"In a message dated 5/3/2007 7:45:26 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
lostriver AT completebbs.com writes:

Oh, yes, I also agree that birth control strategies are critical. For
people, not Barred Owls."

The following is meant as a light-hearted thought. When Kelly posted this it
reminded me of a coworker several years ago that remarked that by being
responsible in our birth measures we as conservationists are actually
putting ourselves into endangered species in terms of political weight. We
are being good citizens, yet those that don't care about the future world
have 3,4,5 times as many children and thus 3,4,5 times more future voters...
AS I stated above certainly just a humorous ironic thought that by doing the
right thing we are making it harder on ourselves in the world of
conservation politics.

As a note on the Barred Owl question it is a VERY difficult question with no
easy answer. I would like to add a point that hasn't been stressed enough
(though I'm not advocating either side by this point, merely pointing out
food for thought). There are VERY few things that are not under active
management in the world of conservation, most species and habitats,
especially in the US and Canada have been impacted by humans and their
natural order has been impacted by humans. For a wildlife management
viewpoint it is irresponsible to have an initial impact on a species and
then to back off and decide to "let nature take its course". I don't know
what the best combination of management of the spotties are but to do a
totally hands off approach will only doom the spotties and won't result in a
natural order, we have altered their future through our actions it is OUR
RESPONSIBILITY to actively help manage the ecosystem to best help the
species and minimize the impact that we have on them. Remember: NO
MANAGEMENT IS A MANAGEMENT SCHEME, usually one with not a very good outcome.

My daughter is 18 months old. It is my hope that Spotties will be around for
her to appreciate as an adult, that fact remains to be seen. Let's hope for
the best and work to make responsible choices to make that happen. I really
don't want to turn to a kid birder in 40 years and say I remember the last
time a NSPOW was seen in WA....

Scott Downes
downess at charter.net
Yakima WA