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• REVIEW AND APPROVAL S WHEELER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUG E Decatur, Alabam a O ANNUAL NARRATIVE REPOR T Calendar Year 1997 • 3 -30-'10 40'4~C/Ni7 d Refuge Manage r Date Associate Manager Dat e 3 1-/7-9g/ Aotirtg %'Jur V/ 9F Geographic ARD Date ARD-Refuges and Wildlife Dat e • • INTRODUCTIO N Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge was established by Executive Order of Presiden t Franklin D . Roosevelt on July 7, 1938 . Overlaid on the middle third of the Tennesse e Valley Authority's (TVA) Wheeler Reservoir, it was placed on land purchased by TV A as a bed for and buffer strip around the reservoir in 1934 and 1935 . The reservoi r was impounded in 1936 . The Refuge is located in the Tennessee River Valley of Northern Alabama in Morgan , Limestone and Madison Counties . Its western end lies within the city limits o f Decatur, population approximately 50,000 ; its eastern end touches the city limits of Huntsville, population about 170,000 . Several cities, smaller towns and communitie s • are nearby . Nashville is about 110 miles north, and Birmingham is 85 miles to th e south . Its topography is flat to rolling . Temperature extremes range from -5° to 1 1 0°, although winters seldom reach 0° and summer temperatures rarely exceed 100° . Humidity is normally 90% or above in summer . Rainfall is approximately 50 inches pe r year, and there is seldom extended accumulations of snow or ice cover . TVA, the agency that purchased the area, considers that more than 40,000 acres li e inside its perimeter, although the official acreage given is 34,170 omitting navigabl e water . It includes 19,000 acres of land and 15,000 acres of water . The land acreag e consists of some 10,000 acres of Mississippi Valley type hardwoods, 3,000 acres o f pine plantations, 5,000 acres of farmland with the remainder being open shelves, rocket test ranges, etc . About 4,085 acres lie inside the Redstone Arsenal boundary , while about 1,500 acres of this are partially administered by the Marshall Space Flight • Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration . Interstate 65 crosses th e Refuge . U .S . Highway 31 is part of its western boundary and State Highways 20 an d 67 cross parts of the Refuge and closely parallel the remainder . Considered the eastern most national wildlife refuge of the lower Mississippi Flyway , Wheeler NWR supports the southern most and Alabama's only significan t concentration of wintering Canada geese . It also serves as winter habitat for th e State's largest duck population . It was the first national wildlife refuge placed on a multipurpose reservoir and has supported up to 60,000 geese and near 100,000 ducks, although modern peaks until 1990 are nearer 30,000 geese and 60,000 ducks . Since 1990, the peak has dropped below 15,000 geese . It includes interesting flora , a bird list of more than 285 species, mammals ranging from shrews to deer and a wid e variety of reptiles, amphibians and fishes . • The Refuge is well developed with more than 100 miles of graveled roads, 2,50 0 acres of managed wetlands, a modern Headquarters Complex and a large Visito r Center and Waterfowl Observation Building . Public use is heavy and visits of all types normally total more than 650,000 annually . The address is Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, 2700 Refuge HQ Road, Decatur , Alabama 35603 . The telephone number for the Headquarters Office is (256) 353 - 7243, for the Visitor Center (256) 350-6639 . The Headquarters Office is ope n Mondays through Fridays from 7 :00 a .m . until 3 :30 p .m . The Visitor Center an d Observation Building are open 10 :00 a .m. until 5 :00 p .m . Wednesday through Sunda y from March through September, and seven days each week October throug h February . The Refuge also administers four satellites, all established to protect endangere d species . These are Blowing Wind Cave National Wildlife Refuge, near Scottsboro , O Alabama, Fern Cave National Wildlife Refuge, near Paint Rock, Alabama, Watercres s Darter National Wildlife Refuge located in the outskirts of Bessemer, Alabama, an d Key Cave National Wildlife Refuge near Florence, Alabama . Four Farm Servic e Agency tracts are under refuge administration . • Figure 1 • INTRODUCTIO N • TABLE OF CONTENT S A . HIGHLIGHTS B. CLIMATIC CONDITION S C . LAND ACQUISITIO N 1 . Fee Title 2 2 . Easements 3 3 . Farmers Home Administratio n Conservation Easements Nothing to report 4 . Other Nothing to report • D . PLANNIN G 1 . Master Plan Nothing to report 2 . Management Plan Nothing to report 3 . Public Participation Nothing to report 4 . Compliance with Environmental and Cultura l Resource Mandate 3 5 . Research and Investigations 5 6 . Other 6 E . ADMINISTRATIO N 1 . Personnel . 