To: KERN at u.washington.edu

Response to UBNA Management Plan

Dear Mr. Ewing,

As frequent, long-term birding visitors and financial contributors to the Union Bay Natural Area, we applaud your desire to maintain this treasure with sensitivity and sound, long-term environmental priorities.

Adding 3.5 fulltime employees, as the plan proposes, is essential to the stewardship of such a large site and meeting the challenges of volunteer coordination and controlling invasive plants. We are very happy to see the plan to expand the natural area into the E5 parking lot, though we think leaving a small parking area would be helpful. We would very much like to have a Sani-Kan installed in this area for site visitors, as is currently done during football games.

However, we are concerned that "bird photography blinds, kayak pullouts, wildlife structures and feeding stations, trail drains; short paths with lookouts for access to wetlands, slough, and the shoreline; and interpretative signage" may cause more disruption to wildlife than benefit. The kayak pullouts are of particular concern since we have recently seen kayaks extremely close to shore and heard reports of kayaks actually in the southwest pond during the breeding period.

While we know that it takes human intervention to maintain a "wild" area in the city, we urge you to use a light hand: avoiding large construction changes and instead letting "nature be nature" as much as possible. The statement in the Management Guidelines that "UBNA is first and foremost an outdoor laboratory of the University" is somewhat worrisome to us. We feel that it should be first and foremost a location where resident and migrant wildlife can flourish in an appropriate setting.

With this in mind, we feel that it is important to keep the prairies open and to not add canopy. The prairie is a very rich habitat and we feel that there is already a sufficient amount of mature and newly planted tree cover. It is much better to mow the grasslands once a year after the breeding season than to shade out blackberries by planting live willow-stakes, especially around the potholes in the fields. The openness of the grasslands must be preserved.

We encourage UBNA managers to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to keep lake levels low enough to retain mud flats along the lakeshore. One of the biggest threats to the site in spring is high lake levels, which flood the shoreline, eliminate all mud in the spring, and flood the southwest pond, making it possible for kayakers and canoeists to paddle into this sensitive area. Mud flats are essential for supporting shorebird migration. We also urge you to include the reed islands south of the Loop Trail and east of Husky Stadium to the management plan. It is very likely that American Bittern could nest in this habitat with appropriate management.

Additional signage is needed to discourage off-trail walking of people and especially dogs. Other signage should be seasonal throughout the site, letting people know when and where nesting activity is going on so it can be protected.

If new trails are created in the East Basin (also known as Surber Grove), they should be very short, one-way trails that would not negatively impact the reclusive wildlife that breeds in these areas. The current trails are frequently flooded; thus, any new trails here should be boardwalk.

Do not build the proposed trail from Douglas Road to Franklin in order to draw walkers and joggers. There should be a few places where people do not go, in order to allow birds respite from human activity. A wild space should not also be expected to serve sport/recreation purposes.

If security lighting must be installed along Wahkiakum Lane, it should be downward-directed and designed to minimize light pollution.

The amazing diversity of bird species at the UBNA shows that the current balance of grassland, forest, shoreline, marsh and pond must have something going for it -- from the birds? viewpoint at least. Let?s not go overboard with ?correcting? nature as humans are so wont to do.

Thank you very much for your leadership in protecting this tremendously valuable area. We are so fortunate as birders and Seattle residents to benefit from the UBNA.

Sincerely,

Helen Gilbert and Henry Noble

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