| Clear Lake National Wildlife Refuge | |
|---|---|
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area) | |
 | |
  Map of the United States | |
| Location | Modoc County, California, United States |
| Nearest city | Tulelake, California |
| Coordinates | 41°51′44″N121°08′36″W / 41.8621°N 121.14331°W [1] Coordinates: 41°51′44″N121°08′36″W / 41.8621°N 121.14331°W [2] |
| Area | 46,460 acres (188.0 km2) |
| Established | 1911 |
| Governing body | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |
| Website | Clear Lake NWR |
Clear Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge of the United States in northeastern California. It includes about 20,000 acres (81 km2) of open water surrounded by over 26,000 acres (110 km2) of upland bunchgrass, low sagebrush, and juniper habitat. small, rocky islands in the wetlands provide breeding sites for American white pelicans, double-crested cormorants, and other colony-nesting birds.
National Wildlife RefugeSystem is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife, and plants. Since President Theodore Roosevelt designated Florida's Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge as the first wildlife refuge in 1903, the system has grown to over 562 national wildlife refuges and 38 wetland management districts encompassing more than 150,000,000 acres (607,028 km2).
California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.6 million residents, California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. The state capital is Sacramento. The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth most populous urban regions, with 18.7 million and 9.7 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is California's most populous city, and the country's second most populous, after New York City. California also has the nation's most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The City and County of San Francisco is both the country's second-most densely populated major city after New York City and the fifth-most densely populated county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs.
Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the Poaceae family. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennial plants, most species live more than one season. Tussock grasses are often found as forage in pastures and ornamental grasses in gardens.
The uplands are inhabited by pronghorn, mule deer, and sage grouse. The Clear Lake Reservoir is the primary source of water for the croplands of the eastern Klamath Basin, with water levels regulated by the Bureau of Reclamation.
The pronghorn is a species of artiodactyl mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is often known colloquially in North America as the American antelope, prong buck, pronghorn antelope, prairie antelope, or simply antelope because it closely resembles the true antelopes of the Old World and fills a similar ecological niche due to parallel evolution.
The mule deer is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. The several subspecies include the black-tailed deer.
The Klamath Basin is the region in the U.S. states of Oregon and California drained by the Klamath River. It contains most of Klamath County and parts of Lake and Jackson counties in Oregon, and parts of Del Norte, Humboldt, Modoc, Siskiyou, and Trinity counties in California. The 15,751-square-mile (40,790 km2) drainage basin is 35% in Oregon and 65% in California. In Oregon, the watershed typically lies east of the Cascade Range, while California contains most of the river's segment that passes through the mountains. In the Oregon-far northern California segment of the river, the watershed is semi-desert at lower elevations and dry alpine in the upper elevations. In the western part of the basin, in California, however, the climate is more of temperate rainforest, and the Trinity River watershed consists of a more typical alpine climate.
Except for limited pronghorn and waterfowl hunting during the state hunting seasons, the refuge is closed to all public access for the protection of habitat and wildlife.
Waterfowl hunting is the practice of hunting ducks, geese, or other waterfowl for food and sport. In many western countries, commercial waterfowl hunting is prohibited, and duck hunting is primarily an outdoor sporting activity.
