Can you spell

PRE EMP TIVE STRIKE ?

(If not, think Caspian Terns, DC Corm, et al.)

Alan Richards / Naselle WA 98638
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Subject: White Pelican nesting site bulldozed and buried

Date: Fri Sep 14 2012 19:58 pm

From: aemlen AT centurytel.net



Today I paddled out to Miller Sands in the Lewis & Clark National Wildlife
Refuge, on the Columbia River across from Altoona. For the past few
summers, the western spit of Miller Sands has been the site of a White
Pelican nesting colony. It was the only one on the lower Columbia.
Northwest Bird Research biologists banded 71 White Pelican chicks there
(and found an additional 20 chicks that were too small to band) on July 20.
There were about 400 adults. Today, I found the Army Corps of Engineers had
their dredging equipment set up there. They had bulldozed all the
vegetation and buried the entire nesting area under dredge spoil, and were
continuing to add more sand. It's likely that the site will be unusable for
them next year.
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