Ohio River National Wildlife Refuge brimming with activity
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WILLIAMSTOWN -- Last weekend, the Ohio River National Wildlife Refuge hosted Auriela Skipwith, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director, and announced a few upcoming projects and additions to the refuge.
After a short boat trip to Buckley Island, Victor Elam, refuge manager, and Michael Schramm, visitor services manager, announced the launch of the Kayak Challenge.
To promote exploration of the refuge's 22 islands, the refuge encourages kayakers to travel to the islands, take a photo with the signs and if they travel to each one, they will receive a special prize.
"One of the things that we wanted to do was try and increase interest in listing the islands," Schramm said.
The challenge is still in its preparation stages but it is hoped to be ready to go this fall, Schramm said.
Middle Island is the site of another upcoming project which will include a mussel grow-out facility. In partnership with White Sulfur Springs Natural Fish Hatchery, the refuge will provide a space to take care of mussels before they're ready to go into the river.
Mussels are important because they filter and work to clean the river and remove pollutants and toxins.
"If we have an endangered species, we can grow them so they can infest a host fish. They have one species of fish they can work with that's why (mussels) are endangered. If those disappear then the mussels can't reproduce. The hatchery helps with that," Schramm said.
Another addition to Middle Island will be a visitors center. The center will go in a space that was originally intended for a classroom but was not being used.
"What we decided to do is create a new visitors center there to allow the public to see the mussel growth facility (and) have a whole new outreach station open seasonally," he said.
The refuge will also open a wetland within the next few weeks.
"It will be totally accessible to the public and would draw in a totally different kind of bird species. It's just getting started, it's a cool project," Schramm said.
With the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of events and vacations, Skipwith said it's a great opportunity for people to go out and explore nature.
"(There's) no better way to social distance than at your local refuge. President Trump and Secretary Bernhart, throughout COVID, they (were) making sure we kept our lands open for people to come out and visit," she said. "That's been ideal, people were looking for how to get outdoors when you're indoors all day. It's nice when people come out and still visit."
Skipwith hopes folks will still continue to take time to enjoy the outdoors even as society begins to open back up again.
"I hope that when COVID passes that people don't forget about the time they had outdoors and that they continue to come out and visit our refuges," Skipwith said.
Candice Black can be reached at cblack@newsandsentinel.com.