A toast, for a moment, to William Finley and Three Arch Rocks refuge.

Byline: Mike Stahlberg The Register-Guard

As William Finley and a friend watched from shore, the tugboat Vosberg, filled with armed men, circled Three Arch Rocks on the Oregon Coast while men on the boat blasted seabirds for sport with their shotguns.

The tugboat came back every Sunday and the scene would be repeated.

"The beaches at Oceanside were littered with dead birds following the Sunday carnage," Finley wrote.

During the week, other boats carrying gunners would sometimes show up to shoot Steller Sea Lions for their skins and oil.

Finley and his childhood friend, Herman Bohlman, had come to the coast in June of 1901 to photograph the unique wildlife to be found on the wind-swept rocks lying just offshore.

Bad weather prevented them from getting good pictures of the wildlife on that trip. A second photo expedition two years later didn't start out with promise. Finley and Bohlman had to wait out 19 days of storms, heavy fog and rough seas before finally being greeted by fair weather.

The men rowed a dory loaded with food, a tent, water, clothing and photographic equipment to Shag Rock, the only possible landing spot, and unloaded their equipment. Then they spent a near-sleepless first night at a small, bluff-side campsite that was not only cramped, it was noisy. Waves thundering through the rocks' arches sounded like cannons. Thousands of raucous seabirds called throughout the night.

"We awoke the next morning feeling as if we had spent the night on top of a broken picket fence," Finley wrote. The men lived on Shag Rock for two weeks, taking some of the first photographs of nesting seabirds, collecting eggs and specimens for study and documenting some of the birds' life history.

Fearing the wildlife would be wiped out if something wasn't done to halt the sport shooting, Finley journeyed across the country to Washington, D.C., for a personal audience with President Theodore Roosevelt, who had recently created the nation's first wildlife refuge, at Pelican Island, Fla.

Finley spread the photographs of the wild animals of the Pacific Coast on a table in front of Roosevelt, who reportedly found the photos so compelling, he exclaimed, "Bully-bully, we'll make a sanctuary out of Three Arch Rocks."

It wasn't quite that easy, however. Finley had to keep lobbying for four years before Roosevelt made Three Arch Rocks the first national wildlife refuge west of the Mississippi River.

The refuge now provides sanctuary for Oregon's largest breeding colonies of Tufted Puffins and Common Murre. Other seabirds breeding there include Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel, Leach's Storm-Petrel, Brandt's Cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Rhinoceros Auklet, Cassin's Auklet, Pigeon Guillemot Western Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull and Black Oystercatcher.

All told, more than 100,000 seabirds a year nest at the refuge, which - at 15 acres - is the smallest designated wilderness area in the United States.

Three Arch Rocks also serves as the northernmost pupping site for the Steller Sea Lion, which is on the federal threatened species list.

Interestingly, Finley didn't rest at taking his case to the president of the United States.

While waiting for Roosevelt to act, he and Bohlman worked with the Oregon Audubon Society to get the Oregon Legislature to adopt the State Model Bird Law, which outlawed the sport-hunting of all seabirds.

Armed with the new law, the state game warden in the Tillamook area was able to confront the owner of the tugboat Vosberg and put an end to the shooting parties before Roosevelt signed the papers creating Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge.

The president did that on October 14, 1907, making Sunday the refuge's 100th anniversary.

No special events are planned.

However, in observance of the anniversary, a Newport microbrewery, Rogue Ales, teamed up with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to offer a limited bottling of a special commemorative brew called "Puffin Pale Ale." The 22-ounce bottles feature a label portraying a tufted puffin at the refuge, with text giving a thumbnail version of the refuge story. Rogue Ales is donating a portion of the profits from the sale of the commemorative bottles to the refuge's environmental education program.

So a toast to William L. Finley - a lifelong conservationist for whom the wildlife refuge between Monroe and Corvallis is named - is in order.

Or, "visit" Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge, which is best viewed from the mainland at Cape Meares or from Oceanside Beach in the community of Oceanside. Take binoculars or a spotting scope.

To prevent disturbance to sensitive seabirds, humans are no longer allowed to set foot on Shag Rock, as Finley and Bohlman did. Three Arch Rocks Refuge is closed to public entry. And watercraft are not allowed within 500 feet of the refuge between May 1 and September 15.

Mike Stahlberg can be reached at [e-mail].