Lissa Brewer: Scratchpad: The Monthly Stack, Three Arch Rocks
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Sep. 28—When conservationist and photographer William L. Finley, along with friend and fellow outdoorsman Herman Bohlman, rowed a dory in 1903 to Shag Rock, near Oceanside, they hoped to bring attention to the wildlife living offshore on rocky coastal outcrops.
The pair had witnessed groups of sport hunters come and go from the rock and its neighbors, taking with them seabirds and marine mammals. For 14 days, they camped on the isolated rock, capturing images that played an instrumental role in designating the first wildlife refuge west of the Mississippi River.
Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge, a 15-acre preserve designated by Theodore Roosevelt in October of 1907, is made up of three larger and six smaller rocks. The largest of these, standing 300 feet above the turbulent sea, is named for Finley.
The rocks are now the largest seabird nesting colony on the Oregon Coast, housing the tufted puffin, black oystercatcher, peregrine falcon, common murre and many species of cormorant and auklet. It is also the only pupping site for steller sea lions on the North Coast.
Designated in 1970 as a wilderness area, the rocks are closed to the public, remaining an undisturbed sanctuary for marine life. View them from the shores of Oceanside, along Three Capes Scenic Loop, or the networks of trails within Cape Meares National Wildlife Refuge.
