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White pelicans and other waterfowl were prevalent in abundance in the Chase Lake area for eons, before the massive settlement of U.S. citizens and European immigrants in the 1880s – 1900s. As was also true of the bison, elk, pronghorn antelope and wolves, this massive settler invasion nearly wiped out the pelicans at Chase Lake. They were approaching extinction when President Theodore Roosevelt established the Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge in 1908. Thanks to early wildlife conservation laws and concerned conservationists, today the Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) supports the largest nesting colony of white pelicans in North America, approaching nearly 30,000 birds.
To reinforce
and expand these efforts, The North American Waterfowl Management Plan was
signed in 1986 by the Canadian Minister of Environment and the U.S. Secretary of
the Interior. In 1994, the
Secretario de Desarrallo Social México joined as a signatory.
The Chase Lake Prairie Project was the flagship project of the North
American Waterfowl Management Plan. Today,
more than 1400 farmers within the Project area are cooperating with the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to restore wildlife habitat on their farms.
The proposed North American Prairie Wetlands Interpretive Center (NAPWIC)
was one of 38 action items of the Chase Lake Prairie Project (CLPP).
In 1991, the Chase Lake Foundation, a nonprofit group comprised of North
Dakota citizens, was founded to launch the Center.
It was the vision of the late Senator Quentin Burdick to secure
appropriations to build this facility. Due
to his untimely death in office, this did not occur. Throughout the decade of the 1990s, the Foundation
worked hard to secure individual donations and commitments from state and
federal agencies. The name of the
center was changed to the North American Prairie Wetlands Interpretive Center (NAPWIC).
Governor Edward T. Schafer, who serves as Honorary Chairman of NAPWIC,
dedicated the site on September 7, 1996. The
site is located on the South side of Medina, North Dakota.
Additional
adjacent private land could be available for further development of the area for
visitors. The Interpretive Center will encourage the more interested visitor to
visit the much larger (4,385 acres) Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge located
approximately 13 miles northwest of the Interpretive Center. The
National Wildlife Refuge Systems Centennial Anniversary is March 14, 2003,
commemorating 100 years of commitment to wildlife and habitat conservation,
since President Theodore Roosevelt established the first refuge at Pelican
Island, Florida. In 1908 President Roosevelt signed and established the Chase
Lake National Wildlife Refuge in North Dakota, as a reserve and breeding ground
for native birds. The Interpretive
Center is scheduled for opening March 1, 2003, to enable it to become a
centerpiece of the Centennial Anniversary and planned celebrations. |
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Send mail to clf@chaselakefoundation.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
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