male Chesapeake Bay retriever. After a quick breakfast, we were on our way in three canoes, the river bank gliding past us.

What struck me most wasn't the spectacle of 40 pelicans standing on a shoal regarding us with cool unease, or the pair of ospreys watching us from a nesting platform or the scores of bank, cliff, tree and violet-green swallows swooping above and around us. It was the living blizzard of mayflies that suddenly surrounded us. Grouping in the tens of thousands, these pale members of the Order Ephemeroptera hovered just above our heads, drifting upwards like snowflakes caught in an air current. For several surreal minutes we floated through the eye of this insect storm and then, as we rounded another bend, the mayflies vanished as quickly as they had appeared.

Working in a Wyoming Oasis

The Shoshone people gave the Green River its first name, "Sisk-a-dee-agie" or "river of the prairie chicken." In later years, fur trappers corrupted it to "Seedskadee."

It's easy to see why this area was a favorite hunting ground for Native Americans and mountain men. Refuge manager Carol Damberg describes the landscape as "an oasis for wildlife." And, an oasis it certainly is. Over 36 miles long and covering about 26,300 acres of wetlands, cottonwood-willow groves, riparian vegetation and sagebrush-blanketed uplands, the Refuge is home to more than 50 species of mammals, 11 kinds of reptiles and amphibians and more than 220 bird species. The Refuge also provides a trophy fishery with cutthroat, brown and rainbow trout. Depending on the time of year, you may glimpse white-faced ibis, burrowing owls and elusive American bitterns. Although my eyes were peeled for anything that moved, I secretly wanted to see a river otter or a moose.

The Refuge was established in 1965 as a mitigation project for the Fontanelle Dam and Reservoir and Flaming Gorge Dam and Reservoir. In a recent conversation, Lander resident and former WOC board member Larry Means recalled his early days on the job as the first Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge manager.

"When it comes to being a refuge manager," he said, "success boils down to one thing: relationships with people. Whether it's neighbors down the road, representatives of local livestock and sporting organizations, federal and state agency personnel or newspaper editors, you have to get to know everyone and earn their trust."

Growing up in a farm community in Kansas during the Great Depression, armed with a degree in wildlife biology and tested by several years of refuge management experience at the Kirwin Refuge in Kansas, Larry was undoubtedly a good choice for the challenging job at Seedskadee.

"Before my job at the Kirwin Refuge," Larry recalled, "my manager asked me, 'Larry, can you work with farmers?'" (Apparently the previous manager, a heavy-handed ex-Army officer, hadn't been too adept at making friends within the community.) "'Heck, yes,' I said. 'I grew up with them.'" This savvy served Larry well during his three years at Seedskadee.

Early Hurdles

Back in 1966, the challenges facing the Refuge were many. From consolidating federal ownership of land in the area to working on reducing the impacts of livestock overgrazing on wildlife habitat and maintaining good relations with a complex cast of characters, it wasn't a cake-walk for Larry. However, one of the biggest hurdles he faced was less tangible: many property owners' distrust of the federal government.

"Anti-government sentiments were a big challenge for me," recalls Larry. "I needed my neighbors to be friends. And, they were, after a time. But it didn't help, this hatred of big government. To get things done as a refuge manager, you simply have to know how to work with people and see things from their perspective. It's such a complex job-one that calls for constant interactions with people, land and wildlife. The human aspect of the job is immense."

Larry believes that anti-government feelings have intensified since his time as Seedskadee's manager. From working as a self-described "bio-politician" for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington, DC to his times years later as president of the Red Desert Audubon Society, he has seen attitudes change and, in some areas, harden. Larry muses that the Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1980s and the resulting backlash from the empowered environmental movement could be partly to blame.

Pronghorn, Plovers & Property Rights

Regardless of the reason, anti-government sentiment is still a challenge for the Refuge today. At a recent Green River Basin Advisory Group meeting that I attended in Farson, several speakers darkly warned about the dangers of the federal government and a sinister "world government," singling out United-Nations designated World Heritage Sites, including, one claimed, the Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge.

"There is a plot," one speaker charged, "for groups like the Sierra Club and EarthFirst! to make the lower 48 states all wilderness. This is a plot with the federal government to take away our rights."

"As far as I know," says Seedskadee manager Carol Damberg, with a small laugh, "Seedskadee has never been a World Heritage Site." Turning serious, she continues, "It's very important for the public to know that the primary mission of all national wildlife refuges is habitat protection. Most refuges, like Seedskadee, also provide numerous recreational activities, such as wildlife viewing and photography, hunting, fishing and wildlife education and interpretation, as long as these activities are compatible with the needs of wildlife. Everything we do here, from putting in boardwalks to opening up areas to hunting, has to put wildlife first. That is our mission, and it can be really tough to get that message out to the public."

Although she concedes that some people's anti-government positions can be a challenge, Carol has plenty of other projects and problems to tackle. Livestock overgrazing on the Refuge is no longer the issue that it was during the 1960s and 70s, but exotic species such as salt cedar and perennial pepper-weed are spreading in parts of the Refuge, crowding out native plants and wildlife forage. Littering, sign shooting, fence cutting and illegal ORV use are also occasional problems, and there have been rare incidents of illegal deer and antelope killing out of season or in protected areas. Still, Carol concedes, these unfortunate incidents have been few and far between, and she hopes they will continue to be rare.

Seedskadee staffers are currently expanding a public education program about the Refuge. They've recently published their first newsletter, and are hoping to organize more public events for citizens in the community. Already, groups like the Flaming Gorge/Lower Green River Chapter of Trout Unlimited are working cooperatively on public outreach programs and upstream habitat enhancement projects.

A Promising Future

A muffled cry from my canoeing partner makes me look up sharply. A bull moose with a large rack of antlers is standing in the shallows. He snorts softly but stands his ground as we paddle, not unhurriedly, past his territory.

What a place, I think to myself. What a place. With only 80,000 acres under U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service management in Wyoming, a state that is fast succumbing to the development pressures of the 21st century, I am grateful for every single one of those acres. To float such a paradise is indeed a privilege.

Carol's last words to me drift through my head as we round another bend in the river.

"I would say that we are definitely gaining ground working with the public and making this Refuge work," she told me. "Whatever we are doing, we are always looking towards the future."

Thanks to Carol, Larry Means and scores of citizens, places like the Seedskadee have a future to offer all of us. Let's keep it that way. S

Editor's note: if you would like to become a "Friend of the Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge" or learn more about refuge activities, please contact
Carol Damberg,
Refuge Manager at
(307) 875-2187 or
via e-mail at carol_damberg@fws.gov