Subject: [Tweeters] "Washington Birder" listing question
Date: Jan 8 11:00:18 2013
From: Pete Fahey - peterfahey at comcast.net


As I look at the maps provided, I see a thick, solid, green line that
encompasses the entire North Cascade National Park Complex. It seems to me
that the Washington Birder reporting program is to allow folks to report
birds seen in particular areas of the state. N. Cascade NP Complex is a
specific, contiguous area and should be treated as such.



Pete Fahey

Snoqualmie, WA





From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Gary
Bletsch
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2013 7:25 AM
To: tweeters tweeters
Subject: [Tweeters] "Washington Birder" listing question



Dear Tweeters,



I think I may have asked this question here before, but here goes.



The categories in the "Washington Birder" listing report sheet include "N
Cascades N. P."



I have gone back and forth in my mind, as to whether this includes just the
Park, proper, or the two recration areas. I'd love to hear what other

Tweeters think about this--do we consider this a list for the Park, proper,
or do we include Ross Lake National Recreation Area and Lake Chelan National
Recreation Area as well? Ross Lake NRA in particular includes some excellent
birding areas that are easily reached by car--County Line Ponds, Newhalem
Ponds, Newhalem itself, Diablo, Colonial Creek Campground, and so forth.



Besides myself, only seven other birders have lists shown on "Washington
Birder" for this Park, as of last year. One of those is of course the late
Patrick Sullivan, with 107 species. I haven't gotten around to asking Howard
Armstrong about his list, which stands at 93. Unlike most birders, Howard
has spent enormous amounts of time in the remote areas of the Park, during
his climbing days, so his 93 might actually be within the Park itself.



Here is a link to the Park Service's map: http://www.nps.gov/noca/index.htm
.



As the map shows, there are very, very few places where the average tourist
can get into the Park itself without a hike. Most of those

hikes cross serious mountain terrain. The single easy exception is Cascade
Pass, where one can drive right into the Park. One could also take a boat to
Stehekin and go up a road from there, leading into the Park. As far as I
know, that's it--the rest of the vast Park area can be reached only by a
hike--and most of those hikes are long, difficult, wilderness treks. Some of
them require a combination of a boat ride and a hike!



Driving up State Highway 20, between Marblemount and Newhalem, there is a
big new sign for North Cascades National Park, complete with faux glacier.
I'm sure that many visiting birders passing this way assume that they are in
the park, but they're actually "only" in the Ross Lake NRA.



Here is a link to the Park's bird checklist:



http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/birds/chekbird/r1/ncascade.htm



It is interesting to note that this checklist includes the two Recreation
Areas. This seems to answer the question I've posed, but it would be
interesting to hear whether Tweeters take the same approach.



If I get some replies to this query, I'd be happy to send back a summary of
the results to Tweeters.



Yours truly,



Gary Bletsch



Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA



garybletsch at yahoo.com



"Nun," sagte ich, "wenn ich ein Taugenichts bin, so ist's gut, so will ich
in die Welt gehen, und mein Glueck machen." Und eigentlich war mir das recht
lieb, denn es war mir kurz vorher selber eingefallen, auf Reisen zu gehen,
da ich die Goldammer, welche im Herbst und Winter immer betruebt an unserm
Fenster sang: "Bauer, miet' mich, Bauer, miet' mich!" nun in der schoenen
Fruehlingszeit wieder ganz stolz und lustig vom Baume rufen hoerte: "Bauer,
behalt' deinen Dienst!"