If you have not read the NY Times yet today or don't pay all the money for it here is a birder's view of the standoff in Oregon at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
Bill
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From: "William Laverty (FIDELITY CAPITAL MKT)" <wlaverty1@bloomberg.net>
Date: January 8, 2016 at 11:22:28 AM EST
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: (NYT) In Transit: Angry Birders: Standoff at Oregon Refuge Has R
Reply-To: "William Laverty" <wlaverty1@bloomberg.net>
(NYT) In Transit: Angry Birders: Standoff at Oregon Refuge Has R
iled a Passionate Group
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In Transit: Angry Birders: Standoff at Oregon Refuge Has Riled a Passionate Group
2016-01-08 16:18:57.925 GMT
By DAVE SEMINARA
(New York Times) -- Noah Strycker was in a hotel room in Ethiopia when he saw
news that Oregon's Malheur National Wildlife Refuge had been occupied by an
armed group protesting the federal government's imprisonment of two local
ranchers. He had just completed a record-breaking "Big Year" of birding, in
which he spent 18 hours a day for 365 consecutive days observing some 6,042
species of birds in 41 countries on seven continents. Mr. Strycker's obsessive
pursuit had taken him to the ends of the earth, but news of the occupation
brought Malheur to mind as the place where he first fell in love with birding.
Fifteen years ago, when he was 14, he saw a barred owl get into a fight with a
great horned owl over a snake that one of them had caught, just steps away
from the Malheur buildings now being occupied.
"I've been addicted to watching birds ever since," said Mr. Strycker, who
lived and worked at the refuge in 2003 as an intern. "Malheur is a
life-changing place."
With no resolution to the standoff in sight, Mr. Strycker and other birders
are concerned that one of the nation's premier observation spots for birds and
other wildlife will be off limits until the occupiers leave or are removed
from the refuge. Thirty miles south of Burns, in Oregon's High Desert, the
refuge is a 187,000-acre oasis, where more than 320 species of birds and 58
mammal species have been observed.
Malheur (pronounced Mal-hear) opened as a national wildlife refuge on Aug. 18,
1908. At the turn of the 20th century, feathers were in fashion, and plume
hunters had decimated the local white heron population. Theodore Roosevelt,
who established 51 such wildlife refuges around the country, sought to address
the problem by setting aside what was then unclaimed land as a preserve and
breeding ground for birds.
Thanks to its location on the Pacific Flyway, a major north-south bird
migration route, Malheur is a bucket-list destination for birders. They come
in search of watch-listed species like the Western snowy plover, long-billed
curlew, Franklin's gull and Brewer's sparrow, along with hundreds of other
more common species like the white-faced ibis.
Tim Hunt, an Oregon birder who has been visiting Malheur for more than 35
years, said he adored the place, but said few people visit the refuge in the
dead of winter, when birds are more scarce. If the occupation drags into
spring, he said, when binocular- and scope-toting birders dot the landscape,
many more birders will be affected. Mr. Hunt said he didn't believe that the
wildlife would be affected by the standoff or the influx of news media
covering it.
"The birds will come back," he said. "They always do. They're not following
this in the newspapers and on TV."
Others like Bob Sallinger, the conservation director of the Audubon Society of
Portland, are more concerned about the impact of the occupation. Mr. Sallinger
penned a scathing condemnation of the occupation, on behalf of the Oregon and
Washington chapters of the National Audubon Society.
"Birders are angry," he said in a telephone interview, "and they should be,
because we don't know what these guys are doing there. Going in with guns and
trying to take over public lands to pursue their own agenda is a crime, and it
ought to be prosecuted."
The refuge, he said, is already understaffed, and the occupation will further
delay important conservation work. The situation is particularly concerning
for the Audubon Society, Mr. Sallinger said, because it fought to have the
area protected more than 100 years ago. Images of slaughtered Malheur bird
populations taken a century ago by the group's Oregon founder, William Finley,
inspired Roosevelt to protect the place.
"Now it appears as though the goal of these occupiers is to eliminate this
protection and undo that heritage," he said.
His passion for Malheur is also personal. It's the place where his two oldest
children, Peter and Annie, became birders, after spotting 50 species there in
a single day several years ago. But he also acknowledged that there may be a
silver lining to the Malheur situation: All the media attention may motivate
people to visit the refuge and inspire them to help preserve it.
For birders who want to experience Malheur, the Harney County Migratory Bird
Festival, scheduled for April 8 to 10, is a great introduction, as is the
Audubon Society's Gonzo Trip, set for May 13 to 15. But these and other
Malheur birding excursions are contingent on a timely resolution to the
standoff.
Mr. Strycker decided to delay a winter trip to Malheur, he said, adding that
most birders will avoid the place until the occupation is over but will come
back with a vengeance when it's safe to do so.
"There are birders who will go into war zones to see birds," he said, "so at
least a few will go regardless. They're angry about the situation, and the
closer we get to spring, that anger will build."
Click Here to see the story as it appeared on the New York Times website.
Copyright 2016 The New York Times Company
-0- Jan/08/2016 16:18 GMT
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