8 O 2 . Youth Programs Nothing to report 3 . Other Manpower Programs Nothing to report 4 . Volunteer Program 1 0 5 . Funding 1 1 6 . Safety 1 1 7 . Technical Assistance 1 2 8 . Other 1 2 F . HABITAT MANAGEMEN T 1 . General 1 2 2 . Wetlands 1 3 3 . Forests 1 9 • 4 . Croplands . 1 9 5 . Grasslands . Nothing to repor t 6 . Other Habitats Nothing to report 7. Grazing 20 8. Haying 20 • 9. Fire Management 2 1 10. Pest Control 22 1 1 . Water Rights Nothing to report 12 . Wilderness and Special Areas Nothing to repor t 13 . WPA Easement Monitoring Nothing to report 14 . FmHA Conservation Easements 22 15 . Private Lands 22 16 . Other Easements Nothing to report G . WILDLIF E 1. Wildlife Diversity 22 2. Endangered and/or Threatened Species 23 3. Waterfowl 24 • 4. Marsh and Water Birds 2 5 5. Shorebirds, Gulls, Terns, and Allied Species 2 6 6. Raptors 2 7 7. Other Migratory Birds 2 7 8. Game Mammals 2 7 9. Marine Mammals Nothing to report 10. Other Resident Wildlife Nothing to report 11. Fisheries Resources 28 12. Wildlife Propagation and Stocking Nothing to report 13. Surplus Animal Disposal Nothing to report 14. Scientific Collections 2 8 1 5 . Animal Control Nothing to report 16. Marking and Banding 2 9 • 17 . Disease Prevention and Control Nothing to report H . PUBLIC USE 1. General 3 1 2. Outdoor Classrooms - Students 33 3. Outdoor Classrooms - Teachers 34 4. Interpretive Foot Trails 34 5. Interpretive Tour Routes 3 5 6. Interpretive Exhibits/Demonstrations 36 7. Other Interpretive Programs 36 8. Hunting 36 9. Fishing 37 10. Trapping Nothing to repor t • 11. Wildlife Observation 38 12. Other Wildlife Oriented Recreation 38 13 . Camping 38 14. Picnicking 38 0 15. Off-Road Vehicling 40 16. Other Non-Wildlife Oriented Recreation 40 17. Law Enforcement 40 18. Cooperating Associations 44 19. Concessions Nothing to report I . EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIE S 1. New Construction Nothing to report 2. Rehabilitation 4 5 3. Major Maintenance 4 6 4. Equipment Utilization and Replacement 4 6 5. Communications Systems Nothing to report O 6. Computer Systems 48 7. Energy Conservation Nothing to report 8. Other Nothing to report J . OTHER ITEM S 1. Cooperative Programs 4 8 2. Other Economic Uses Nothing to report 3. Items of Interest 4 8 4. Credits 4 9 K . FEEDBAC K L. INFORMATION PACKE T • • A . HIGHLIGHT S • Key Cave National Wildlife Refuge was established on January 3, 1997 . The ne w refuge provides habitat for the only known population of the endangered Alabam a cavefish . (Section C .1 ) 1997 was the end of the ten-year period for Olin to fully attain the Consent Decre e performance standards . Channel catfish and smallmouth buffalo continued to fal l above the attainment level of 5 .0 ppm DDT in fillets in all reaches within the stud y area . (Section D .4 ) The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission certified the Southern Natural Gas pipelin e project, which will impact Wheeler NWR . (Section D .6) A new dual Ecological Services/Refuge position was filled during the year • . (Section E .1 ) Fifteen-year-old Ashley Chandler won the Alabama Junior Duck Stamp contest for th e second year in a row . (Section H .1 ) The Refuge celebrated National Wildlife Refuge Week with a "Wet and Wild Festival . " (Section H .2) . Convicted artifact collector Richard Molden is currently serving a year in jail afte r being apprehended on Wheeler NWR for the third time . (Section H .17) A $15,000 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Challenge Grant was approved fo r Key Cave NWR . The grant will be used for reforestation and erosion control effort s • on the new refuge . (Section J .1 ) The Refuge received a $5,000 award from Monsanto Company as part of thei r Pledge Award Program . The money will go toward the Dinsmore Slough Project . (Section J .1 ) An extensive collection of artifacts from the Tennessee Valley Region was donated t o the Refuge . The collection has an estimated value of $11,594 . (Section J .3) • 2 • B . CLIMATIC CONDITION S Table 1 . Temperatures and rainfall in 1997 by months compared to average . Temperatures Averag e Departur e Maximum Minimu m Rainfall Rainfall from Normal January 70* 7 5 .79 5 .17 +0 .6 2 February 75 26 4 .97 5 .07 -0 .1 0 March 80* 28 6 .39 6 .62 -0 .2 3 • April 82 33 3 .24 4.93 -1 .6 9 May 88 * 43* 6.21 5 .08 +1 .1 3 June 92 56 6.00 4.13 +1 .8 7 July 97 60 1 .39 4 .85 -3 .4 6 August 97 56* 4 .50 3 .47 +1 .0 3 September 94 52* 5 .42 4 .08 +1 .3 4 October 85 33 8 .32 3 .25 + 5 .0 7 November 70 20* 1 .96 4.86 -2 .9 0 December 66 20 3.43 5.87 -2 .4 4 57 .62 57 .38 +0 .24 • Totals * new record temperatur e The total rainfall for 1997 shown in Table 1 indicates only 0 .24 inches above normal .

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