On Tue, 17 Jun 1997, Alan Richards wrote:

> Ken, Tweets --
>
> Where please is Howard H. Reservoir?
>
> Alan Richards / alanr at orednet.org
> ====

Hi Alan,

I too was curious. Here's the nice response I received from Ken.

Dan Victor, Seattle, WA <dvictor at u.washington.edu>
Tweeters = http://weber.u.washington.edu/~dvictor/
=============

Date: Tue, 17 Jun 97 15:42:25 PST
From: Kenneth.R.Brunner at internet.nps.usace.army.mil
To: "D. Victor" <dvictor at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re[2]: Loons!

Sorry, Dan. It didn't occur to me that folks would not know about
Howard Hanson Dam, since I work for the agency that built it (Corps of
Engineers). Others have also asked. I'll try to be more careful with
future postings on Tweeters.

Howard Hanson Dam is on the Green River, in King County, about 10
miles east of Kanaskat Palmer State Park. The dam and reservoir are
entirely within the Green River Watershed, which is Tacoma's primary
source of water. The watershed is closed to the public in order to
protect the water quality--Tacoma does not filter its water, so has to
be extra careful about protecting its water quality. I'm a wildlife
biologist, and I get up to the reservoir a couple of times a month.
Although reservoirs do not make great habitats (because of their
fluctuations), the forests immediately surrounding the reservoir are
owned by Tacoma and (mostly) protected from cutting in order to
protect water quality. The forests were last logged about 80 years
ago, so they are beginning to show some mature forest characteristics.
Some good birding up there.

Ken Brunner

On Tue, 17 Jun 1997 Kenneth.R.Brunner at internet.nps.usace.army.mil wrote:

> On Friday, June 13, the pair of loons at Howard Hanson Dam Reservoir
> hatched two chicks! As expected, the chicks were hitching a ride on
> the parent's back, and occasionally sallying out on their own,
> swimming within a couple of feet of the parents. This is the first
> successful hatching at HHD, though eggs have been laid each of the
> past four years. Bald eagles and/or river otters have predated the
> eggs each year, except for one year when one of the loons kicked the
> egg out of the nest. The loons have either grown as parents, or the
> eagles/otters are not as persistent this year; or the eggs were
> better concealed--or, all of the above. The loons nested (as usual)
> on an old log boom, at a point where some sedges and shrubs have
> found a foothold. Pretty cool...hopefully this is the start of many
> successful years of loon nesting at HHD.
>
> Ken Brunner
> e:mail--kenneth.r.brunner at nps.usace.army.mil