While the farm vs. prairie comparison is doubtless
true, there seem to be at least 2 major problems with
this argument.

First, privately owned farmland is not likely to
revert to prairie. If demand for millet for birdseed
drops, either the field will be rotated to a crop in
greater demand, or the price of millet will drop. If
the latter, the current owner may go broke, but the
land and water rights will almost certainly be bought
out by some form of agribusiness that thinks it can
survive with a thinner profit margin. Unless a
private group like the Nature Conservancy buys the
land, or some branch of the government buys it or the
development rights (so the owner can afford to let it
revert to prairie while living on one corner of the
acreage), you're not going to get wildlands, just
millet sold to livestock feed (see next point).

Second, I put out 10 to maybe 20 pounds of seed per
year. In the same time, my girlfriend and I eat at
least 500 pounds of beef, chicken, pork, etc.,
representing 5000 pounds of feed grain (by the
conventional 10:1 feed to meat ratio) and also a bunch
of cheese, milk, ice cream, for which I'm not sure of
the conversion efficiency. Say about 4 tons of feed
grain, which we could replace with 0.4 tons of peas,
beans, lofu, mushrooms, etc, and have a healthier
diet. While I'm way too lazy to adopt a vegan diet,
I could certainly cut back my animal consumption by 10
percent and save 0.36 tons (720 pounds) of this wasted
feed, not to mention the effect of the open range
grazing that accounts for some of the beef production
or the water pollution caused by the newer giant
corporate hog farms.

Then, unless the Nature Conservancy or the government
buys the land, the cropland will be used to grow
something else...

Maybe hemp farming for paper pulp will be
re-legalized, and we can save the spotted owl at the
expense of the bobolink. ;->

Mike

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Michael Melius <mmmelius at HOTMAIL.COM>
> To: <AUDUBON-CHAT at LIST.AUDUBON.ORG>
> Sent: Friday, January 07, 2000 11:06 AM
> Subject: Bird feeding according to Audubon
>
>
> > The latest Audubon magazine has an article on
> feeding
> birds. The article
SNIP
> >
> > An important aspect of bird feeding that wasn't
> discussed
> is where all the
> > "billion pounds of birdseed" are grown. A lot of
> that
> feed, to use a
> > chicken farmer's term, is grown on what used to be
> prairie. You don't see
> > many "WatchList" species at feeders. Meanwhile,
> many that
> are on the list
> > once nested where birdseed is now grown. Next
> time you're
> birding in SD,
> > let me know and I'll show you millet fields where
> Long-billed Curlews used
> > to nest.
> >
> > I've heard that 5% of the sunflower acreage goes
> for
> birdseed. I'd bet the
> > percentage is even higher for millet. We can
> pretend
> those percentages are
> > insignificant, or we can act on their existence,
> and seek
> to reduce our part
> > of that consumption.
SNIP
> > I am asking birders to join me in desisting from
> feeding,
> for the sake of
> > the birds and for the sake of the land, the
> habitats, lost
> to grow the seed.
> > That would send a message, a fine example, to
> the rest
> of the world about
> > the connection we make between consumption and the
> environment. If we
> > don't, we're just like most people, and don't want
> to be
> bothered with the
> > ecological effects of our actions.
> >
> > Bobolinks don't nest in sunflower fields. Let
> wild be
> wild. Those are my
> > rallying cries.
> >
> > Michael Melius
> > HCR 89 Box 275
> > Hermosa, SD 57744
> > 605.255.4766

=====
Mike Wagenbach wagen13 at yahoo.com
wagenATuDOTwashingtonDOTedu Seattle WA

The problem with expert advice is that it so often conflicts with one's plans.
-author unkown
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger.
http://im.yahoo.com