Refuge endangered Sunkhaze Meadows in Milford could lose its staffing

loading...

MILFORD – Blue skies and red maples reflected off the placid water surrounding Tom Comish’s canoe as he paddled deeper into the Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge one recent morning.

“One of the things that I like about the refuge is it is relatively remote, and I’ve tried to keep it that way,” said Comish, the refuge’s manager and sole full-time staff member.

Comish’s supervision of the 11,200-acre refuge soon may end, however, because of budget cuts throughout the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuge system.

The prospect of an unstaffed refuge is making some frequent users of Sunkhaze nervous and eager to prevent it.

“I just would hate to see it get lost. It’s such a small refuge compared to some of the others,” said Jan Beckett, who, with other members of the group Friends of Sunkhaze Meadows, will take their concerns to top U.S. Department of the Interior officials visiting the area on Wednesday.

Earlier this year, cash-strapped administrators in the Fish and Wildlife Service’s regional office announced plans to eliminate 24 positions at refuges throughout the Northeast.

Seven of the positions are in Maine.

In addition to Comish, Sunkhaze stands to lose a part-time administrative position. Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge in Limestone is slated to lose a biologist. The Rachel Carson refuge in southern Maine would lose its manager and an administrative position but gain a public use specialist. Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge in Washington County would lose two maintenance positions but gain a law enforcement officer.

The Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge, a complex of more than 70 islands, would pick up 3.5 new positions as the federal agency seeks to bolster operations at key refuges, according to a pamphlet distributed by the wildlife service.

The agency describes the cuts as an example of the “tough choices” faced by Interior Department programs as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, homeland security and hurricane relief eat into federal discretionary spending.

“A number of national wildlife refuges that can make the most significant conservation contribution in the Northeast will ‘stay strong,'” the pamphlet reads. “The decision to focus resources on these refuges will prevent the across-the-board mediocrity that would result from proportionately equal budget cuts at each refuge.”

Sunkhaze, however, will join the list of refuges nationwide that are unstaffed.

About 15 miles north of Bangor, Sunkhaze was purchased from timber operators in 1988. Roughly 75 percent of the refuge is bog that serves as prime nesting and visiting grounds for waterfowl.

All of Maine’s roughly two dozen warbler species are found in the refuge, making it popular with birders. The refuge is also home to moose, bear, deer, coyotes and game birds.

About 4,000 people visit Sunkhaze annually, a fraction of the tens of thousands who visit Maine Coastal Islands and Lake Umbagog wildlife refuges.

The refuge was nearly empty one weekday earlier this month when Comish led a small group up Sunkhaze Stream, pointing out cormorants, beaver dams and a popular moose hangout along the way.

“One of the nice things about Sunkhaze Meadows is I’ve been up this stream a lot of times and I have never seen another person up here,” Comish said.

As manager, Comish maintains the refuge’s trails, parking lots and gates as well as performs biological studies with the help of a crew of interns. He is the agency’s liaison with hunters and snowmobilers who use the property, not to mention the first line of defense against ATVs, which are prohibited within the refuge.

Comish, who works out of the service’s field office in Old Town, said agency officials have indicated they might fund the manager position through March.

After that Comish could be transferred to another refuge, continue at the Old Town office in another capacity or take an early retirement offer.

Under the downsizing, the Maine Coastal Islands refuge offices in Petit Manan would take over management of Sunkhaze. Wildlife service officials have pledged to continue maintenance and to respond to any problems at Sunkhaze, but they acknowledge that the new arrangement will mean some differences.

That concerns Comish and members of the Friends group.

“There are people who don’t like to follow the rules, and sooner or later they are going to realize no one is here much,” Comish said later at his office. “I can foresee ATVs being a problem, and I can see even timber thefts being a problem.”

Bryan Wells, president of Friends of Sunkhaze Meadows, said service officials have assured him that Sunkhaze will not be closed or sold.

Nonetheless, Wells believes the decision to de-staff the refuge undermines his group’s efforts to educate the local community and increase visitation.

“It’s the effect it has on the community,” Wells said. “The value of the refuge has gone down.”

Members of the Friends group have written letters to agency officials, urging them to keep a manager at Sunkhaze or to find money for at least a part-time employee. But Wells said the downsizing plan appears to be a “done deal.”

But this week, Friends members plan to take their campaign directly to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, who will be in Brewer as part of a national “listening session” tour.

The hearing will be held at Jeff’s Catering, 15 Littlefield Way, Brewer at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20.

“If we get enough outcry, there is always a chance,” Beckett said.