So the Terrible Trump administration shut down the government and Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge was closed (a wise choice, given all the trashing happening to some national parks) when I wanted to visit - so I decided to instead to check out the Northern side of Montezuma Wetlands Complex (north of I-90) run by the NY state and Audubon Center - and boy am I glad I did!
Before I came here, I did not know that this whole area was a large wetland complex, and one that's relatively well preserved by patches of federal, state and Audubon Center protections. There are myriads of water ways in the area some even creating an "island" ...and many hiking trails ... Alyssa at the Visitor Center and her cute dog Addie were wonderful in explaining and answering all my questions.
It is a flat hike all around; but I realized wetland hiking offers something different from mountain hiking - I saw many birds and traces of wildlife on the trails - and the trails were very, very pretty. Even when I did not see any birds, I could hear them nearby ... a lot of them.
Abundance of birds and wildlife reminded me of Everglade National Park in Florida. I visited during the broad daylight, and spend most of the day exploring the area, and I saw trumpeter swans, blue heron, geese flying over .... and also chickadees, golden finches, and woodpeckers near the shrubs with winter berries and feeders near the Visitor Center. I saw interesting scats of coyotes or fox filled with furs of their victim dinners, and lots of goose scats, too!
Another highlight of my visit was meeting with a muskrat on the trail! I did not know what it was and I had to ID when I get home - a North American native rodent with powerful tail that propel them in water ... a "cousin of beaver"!
Trees standing in water reminded me of Congaree National Park in South Carolina (although there the trees you see there are cypress trees, and the one I saw here was .. I believe mostly oak trees ... please correct me if I'm wrong - I visited in January and leaves were all gone ... what I saw on the ground seemed mostly oak ... ).
I felt the whole area should be protected federally and made into a national park or national wildlife refuge, but I imagine there must be a long history of struggles for preservation and public education ... in the nearby town of Savannah, I saw one house with many colorful placards complaining about wetlands ... I think it is truly very sad that some people are not proud of this tremendous natural heritage!
The visitor Center was build in 2006 (or around that time - speaking from memory of an exhibit - so not exact) - after nearly a decade in use, I saw some of the exhibit needed updates, dusting, and clean-up - some of the tanks did not have any animals in it but some had live animals and I felt they could be returned to outside .... and instead just have photographs or videos of these animals will be great. Also, the telephone guide for the trails for the Audubon Center was not working! I hope the Center will update and fix them soon.
There are many events sponsored by the center such as guided snowshoe hikes and birding tours. It sounds all very interesting.
I hope more people will come visit the area and support this amazing conservation initiative! read more