An announcement has just come out regarding the "price" of human impact on
the land. We are going to have to start paying a fee to hike in National
Forests. This was inevitable; the price of the too-many-of-us. I've
always had difficulty understanding anyone who hiked, kayaked, canoed,
biked, whatever, who had no interest in the environment in which they were
performing these activities.........only the physical challenge mattered.

I suspect that fees will be imposed on the Puget Sound water trails soon
also. Fortunately, there are folks out there on the water who kayak/canoe
in order to see and study the sea-fowl and other creatures, and who have
learned how to be a non-disturbing visitor. Licenses and training/
education requirements to have unsupervised visitation rights to
ALL wildlife places may become/maybe should become a reality in our
lifetimes. It's beginning to happen now, anyway!

On a lighter note: Karen Jueneman, Thais Bock, and I are off to Cheney
and eastern WA places on Sun-Mon to pay homage to the hawk owl and revel
in the snow buntings, pine grosbeaks, and other life birds/any birds that
we are lucky enough to see. An effusive, ebullient Tweeters report is
sure to follow.

May all us have some peace of mind some of the time,
Maureen E Ellis me2 at u.washington.edu Univ of WA Des Moines WA
****************************************************************************
On Fri, 14 Feb 1997, Michael Price wrote:

> Hi Tweets,
>
> If Jetskis are the trailbikes of the water, then kayaks and canoes are the
> off-leash dogs.
>
> know better. A small, perverse minority do it to demonstrate their contempt
> either for those trying to protect the birds or for the wildlife itself. For
> these last, as an exasperated adult near the end of patience, I have
>
> Michael Price
> Vancouver BC Canada
> mprice at mindlink.net
> years
> when human displacement started becoming as big a conservation problem on
> the water as off-leash dogs and irresponsible owners have become on land,
> I'd have to say that, speaking conservatively as a one-time professional
> bird-surveyor, I've watched close to two million birds displaced by kayakers
> approaching too close for the birds' comfort.
>