Access to the Snag Boat Bend Unit of the William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge will be closed for approximately two weeks due to bridge repair.

According to refuge ranger Sallie Gentry, a recent engineering inspection found that wooden support beams on the south side of the concrete bridge were unstable. Restoration work by Northern Management Services, a Idaho company, began Monday.

Gentry said the bridge has been jacked up and the wooden beams are being replaced.

The Snag Boat Bend Unit is about a mile south of Peoria on River Road North.

The 341-acre unit is part of more than 5,400 acres that compose the Finley refuge, which was named after conservationist William L. Finley.

The property was purchased by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service from The Nature Conservancy in 2000.

According to the Fish & Wildlife Service, Snag Boat Bend "contains a great variety of habitats, including riparian areas, forested and seasonal wetlands and sloughs." The area is home to a great blue heron rookery and provides habitat for bald eagles, steelhead, chinook salmon, Western pond turtles and red-legged frogs.

For more information, call 757-7236.

Democrat-Herald