Stewards Sunday Tonight and a special opportunity to shape the future

Seeking Applications for Board of Directors

The Refuge Stewards is a dedicated group of volunteers working to preserve, protect, and restore habitat at Steigerwald Lake, Franz Lake and Pierce National Wildlife Refuges. Our Board members serve as decision-makers, developing policies to govern the operations of the Gorge Refuge Stewards and to monitor the finances, programs, and performance of the organization. We are also an active board often seen helping our Volunteer Coordinator and other volunteers at community events or out on the Refuge getting our hands dirty.

We and our partners have broken ground on an ambitious multiyear restoration project of Steigerwald Lake NWR and there is much work left to do.

We need your time, creativity, and help to craft the future of the Refuge. We are looking for people to bring their skills and willingness to roll up their sleeves to support our vision of an engaged community that actively values natural areas. Board and Committee members are critical to this work.

If you are passionate about wildlife/nature/public lands/our National Wildlife Refuges and want to join others with a similar passion, please send an email to contact@refugestewards.org. We will reply with our board member position description and an application to join the Board or a Committee, and are happy to answer any questions you may have.

Stewards Sunday at 5440!

Join us tonight, Sunday, November 3rd at 5:30 pm at 54-40 Brewing for a conversation about wildlife photography led by local photographer Ken Pitts. The purpose of this informal event is to bring together nature lovers of all skill levels of photography to talk and learn from each other. Ken will be facilitating the conversation by showing his favorite photos taken at Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge and explaining how he captured them. We encourage you to bring some of your favorite photos from the Refuge on a flash drive so we can share them during the evening.

We will also have our 2019 Youth Photo Contest winning photos on display.

This will be the first of we hope many Stewards Sundays events at 54-40 Brewing Co where we will highlight different aspects of wildlife conservation and recreation at the Gorge Refuges and beyond. Food and drink will be available for purchase, including our Restoration Ale brew special for the Stewards to benefit Steigerwald Lake NWR!

Photo courtesy of Ken Pitts

Basking Log Installation at Pierce

Dave Miller, Board Member and Habitat Restoration volunteer, recently helped install some basking logs at Pierce NWR. In March he had cut down two big trees in his yard. Knowing how important basking logs were for our native turtle populations, he let the trees dry out over the summer, and then contacted FWS Wildlife Biologist Alex Chmielewski about the possibility of installing the logs at Pierce.

The largest log is 3' diameter, 5 feet long, and weighs about 400 pounds. It took a lot of planning, coordination, and effort to prepare these logs and relocate them from Dave's yard to the refuge. Once at Pierce, Dave and Alex spent about 3 hours in the water maneuvering the logs and the materials needed to anchor them. And did we mention this was a rainy, October morning? Talk about dedication! "We only dropped one item into the lake but I was able to reach down into the mud and retrieve it," Dave said of the adventure. "I came very close to getting dunked in the lake when the log began pushing me backwards and my feet were stuck in the mud. Fortunately Alex was able to pull the log, me, and the drill I was holding back upright. I didn't realize that if you stand in the mud in one place for a long time, you sink..."

Basking is an important behavior for turtles - along with the obvious use of regulating temperature, it's vital for development of eggs, producing vitamin D3 and hygiene - UV light helps the turtles manage diseases and parasites! The turtles are sure to enjoy their new logs!!

Give More 24 was a Success!!