Jon Anderson wrote:

The Federal and State governments' 'wildlife' agencies have altered the habitat and hazed the birds from their nesting colony on Rice Island in the Columbia River to reduce their predation on salmon & steelhead smolts - since 'They' are unwilling to modify the Columbia and Snake dams' effects on the fish or the other habitat maladies caused by 150 years of human existance in the region, the birds are deemed the culprit and suffer the consequences.

The birds have relocated to Sand Island, 5 miles below the Megler-
Astoria bridge, and we can only hope that the terns' expected lower
predation rates on salmonid smolts at that location will give the agencies a reason to lessen their persecution of these birds.

I would like to clarify these statements. As a Research Scientist for Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife who is heavily involved in the Caspian Tern issue, I feel it is important to point out that:

1. Caspian Terns were NOT hazed off of Rice Island this year by anyone or any agency (state, federal or tribal).

2. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) had mandated that The Corps of Engineers (COE) haze birds off Rice Island in summer 2000; as a result, COE hired a private firm to do so.

3. No hazing occurred because a coalition of environmental groups sued the COE, and a Seattle judge ruled in their favor, thereby halting all hazing activities BEFORE they began.

4. WDFW and other natural resource management agencies involved in the tern issue are not, in my opinion, persecuting Caspian Terns. We are doing our best to responsibly balance the management needs of salmon and terns.

5. It is a false dichotomy to say that agencies want to make terns, and not dams, the culprit of our salmon woes. It is obvious that our salmon problems have been caused by many things including both dams and terns. As a result, the solution will have to involve addressing as many of these root causes as possible including both dams and terns. Some of these causes, like dams, are more long-term solutions. Terns, on the other hand, are more of a quick-fix, relatively speaking.
Research by Dan Roby, Ken Collis, Dave Craig, Don Lyons and others from Oregon State clearly shows that moving terns around East Sand Island (close to the mouth of the Columbia) eat a much lower percentage of salmon than do terns at Rice Island. If "we" (various natural resource agencies) can relocate a substantial fraction of the terns in the Columbia River away from Rice Island to East Sand Island as well as to additional locations outside the Columbia River Estuary, BOTH salmon and terns will be better off.


Chris Thompson