Volunteers Gather for Palmer Hay Flats Waterfowl Habitat Enhancement Work
- ADF&G Press Release

Cora Campbell, Commissioner
P.O. Box 115526
Juneau, Alaska 99811
Phone: (907) 465-6166 - Fax: (907) 465-2332


Press Release: January 15, 2013

Contact: Joe Meehan, Statewide Program Coordinator, Lands and Refuge Program, (907) 267-2281

Volunteers Gather for Palmer Hay Flats Waterfowl Habitat Enhancement Work

(Anchorage) - On Saturday, January 26, at 9:30 a.m., volunteers with the Alaska Waterfowl Association (AWA) will assist the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) with maintenance of a waterfowl enhancement project in the Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge.

Located at approximately Milepost 32.0 on the Glenn Highway, 2.5 miles south of the intersection with the Parks Highway, the volunteers will be clearing brush and small trees from a series of artificial islands created to encourage waterfowl nesting in a portion of the refuge. The islands and small ponds were created in 1986 in partnership with Ducks Unlimited. Since that time, thick brush and trees have taken hold on some of the islands making them unattractive to nesting ducks and geese.

“Assistance from volunteer community groups like AWA is important in helping us meet our management goals for the refuge,” said Joe Meehan, refuge program coordinator with ADF&G, “and for providing public service as they allow us to stretch our generally limited public funds.”

Media are welcome to visit the site during the work project. The site is accessed from the northbound lanes of the Glenn Highway.

The Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge, created in 1975 by the Alaska State Legislature, protects nearly 30,000 acres of coastal and freshwater wetlands, tidal sloughs and mudflats, lakes and streams, as well as upland birch forests, providing habitat for a wide range of wildlife, particularly water birds and moose. More information on the Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge and all 32 state refuge areas is available online at www.refuges.adfg.alaska.gov.