Dear Dan and tweets, Several of you have asked me to be more specific
about exactly where this field is. You can find a map at:
www.constancypress.com > Books and Authors > In My Nature > More about
the Fill.

The field is the one north of NE Clark Road. It parallels NE 45th
Street. Strictly speaking, it is a part of the original landfill but
not a part of the CUH's portion, Union Bay Natural Area. It has long
been under the aegis of the UW's Athletics Dept. They have used it for
years as a field for intramural softball, Ultimate Frisbee, and also
rugby.

On its west side it is bordered by University Slough, which *is* a
part of UBNA. The slough attracts various riparian birds, which then
often go out onto the field to hunt for seeds and worms and insects.
As I mentioned in my original email, many birds use this field. Gulls
come here to pull up worms. Ducks and geese graze the green grass.
Sparrows eat seeds. Insectivores find a lot of insects - I forgot to
include swallows on my original list. We get Barn Swallows here, as
well as Violet-greens.

If you want to read the UW's notice of its plans, here is the link:

http://www.washington.edu/news/articles/official-notice-environmental-impact-statement-for-ima-field-1-improvements

Several people have already emailed Jan about this. Your emails are
polite and thoughtful, which is great. Numbers count, though, folks.
If we want to help the birds of the Fill, we have to respond strongly.
It would be great if Jan could go to her bosses and say, "Wow, we got
2,000 emails about this. Maybe we'd better re-think it." Please, if
you can, take a moment to help. - Connie


On Feb 9, 2012, at 10:18 PM, notcalm at comcast.net wrote:

> Hello Connie,
>
> Would you please post a map with the subject area identified? I
> think it would help us all in responses. I just wrote and am holding
> an e-mail and want to make sure I am sure of the correct location of
> the field.
>
> Thanks,
> Dan Reiff
>
> From: "Marty" <namaste at wavecable.com>
> To: "Connie Sidles" <constancesidles at gmail.com>
> Cc: "TWEETERS tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, February 9, 2012 9:33:37 PM
> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Turf destruction at the Fill
>
> My understanding was they are trying to eradicate the asparagus
> growing in that area?
>
> Marty at www.martykramerstudio.com
>
> On Feb 9, 2012, at 6:46 PM, Connie Sidles
> <constancesidles at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hey tweets, I too just found out about this. As mentioned in earlier
> emails, the UW Athletics department is planning to dig up all the
> natural sod in the field north of Clark and replace it with
> artificial turf.
>
> If you care about this, then now is the time to let the UW know! The
> contact person is Jan Arntz. Her email is:
>
> jarntz at u.washington.edu
>
> There will not be a public hearing, so this is our only chance to
> let our opinions be known. The comment period lasts until Feb. 27.
> Please, please help with this. Once the field is gone, it's gone for
> good.
>
> I hope we can generate two or three thousand emails expressing our
> reactions to this. Here are some relevant points you might want to
> make (and you can email me for more information if you want):
>
> 1. The field is presently grass and is used sporadically by UW
> intramural teams. When people aren't using it, birds are.
> 2. Birds who have come here to feed are:
> Cackling Geese
> Greater White-fronted Geese
> Snow Geese
> American Wigeons
> Gadwalls
> Mallards
> Canadas (of course)
> Glaucous-winged Gulls
> Mew Gulls
> Ring-billed Gulls
> California Gulls
> Thayer's Gulls
> Herring Gulls
> Western Gulls
> Killdeer
> American Pipits
> American Robins
> European Starlings (yes)
> Red-winged Blackbirds
> Brewer's Blackbirds
> Brown-headed Cowbirds
> Rock Pigeons
> Peregrine Falcons
> Northern Flickers
> Golden-crowned Sparrows
> White-crowned Sparrows
> Savannah Sparrows
> Song Sparrows
> Hermit Thrushes (in the bushes that line the western edge)
> American Crows
>
> and probably other species that I'm forgetting at the moment (I'm
> late to a meeting and must rush!).
>
> 3. Right now, this field is a great example of people sharing space
> with wildlife. If artificial turf goes in, this will completely
> destroy habitat for wildlife.
>
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>
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