It is good to have some solid information concerning the current status
of Nisqually, but I want to be clear about the fact that neither I nor
any of my friends who have been interested in Nisqually from before the
beginning have *ever* advocated allowing all of the refuge to come back
under marine influence. My position continues to be that the diversity
and value to observers would increase were arrangements made to allow a
relatively small portion of the Brown Farm to benefit from the re-creation
of salt marsh. My own vision is that a few acres in the northwest corner
would best lend itself to this treatment. There is the remnant of a
major distributary there that could be breached and then bridged; an
interior dike would complete the picture, and the enhancement would be
accomplished.

I am much troubled that several people tried to make this whole thing
controversial. As usual in these cases, only the extremes were
represented. One of those extremes was (and obviously is) real, i.e.,
the "restoration of oldfield habitat" position. The other extreme was,
as nearly as I can tell, a fabrication, a paper tiger, confected by those
committed to the status quo. The frenetic post advocating "total
repair" was simply an embarrassment, as far as I'm concerned -No wonder
we are labelled "emotional"! The refuge manager has always gone
catatonic and displayed symptoms of terminal hydrophobia at the very
mention of saltwater inside "his" dikes. Obviously that is not likely to
change. But I will continue to advocate diversity, and increased refuge
capacity for waterfowl and shorebirds.

And tomorrow night I plan to ply the adjacent salt marsh in my canoe, as
I have done for the last 20 years, after dark. I'll slip and slide
around there, paddling quietly near the shore. Roosting birds will rush
up at my passing, and eventually I will set up my nets and perhaps I'll
net, measure, band and release a few Dunlin, then retreat on the falling
tide. Fortunately there remains considerable wildness at Nisqually, and
I will feed on *that*, forgetting the crimped nastiness of those who
would have a refuge for exotic apes rather than native wildlife.

Steve Herman
The Evergreen State College
Olympia WA 98505
360 866-6000, ext.6063
hermans at elwha.evergreen.edu