And a lot of the farming family families and their descendants still live in the town of Gaston or nearby. Much of the land that’s in the refuge was also used for agriculture over the past century. And today our refuge is working hard with them to restore the wildlife habitat that wapato can continue to establish and thrive in so that they can once again harvest it traditionally. And they did harvest wapato, the edible tuber, from the lake. For many generations, the Tualatin Kalapuya people relied on the abundance of resources that were found at Wapato Lake, and it has been and to this day remains a culturally significant landscape to their descendants, many of whom belong to the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. And it did abound with its namesake plant, the wapato. Historically, the Wapato lake bed filled and receded with the rise and the fall of the Tualatin River. The history of the place itself is very rich. Gómez Chuck: Wapato Lake, it really has a fascinating history and a beautiful future, I think. Miller : Can you give us a sense for the history of this land? People can come and connect with nature right in their backyard, within a short distance of a major metropolitan area. This is a pretty special place, where wildlife thrive throughout the year here. It’s kind of close to the towns of Hillsboro and Forest Grove. As you mentioned, it’s 20 or 30 minutes from the greater Portland metropolitan area, right next to Highway 47. And I want to thank you first for this opportunity to share the Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Miller : So for people who haven’t been to the Wapato Refuge, which is probably most of our listeners at this point, can you describe it for us? Rebecca Gómez Chuck is the manager of both the Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge and the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, and she joins us now. There was also a chance to celebrate the planting of the refuge’s namesake edible tuber, which members of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde have been doing as part of their restoration efforts. The refuge was established a decade ago, but last month the US Fish and Wildlife Service held a ceremony to celebrate new visitor activities and expanded access. It’s about 30 miles southwest of Portland near the town of Gaston. We end today with the 800 acre Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge. This transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer.ĭave Miller : This is Think Out Loud on OPB. She joins us to talk about what visitors can expect to see and explore at Wapato Lake. Rebecca Gómez Chuck is the manager of the Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge and the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge. Fish and Wildlife Service has been partnering with members of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and other organizations to plant edible wapato tubers along the lake, restore wetlands and remove invasive species such as reed canary grass. Since the establishment of the refuge in 2013, the U.S. While the refuge is open year-round, public access is restricted in December and January to waterfowl hunting.įor generations, the Indigenous Tualatin Kalapuya people depended on Wapato Lake for cultural and nutritional sustenance, before they were forcibly relocated in the mid-1800s and the land turned over to farming. The refuge features more than 800 acres of wetlands and wildlife habitat for animals such as tundra swans, pintail ducks and other migrating waterfowl that visitors can see this time of year while walking along a recently opened, 2.6-mile trail on top of a levee partially surrounding the lake. Fish and Wildlife Service held a ceremony to celebrate new visitor activities and expanded access to the Wapato Lake National Wildlife Refuge, located roughly 30 miles west of Portland near the town of Gaston.
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