In an amazing display of the power of the internet, I received the
following in reply to my statements to tweeters and obol regarding
the planting of Sand Island in the Lower Columbia:

<beginning of letter>

From:
Operations Division
Department of the Army
Portland District, Corps of Engineers

April 24, 1995

Dear Mr. Patterson:

Your Internet message of April, 5, 1995, regarding "Sand Island
Beach Grass Plantings," has been brought to our attention from a
number of sources. The intent of this letter is to provide
information on our most recent vegetation program for the islands
in the Lower Columbia, and to clarify apparent misconceptions
about this program.

We have not planted European Beachgrass in recent years in the
Lower Columbia River area. We are only aware of one instance in
which experimental planting of European Beachgrass occurred on
Miller Sands spit circa 1976. In the early 1900's the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Portland District, did establish European
Beachgrass on Clatsop Spit for sand stabilization. We have not
established any vegetation on Sand Island (e.g. West Sand and East
Sand Islands in Baker Bay) in the lower Columbia River estuary.

In the fall of 1994, an interagency plant effort was undertaken on
the islands in the lower Columbia River. Planning for this
program was as cooperative effort involving the Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Port of Portland and the Corps of
Engineers. The field work involved all agencies except ODFW, and
resulted in the seeding of portions of Rice Island, Miller Sands
Island, Pillar Rock Island, Welch Island and Wallace Island.
These islands were planted with a pasture mix of grasses.

The intent of the seeding operation was to stabilize the dredge
materials on these islands, while providing forage and cover
values for various wildlife species. The Caspian Tern colony on
Rice Is;land was considered during the planning for this program.
As a result, the colony site, plus a substantial setback area, was
not seeded in order to maintain the barren substrate required by
this species for nesting activities.

Caspian Terns do not currently nest on East Sand Island in Baker
Bay, although that was the original colony location in the
Columbia River Estuary. They moved away from that location
because the high silt content of the dredge material site upon
which they nest was rapidly taken over by natural establishment of
grasses and forbes.

Biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Corps
of Engineers visit these islands relatively frequently for various
purposes. No Western Snowy Plovers have been observed on any of
these island to date, although West Sand Island would seem to hold
promise for this species.

Many of the islands mentioned in this letter are administered by
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Lewis and Clark
National Wildlife Refuge. As such, these locations are often
closed to trespass in order to protect the wildlife resources
present. We suggest that you contact Anne Sittauer, the refuge
manager, at (206)795-3915 prior to initiating a bird survey.

If you have any other questions concerning vegetation of dredged
material disposal sites, or disposal practices in general, please
contact Karen Garmire, Operations Division, at (503)326-6083, or
Geoff Dorsey, Planning & Engineering Division, at (503)326-6135.

Sincerely,
Kenneth H. Patterson, P.E.
Chief, Operations Division

<end of letter>

I can only applaud the Army Corps of Engineers for their clear
efforts to work within the system. For them to take the time to
run down questions and concerns they hear second hand is not only
remarkable, it wonderful. I cannot imagine any other Federal
Agency going to this trouble and it speaks volumes for how far the
Army Corps of Engineers has come as an agency in charge of
managing Natural Resources.


--
********************************
* Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR * "Time flies like an arrow;
* mpatters at ednet1.osl.or.gov * fruit flies like a banana."
******************************** - Groucho Marx