HI:
Note the disclaimer from the Cornell Lab in paragraph 4:
Subject: Re: IBWO New Release
From: Donald Catanzaro <dgcatanzaro AT HOTMAIL.COM>
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2005 21:57:46 +0000

Hi All,

I thought searchers might be interest in knowing this. Things are buzzing
down in LR today !

********************************************************************
This is a News Release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Southeast
Region. While you can't reply to this message, you can call me at (404)
679-7291, or send me a separate e-mail to: tom_mackenzie AT fws.gov.

Thanks, Tom MacKenzie, Chief, Media Relations
*******************************************************************

August 2, 2005
Contact: Jeff Fleming, 404/679-7287

No Changes Planned for Public Access at White River National Wildlife
Refuge
Sound recordings suggest presence of Ivory-billed Woodpecker

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said today it plans no changes at this
time to public use management at the White River National Wildlife Refuge
in eastern Arkansas.

This announcement comes on the heels of yesterday's news that three
scientists are withdrawing a paper expressing doubt about evidence of the
rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Their decision to withdraw the
paper is based on a sampling of sound recordings taken from White River in
January, 2005 that strongly suggest the presence of Ivory-billed
Woodpeckers there.

These recordings are part of 17,000 hours of audio taken over the past 18
months at dozens of locations throughout the Cache and White River
ecosystem. Findings from Cornell's research will be presented at the
American Ornithologists Union meeting later this month in Santa Barbara,
California. While Cornel's scientists and others are excited about the
initial results, only 20% of the recordings have been analyzed. Indeed,
Cornell scientists emphasize that they cannot be 100% certain that the
sounds were made by an Ivory-billed Woodpecker. The Service will continue
to monitor the research activities in the area.

In April, the Department of the Interior, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, The
Nature Conservancy, and other partners announced the extraordinary
rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker at Cache River National Wildlife
Refuge.

Members of two working groups of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Recovery Team
are meeting today and tomorrow in Little Rock to begin developing the
bird's recovery plan.

White River National Wildlife Refuge consists of more than 160,000 acres of
bottomland hardwood forest in southeastern Arkansas. It adjoins Cache
River National Wildlife Refuge, where there have been multiple sightings of
the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. White River National Wildlife Refuge has
active hunting, fishing, and environmental education programs, and
maintains a visitor center opened in 2003 in St. Charles, Arkansas.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency
responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and
plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American
people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge
System, which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small
wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national
fish hatcheries, 63 fish and wildlife management offices and 81 ecological
services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws,
administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations,
restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife
habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their
conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program,
which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on
fishing and hunting equipment to State fish and wildlife agencies.
-FWS-

For more information about the recovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker,
visit http://www.fws.gov/ivorybill.

_________________________________________________________________

--
Ian Paulsen
Bainbridge Island, WA USA
A.K.A.:Birdbooker
Rallidae all the way!