One of the more interesting portions of the Cowlitz Wildlife Area is Kosmos Flat at the mouth of Rainey Creek where it enters Riffe Lake. At only 520 acres, the Kosmos Unit attracts a disproportionate variety and population of songbirds, raptors, gamebirds, and large mammals.
It also is close to several other high-volume feeding and nesting sites that encourage individual exploration of the riverside and lakeshore riparian habitat.
The Kosmos Unit encompasses a substantial meadow and wetland habitat in the valley at the upper end of Riffe Lake, but has several other wildlife features that commend it to a day of careful birding or wildlife watching.
Strips and stands of brushy hardwoods surround the open wetlands and attract great numbers of nesting birds. Ringneck pheasants are periodically planted on the unit and some winter over to provide summer watching and the occasional clutch of downy little pheasant chicks. Raptors such as red-tailed hawks, sharp-shins and even osprey are seen routinely over the unit, attracted by abundant songbirds, field rodents and fish.
Another significant feature of the Kosmos Unit is the broad, grassy plain to the west of the Champion Haul Road, principal access to the area and nearby Taidnapam Park. This grassy expanse is covered when the lake is at full pool, but may remain dry for a couple of years or longer. When dry it may harbor a good population of killdeer and even a few wandering shorebirds.
The remains of the old White Pass highway lead across the flats to the former site of the town of Kosmos, usually submerged except at very low pool levels. That road offers excellent viewing opportunities of the flat and the surrounding brushland.
The Kosmos Unit may be viewed from Haul Road, from Glenoma Road which intersects it and a few trails that lead into less-seen portions of the unit. A gated logging road on the south side of the valley hugs the foot of Dog Mountain and can provide a lot of good birding under the hardwood canopy, where owls and large game animals are often seen.
Those who wish to explore more of the habitat can drive to Taidnapam Park and across the concrete bridge. To the left, the road leads across Goat Creek and several rough access roads to the riverbank, where Goat Creek Flat harbors more nesting and feeding birds as well as small and large game. Eagles and hawks are often seen over the old river channel.
A right turn at the end of the bridge leads to a lakeshore access that is sometimes open but can usually be walked. It crosses Landers Creek Flat and follows the shoreline for a few miles, offering a chance to see even further species of birds and animals.
Finally, a straight, gravel extension of Champion Haul Road leaves the main road a half-mile north of Taidnapam Park and leads to the Lewis County Public Utility District day-use site at Lake Scanewa and eventually to Randle. This road is nearly flat and crosses a habitat ranging from thick reproduction to hardwoods and fresh logging sites. It, too, offers an astonishing mix of bird and animal viewing.
The road into the Lake Scanewa day-use park is prime feeding and nesting habitat for a great many birds, although the number of species may be more limited than the near-lake riparian zone.
To reach the Kosmos Unit, drive east on U.S. Highway 12 from Morton to the well-marked road leading to Taidnapam Park and the Kosmos Boat Launch. The access road to Kosmos is private but public easement is granted to street-legal vehicles with licensed drivers.
Off road four-wheel drive or ORV travel is expressly prohibited on CWA lands. Those driving off the paved or gravel roads can do enormous damage to the wetland and lakebottom habitat, and the stick-to-the-road rules are aggressively enforced.
The Kosmos Unit is one of the real jewels of wildlife habitat in the east county, and patient wildlife viewers should be able to log 40-50 species from late spring through late summer in a single day of exploring. Pack a lunch, your spotting scope or binoculars, and invest a day prowling the east end of Riffe Lake. It's a quiet adventure that can pay great dividends in wildlife enjoyment.
