Dennis wrote:

> Steve, that was a fine response that you wrote to Stuart. I
> agree emphatically with everything you said. I understand the
> appeal of the shorebird festival, and it surely functions in
> its main purpose, to establish a high profile for the abundant
> biological resources of Grays Harbor. However, I have a lot
> of sadness that we have to *have* shorebird festivals (which
> of course are festivals for people, not shorebirds) to somehow
> give the birds validity, to make it OK to preserve a bit of
> terrain for them. And terrain, as you wrote, that certainly
> is not the final answer to the needs of Grays Harbor
> shorebirds.

The good thing about the shorebird festivals is that it has an
important role to show people something that they would normally not
see. This in itself has great value in education and stimulating
interest in birds and the environment - who knows there might even
be a knock-on effect which kills the prospects of drilling in the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a result.

Shorebirds have great PR potential. When doing my sanderling stuff
out at Ocean Shores, most people who I chatted with (seemed like
everybody on the entire beach some days - phew) were absolutely
amazed that the tiny birds running around on the beach had just
flown down from Wrangel Island or Greenland (hedging my bets here)
and were on their way to Chile - so you can see shorebirds are just
as cool, if not more so, than birds of prey :-)

Opening up Bowerman Basin for one weekend in order to pull in
members of the public, particularly the good folks of Hoquiam and
Aberdeen is an intrinsically good thing. The education potential is
enormous. I suppose the only danger is that it simply becomes a
means to raising cash for local projects, such as the boardwalk.

I suppose there is always Bottle Beach - no wait that's in the
itinery as well. Never mind there are a couple of good spots on the
North Bay - there's a loop road which runs along the shoreline
(sorry I've forgotten the name) for a short distance perhaps you
should check that out instead. Better still just goto Bowerman on
Monday - there'll be no-one around.

See ya,

Stuart
---
Stuart MacKay
220-301 Calibre Chase Drive
Raleigh, NC 27609
ph:(919) 832 0353
email: stuart at blarg.net