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The sheep and cattle that call these fields home share them occasionally with tens of thousands of cackling Aleutian geese making a pit-stop on their spring migration to Alaskan breeding grounds. And all around, everything from peregrine falcons to tundra swans feed on the largest stretch of uninterrupted grasslands left on the Oregon and Washington coastline. "It’s fantastic," says Roy Lowe, manager of the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex. "A lot of people from Southern Oregon drive Highway 101 and don’t see it," Lowe says. "But get up in an airplane and it’s like, wow, look at all this open land." Advertisement The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is now floating a plan to keep it that way. The agency is studying whether to deem the area a national refuge and negotiate with willing landowners interested in selling conservation easements on up to 5,900 acres of wetlands, pastures and fields. The agency is willing to pay landowners not to develop the land, while also helping them improve its habitat for wildlife. The plan, Lowe says, is to create partnerships with the private landowners within the so-called "New River Bottoms" area to ensure the fields here won’t join other coast stretches dominated by development. "We can’t guarantee what it will look like in the future if we’re not going to be part of the equation," Lowe says. National refuge officials are taking comment on the proposed study through July 8. The agency plans to issue documents in October for public review and comment. A decision is expected in January. If created, the refuge boundaries would identify private lands on which the refuge service can negotiate either land sales or conservation easements. In these easements, landowners would get a one-time payment to keep their land available to wildlife. They are the most common agreement for private lands within the coastal refuge system, Lowe says. Each easement is settled individually with willing landowners only, and they remain forever tied to the property. Easements would be purchased as money becomes available, Lowe says. The proposal has generated concern among residents who believe there’s more to this than meets the eye. Lowe says he expects landowners to become more comfortable with the proposal when they look closer into it. "It can be kind of scary to some of them to see the federal government put a line around their property and say, ‘Don’t worry,’ " Lowe says. A national refuge in the New River area would guarantee usable habitat for dozens of species, including federally protected birds such as threatened snowy plovers and endangered California brown pelicans. But one of the most pressing needs is to help settle conflicts between ranchers and the thousands of Aleutian geese that spend a few weeks to a few months in the area each year. The New River Bottoms area is considered a critical layover location, possibly the last place the geese stop before returning to the Aleutians in the spring. The geese enjoy grazing among sheep, but they can cause damage to ranchlands and gobble huge swaths of grass meant for sheep and cattle. Ranchers can haze them out, but currently they just run the geese from one property to another. The easements essentially would pay landowners for temporarily housing these geese. "This would provide habitat where they’re welcomed," Lowe says. Rancher Rick McKenzie says he encourages such discussions. "We have 50,000 geese during the spring these past few years, and they’ve cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars," McKenzie says. "It would be good to come up with some agreement where the geese can live with us, and we can live with the geese. "I’m all ears," he says. Public comment Written comments will be accepted through July 8 on a proposal to establish a national wildlife refuge in the New River Bottoms area around Langlois along the Coos and Curry county line. Here’s how to comment. Write a letter: Letters can be mailed to Amy Wing, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Refuge Planning, 911 N.E. 11th Ave., Portland, OR 97232-4181. Send a fax: Facsimiles should be sent to 541-231-6187. Send an e-mail: Send electronic submissions to [email protected]. Remember to type "New River" in the subject line. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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