BURNS, Ore. (AP) — The Corps of Engineers is scheduled to start construction in December on a $4 million island in a lake near Burns in hope of attracting Caspian terns to southeast Oregon.
Wildlife officials want the birds to nest in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to reduce the population on East Sand Island near Ilwaco, Wash., where they have been eating too many young salmon in the Columbia River.
The Oregonian reports (http://is.gd/cMOyYI ) that officials hope Caspian terns will switch to eating immature carp that have clogged Malheur Lake and crowded out waterfowl. Migratory birds had depended on the lake as a stop on the Pacific flyway.
Carp were introduced in Malheur Lake in the 1940s by the federal government in the mistaken belief they would become popular for sport fishing.
