A ruined pheasant spot

The Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge used to be one of my favorite places to hunt.

It isn’t any longer.

A campaign to rid the refuge of Russian olive trees has essentially ruined the pheasant hunting there. Oh, there are still some birds, but they’re leaving with the olives.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, removal of the trees is necessary “to facilitate native prairie management ...”

I realize this is a Herculean task considering that the refuge is crisscrossed with ditches, canals, artificial ponds, power lines and roads. And it’s a lot more marsh than prairie....