The staff at William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge have a lot to be happy about this year.

Improvements to trails, new features throughout and a spacious new headquarters make manager Doug Spencer smile.

"It's less than a month since we moved in," said Spencer, who lives in North Albany. "It offers us advantages we haven't really had."

One comes from volunteer members of the Friends of Willamette Valley National Wildlife Refuges. The group is opening the Wild Goose Nature Store on Friday, Aug. 21, in support of Finley and its sister refuges, Baskett Slough and Ankeny.

The Finley refuge is south of Corvallis off Highway 99W on Finley Road.

"The group wanted to help generate revenue for the refuges," Spencer said. "They are very dedicated folks, great people."

Tucked into a small space just inside the headquarter's front entry, the store is packed with items that relate directly to refuges in the Northwest. And merchandise was selected to be educational.

Inventory includes field guides specific to the local refuges, T-shirts, notecards and photos with scenes and wildlife found on the refuges, plush toy animals, pins and other nature-related items.

Nancy Zanotti of Albany is a member of the six-person organizing committee that also included Finley's visitor services manager, Sallie Gentry. Zanotti has been involved in buying inventory. During planning, which began in March, the committee visited stores at other Northwest refuges for input.

"I'm anxious to see what the reaction is," she said. "We're focusing on interpretive materials and trying to be inexpensive. We'll have some gift items people can pick up to take a memory with them when they leave."

Revenue goes directly to the refuge, and Zanotti said for a while some will be used to build store inventory.

Monies eventually will help control invasive species or for special events and other conservation efforts, according to Spencer.

Staffed by volunteers, hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday year round and on special occasions for visits by schools and other organizations.

Volunteers are still welcome. Anyone interested should contact Sheryl Brown at (503) 856-8233 or Gentry at (541) 757-7236.

Spencer said eventually the refuge hopes to add an interpretive center, which would house a larger store.

"We want this area to link everything in the refuge together," he said.