Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge
Map SatelliteEstablished in 1908, the Lower Klamath is the oldest National Wildlife Refuge. It is also the smallest of the three refuges (see Clear Lake and Tule Lake) in the Klamath Basin in California. (A small portion of the refuge is in Oregon.) During migration, between seventy and eighty percent of the waterfowl in the Pacific Flyway pass through the Basin.
Though there are extensive marshes with Typha sp. and Scirpus sp., portions of the refuge are farmed and managed for the feeding of waterfowl. Large concentration of mallard, Anas platyrhynchos, pintails, Anas acuta, Canada geese, Branta canadensis, green-winged teal, Anas crecca, white-fronted geese, Anser albifrons, and snow geese, Chen caerulescens, are seen here during the migratory seasons.
Mallard, pintail, green-winged teal, redhead, Aythya americana, ring-necked duck, Aythya collaris, and shovelers, Anas clypeata, are among the ducks that nest here in some abundance.
Much of the area was drained in the 1920's and efforts were made, unsuccessfully, to farm the lake bottoms before the lakes were reflooded in the early 1940's. During this period the population of the Lost River sucker, Catostomus luxatus, that inhabited the lake, was destroyed.
Integrity: Diked, there are roads throughout the refuge. Portions are farmed. During the dry seasons water is pumped from Tule Lake to maintain the marshes.
Use: Research, educational, observational, present.
May 1981
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman