By Wilson Cady
Editor’s note: This is the second part in a series on Steigerwald National Wildlife Refuge by local naturalist Wilson Cady. See his first essay in the series, “Steigerwald: Its future is finally here,” about the natural history of the floodplain and the decades-old effort to protect and restore it.
What makes the Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) such an important place for wildlife is, as realtors say, location, location, location. Washington is the smallest state west of the Mississippi River, yet because of our wide variety of habitat types — from the Pacific Ocean through the Cascades and across the pine forests and shrub-steppe deserts of the eastern half of the state — a total of 525 species of birds have been seen here. That is about half of all of the birds ever recorded in North America.
In Clark County there are sighting records for 331 bird species, and over 200 of those species have been seen at Steigerwald Lake. Steigerwald is less than two thousand acres in size, with only a few types of habitat. The large variety of birds found there is due to a natural feature not found anywhere else on the West Coast south of the Frasier River in Canada.
That feature is the Columbia River Gorge, a near-sea-level passage through the Cascade Mountains that has shaped not only the natural world we live in, but also the human history of our entire region. The Gorge is the only east-west route south of the Frasier River that does not involve having to pass over the crest of the mountains, and because of this, it has been used by wildlife and humans for thousands of years.
The Gorge is the only east-west route south of the Frasier River that does not involve having to pass over the crest of the mountains, and because of this, it has been used by wildlife and humans for thousands of years.
The north-south migration route for birds and the east-west pathway through the Gorge intersects at the mouth of the Gorge, meaning that the floodplains and fields of the Steigerwald Lake NWR serve the same purpose as the hotels, cafes and gas stations do at highway intersections. Every year birds that are usually considered accidental west of the Cascades are regularly found there, which makes sense when you consider that the highest barrier to a bird traveling through the Columbia River Gorge is Cape Horn, which is less than 800 feet in elevation.
It seems strange, but from Cape Horn you have to go downhill to cross the crest of the Cascade Mountains to the eastern side of the state. From Highway 14, it is difficult to tell precisely where the dividing line between eastern and western Washington falls — you would have to check rainfall records or note the change in vegetation. Using these criteria, it appears to me that the crest of the mountains is near Home Valley, in Skamania County, where the annual rainfall begins to decrease and you first start encountering Ponderosa Pines.
Rivers coming off of the Cascade Mountains run west to Puget Sound or to the tributaries that feed into the Columbia River, and in eastern Washington they flow to the Columbia River tributaries like the Okanagan, Methow, Wenatchee and Yakima Rivers. Together, they create ridges that run east-west from the crest of the mountains. But on the Washington side of the Gorge, all of the rivers and streams between Lawton Creek, at the east end of the Steigerwald Lake NWR, to Alder Creek near the eastern border of Klickitat County, flow from the north to the Columbia River, creating ridges that run north-south.
The lack of mountainous barriers and the land sloping from Mt. Adams to the south negates the concept of there being an “east” or “west” of the Cascades in the Gorge — the area is more like the south side of the mountains. This near-sea-level corridor allows birds and other species to make their way to any suitable habitat they can find.
For example, Yellow-headed Blackbirds — considered rare in western Washington — nest in the Vancouver Lake lowlands and the Ridgefield NWR, and formerly at Steigerwald Lake before it was drained in 1977. Canyon Wrens, usually associated with the dry cliffs in eastern Washington, have been nesting on Beacon Rock for decades and have even been seen on Silver Star Mountain. Some of the eastern Washington birds that have been found at the Steigerwald Lake NWR include White-faced Ibis, American Avocet, Black-necked Stilt, Prairie Falcon, Burrowing Owl, Sage Thrasher and Sagebrush Sparrow. Two Great-tailed Grackles — more commonly found in the desert southwest — were recently photographed in the Steigerwald parking lot; it was the first documented sighting of this large blackbird in Clark County and only the seventieth in Washington State. Now, with the restoration of the wetlands and improved habitat, I expect to hear of many more exciting sightings at what is a premier birding location.
You can find a list of all of the birds ever seen in each of the 39 counties in Washington — including information on how common they are in that county — here: http://wabirder.com/county_map.html
Wilson Cady is a fourth-generation resident of East County. He was raised hunting, fishing and foraging in the woods and has had a lifetime interest in natural history studies. He and his wife, Susan, are the last remaining founding members of Vancouver Audubon Society, which they helped establish in 1975. He has served as an Audubon board member and written newsletter columns since then. He is a co-founder of the Columbia Gorge Refuge Stewards, the volunteer group for the Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge, and served as its first education committee chair. He retired from the Camas paper mill after nearly 40 years; in his last position there as union environmental representative, he cared for the fish and wildlife on the mill properties and worked with schools, Scouts and nonprofit groups on environmental education and restoration projects. In retirement, he has more time to tend the seven acres that he and Susan planted with over 70 species of wildlife-attracting trees.
At top: Sandhill Crane Over Steigerwald, painted by Wilson Cady shortly after his retirement. In 2018, the image appeared on the Washougal Arts Festival poster.
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