Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, Washington, 1936
Willapa National Wildlife Refuge is located on Willapa Bay, one of the most pristine estuaries in the United States. Willapa Bay is the second largest estuary on the Pacific coast and includes over 260 square miles of water surface. Many salmon species are found in the watters of Willapa Bay, including chum, chinook, and coho.
The refuge preserves several unique ecosystems, including diverse salt marshes, muddy tideflats, rain-drenched old growth forests, and dynamic coastal dunes and beaches. Freshwater marshes and grasslands are found along the southern shore of the bay.
The bay's shallow water and mud flats support vast beds of eelgrass and shellfish, providing spawning habitat for fish. During spring migration, more than 100,000 shorebirds are present. Isolated sandbars provide pupping grounds for harbor seals and rest sites for migratory birds.
Seabirds, such as brown pelicans, stream into the bay from the ocean in summer and fall. Other coastal habitats include sand dunes, sand beaches, and mud flats to grasslands, saltwater and freshwater marshes, and coniferous forest, including an old-growth stand of western red cedar-western hemlock forest.
Important species include the threatened marbled murrelet, bald eagles, great blue herons, and Brant. Grasslands and neighboring forests are home to bear, elk, bobcat, woodpeckers, flying squirrels, spotted owls, silver-haired bats, and Pacific tree frogs.
There are 16 National Wildlife Refuges along the Washington and Oregon Coast. All of the following photos came from some of those 16. Not all from Willapa. Truth be told I don't remember which came from Willapa. All were taken back in the 90's and my records weren't very good at the time. Thank goodness for computers and iPhoto (and other organizing photo software). Nonetheless here are a variety of those photos. And, with it the conclusion of my series on National Wildlife Refuges.
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| Least Sandpiper |
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| Long Tailed Duck |
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| Pelagic Cormorant |
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| Pigeon Guillemot |
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| Caspian Tern |
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| Marbled Godwit |
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| Semipalmated Plover |
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