Wildlife refuge will shrink The national wildlife refuge at Pathfinder Reservoir is going to shrink by more than 10,000 acres, according to a federal plan that was approved Sept. 18 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Despite objections from the Audubon Society and others, Fish and Wildlife Service planners said a land transfer is needed so popular recreational uses can continue at most of the reservoir and to consolidate the federal migratory bird refuge into one contiguous area of land. The 1997 National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act required each of the country's national wildlife refuges to publish a 15-year "comprehensive conservation plan" by 2012 that outlines management objectives and assesses whether certain recreational uses are compatible with the refuge system's mission to manage for migratory birds. The agency began working on a plan for Pathfinder in 2006 and published its final draft this year. This month the agency found "no significant impact" in the environmental assessment of the plan, which is expected to publish as a final version by the end of the year. The plan calls for about 65 percent of the refuge's lands to transfer to the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, reducing the size of the refuge from 16,806 acres to 5,990 acres....