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University Daily Kansan, October 14, 1980
A one gull rests on a log inside the Clinton Wildlife Refuge. Gulls are one of the more than 500 species of animals that use the refuge.
A trio of pelicans fly over a section of the refuge's marshland.
Several pelicans wade among the plants in the shallow water on the west edge of the 2,100 acre refuge. Many migratory birds use the refuge for a rest stop because they find food and safety from hunters within its borders.
Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife. Come hear the woodland linet, How sweet this music! On my life, How sweet this music! In it. - William Wordsworth
On the west end of Clinton Lake, marked by water, timber and silence unmarried by human interference, are 2,100 acres of land that provide and refuge for Kansas wildlife during the winter.
The Clinton Wildlife Refuge, owned and operated by the Kansas Fish and Game Commission, is closed to the public from Oct. 1 to March 1. The refuge has set up an office to监视 the areas to enclose the no trespassing rule.
Jim Bennett, regional wildlife supervisor for the Kansas Fish and Game Commission, said that keeping people out of the area gave the hunter a chance to rest and escape from hunters.
The commission is particularly interested in attracting waterfowl, Bennett said, especially snow geese. He said they were trying to migrate snow geese away from the Squaw Creek Refuge near St. Louis, Mo., which has too many of the geese.
"They're trying to get rid of their snow geese," Bennett said. "We're trying to provide a place that will be attractive to the geese. Instead of having one major snow goose route, we would have two. We would provide a stopping place and a resting place."
MIGRATORY BIRDS such as the snow goose travel south from the Arctic shores to the Gulf of Mexico every year. Their migratory routes are often marked by a light line, as shown at Clinton, Bennett said, they will return yearly.
The refuge has succeeded in attracting both flocks of snow geese and various other types of wildlife and wildfowl, said Mike Ensch, chief ranger with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Ensch said the refuge had more than 500
policemen, politicians, ducks,
herons, bobcats, and snow geese.
Part of the reason for the refuge's success in attracting wildlife, Ensch said, is because food supplies are partially provided for the animals during the lean winter months. Some of the land around the refuge is leased to farmers with the intention of part of their crops be left standing for the wildlife.
He said that farmers left crops of wheat, milo, soybeans and corn, and that the commission had seeded the area with some wild vegetation such as millet and pigweed.
THE COMMISSION'S plan to please the wildlife is living. A flock of about 200 snow geese, some sitting motionless in the water, some gliding in the cloudless autumn sky, and some swimming along the coast of nearby County Road 640, which divides Clinton Lake from the Wakarusa River.
The geese were trying out flight patterns. Most of them were content to drift without moving their wings in graceful spirals to the lake. One snow goose made knife-edge loops in the air like a stunt pilot before dropping down for his landing.
Other birds shared the water with the gesee. Ducks swarm along one edge of the water, and a few others rest on the bank.
The wildlife are safe for the winter. When spring comes, the migratory birds will fly on, and the native animals will cope with man as they do once in October shuts him out of their refuge once again.
Large reflective signs on County Road 460 warn people that the refuge is off limits from October 1 to March 1.
Photos by BEN BIGLER Story by JANE NEUFELD and PAM HOWARD