Mark and all,

I forwarded the threat to Fred Hoyt, Facilities Manager for U W Botanic
Garden (till recently known as the Center for Urban Horticulture). His
reply is below.

Al Wagar
Shoreline

Al,

Thanks for passing this along. I think Connie's approach is most
correct in that what mostly takes place is that we are able to get along
quite nicely. The respect for the area and wildlife, not just birds, is
paramount. I do wish they would use the correct name and recognize it
as an outdoor laboratory for the UW, oh well.

Fred

Fred Hoyt
Manager, Facilities and Grounds
University of Washington Botanic Gardens

On 8/30/06 1:27 PM, "Mark Wensnahan" <reganw at rockisland.com> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Recently I was at the Montlake Fill early in the morning. I was
> keeping to the gravel paths which I thought was proper when along
> comes a man with a camera and big telephoto lens and goes straight
> off the gravel paths and walks around the ponds quite close in. In at
> least one case he was walking on a fairly obvious path through the
> grass though it was a path not lined with gravel. I was tempted to do
> the same in order to get a better look at some shorebirds but then
> noticed a sign about fragile habitat. Later in my walk I came across
> obviously well-worn, non-gravel paths that lead down to the Lake. I
> wasn't sure whether to hold to a gravel only policy in this case.
>
> Does anybody have any thoughts on appropriate paths to use at the Fill?
>
> Thanks, Mark
>
>
>