CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : MERCED COUNTY : U.S. Offers to Buy Kesterson Acreage

The federal Bureau of Reclamation has offered to buy 23,000 acres of land around the contaminated Kesterson Wildlife Refuge in Merced County and convert it into a new and larger sanctuary for birds and other animals. The latest proposal for dealing with the selenium-tainted refuge would cost about $22 million, with about $14 million going for the purchase of land. The remaining $8 million would be used for development of wetlands for waterfowl and dry land habitat for other wildlife. The 6,200-acre refuge, 12 miles north of Los Banos, began attracting public attention in mid-1983 after discovery of deaths and deformities among duck, coots and other birds nesting there.