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Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Assessment
The CCP is needed for a variety of reasons. Primary among these is the need to provide migration
and wintering habitat for dusky Canada geese and other waterfowl in the lower Columbia River
region. There is a need to improve habitat conditions on the refuge’s grassland, wetland, riparian,
bottomland forest, and oak woodland habitats, many of which are degraded by invasive plants and
animals. There is a need to address the refuge’s contributions to the recovery of Federal and State
listed species native to the lower Columbia River and the Willamette Valley-Puget Trough
ecoregion, including Columbian white-tailed deer, water howellia, and western pond turtle. There is
a need to protect and restore habitat values for other sensitive, rare, and declining species of the
lower Columbia River.
There is a need to analyze refuge public use programs for the Refuge System’s wildlife-dependent
priority public uses and to determine what improvements or alterations should be made in the pursuit
of compatible, higher quality programs, and to accommodate increasing numbers of visitors while
providing for the needs of wildlife. The refuge also includes important archaeological sites, and
there is a need to address both protection of cultural resources and cultural resources education.
1.4 Content and Scope of the CCP
This Draft CCP/EA provides guidance for management of refuge habitats and wildlife and
administration of public uses on refuge lands and waters. This Draft CCP/EA is intended to comply
with both the Refuge System Administration Act and the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321-4347). The Draft CCP/EA includes the following
information.
� An overall vision for the refuge and its role in the local ecosystem (Chapter 1).
� Goals and objectives for specific habitats, research, inventory, monitoring, and public use
programs, as well as strategies for achieving the objectives (Chapter 2).
� A description of the refuge’s physical environment (Chapter 3).
� A description of the refuge’s wildlife species and species groups identified as priority
resources of concern and their habitats; their condition and trends on the refuge and within
the local ecosystem; the desired ecological conditions for sustaining them, and a short
analysis of threats to resources of concern and their habitats (Chapter 4).
� A description of the refuge’s administrative and public use facilities, and public use programs
(Chapter 5).
� A description of the refuge’s historic and cultural resources, socioeconomic environment and
special designation areas (Chapter 6).
� An analysis of the effects of the proposed action as compared to current management,
including cumulative effects (Chapter 7).
� Evaluations of existing and proposed public uses for appropriateness and compatibility with
the refuge’s purposes (Appendices A and B).
� A comprehensive list of plants and vertebrate species known or suspected to occur on the
refuge (Appendix C).
An outline of the projects, staff and facilities needed to support the alternatives considered
(Appendix D).
Chapter 1. Introduction and Background 1-7