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The
Kenai National Moose Range was established in late 1941 and
renamed the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in 1980,
with its purposes expanded to include all wildlife species.
The expansive refuge is home not only to moose, but to a wide
variety of other wildlife including eagles, brown and black
bears, lynx, wolves, caribou, sandhill cranes, various shorebirds,
and trumpeter swans.
At
Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, biologists are concerned about
the invasives they don’t know much about. Through
the Volunteer Invasives Monitoring Program, getting a grip
on the presence of invasives, and their early detection, is
possible. Some 52 species of exotic flora — including
13 previously unreported on the Kenai Peninsula - have been
detected through this program. The work has helped to elevate
exotic and invasive plant-detection on the refuge and in the
surrounding community.
Among
invasive plants mapped have been the following: reed canary
grass, white sweet clover, scotch broom, orange hawkweed,
oxeye daisy, and bird vetch.
The
program has helped the refuge complete pilot inventories of
several human footprints (trails, roads, campgrounds, seismic
lines, oil & gas pads); cooperatively sponsor the Dandelion
Sundae, a community weed-pull; publish articles on weeds in
a weekly newspaper; produce a USFWS brochure ("Invasive Flora
of the Kenai Peninsula"); contribute data to the Alaska Exotic
Plant Information Clearinghouse, and otherwise publicize the
invasive species issue in the Alaskan media.
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on any photo for a larger view.
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