Minnesota Parks Need Help

Birders and Hunters in Minnesota.  We need to work together.  We have some problems that are coming up and we need to voice our dismay: Potential Closing Of Many Minnesota State Parks

According to the Star Tribune, "the Republican-controlled House would cut deepest, but both houses would limit spending for the environment and natural resources during the next two years to about $200 million, a trim of about $40 million from projected spending. The House and Senate proposed more cuts than DFL Gov. Mark Dayton recommended, but he makes up much of the gap with outdoor and environmental fee increases.

DNR officials said the cuts could force a "mothballing" of up to 10 parks until state finances improve. Under the plan, the parks would remain open, but campgrounds and buildings would probably be closed and unstaffed."

This is so short sided.  I can't think of one single person I know who hasn't been affected by the economy in the last few years.  Non Birding Bill and I included.  I don't blog about my financial woes, but like many people out there--we have them, it's inevitable if you earn a portion of your living as a free lancer.  The one thing that sustains me when cash flow is short is going outdoors, taking in the natural world at our local parks.  It's one of the affordable things a family can do.  We need to fight, to find out what we would give to help keep these parks open.  Minnesota State Parks are not just recreation, but classrooms and what makes this state a special place to live.

Logging Proposed In Minnesota State Parks

This also according to the Star Tribune, "A bill requiring the Department of Natural Resources to commercially log trees in two southeastern Minnesota state parks, which officials say would be unprecedented, has sparked the debate and galvanized park supporters. The bill will be voted on next week in the full Minnesota House.

It orders the DNR to harvest black walnut and "timber resources suitable for harvest'' in Frontenac and Whitewater state parks, and use profits to help fund the park system. Bill supporters say the state can't afford to let valuable trees rot in the woods. Opponents say the measure is shortsighted and would open up state parks to commercialization. The DNR opposes the bill.

But Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, who added the logging amendment to a large environmental finance bill, said it makes sense.

"The alarmists say you're going to clear-cut the whole thing, but that's not what the amendment is,'' he said. "It's simply to harvest the merchantable timber. It would leave 99 percent of trees intact. This is something we have to consider in the economic times we are in. We can't afford to watch our state assets rot.''"

Yikes!  I think Rep. Drazkowski is an example of someone who never spent time in the woods and didn't pay attention in science class.  Those trees are not just rotting, but are a huge resource for the many people who enjoy watching birds.  All the birds that feed on insects found in "rotting" trees: pileated woodpeckers, brown creepers, black and white warblers, prothonotary warblers, red-breasted nuthatches, eastern screech-owls, barred owls, flickers...that's just scratching the surface.

This cannot pass.

Legislative-Citizens Commission on Minnesota Resources Poised To 25 Programs

This from Minnesota Public Radio, "The LCCMR -- the Legislative-Citizens Commission on Minnesota Resources -- decided to stick with the package it approved in December, even though the legislature is expected to make major changes.

But since the November election, Republicans are in control at the Legislature, and the new chairmen of the House and Senate environment committees say there are new priorities. The two chairmen presented the group with a list of 25 projects they said had no chance of passing this year. Many were research efforts; others addressed global warming and environmental education.

Rep. Denny McNamara, R-Hastings, chair of the House Environment Committee, handed out a new list that represented a compromise. It would drop 27 projects and add five new ones -- all in a category he calls "emerging issues."

The emerging issues McNamara wants to address include chronic wasting disease in deer, aquatic invasive species, and the Coon Rapids dam.

And now there are even talks of changing the the lottery funds law."

The Coon Rapids Dam pisses me off on so many levels.  The proposal is to invest 17 million into repairing the dam and making it an effective barrier to the upstream migration of Asian carp and other unwanted fish.

If this would actually work to stop the Asian carp, I would be so on board with this.  Alas, it will not.  It's simply an over priced band-aid.  And lack of science and nature based education must be playing a roll with the law makers thinking.

In the article, it quotes Paul Labovitz, the superindentent of the park I work for:

"We are not convinced that the Coon Rapids dam is an effective barrier and that refurbishing the dam will only delay, not prevent, the spread of Asian carp," said Paul Labovitz, superintendent of the 72-mile Mississippi National River and Recreation Area.

He said it would be more effective to simply close the locks at Lock and Dam No. 1, a 38-foot structure below the Ford Parkway bridge between Minneapolis and St. Paul, or the Upper St. Anthony Lock and Dam, a 49-foot drop near downtown Minneapolis' Stone Arch Bridge.

"If the state relies on the Coon Rapids dam as the first and best place to stop Asian carp and ignores the river below, we believe the Mississippi River through the whole corridor could suffer," Labovitz said.

This blog post is a rant, but we need to stop this madness.  People move to Minnesota and visit it for the culture and the outdoors.  We've had so much success!  We can't throw it out now, we can't undo all the great work we've done up to this point.

Eastern Screech-Owl At MN History Center

While working at the park service today, I noticed a Tweet from my friend Sara asking if I knew that the Minnesota History Center had an owl stuck inside.  She referenced a photo at @MNHS has posted on their Twitter Feed:

An eastern screech-owl (gray phase).  The History Center is in downtown St. Paul, only a few blocks away from where my visitor center is located for the National Park Service.  The History Center also tweeted that the University of Minnesota's Raptor Center was coming to capture the owl.

By the time I arrived, the small owl had already been captured by the TRC experts.  They took it back to the clinic to give it an exam, but I expect the bird will be released quite soon.  As I entered the building, I could hear people on the roof doing repairs.  A few quick questions at the box office confirmed my suspicion: the owl mostly likely entered the fourth floor via the roof repair area sometime in the night.

