At 16:22 4/9/97 PDT, you wrote:
>
>Deb Beutler wrote:
>> In my opinion, if they are not a native of that area, kill them.
> If
>>they are native, find other habitat and release them. We can't let nature
>>"take its course" because we are already messing with nature by providing
>>food for them in the first place. By providing food, we are increasing the
>>survival of the squirrels and keeping their population much higher than it
>>would be if we weren't here. The population might balance out eventually
>>but would we have any birds left? Unfortunately, we are now part of nature
>>and we have altered the balance in favor of the squirrel.
>______________
>How long does a species have to be resident before it is considered
>"native"?
>Would humans be considered native? My understanding is we've been in the
>northwest for several thousand years.

I would say that several thousand years might be enough to be
native. However, the number of humans in the northwest (and the world)
several thousand years ago was much smaller than it is now. Several
thousands of years ago, a squirrel in a human's space would, most likely,
have been eaten, not fed.
It is less a question of length of time than a question of impact.
Humans have been part of nature for thousands or millions of years; however,
our effects now are much greater than they were in the past because there
are so many more of us.

>
>If we kill all the Eastern Grey squirrels would the "native" species thrive?

I don't know. But I don't think it would negatively affect the
"native" species. It is possible that the effects of squirrel predation is
much like the cowbird parasitism; it may not be enough to matter but added
together, they could have an effect. Predation and parasitism may have
additive effects. A species might be able to survive one or the other but
both is just too much.
My point was more that species introduced by man, whether they are
European Starlings, Gray Eastern Squirrels, cats, or whatever, are not
native and should not be afforded the protection of wild animals. To many
people, there shouldn't be a distinction; an animal is an animal. However,
I beleive (totally unscientifically and probably without logic) that animals
introduced by man shouldn't have the same "rights", "protection", whatever
as organisms that evolved in an area and have been there for a long time or
recently expanded their ranges without direct help of man.

>
>I really enjoyed your well reasoned and insiteful remarks on Cowbird
>predation.

Thank you.
>
>John Shelton
>Portland, Oregon
>
>
Deb Beutler
Department of Zoology
Washington State Univerisity
Pullman, Whitman Co., WA
dbeutler at wsunix.wsu.edu