We spent a glorious summer month at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, located just south of Vian, in East Central Oklahoma. Because this was a relatively long stay for us, we were able to get to know the area and the refuge, and immersed ourselves in the peace and beauty of the area, as well as recreated on and around the many bodies of water. These images are of the Robert S Kerr Reservoir which borders the refuge. This reservoir was created by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1970 and was one of the reasons this refuge was established and this land protected.
This is the fishing hole behind our house. Oliver spent quite a bit of time here and, as you can see below, had some successful moments. We ate the catfish he caught and decided to keep and enjoyed some terrific summer meals as a result.
More images of the Robert S Kerr Reservoir from the refuge drive loop.
From the Sequoyah NWR website: "Nestled in the gently rolling foothills of the
Ozark Mountains, the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge sits at the confluence
of the Arkansas and Canadian Rivers. These fertile bottom lands make the
east-central Oklahoma refuge excellent habitat for thousands of mallards that
choose this as their seasonal home along the Central Flyway. They are joined by
gadwall, pintail, teal, wigeon, shoveler and wood ducks. In November and
December, flocks of snow geese on the refuge can reach up to 20,000 in number. "
In addition to the Reservoir, there are several other bodies of water on Sequoyah and plenty of wildlife that lived on and around these habitats. We would walk, run and drive to them all during our visit and always were totally entertained by these experiences.
These next images were taken along one of Sequoyah's two nature trails. This trail was very close to our refuge housing, so it was easy to get to and made for a nice, shaded place for evening exercise. We think it is one of the best nature walks we have experienced in our refuge travels. We thoroughly loved every minute spent on this one mile paved loop.
The nature walk had this "Indiana Jones" type of suspension bridge that was always fun to cross. The water beneath the bridge is the same slough that connects behind our house, that also connects to the Sally Jones Lake. There was always a lot of splashing sounds when you crossed the bridge - turtles trying to jump back into the water after hearing the sounds of your feet on the bridge.
At the end tip of the loop, the trail opens-up to the Sally Jones Lake. It is a beautiful part of the walk and it was always interesting to see what was out on the water. You could always count on seeing some type of waterfowl out there.
Milk Vetch
For Oliver's Birthday on August 17, we rented a "party barge" and went out for an afternoon on nearby Tenkiller Lake. It was a beautiful day and it is a beautiful lake. We had a great time just being outdoors on the water. Oklahoma has many, many lakes and streams - all open for outdoor recreation of all kinds.
This was our home during the stay at Sequoyah. It was incredibly large and very comfortably furnished place, within a short walk to the office where we worked.
This was our backyard and Oliver's fishing shrine.
These are photos from the OTHER nature trail on the refuge. This one starts and ends along the Arkansas River, another body of water that is part of the refuge. This nature walk is just off of the drive loop and overlaps part of the "Trail of Tears", the route taken by Native Americans when they were relocated from their lands in the Eastern and Southern States, into Indian Territory, which is now Oklahoma. These informational signs commemorate the people who made the trek.
These perky little partridge pea blossoms could be found all over the refuge.
These are images from around the office, which was also next door to our house.
This is the office conference room, which was our work space for the month. It was very spacious and quiet. We scanned files for Sequoyah and also more for Ozark Plateau and for Deep Fork. Because we were doing work for three refuges, we were constantly surrounded by boxes of files and paper! We did get a lot accomplished on this visit, another good reason to stay as long as we did.
This is Jeff and Dustin. Jeff (on the far left) is the refuge manager and an avid fisherman himself. He was always kind to take time to check in with Oliver about his successes and questions and was also the person who showed him how to filet a catfish! This skill came in handy during our time at Sequoyah. Dustin is the refuge biologist and shared his vast knowledge of the refuge and its plants and animals with us on a regular basis.The entire staff at Sequoyah made us feel right at home and gave us everything we needed to make our visit both productive and fun.
The refuge participates in Co-Op farming, which means that farmers can lease land from the refuge. This is a win-win arrangement as the farmers are then charged with leaving some grain for the wintering waterfowl, which helps the refuge manage the land and keep the birds fed.
The refuge boat ramp for the Robert S Kerr Reservoir was a mile down the drive loop from our house, so it became another place to-where I would walk in the evening. I enjoyed many sunsets there and always appreciated the nice breeze that you could feel while on the pier overlooking the lake. We were at Sequoyah for the end of summer and most days were in the high 80s or low 90s.
The corn crop on this field along the drive loop was cut down during our visit and quickly became a hang-out for the geese. It will soon become one of the places in Sequoyah NWR where other migratory waterfowl will winter.
Sequoyah is home to the Rose Mallow flowers that we grew to love during our visit to Little River NWR. The blossoms at Little River are all white. Sequoyah has both white and pink flowers so it was fun to try to photograph the pink flowers whenever we saw them.
