by John Maxwell

For the Sequim Gazette

Editor’s note: This is the first in a monthly series about the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, past and present. — MD

One hundred years! On Jan. 20, Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge will be 100 years old. Visited by an estimated 80,000 people annually, the refuge’s primary purpose is to be a sanctuary for migratory birds and marine mammals.

In 1792, the British Naval explorer Capt. George Vancouver charted the spit, naming it New Dungeness, because it reminded him of Dungeness near his birthplace on the southeast coast of Britain. Sailors nicknamed it Shipwreck Spit because this nearly invisible low-lying spit caused many shipwrecks.

In 1857, the U.S. government built a lighthouse near the outer end of the spit to warn mariners of the danger.

By 1900, there was a drastic decline in the numbers of the black brant, a small goose popular with hunters. Brant breed along the Arctic Circle and winter all down the West Coast as far as Baja California, foraging mostly on eelgrass. Dredging and filling of bays and estuaries destroyed many of their wintering grounds, with Dungeness Bay being one of the few exceptions.

This led to President Woodrow Wilson signing Executive Order No. 2123 on Jan. 20, 1915, setting the spit aside “for the use of the Department of Agriculture as a refuge, preserve and breeding ground for native birds.” Protecting the birds meant restricting other uses of the spit to activities that were compatible with the primary purpose.

Reports by G. W. Field working for the U. S. Biological Survey in 1919 told about large kills of migrating songbirds disoriented by the lighthouse at night and about local gun clubs along Cline Spit using tons of food grain to lure ducks and geese out of the refuge and into range of their guns.

The original executive order specified that the refuge allow military usage as needed. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge allowed the U.S. Navy to use the spit for a Naval Radio Compass Station. In 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt closed the spit to the public and gave complete control to the Navy.

Fears of war with Russia led to the refuge remaining closed after World War II, but in 1955, the Navy returned the spit to the Fish and Wildlife Service. The plan was to keep it closed, but public demand let to it being opened to the public in 1956. Graveyard Spit became a popular campground and people did all the other normal beach recreation activities, to the detriment of the wildlife.

Starting in 1962, Congress began to clarify and strengthen the concept of “compatible recreational use” for wildlife refuges, saying that all other uses of refuge lands must be compatible with the primary purpose of protecting wildlife. In other words, the wildlife come first. Under this mandate refuge managers began to rein in some recreational activities.

Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge is now headquarters for the Washington Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Complex, which includes Dungeness, Protection Island, San Juan Islands and the Coastal Islands refuges.

It continues its 100-year-old mission of protecting migratory waterfowl and educating the public about them.

John Maxwell is historian for the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge.

Dungeness refuge to mark centennial with celebration

On Jan. 17,  the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge will celebrate its 100th anniversary with an illustrated presentation on the history of the refuge by the refuge’s historian, Dr. John Maxwell, and the refuge’s manager, Jennifer Brown-Scott.

The celebration, from 1-3 p.m. at the Red Cedar Hall on the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe campus, will include cake, punch, displays and an educational visit by historical figures Theodore and Edith Roosevelt.

The event is free and open to the public; no RSVP is required.

Additional events celebrating the refuge’s first 100 years will be held throughout 2015. Scheduled activities include bird walks, geology walks and presentations by the New Dungeness Light Station Association and the Coastal Watershed Institute.

There also will be a Kids Day in June at the refuge with many hands-on activities. Visit www.dungeness100.com for schedules and additional information on the many events planned for the year-long celebration.

For more information, call the refuge office at 457-8451 or send an e-mail to david_falzetti@fws.gov.