
Friends Board Refuge Tour 2026
Over the course of the day, the tour reminded FOMR board members that sustaining Malheur’s wildlife and diversity of ecosystems is both complex and deeply collaborative.

Over the course of the day, the tour reminded FOMR board members that sustaining Malheur’s wildlife and diversity of ecosystems is both complex and deeply collaborative.

You can see proposed changes to refuge-specific regulations and submit comments at Federal Register: National Wildlife Refuge System; 2026-2027 Station-Specific Hunting and Sport Fishing Regulations.

After 30-plus years, Dunn Dam was showing its age. It didn’t have adequate fish passage around it, and it was a safety hazard. We gradually had to stop using it, which essentially meant we lost the ability to irrigate about 2,500 acres of wetlands.

As we all know, Sodhouse Spring became a part of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, and in the 1930s the government set out to develop a headquarters complex on the site. The goal, echoing similar developments at many other government sites in the arid West, was to create a friendly oasis.

It was Forrest’s interest in having a Refuge Friends Group that led Alice Elshoff and I to create the Friends of Malheur Refuge in 1999.