Sue,
It's not that people, i.e., the local birders don't care, it is that Wenas
Campground is privately owned by a large timber company. Our being able
to go there is solely at the whim, allowance of the landowner. It is not
public property. It has also been trashed, vandalized, and generally
abused over the years by various camping groups and parties, who don't
care that the area WAS home to numerous other species. And, the timber
company doesn't have any great investment in the campground being
preserved. Does anyone else have additional information that an EIS has
been required for communication-systems construction at Wenas?

The special appeal of Wenas: In the past, it has been an
easily accessible 'guaranteed' place to see White-headed Woodpeckers
and other cavity-nesting species. The key characteristic is 'easily
accessible' to birdwatchers. Fortunately, there are other documented,
better, safer, if not so accessible to us, nesting/living areas for these
NW regional bird species. Some places and projects are worth more than
others for realistic preservation. The entire WEST (you ain't seen
nuthin' until you've seen the kind of trashing done in some of the popular
camping areas in Utah where I lived for near-20 years!) has suffered from
a mentality of the outdoors being an open tavern, toilet, target-practice,
run-my-4-wheeler wherever I please, hunt when I'm drunk and shoot at
anything that moves, and exhaustingly so forth. I have a few war-stories
to tell about confronting some of these yahoo's over the past 30 years.
But, that's another time, and I try to refrain from negative thinking in
my current stage of life.

Yes, Wenas used to be special, but I'm not certain it can be saved because
neither the public avenues of influence, nor the law...as I understand it,
have any great concern for a long-battered, private campground that
probably causes the Yakima area police no small trouble from
rabble-rousers most any summer weekend.

Rejoice for the saving-from-timber-harvest of the splendid forest rich
with flora and fauna in the northern Okanogan recently. That was a
hard-fought fight, but one that conservationists and the local people
wanted to win for a place not yet spoiled, and it took money + matching
money to do it, m i l l i o n $!

Hang in there Sue; your heart is true, but perhaps Wenas just simply
cannot be recovered, and your frustration is understood by all.

Cheers,
Maureen Ellis me2 at u.washington.edu U of WA & Burien-Seahurst Park, WA

"Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of
confusion and bamboozle requires vigilance, dedication, and courage."
-Carl Sagan-

"We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities." -Pogo-

On Sat, 24 Jul 1999, Nans wrote:

> Hi Everyone,
>
> This is a venting e-mail. I just have to say that I am extremely
> disappointed in the lack of responses to my e-mail re: the "fiber optics"
> system that will soon be placed in the Wenas Campground and Umptanum Rd.
> area. I expressed serious concerns and wondered if anyone had any
> information about this. I had only one response that stated that there has
> been a decline in bird population over the years and a radical
> deterioration of the area. Even in that response there was no mention of
> the "f-o" system. Over the past few months since subscribing there has
> been a lot of information re: the Wenas area so I know that the lack of
> response should have nothing to do with this being an unknown area or an
> area of low bird populations.
>
> The following thoughts or questions came to mind when there was no
> response to my
> inquiry:
>
> 1. Is this nothing to worry about? People may be very familiar with what
> is involved in this process and are not worried. I don't know and
> therefore had the questions.
>
> 2. I'm not from the area anyway so why should I worry or expect people to
> respond to me.
>
> 3. Are people in the area so apathetic that they just did not respond for
> that reason?
>
> Maybe I am naive but I expected more of a response to this situation. I
> really thought that people might even want to know more about my
> conversations with the people working on this project. Red flags went up
> all over the place for me. The second contact was at 1:20 pm . The two
> individuals at that time were doing a "wildlife and vegetation survey" for
> the project. I asked about whether they were looking for birds and they
> said "those too". Now how much wildlife and how many birds do youthink
> will be observed from the car on Umptanum road on a very hot sunny day in
> July at 1:20 in the afternoon? If one is seriously concered about the
> animal and bird population one would not be doing their counts at that hour
> . Thesee two individuals were not there early in the morning.
>
> I am not very trusting of "systems" people, mining and lumber people etc.
> That is not to say that there are always problems but I always like to see
> what has been done in terms of environmental impact statements etc. It was
> certainly something that I would have spent time investigating had I not
> been flying home the next day. I thought others that lived closer would be
> interested in doing that. Maybe people have already done that but if that
> is the case why did no one report that? If that is not the case and it
> has not been investigated, why is that?
>
> I became much more sarcastic about this topic and your lack of reponse
> during the past week when there were over 35 e-mails re: Trivia and
> Terminology. Although interesting and fun that information won't make a
> big difference in the lives of birds or other wildlife.
>
> Thanks for listening.
>
> Regards,
>
> Sue
>