Fly in for Godwit Days (and nights!), April 18-20, 2003
Arcata invites you to the 8th annual Godwit Days, the three-day spring migration festival celebrating the Marbled Godwit and all birds of the coastal redwoods, bays and marshes of Northern California! More than 75 birding field trips and workshops are offered in and around Arcata - in the heart of California’s redwood coast. Amid our ancient redwood forests, marshes and the Pacific Ocean, 450 species of bird have been recorded visiting here annually. Won’t you too?
Watch Marbled Murrelets arcing through towering redwoods at dawn, have face-to-face encounters with spotted owls, and take small boat tours of Humboldt Bay to view migrant shorebirds at their peak. For more information, call toll-free at 800-908-WING or log on to http://www.godwitdays.com/.
Potluck Planned for May Program
Come early to the May 9 RRAS program and bring your appetite! Since the potluck preceding the December CBC brush-up proved so popular, we are adding one to the last program before the summer hiatus. RRAS will provide drinks, paper goods, and utensils; you bring the food. The location is the main room at the County Office of Education; the time is 6:30 p.m. See you there!
New RRAS Logo Goods
Baseball caps and commuter mugs featuring Gary Bloomfield’s Marbled Murrelet were unveiled at the RRAS Annual Banquet. The caps come in two styles – olive green oilskin and green/blue cotton – and cost $15. The mugs are a beautiful metallic green with the logo on one side and a shade-grown coffee/songbird connection on the other. The price is $10.
These items, as well as the remaining American Bittern T-shirts ($10), can be purchased at the Godwit Café or at any monthly RRAS program.
RRAS-sponsored Science Fair Award Recipient
“Which species of wild backyard birds is more aggressive? Submissive?” by Chelsea Stewart-Fusek, a seventh-grader from Fieldbrook Elementary School, was selected as the best project dealing with birds and their habitat at the annual Humboldt County Science Fair held in mid-March.
Chelsea observed avian interactions at a small, elevated backyard platform feeder during January and February. She predicted that White-crowned Sparrows would show more aggression, “possibly because contrasting white stripes on his crest could make him appear superior,” and that Juncos would present more submission. Chelsea found that the sparrows were indeed more prone to keep other birds off the feeder but that juncos were submissive on an interspecies level yet both aggressive and submissive within their own species.
RRAS judges Louise Bacon-Ogden, Sue Leskiw, and Tom Leskiw evaluated exhibits created by students in grades 4 through 8 to choose a winner. The prize – a $50 check and 1-year RRAS membership -- was awarded during a ceremony on March 21 at Humboldt State University.
Conservation Committee Report - March 21
The March conservation Committee Meeting was Held at the Golden Harvest Cafe on March 21, 2003. Attending were Jeanne Pendergass, Melvin McKinney, Barbara Kelly, Hal Genger and Jim Clark
Old business discussed included:
Mariculture Monitoring Committee: Coastal commission staff, resource agencies and Coast Seafoods have met in San Francisco in an attempt to resolve permit issues involving the Coastal Commissions perceived inadequacy of the studies that have taken place. If these issues cannot be resolved, Coast Seafood’s permit process will probably be taking a different route than it has for the past four years. The committee voted to approve the Harbor District matching $7,000 with Coast Seafood for a study on salmonid use of eelgrass in Humboldt Bay.
City of Eureka: Mel reported that the two year old proposal to re-name the city’s wildlife management areas to sanctuaries is almost ready for the City Council and Urged your’s truly to get off the dime and re-send the letter urging the name changes.
New Business included:
Letter supporting elimination of alien plants: Jim passed around a draft letter to the Coastal conservancy supporting Grants totaling $35,000 to the Conservation Corps and Fish and Wildlife Service for elimination of Spartina in salt marshes and English ivy in the spruce forest at the Lanphere dunes Unit. The letter was approved and sent.
Position against water export was approved and will be presented at the next Board Meeting.
Bay Stewards: Mel explained that a Bay Stewards group is starting to promote conservation and study of Humboldt Bay. Various organizational structures are being explored.
National Audubon Society’s One and Five Year Plan is to stop returning dues to chapters and build 200 “Audubon Centers” nation-wide. Nothing was mentioned about directly supporting local conservation efforts.
CalPine’s Proposal to ship in liquefied natural gas (LNG)was discussed and the main conservation concern appeared to be the effect of additional bay dredging required to get the 900-foot ships to the proposed terminal north of the existing deep channel. Tim McKay announced a presentation by a well known opponent of LNG at the NEC on April 5. Check the Econews for details.
MtBE: It was mentioned that the Canadian company that makes Methyl tertiary butyl Ether (MtBE) is suing the State of California for discontinuing its use. Actually, the company makes Methyl alcohol, the precursor to MtBE, and is suing the state for not adequately enforcing its underground storage tank regulations, allowing tanks to leak. Like so many things we hear, the real story becomes simplified and important detail is lost. Dig deep fellow conservationeers. “Don’t believe anything you hear, and only half of what you read,” then you will get “the rest of the story.”
Apologies to Mark Twain and Paul Harvey
-- Jim Clark
Redwood Region Audubon Society welcomes the following new members and subscribers:
Arcata –
James & Isabel Gaasch, Gwen Thoele
Burnt Ranch – Gil Saliba
Crescent City – Del Norte County
Library, Ray Schach
Eureka – Evelyn Giddings and
David Lemm, Fara Kelly, Stuart Mair, Sharon Parrott, David Sperry, R.M.
Zoah-Henderson
Ferndale – Nancy Roberts
McKinleyville – Colette
Hestbeck
We look forward to seeing you on field trips and at our monthly programs.