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Double-crested cormorant on a branch. (Refuge Reporter) |
You might call Trempealeau a new refuge even though its establishment dates back to 1936.
Within months, the refuge will have the capability to manipulate water like never before, promising to offer more wetland vegetation that is certain to attract a greater diversity of water birds. But even before the $6 million improvements are finished and working, the refuge has been hosting 70,000 visitors a year, prompting one visitor from Illinois to call Trempealeau NWR "extraordinary."
The refuge lies in the Mississippi River floodplain in western Wisconsin where the Trempealeau River once formed a large delta. When the Burlington-Northern Railroad built its tracks across a dike on the edge of the Mississippi River in 1886, culverts were installed in the railroad embankment to provide a pass-through for Trempealeau River water. Later construction of another railroad line in 1911 and the construction of a third dike as well as the blocking of the culverts created the 4,000-acre pool that continues to exist today. Higher ground and the dike for a third now-abandoned railroad contained the water on the north edge of the large shallow pool.
As a result, the Trempealeau River was diverted from its delta and the impounded water became isolated from the Mississippi River and operated as a commercial hunting, fishing, and trapping site by Delta Fish and Fur Farm until 1979.
Establishment of the refuge by President Franklin D. Roosevelt with 707 acres of sandy upland contemplated the addition of Delta by condemnation, an action stopped by court action, however, that resulted in 43 years of limited refuge operation. Then in 1979, nearby Delta Power Corporation's need for a train turn-around that required 200 acres of refuge land created the opportunity for refuge expansion. A land swap was brokered to include the purchase of the fish and fur farm and subsequent resale to the refuge, a deal that resulted in the refuge gaining nearly 5,000 acres including the large water impoundment.
Subdivision of the refuge pool into five smaller pools is one of the major features of the refuge master plan developed in 1983. Although the configuration has been slightly revised, the plan's dikes and water system controls are nearly completed, thanks mostly to funds authorized by Congress for the Upper Mississippi River System Environmental Management Program administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The program is a long-term effort to restore river resources impacted by the locks and dams constructed for river boat traffic, a project that has won wide support from both the public and area legislators.
Keith Beseke says it is highly unusual to see a master plan being implemented so soon after its development. "God only knows how long it would have taken if money had to come through refuge budgets," says Beseke, an engineer-biologist who oversees the Corps projects at a number of upper Mississippi refuges and participated in the master planning process for Trempealeau.
Refuge wildlife includes 60 mammal species, 250 species of birds, 30 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 25 fishes. Bald eagle rearing continues in 1998 at Trempealeau with a pair tending their young at a nest visible from the public road on the north edge of the refuge. Other nesters include wood duck, Canada goose, double-crested cormorants, and yellow and prothonotary warblers. A refuge volunteer maintains a 25 bluebird nest box trail.
Nesting platforms are regularly used by black terns. In radio-telemetry research of the terns at the refuge, biologists discovered that males attended the nest and young at night while the females traveled two miles to a loafing area and did not return until dawn.
Birders travel many miles to see migrating songbirds in April and May and again in October. Thousands of soras can be seen migrating at the beginning of September. In October, as many as 8,000 cormorants and 2,000 white pelicans feed and stage for their flight south.
Refuge manager Rick Frietsche expects greater numbers of shorebirds than ever before when he can create mudflats with the refuge's new water control system.
Up until 1992, the refuge was known as "Deer Park," when as many as 100 deer could easily be seen from the refuge tour road. Habitat damage from the large population led to a hunting program for antlerless deer that has reduced the herd to a size supported by the habitat. Other management controls in use at the refuge are prescribed fires and insect releases to limit the growth of exotic leafy spurge and purple loosestrife.
Predominate fish are black and brown bullheads. Refuge waters are open to public fishing, although selected sections are closed to avoid wildlife disturbance.
By far the greatest public use of Trempealeau NWR is for wildlife observation. Visitors are greeted with a 5-mile auto tour route that includes an observation deck affording superb views of wildlife on one of the refuge's new pools. Recent sightings from the deck were 138 eagles on one day and a great horned owl nest in a nearby tree.
A self-guiding leaflet explains the three major habitat types of the refuge at marked stops on the drive: sand prairie, backwater marsh, and hardwood forest. A 1/2-mile trail at the observation deck is a popular place for birding and leads to a photographic blind at its terminus. Labels on another 1-mile trail identify the grasses and forbs that are found in the restored prairie.
A portion of the Great River State Trail used by bicyclists is on the auto drive. While bicycling is permitted on all refuge roads, remember that cyclists can be disturbing to wildlife that is being observed or photographed by persons in automobiles. Vehicles make the best blinds for wildlife viewing from roads.
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