Subject: montlake fill
Date: May 21 12:00:56 2001
From: Deborah Wisti-Peterson - nyneve at u.washington.edu



hello tweets,

i was devasted to learn that one of my most favorite places in the
world, the montlake fill, had been struck with tragedy early this
morning. a three-alarm fire broke out in the administrative building
shortly after 300am. the administrative building looks like it is a
complete loss to my uneducated eyes.

my immediate concern, when i heard about the fire this morning, was
the condition of the library. i finally managed to find one fireman
who knew something about the condition of the library's contents, and
this fireman told me that there was some smoke damage to the main
library but the rare books room was untouched. later, i talked to some
of the librarians and grad students as they moved materials from the
rare books room and placed them on long tables in the conference room
to air out. they said the rare books are smoke damaged but seem to be
dry. although the firemen did put plastic sheets and tarps over the
library books, the library itself has at least one inch of water on the
floor. no one was able to say for sure if the books were alright, but
it is possible that at least some of the books in the main library are
water damaged, but that does remain to be seen.

while i was there, i watched a pair of starlings feed their chicks that
were located somewhere in the roof of the issacson lecture hall. the
parent birds were entering their nest on the same side of the building
as the administrative office building (the one that burned). how they
and their chicks survived the intense heat is something i'll never know.

there were a couple pairs of frantic white-crowned sparrows in the
parking lot next to the conference room, and a spotted towhee was
"meowing" from the trees in the nearby garden. it would not surprise
me to learn that these birds had lost their nests, but i can't be sure
about that, yet.

other birds seen on my quick walk back to my own, unburned, building
included a single adult bald eagle, and a pair of cinnamon teal.

i hope the university realizes the immense and unique value of this
facility. the montlake fill is (arguably) the best academic outreach
project that we have; i think it is the crown jewel of community-level
environmental education and involvement. i look forward to the day when
the fill recovers and becomes an even stronger and more integral member
of our community than it was before. i know the community is waiting to
be part of this recovery project, just as they have been involved with
everything else that the fill asked of them.

i wish the best of luck to everyone whose lives have been changed in
this terrible tragedy. i hope they know that our hearts go out to them
and that we are waiting to provide whatever assistance that they need,
all they have to do is ask.

regards,

Deborah Wisti-Peterson, PhD Candidate nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
Love the creator? Then protect the creation.