Subject: Re: montlake fill restoration
Date: Nov 15 17:06:53 1995
From: Eugene Hunn - hunn at u.washington.edu


For the record, Seattle Audubon has been represented on the Union Bay
Advisory Board during its on-again off-again existence and the Urban Hort
people who have the responsibility of managing the fill often ask our advice.

Gene Hunn.

On Wed, 15 Nov 1995, J. Seavey wrote:

>
> Hi all,
>
> I want to clear up an issue which has come up on Tweeters.
>
> I am a birder---for professional and entertainment purposes ( just
> wanted to make this clear from the start)
>
> I am involved in a restoration ecology class here at UW. As part of
> the course we are to do a mini- restoration project in Montlake fill.
> After talking a group of classmates into doing a project with American
> Bitterns in mind...we proceeding to find a location to do the project. (i
> choose American Bitterns due to the statement in G.Hunn's Seattle Birding
> Book (not the exact title) which said that Bitterns were not as common as
> they had been in the past)
> So i went down there and looked the place over. I spotted Central
> Pond, which had been totally cleared of veg and wondered why that had
> been done and what was going to happen next. So i asked Kern Ewing
> (prof in Urban Hort) and Stuart Mackay (fellow Tweeter and Purple
> Loosestrife extraordinare (sp?)) And well....i believed that i had the go
> ahead for revegetation of a VERY SMALL part of the pond's shoreline.
>
> Well- for the record....Stuart and I obviously did not understand
> each other...he did not realize what i was about to do. This was the
> cause of the current talk on Tweeters...
> Also for the record....we have NO ASSOCIATION WITH SEATTLE
> AUDUBON...that was another communication breakdown between the Montlake
> fill managers (Prof Ewing) and members of my project group...I AM VERY
> SORRY ABOUT THAT!!!
>
> Let me now explain to all those who maybe interested in what i ( and
> my group) are doing out there...
>
> We are planting sedges and rushes along a small portion of the pond
> shoreline. We are also placing some down woody debris in the same area.
> This area is flagged off right now- you are welcome to check out how big
> it is. We fully intend to stick to that area only- therefore allowing
> the shorebirds to "have" the rest (majority) of the pond.
> I believe it is important to have veg in some proportion along the
> pond. Long -toed Salamanders have been spotted aroung the pond and they
> need some thing to attach their egg masses to during breeding. Also i
> feel that it is within Montlake's bird goals to try the obtain the
> highest bird species diversity we can. Since increasing the variety of
> habitats is key to increasing the variety of birds...i believe this
> project is worthy.
>
> I will be at the potluck on Fri and WILL bring a copy of our project
> proposal. I will be happy to explain the project further and field any
> questions or comments.
> Sincerely,
> Jennifer Seavey
> UW- Wildlife Program
> jseavey at u.washington.edu
>