Janet Carroll wrote:
>
> Michael:
>
> No flame from me, just solid agreement.
>
> I too find it very frustrating that it is virtually impossible to get
> birders to fight for wildlife species and habitat in our local
> communities, let alone actually organize to try to save habitat. There
> are so few birders who are actually willing to interject themselves in
> difficult political issues, that the ones who do get burned out very
> quickly and feel particularly isolated and frankly confused. I often
> wonder if there are so few people (ie birders) out there who really care
> about wildlife and wildlife habitat. Perhaps it is just not that
> important. Those birders who do work hard on wildlife issues may be a
> real minority and may only be speaking for themselves and not the
> birding community as a whole.
> (Snip)

> Well, there's a big storm heading my way - perhaps from more directions
> than the west.
>
> Janet
> --
> Janet Carroll
> Everett WA
> jrc at jrc.seanet.com
> --------------------------------------------------------
> "The frog never drinks up the pond in which it lives."
> --------------------------------------------------------I think there are more birders who do speak out for conservation issues
than is realized. There is not a cohesive group and I doubt there ever
will be. Small local groups working actively can do a lot. Yeah, it
would be great to have all birders speaking with one voice, but it is
not likely. I have seen those on the fringes of birding turned off time
and time again by attitudes of "this is how it must be done and you will
do it now."

Don't write off anyone. Educate, educate, educate....and they may see
and learn enough to join in to act. In the meantime they are learning,
evaluating and growing. Does that matter? Yes! Is it enough? No!

Joan Bergstrom
Pocatello, Idaho