>A few minutes ago Tony Couch, Staff Assistant to the Commission on Fish and
>Wildlife, returned my call. He was following up on my request to John McGlen,
>Chair of the Commission, for support to lobby the King County Council to
>include all Dept. of Fish and Wildlife "Priority Habiatat and Species" as
>protected in the Rural and Resource designated lands of King County.
>
>We birder "environmntalists" were able to get protection for the Endangered
>and Threatened (actually required by Federal and State law) and the
>"Candidate" species (under threat that they would become E & T and hence
>under Federal and State control). But the Council at the urging of
>developers and Resource land owners would not support the "monitor" game
>and non-game priority species. Included in this list are Snow Goose,
>Trumpeter Swan, Bandtailed Pigeon, Tundra Swan, Brandt, Harbor Seal,
>Killer Whale, Martin, Black tailed Deer, Mountain Goat, Elk.
>
>A call to the "hunters" seems to be generating much more response
>for protection of habitat than an earlier call to "birders" to get
>involved in riparian zone studies. Is it possible they understand
>better the need for habitat?
>
>Steve Hallstrom

I couldn't not respond to this one, Steve, even after I thought I had
exhausted my thoughts on this subject. It generated an 'aha!' experience.

Birders find birds everywhere. Birders are enthusiastic about green belts,
city parks, arboretums, mitigated wetlands, *sewage ponds and garbage
dumps,* as well as tracts of wilderness. My guess is that far more birding
is done in the first set of "habitats" than in wilderness. You can have a
pretty good year of birding within sight of human habitations. Ocean
Shores, Dodson Road, Wenas Creek, Everett sewage ponds, Skagit Flats, etc.
etc....mostly around or near people, mostly modified in some ways. You
don't really find that many additional bird species by going on long hikes
into the wilderness, although it's obviously a wonderful way to enjoy
nature in general.

Hunters, on the other hand, *depend* on wilderness, or at least large
tracts of relatively unmodified environments at least some distance from
humanity. Much more than we birders do, they must have extensive stands of
habitats preserved to be able to pursue their sport, in particular those
who hunt large mammals. We nature-lovers can easily enjoy large mammals
along main roads or near visitor centers in national parks; a hunter has to
hike in a ways to "enjoy" his large mammal. This thought hadn't occurred to
me before, but I think it really is significant in indicating how important
it is that birders and other nature-lovers ally themselves firmly with
hunters, as by necessity as a group they are as committed to habitat
preservation as anyone among us.


Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound email: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416