Subject: [Tweeters] =?windows-1252?q?Help_needed_rebuilding_WA_state_=26_?=
Date: Apr 1 04:34:58 2014
From: Matt Bartels - mattxyz at earthlink.net


Hi Tweeters & INWBirders-

I need some help sorting this out. As you know [along w/ others] I maintain the official WA state bird list and help maintain the county lists. In general it is an incremental process, checking in with WBRC decisions, announcements of county firsts and the like. But I'm a little overwhelmed by this latest change and am hoping to crowd-source the response.

As you might well have seen on the ABA Blog [aba.blog.org] the ABA along with the AOU check-list committee recently announced they were going to follow the guidance of the February ruling by the US Government to remove all BIA lands from formal state & county jurisdictions. This seemingly obscure ruling now means that all regional checklists in the U.S. do not include any birds seen on Tribal/Reservation Lands -- instead, Reservation lists will be treated as separate category for listing purposes.

As you can imagine, for a state like Washington with large areas under tribal control, this may have some significant impact on formal State and County lists. In particular, I imagine there are some birds seen from Cape Flattery [on the Makah Reservation] that now need to be removed from the state list. County lists for Clallam, Yakima, Okanogan, Ferry & Stevens counties in particular will likely be similarly affected. I assume off-shore waters will follow the same guidelines, though I haven't explicitly seen this mentioned in any of the articles I've read.

I'm hoping you can help me by identifying county and state first records that were found on lands formerly considered part of Washington but now outside our listing jurisdiction. Please send details on all such sightings to me here.

On a more personal note -- this is going to wreak havoc with many of our personal county life lists -- I know I've lost a ton of Clallam Co birds, and I fear my totals for Ferry & Stevens Counties are going to be similarly affected. For those using eBird, I anticipate the moderators will have the new jurisdictions in place within a week, and all county totals will be relatively easy to recalculate -- this is definitely one of those times when eBird record keeping is going to prove extremely beneficial to those who use it. I'm trying to look at the bright side as I now have a new Makah list and a new Colville list , etc. But mostly I'm seeing the shrinking totals and not enjoying the view.

Here's a map of the reservations in WA: http://www.washingtontribes.org/default.aspx?ID=48 [ I'd forgotten about Lummi Flats, and the potential of the Swinomish Rez to affect things....]

Thanks for any help you can provide today, and I'll send around updates as soon as we can correct all the official lists.

Matt Bartels
Seattle, WA