At 01:02 PM 8/6/99 -0700, Mary Manson wrote:

>OK - I'm dense - spell it out for paranoid me.
>
>Is this good for the bird species that bona fide ecotourists don't know
>where there are birds to add to add their life lists ?

Good birders can find this species on their own. Ecotourists...well,
the USFS isn't in the business of making life easy for ecotourists
who are looking for endangered species. Said ecotourists are on there
own, though some USFS researchers have helped some in the birding
community find spotted owls at times.

They don't get paid to do this, though, so it's understandable that
they don't look at it as being something they need do.

>Or is this bad for the logging companies since the public doesn't know there
>are birds there so loggers can log the area ?

The law requires surveys even on private lands, and there's been very
good compliance on the part of private landowners, particularly in
the case of the large landowners such as Weyerhauser.

If you're speaking of owl pairs on National Forest lands, sales
are surveyed and there's no "cover up" of the results.

With all due respect, if you spent as much time learning about
issues, the USFS, etc as you do being paranoid, you wouldn't have
to ask basic questions like this...



- Don Baccus, Portland OR <dhogaza at pacifier.com>
Nature photos, on-line guides, Pacific Northwest
Rare Bird Alert Service and other goodies at
http://donb.photo.net.