As I left, I noticed a stand of pines and thought, "Wow, that would be a nice place for an urban screech owl to roost.  I wonder if I can find any owl sign?

Yep, I found a spot with poop consistent with with small owl fecal material.  I can't say for certain that this is THE screech-owl that was captured, but most likely it is.

Glad the story had a quick ending and TRC was able to get the owl out of the gigantic History Center.  Here's a video from the St. Paul Pioneer Press about the wayward owl:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=a6v9L7QxgiM#at=16[/youtube]

 

Red-tailed hawk nesting

The sexual tensions between pairs of red-tailed hawks was palpable today. They were either paired up on light posts or females were on the nest while a male was perched nearby keeping watching. I passed this particular nest in a ravine just off of a county road in Hastings, MN.  I got out to get a photo of the bird facing the road in the morning light, only to discover my battery dead in my Nikon D40--DOH!  I ended up hand holding my point and shoot Canon Camera and got a reasonably good photo.  I will definitely need to come back and get another photo before the leaves come out.

After my time on the Outdoor Talk show, I was driving home and chuckled when I stopped at the end of the exit for Hwy 7 off of southbound Highway 100.  Just to the upper right of the traffic signal is a red-tailed hawk nest.  It's a long light, so I took a crappy photo with my cell phone.  I had time to scan with binos and could see a red-tailed hawk head sticking out of the nest.  I imagine this is going to be a distracting place when the young learn to fly.

 

Snow Storms During Migration & Goose Collars

True to form, our great state of Minnesota received a dumping of snow yesterday. The nice thing about March snow storms is that they melt relatively quickly. Even the city gets slack about it, "Eight inches? No Snow Emergency or parking restrictions, it will melt, deal with it." But many people wonder about those early spring migrants and how it will affect them? Over the weekend, my buddy Clay Taylor and I were at the National Eagle Center and we tallied all sorts of early spring migrants--even tree swallows.  What do insect eating birds do when they get back early and have to contend with several inches of snow? Yesterday, Michael Bates sent me a photo of a woodcock he found in his yard during our Minnesota snow storm.

So, what do early insect eating migrants do when they come back early? They adapt. Woodcocks eat mainly earthworms, but according to Birds of North America Online the will eat some vegetation. Same with tree swallows, they will eat berries if there are no flying insects to feed on. That's all part of the gamble of coming back early to get the prime territory, if you can find something to keep you going for a few days, you'll get the best territory. Not all bird make this, it's part of what makes migration so fascinating.

Here are some Canada geese who found a puddle of open water amid the snow at Lilydale Park in St. Paul, Mn.  These were part of a flock that included about five neck banded geese. All of the numbers were sequential, so I wonder if this is a family group banded last summer that's migrating together. I turned in the band numbers to the Bird Banding Lab and I'm curious to find out where these birds were banded.

Remember this goose? This is a banded Canada goose that I saw at the confluence of the St. Croix River and the Mississippi River in December of 2009.  I submitted the record with a note expressing concern about the tightness of the collar on the goose.  It's been over a year and I haven't heard a thing. I found a page about goose color bands with some interesting info just based on the color of the neck bands and the characters on it:

"Orange and Blue collars are widely used in the Mississippi Flyway. These collars were part of an extensive effort to track the populations and movements of Canada Geese. Orange collars were used in the Canadian portion of the Mississippi Flyway, and Blue collars were used in the US portion of the Mississippi Flyway."

So, sounds as if this goose is also a Mississippi Flyway bird.  Then, I got an interesting email last week from Erik Collins:

"I was birding at Pt. Douglas Park today and saw a Canada Goose with a blue neck collar that had "617A" on it.  I got home and searched online for information about blue collars on geese.  This link from your site came up.

The goose you photographed with the super-tight collar in December of 2009 was the same one I saw today!  Thankfully, it looked a lot more comfortable.

Thought you would find this interesting."

I found it very interesting that someone else saw the goose over a year later alive and well and the collar looking comfortable.  Must have been extremely cold that day and the goose's neck feathers were super fluffed.

I resubmitted the sighting a second time with a note saying that as someone who has volunteered with bird banding projects, I understand that it can take awhile to turn in banding entries, but over a year is a bit much.  When I received my acknowledgment of the color band submissions from the BBL, I noticed this in the email:

"We cannot predict or control the nature of the response you will get from the bander, although we do make them aware that color marking authorizations carry with them an obligation to respond to the public. Many color marking projects are designed to study only local movements, and the bander may not be interested in reports from afar."

That's such BS.  If you put a collar on a bird (so bright that even non birders notice) you should have a system in place so if the goose goes where you don't expect you can at least send out some basic info in an email.  I'm not expecting a long response, but I would like to know what state this bird was banded in and what year.  It would be nice to know that bare bones info of how old this bird is and where it has been.

By not responding to neck band reports, a researcher could discourage people from ever turning in any band that they find--what's the point if no one responds? That certainly is not helpful to fellow bird banders.  Also, a lot of people who don't understand banding do not like it and think it's cruel.  Not responding to banding reports only reinforces that idea.

I don't see what's so hard about turning in the date and place of where you banded a bird so the BBL can at least let the person submitting the band number know the basic info.  Heck, just create a document with your study's theory and copy and paste when you get a neck report.

At any rate, I'm glad the blue neck band hasn't interfered with the bird's survival and we at least know it's still a year older.