Outdoor News Daily

During these difficult economic times, more and more people are discovering the National Wildlife Refuge System, where the wealth of America’s great outdoors – its wildlife, its beauty, and its wide open spaces – is accessible to everyone.

And now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is offering s new DVD that showcases just how many of these priceless assets America still possesses. That’s because – since 1903 – Americans have been systematically investing in setting aside more than 150 million acres of land and water for the continuing benefit of people and wildlife in a National Wildlife Refuge System that’s the envy of the world. This investment has been generating steady dividends for 106 years and a new DVD highlights some of the best and the wildest places the Refuge System has to offer.

“America’s Wildest Places – Volume 4” is a new DVD tour of seven of some of the most interesting and unique locales in the refuge system that is now being offered to the public at a recession-busting price of $6.00.

Volume 4 in this popular wildlife travelogue video series by America’s
premier wildlife agency takes you from coast-to-coast, from the Appalachian
highlands of West Virginia … to the teeming shores of San Francisco Bay …
to the wild backcountry of Alaska … and includes a special appearance by
President Theodore Roosevelt as a bonus feature.

Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge – America’s 500th refuge – is a land
of great botanical and wildlife diversity, owing largely to the fact it is
the largest high-elevation valley in the eastern United States. The
evocative close-up and aerial photography of noted Service videographer
Ryan Hagerty tells the story of these mystical West Virginia highlands,
home to spruce and fir forests, colorful stands of beech and cherry, harbor
mink, bobcat, and beaver. Tell-tale signs such as overgrown logging trails,
rock piles, and abandoned railroad cuts remind us, too, of the Appalachian
pioneers who lived off these lands.

Twenty-two tiny islands sprinkled amid the East’s mighty avenue of commerce
– the majestic Ohio River – signify the importance of habitat to wildlife
in the busiest of locales. Here, strung like a strand of pearls from the
metropolis of Pittsburgh through northern Kentucky, the Ohio River Islands
National Wildlife Refuge secures wetland and river bottom habitat for
nearly 200 species of birds, 50 species of fish, and a cornucopia of
colorful freshwater mussels – some of the Nation’s most
critically-endangered species. It’s a 300-mile stretch of river that few
people – until now – ever see in close-up detail.

Next, it’s on to the great bay of San Francisco, where a garland of seven
unique and altogether different wildlife refuges safeguard strange plants
and unusual habitats around the circumference of one of America’s busiest
urban centers. Named for an honored California legislator, Don Edwards San
Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge is as diverse as the city that forms
this region’s core.

From its 23,000-acre focus in south San Francisco Bay near Newark – where
shorebirds in profusion dot the mudflats and salt ponds of this notable
birding hotspot – this refuge’s mission branches out to far-flung corners
of the bay. Delicate butterflies and evening primroses – endangered
species, all – dot the hills of Antioch Dunes, while vast marshlands and
the occasional, secretive California clapper rail typify San Pablo Bay. The
Pacific’s Farallon Islands, far out to sea, harbor a profusion of seabirds,
sea lions, and seals. “America’s Wildest Places – Volume 4” takes you to
these places via the award-winning photography of Service videographer Doug
Canfield, to refuges that aren’t often open or even accessible to the
casual visitor.

Finally, it’s North to Alaska’s Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, into a
2-million-acre realm of brown bears, sockeye salmon and tufted puffins,
where 4,000-foot cliffs rise from the Pacific Ocean, interspersed with
fjord-like inlets that may remind the fortunate visitor of Scandinavia. The
artistry of Service videographer David Cooper, visually documenting many
seasons of change and renewal on remote Kodiak Island, acquaints the
newcomer with seabird rookeries and colorful fields of fireweed and
salmonberry – Alaska at its most spectacular! You’ll also take side trips
to the spectacular Becharof and Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuges,
and sail the Bering Sea to Alaska Islands National Wildlife Refuge on the
research boat M/V Tiglax, in two other video tours.

As added features on this latest edition in the “America’s Wildest Places”
DVD series, Volume 4 includes a 3-minute overview of the work of the men
and women of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “Conserving the Nature of
America,” and – just in time for this year’s Theodore Roosevelt
Sesquicentennial, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of the
esteemed conservation President – a series of conservation cartoons
featuring TR himself, produced by some of America’s most talented young
video animators drawn from 16 Art Institute schools throughout the Nation.

“America’s Wildest Places – Volume 4” (packaged in an environmentally
friendly “Eco Wallet” made of 10 percent recycled materials and printed in
vegetable-based inks) is available for sale at $6.00 (plus $2.50 shipping
and handling, regardless of the quantity ordered) from the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service online ordering store at
https://vcart.velocitypayment.com/fws/ or by calling 304/876-7692. Copies
of other DVDs in the “America’s Wildest Places” series also are available
for sale, at identical prices.

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