Early Photographers Helped Preserve Islands for Wildlife - Oregon Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Sign is located at the Oceanside day use site parking lot.

Marker Name: Early Photographers Helped Preserve Islands for Wildlife
Marker Text: Site of a Weekly Slaughter
Every Sunday in the early 1900s, while circling in chartered boats, passengers shot nesting seabirds on Three Arch Rocks. Photographers William Finley and Herman Bohlman observed the grisly scene in 1903. An influential naturalist, Finley helped pass legislation to halt the slaughter. With Finley’s help, President Theodore Roosevelt declared Three Arch Rocks a National Wildlife Refuge in 1907. Today, Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge, a designated National Wilderness area, includes over 1400 rocks reefs and islands and two headlands along the Oregon coastline.

An Important Site for Wildlife
Thanks to those early efforts, Three Arch Rocks now supports about 220,000 murres, the largest nesting colony south of Alaska. Some 2,000 to 4,000 tufted puffins also nest there, and Steller sea lions use the rocks as a breeding area.

Wildlife is Easily Disturbed
Although Finley and Bohemian ultimately helped these seabird colonies, they undoubtedly caused some damage. Today, the islands are closed to visitors because seabirds are easily frightened and, in their alarm, may knock thousands of eggs and chicks off the cliffs. Seals and sea lions, too, are extremely shy and easily disturbed, expending energy needed to feed and rear pups.

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