Hello Tweeters,

I'm new to the group, but thought y'all would find the following story of interest.
It is from yesterday's (1/10/01) News Tribune (Tacoma's daily newspaper). I have
copied and pasted directly from the News Tribune's website but the link is here:
http://search.tribnet.com/archive/archive30/0110b11.html . If you happen to have
the paper, there is a picture on the top of page A2 with another picture and the
story on page B1.

The story, itself, is of particular interest to me because it is my sister's
property to which the nests are being relocated. They are the ones that initially
noticed the downed trees and missing nests and subsequently alerted both Fish and
Wildlife and the local media. If it weren't for them, this nesting colony
(according to the article, one of four in Pierce County) may have been irretrievably
lost.

Susan M.
Sumner, WA
smuttart at qwest.net

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Volunteers, state workers relocate disturbed nests

NEW TREES: Original colony of birds included about 40 nests

01/10/2001

Eijiro Kawada; The News Tribune

When great blue herons return to their homes on a hill along Pioneer Way East this
spring, they will
have different views.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife and several volunteers are restoring a
heron colony of
about 40 nests.

The original rookery, several hundred feet away, was destroyed in November when
someone cut
down trees that held the nests.

"We are trying to put back exactly what was there and bring it back," said Timothy
Brown, an
independent contractor and expert on forestry and wildlife.

He climbed trees as tall as 100 feet Tuesday to restore what is one of four active
heron rookeries
in Pierce County.

Michelle Tirhi, urban biologist for the Fish and Wildlife Department, said this is
the first project she
knows of that tries to rebuild a colony, although restorations of individual nests
for reptiles, eagles
and hawks are common.

Volunteers recovered several of the nests from fallen trees on property owned by the
Trout Lodge
fish hatchery.

State and Pierce County wildlife agents investigated to find out who cut down the 22
alders and
whether the person violated laws protecting wildlife habitats.

Tirhi said they closed the investigation without suspects or witnesses.

But charitable minds in the chilly woods Tuesday overcame the destruction of the
home to 50
birds.

Neal McCord, who lives behind the Trout Lodge hatchery, offered his land and maple
trees as a
new home to the herons.

"I'm not exactly an environmentalist, but human beings have chased out wildlife
farther and farther,"
McCord said. "These herons need a place to live."

He has lived on the hill for 45 years and has seen the herons come and go.

"When I bought this property, I said, 'I'm going be here until I die.' And that's
what I'm going to
do," he said, assuring the heron's colony will be there as long as he lives.

McCord's son, Harlon, will inherit the 6 acres. He took a day off from work Tuesday
to help with
the restoration project.

"Unbelievable," said Brandon Kenny, 14, as he looked up at worker Randy McDougall in
a tree
about 75 feet off the ground.

Kenny, along with other volunteers, was covered in mud after recovering nests from
fallen trees.
Some were as large as 3 feet across.

The workers will put as many as three nests in each tree and hope to put up 20 nests
over the next
two weeks.

Some nests were damaged when they fell from trees, but volunteers rebuilt them using
plastic
netting.

"There's more nests down there," Kenny said. "You have to go through some nasty
stuff to get in
there though."

As the noise from Interstate 5 echoed among the trees and airplanes flew over their
heads, Brown
and McDougall lifted nests tied to ropes.

"The tricky thing with herons is they like to be on top of very thin branches,"
Tirhi said. "If anybody
can do it, Tim and Randy can do it."

After placing the nests on the trees, they will place wooden duck decoys in them and
set up a
sound system with bird sounds to attract herons to their new home, Tirhi said.

Herons should come back in late February, McCord said.

- - -

* Staff writer Eijiro Kawada covers East Pierce County. Reach him at 253-597-8633 or

eijiro.kawada at mail.tribnet.com.

? The News Tribune