Monday, March 1, 1999 | 4:01 a.m.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is completing a draft environmental impact statement of proposed changes to the sprawling wetlands that will be released this spring.
Changes being considered include expanding the refuge, improving roads and adding wildlife viewing towers and hiking trails.
A major change could involve moving the bird sanctuary, which is off limits to people and provides a secure area where the birds can feed and rest without being disturbed.
The current sanctuary is in a poor quality wetlands that often is fed by water that has drained off of agricultural lands, carrying fertilizer residue with it.
Under the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act passed last year, the managers of some 500 federal sanctuaries across the country must make wildlife conservation their No. 1 priority.
"We're looking at new areas that will provide good-quality habitat for wildlife but at the same time are not heavily used by hunters," said Dan Delong of the agency's California-Nevada Refuge Planning Office.
He said about 30 areas are under scrutiny.
That may not sit well with bird-watchers, who flock to the refuge in search of new species to add to their lists, or with hunters, who may find themselves barred from a favorite shooting area.
"It's kind of difficult to do," Delong conceded.
The marshes, along with Lahontan Reservoir and Pyramid Lake, are among the few remnants of prehistoric Lake Lahontan, which began drying up 12,000 years ago.
The 224,000 acres of marshland nearly faded into history itself in the early 1990s after eight drought years, but found new life following five consecutive wet winters.
In peak years, some 700,000 ducks and shorebirds, representing 160 species, stop over during their migrations or remain to nest.
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