Trash fouls Shillapoo Wildlife Area

The department has just two employees to keep tabs on and clean access sites in the Southwest Region — an area covering six counties, including Clark County. A local manager and assistant are also available to maintain the Shillapoo area, Jonker said. The department typically has someone on some part of the site daily, said wildlife area manager Daren Hauswald.

The 2,370-acre Shillapoo Wildlife Area consists of three units: two sections to the west of Vancouver Lake, and a third piece that abuts the lake’s south shore. That’s the area where Rosenstein has often found solace.

Rosenstein spent a recent morning tossing tennis balls for her dogs under a light rain. They come rain or shine, she said, making the short trip year-round. Rosenstein, a painter, also finds the setting helpful to her artistic process, though she doesn’t paint by the lake.

“I seem to need to think things through,” Rosenstein said. “Getting away from stuff just really seems to help.”

The Shillapoo Wildlife Area sees a variety of uses, Jonker said. It’s popular among hunters, birdwatchers, walkers and others, she said. The site is primarily managed for waterfowl, but it’s considered a “high-use” area by the fish and wildlife department.

The areas to the west of Vancouver Lake, between Northwest Lower River Road and Erwin O. Rieger Memorial Highway, seem to see more dumping and garbage, Hauswald said. But fish and wildlife workers aren’t alone in cleaning up, he said — crews with the state Department of Ecology, the Department of Corrections and others also help.

“It has its challenges with it being so close to an urban area,” Hauswald said of the Shillapoo site. “But it’s nice for the people that live there and have somewhere to go.”