From:  The News Herald

TRENTON — The addition of two tracts to the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge brought a federal Cabinet member to town July 6.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Kenneth Salazar and U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D-15th District) made an announcement Wednesday about the additions to North America’s first international wildlife refuge.

“Ten years ago, we started the refuge with 300 acres,” said John Hartig, refuge manager. “Working with all of you in an innovative public-private partnership, we’ve grown to about 5,700 acres.”

Forty-seven acres will be added to the Holloway tract, one of the largest coastal wetlands along western Lake Erie. The funding came from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The Blanchette tract in northern Monroe County will have a 28-acre expansion. The funding was acquired with the help of Ducks Unlimited with the North American Wetlands Conservation Act.

The announcement was made on the observation deck in the refuge overlooking the Detroit River.

“We are here celebrating cooperation and working together,” Dingell said. “It’s a new paradigm for conservation.”

He thanked all of the partners who have helped with the refuge.

“I’ve always made the point that we do not inherit the Earth from previous generations, we only borrow it from future ones,” Dingell said. “And by continuing to protect and expand this refuge, we are doing just that.”

He said that the refuge has been a “huge accomplishment” that could not have been done without the private and public partnerships.

Salazar thanked Dingell for being “a hero and champion of conservation.”

“The Detroit River distinguishes itself as the only international wildlife refuge in our system and it exemplifies the ideal working partnerships both here in the United States and also with our neighbors in Canada,” Salazar said.

He said the refuge serves as an “economic driver” for Michigan.

“The Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge serves as a gateway to the outdoors for the more than 5 million people in the Detroit metro area,” Salazar said.

The refuge is now 5,732 acres of islands, coastal wetlands, marshes and waterfront land along 48 miles of the Detroit River and western Lake Erie shoreline.

It was started in 2001 when Dingell, Peter Stroh and Herb Gray teamed with a group of scientists and resource managers to develop a conservation vision for the area.

In a letter for the annual refuge report, Dingell wrote, “As I stand here and watch a bald eagle fly over Humbug Marsh, I fully appreciate the direct impact that this refuge has on the world around it.”

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