CONCORD -- The section of Great Meadows National Wildlife
Refuge that is off Monsen Road in Concord is for the birds, especially
migrating ones.
That's why the US Fish and Wildlife Service banned dogs
there as of July 1 and is conducting a study through early December to help
decide whether joggers and runners will be next.
During the study
period, jogging and running are permitted during some weeks and prohibited
during others. The federal agency is also taking photos of everyone who enters
the refuge near Monsen Road and will use the photos to determine what people do
there. The photos are taken automatically as people pass.
People
accustomed to jogging down the quiet dirt paths with the sound of honking geese
rather than honking horns as accompaniment say they hope the study won't result
in their permanently losing access to a place that is a refuge for their souls
as well as for the wildlife.
''It's just the most peaceful place you'd
want to run," said Carolyn Cappetta of Carlisle. ''There are very few places
like that that you can run in such solitude. It's a beautiful place to be."
Cappetta runs through the refuge both by herself and with the Concord Runners,
which holds informal group runs that sometimes go into Great Meadows. She said
that ''it would be a loss" to runners if they are banned from the refuge.
Robert Hall of Sudbury is the leader of the Concord Runners. He said that 25 or
30 members pass through the refuge during a group run once every couple of
months. The runners are in and out of the refuge in about a half hour.
''The place has been used by Concord residents for years, and I haven't
seen any abuse," he said. ''People who run on trails tend to be people who love
the outdoors and respect it. If the place is closed to joggers permanently, we
would view that negatively unless the data were very strong. I find it hard to
believe we are disturbing the wildlife." He said he thinks it is good that the
federal government is doing a study before excluding runners. ''I just hope
they are being fair about it and the study isn't just an excuse to keep us out
and follow the mission they have been assigned," he said. ''I believe the
outcome will be that we're not a bother to the wildlife." ''We do not have our
minds made up," said Libby Herland, manager of Great Meadows and seven other
sites in the Eastern Massachusetts National Wildlife Refuge Complex. ''We are
doing this very objective, scientific study so we can make the right decision
for the wildlife. We have to balance public use with wildlife conservation.
Whenever there is a conflict, wildlife preservation is supposed to prevail.
She said that, if the study shows the effect of joggers is minimal,
there might be a way to mitigate their effect without an outright ban. For
example, there are cattails along the path that some bird-watchers would like
removed because they obscure the view. Perhaps the cattails could be left
standing to give the birds some protection from the joggers, but observation
platforms could be constructed for the bird-watchers.
Great Meadows is
not a park, Herland said, but one of 545 national wildlife refuges created by
Congress for wildlife preservation and the pursuit of activities that depend on
the presence of wildlife. In the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement
Act of 1997, Congress identified hunting, fishing, wildlife observation,
photography, environmental education, and interpretation as the priority
purposes of the refuges. Other activities are allowed at a refuge if they are
compatible with its mission. ''It's a very appealing place to run, there's no
doubt," Herland said, ''but that's not our mission. Our mission is to provide a
place for wildlife and for people to come and enjoy wildlife. It's very
specific, and it's the law." She said Congress also wants long-term management
plans to be developed for every refuge. A new 15-year management plan for Great
Meadows, which had been in the works since 1999, was completed in January. The
prohibition against dogs and the jogging study are part of the new plan. Other
parts of the plan that are expected to be implemented soon would allow bow
hunting for deer and shotgun hunting for waterfowl from boats in other areas of
Great Meadows, but not around the Concord impoundments where the jogging study
is being conducted. The impoundments are two 100-acre manmade ponds filled with
water diverted from the nearby Concord River and contained by dikes. At this
time of year, very little water is kept in the impoundments and they look more
like pools of vegetation than of water. Some dog walkers are angry about being
excluded from the section of the refuge off Monsen Road and other areas --
places they love. ''I have walked my dog there every day for 14 years," said
Mark Alston-Follansbee, who lives nearby on Bedford Street in Concord. ''I'm
very upset about it. They want to kill deer and ducks, but they don't want me
to walk my dog. It's hard for me to believe that my dog will have a greater
impact on the wildlife than somebody trying to kill them." He said a sign
announcing the new no-dogs rule expressed the hope that people would not be
inconvenienced. ''It's not like an inconvenience," he said. ''It's a disaster.
It's a place I loved to go; it restored my soul."
But dogs are believed
to frighten the migrating birds, and joggers might, too, according to Herland.
As for hunting, it is one of the priority purposes of a wildlife refuge,
Herland said, and it is done under strict controls and only at specific times
of the year.
At Great Meadows, although this is only July, shore birds
have already begun their fall migration south, Herland said. Waterfowl will be
coming through in September, October, and November. ''By the time they get
here, they might have come 1,000 miles, and they are hungry and tired," she
said. ''They have to be able to eat and rest. We are like stopping along I-95
for the birds. They need to build up their bodies so they can go on to the rest
of their migration." She said that if birds were to confuse a fast-moving
jogger with a predator and fly off, it would interfere with their getting the
nutrition and rest they need to survive. Even walkers might disturb the birds
to some degree, Herland said, ''but if you want the public to come out and look
at wildlife, they have to walk." Last Saturday morning, three US Fish and
Wildlife Service interns perched in the bed of a white pickup truck on a dike,
observing and recording the reactions of waterfowl and shore birds to the
people who passed them. Using binoculars and a spotting scope, the interns
watched as four mallard ducks neither flew nor swam away when walkers and then
a lone runner passed. The mallards eventually took flight when no one was on
the path, although there was a noisy plane overhead. The interns are collecting
data in two-hour shifts several times a week at different times of the day. At
the end of the study in December, the data will be analyzed to determine
whether joggers have a greater effect on wildlife than other refuge users do.
Cameras are being used to collect separate data on how the public is using the
refuge. The cameras automatically take still pictures of everyone who passes
them, and the people will be categorized by their clothing and gear as
bird-watchers, joggers, walkers, etc. ''We got $8,000 for all this field work,
and the majority of the money is being spent on supplies," said Stephanie Koch,
a wildlife biologist. ''It's pretty bare-bones. We don't have a lot to work
with, but we're doing the best we can."
Sally Heaney can be reached at
heaney@globe.com.
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