Interview with Southwest LA NWR Complex Planner

wed may 11th--attended the Louisiana Oil Spill Response Management Training program in Lake Charles--at the day's end I traveled to Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge.

thurs may 12th --attended the oil spill response training again. after the final session, i traveled to Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge.
I met Judy L. McClendon, Natural Resources Planner for the Southwest Louisiana National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
She wrote the EIS for Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge.
We talked for over an hour.
issues---
Ramsar
she is familiar with Ramsar--she was not aware of any Louisiana wetlands of international importance-we discussed Catahoula Lake briefly-she was receptive to the notion of Ramsar listing for the Southwest Complex. She was not aware of any initiative to list the Complex with Ramsar.
I asked her about the USFWS and the idea of grouping Lacassine, Cameron Prairie and Sabine NWRs into the "complex"--she said that grouping of NWRs was an established practice throughout the U.S. and that it served them well, because it streamlines some of the administrative communication among and between individual refuges while allowing for flexibility in the management of the individual complexes and their respective missions-in that each complex has a USFWS representative working at the individual sites, but administrative duties are handled by a central management team at the Complex headquarters at Cameron Prairie NWR. She agreed that clustering or grouping of NWR sites was also a matter of geography/geology/hydrology. For example the Southwest Louisiana National Wildlife Refuge Complex shares the same watershed--the Cameron Creole Watershed--and in fact has an established caretaker NGO/USFWS, in the Cameron Creole Watershed Partnership. She also said the service oversees the management operations of Rockefeller Refuge, which is state property, but closely tied to Southwest Complex, b/c of the proximity to the wetland NWRs.
She alerted me to the fact that she had just completed the Complex's 15 year Comprehensive Plan and invited me to the presentation public hearing on May 18th 2005 in Lake Charles at the Lake Charles Civic Center in the Lafitte Room. We discussed the plan's intention to draw down the Lacassine Pool--a 16, 000 acre designated waterfowl sanctuary. Judy says the USFWS's primary mission at this wetlands complex is to protect and conserve the pool for waterfowl benefit--and the increase in water depth is disrupting the native vegetation's growth and creating exanspes of open water--which is not the most favorable habitat for the migratory ducks and geese that inhabit, visit and depend upon the refuge.
Apparently the draw down has drawn the concern of fisherman who consider the Lacassine Pool a highly desirable fishing location. In the past years the deeper water has benefited the many florida hybrid bass that the USFWS stocked the pool with--and therefore has created a trophy opportunity for recreational fishermen. These groups are afraid the drawdown will eliminate these big fish and that the new management plan does not consider local opinions and desires in the management of the complex/pool.
Along those lines, I asked Judy what if any, response from the community, Ramsar designation would receive. She said it would more than likely be a favorable reception. She believed the residents would accept the designation with pride. She did note that the service is sensitive to the desire of private landowners, residents and patrons of the NWR system, so concerns of international interference in private land matters and U.S. management policy would be addressed in any EIS. She noted that in the 1990's, she dealt with a nationalist interest group in Missouri that was concerned about the USFWS's acquisition of land at the Big Muddy NWR.
I also asked her about bird #'s. she gave me some handouts.
She recommended that i talk to Don Voros, Manager of the Southwest Louisiana National Wildlife Refuge Complex. I intend to do so.