OK tweets, some of you expressed interest last fall in doing some atlas
work this year. At the time, I had planned on calling it quits after the
1995 field season to concentrate on getting the finished product out. But
circumstances have arisen which allow us to still get data for 1996. With
that in mind, I've selected certain 'target' sites to fill in some of the
gaps in atlas coverage. Each site contains two atlas blocks, and would
take about two days to cover adequately. Thus they are good weekend
trips. Most of these should be atlassed in early June to mid-June with a
few exceptions (which will be noted due to higher elevations). I
presented these at the WOS meeting Monday night, but was only able to get
commitments on three. I'll be atlassing some blocks in the Blues in June,
but that leaves nineteen more! Please, please, please, if you want to get
involved in the BBA adopt one or more of these sites to do in 1996. And
if you have other records from the past or want to gather some this year
in other areas, have those submitted by Aug. 15 1996, or they won't get
in. We must set some deadline for final receival of data, so we can run
the final analyses, and make any last-minute changes to the text. SO GET
YOUR RECORDS IN BY AUGUST 15, 1996. If you need atlas cards, an atlas
handbook, or the BBA short-form, let me know and I'll mail them out to
you. Here are the sites (site - county - locale):

1: T15N R07W NW - Grays Harbor/Pacific - Smith Creek/North River
T16N R06W SW - Grays Harbor - Blue Mt.

2: - committed to Jim Russo (thanks Jim!)

3: T25N R11W NW - Jefferson - Snahapish R.
T26N R11W NW - Jefferson - Mt. Octopus trail

4: T28N R13W NE - Clallam - Forks Prairie
T28N R11W NW - Clallam - Sitkum River

5: T09N R03E SW - Cowlitz - S. Fork Toutle River
T10N R01E SE - Cowlitz - S. Fork Toutle River

6: T04N R03E NE - Clark - Moulton Falls
T04N R04E NE - Clark - Jack Mt.

7: T06N R15E SW - Klickitat - White Pine Buttes
T05N R15E NE - Klickitat - Devils Canyon, Carp Lake

8: T14N R04E SW - Lewis - Duck Lake, Goose Lake
T14N R04E NW - Lewis - Cougar Mt.

9: - committed to yours truly

10: T30N R16E SE - Chelan - Phelps Creek, Carne Mt.
T29N R16E SE - Chelan - Chiwawa R.
(these should be atlassed in late June due to high elevations)

11: - committed to Dave Swayne (thanks Dave!)

12: T38N R34E SE - Ferry - Mt. Leona
T38N R34E NE - Ferry - Tenasket Mt.
(these should be atlassed in early July due to elevation, also see
note below about this site)**

13: T29N R43E SW - Spokane - Bailey Lake
T28N R43E NE - Spokane - Bear Lake

14: T16N R40E NW - Whitman - Storment Rd., Sutton
T16N R40E SE - Whitman - Union Flat Crk.

15: T11N R33E SE - Franklin - Snake River Junction
T11N R33E NE - Franklin - Snake River

16: T08N R33E NE - Walla Walla - Touchet R.
T08N R33E SE - Walla Walla - Touchet R.

17: committed

18: T13N R43E NE - Whitman - Wawawai
T14N R43E NE - Whitman - Almota Crk.

19: T25N R30E NE - Douglas Co.
T25N R30E SE - Douglas Co.

20: -committed to Toby Andrews (thanks Toby!)

21: T37N R20E SW - Okanogan - Roundup Crk.
T37N R20E SE - Okanogan - Sweetgrass Butte

22: T34N R45E SE - Pend Oreille - Goose Creek Point
T35N R45E SE - Pend Oreille - Squaw Valley

23: T37N R45E NE - Pend Oreille - Kaniksu Nat. Forest
T38N R45E SE - Pend Oreille - Roosevelt Grove, Granite Falls

** Regarding the Ferry Co. blocks, this is probably the most important
pair of blocks in terms on contributing to Washington ornithology. Very
few people bird the Kettle Range, yet it could harbor some very
interesting species: Boreal Owl (see Whelton 1989, Condor 91:712-716),
Boreal Chickadee, Spruce Grouse, White-tailed Ptarmigan, and other boreal
birds. Based on TM imagery, this area should have sufficient boreal
habitats (those with Engelmann Spruce component) and alpine habitats to
support the species named above, plus Pine Grosbeak, White-winged
Crossbill, Black-backed Woodpecker, Three-toed Woodpecker. Any takers?

-------------
Michael R. Smith
Univ. of Washington, Seattle
whimbrel at u.washington.edu
http://salmo.cqs.washington.edu/~wagap/mike.html