VOLUME 32, NUMBER 9 JUNE 2001
WARIOTO AT A GLANCE

REGULAR MEETING: Thursday, June 7, 7:30 p.m., room 102, McCord Building, APSU
PROGRAM: "Frogs and Toads of Tennessee" by Dr. Cindy Taylor, Austin Peay State University
HOSPITALITY: Post-meeting refreshments will be provided.
BOARD MEETING: Thursday, June 7, 7:00 p.m., room 214, McCord Science Bldg., APSU
FIELD TRIP: Saturday, June 16 at 7:30 p.m. -- An evening trip to "Learn the Frog Calls" led by Bob Brinkman and Susan Fletcher, APSU graduate students. Meet in the McCord parking lot at APSU at 7:30 p.m. See details below

As the 2000-2001 program and field trip schedule comes to a close this June, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the officers and board members: Steve and Debbie Hamilton, Gloria Milliken, Rebecca Houtman, Joe Schiller, Amy Atkins, Colleen White, Suva Bastin, Heather Hollis, Barry Podell, Barbara Wilbur, Randy Ellis and Jill Freethy who have helped plan, organize, and execute all of the year’s events. I have really enjoyed serving as president. We are already looking forward to next year and encourage you to provide suggestions and idea about future Warioto Audubon activities. Make your ideas known at the next meeting or by calling or e-mailing me (387-4071; slschil@attglobal.net) or by contacting another officer. I would like to see our chapter continue to reach out to the community and become more widely known. I would also like to see the chapter take specific stands on environmental issues that face Montgomery County, such as urban sprawl, and become a more vocal advocate for our local environment.

PROGRAM NOTES, Sally Schiller
I would like to thank Steve and Carol Baskauf who presented our May program on Southern African Ecosystems: Diversity and Challenges. Using a series maps Steve very effectively explained how the prevailing ocean and air currents establish the climates in the region which result in temperate deciduous forests on the west coast and dry chaparral on the east coast of the continent’s southern tip. Using landscape photographs and close-ups of regional flora and fauna the resulting ecosystems were described and the human impact on these ecosystems was explored. I told Steve and Carol that this talk would be also be an excellent presentation for a high school science class or introductory college level biology.

On May 19^th a Spring Fling was held at Dunbar Cave Natural Area. Despite the weather it was a successful community outreach. Participation peaked at approximately 100 and as usual the Snakes Alive! presentation by David and Logan Snyder was the most popular. The early morning bird hike had a large and enthusiastic group of hikers. I am truly appreciative of the accomplished birders who volunteered to lead this walk. They were Amy Atkins, Steve Hamilton, Polly Rooker, Rebecca Houtman, and Heather Hollis. A wild flower hike led by Sallie Noel and Mary Lou McReynolds followed the bird walk and reptile presentation. Even though it is late in the spring for wild flowers the group learned several of the native plants and observed wild clematis among other surprises. I would like to thank Colleen White for her presentation about salamanders and Polly Rooker for her backyard habitat talk. Canoeing on the Dunbar Cave lake was very popular and only one canoe tipped over. Though soaked and surprised the canoeists were just fine. A special thanks goes out to Roy Duncan of the Friends of Dunbar Cave who supervised the canoeing activity and to Debbie Hamilton for helping pull the whole affair together. Thank you to Tom Langford for cooking the hotdogs. Together with the Friends of Dunbar Cave we raised some money selling hotdogs and drinks (donated by the Clarksville Academy Key Club) and gained two new Audubon members.

We are looking forward to our June 7^th program by Cindy Taylor on the Frogs and Toads of Tennessee. Cindy says this will be a good one to bring kids to and I will provide a special frog coloring page and colored pencils for those in the audience so inclined. Following the program we will have ice cream cones in the lobby of McCord. In addition to all this there will be door prizes for some lucky audience members!! So, if you have young children or grandchildren come out to this program and bring them along. Cindy’s program will be a wonderful prelude to our last field trip of the year too. See information about the field trip below. You may also want to check out the following page on the State of TN web site where you can view and hear various species of frogs found in Tennessee: http://www.state.tn.us/environment/nh/tnfrogs.htm

DON’T FORGET TO MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR THE ANNUAL POTLUCK PICNIC AT THE MOUTH OF DUNBAR CAVE, JULY 15^TH AT 6 PM.

For those of you that missed last year’s frog call identification trip, your in luck! Bob Brinkman and Suzie Fletcher, APSU graduate students have agreed to lead a trip this year. On Saturday, June 16 at 7:30 p.m. we will meet them at APSU’s McCord parking lot and head out to Shelton Ferry Wetlands near Southside. Bring waterproof footwear (and "bug spray" if you want) because we will be tromping around on wet soil and mud. However, you can enjoy the entire trip without leaving your car. Bring the entire family. I am looking forward to seeing you all! If you have any questions about the trip, call me at 645-2398 or e-mail me at rahoutman@aol.com.

The following individuals have been nominated for Warioto Audubon officer and board positions for the coming year.

President - Sally Schiller

1^st VP (Program Chair) - Randy Ellis

2^nd VP (Field Trip Chair) - Rebecca Houtman

3^rd VP (Membership Chair) - Debbie Hamilton

4^th VP (Publications Chair) - Steve Hamilton

5^th VP (CEECS Chair) - Joe Schiller

Secretary - Amy Atkins

Treasurer - Gloria Milliken

Board members - Alan Bottomlee and Laurina Lyle

Suva Bastin has graciously agreed to serve as Hospitality Chair for the coming year. Evette Strickland, who returns to Clarksville this fall, will chair the newly formed Publicity/E-Communication Committee.

Thanks to Suva Bastin and Heather Hollis for their service on the Board. Suva has been on the board for a full three-year term and as usual has been heavily involved in all of our activities. Heather filled Evette Strickland’s position vacated when she left for Macedonia. Heather has completed her B.S. in biology at APSU and will be involved in a marine turtle nesting project in Florida this summer.

One good thing about the election of George Bush to the Presidency is it gives me an unlimited supply of material to use in my monthly Conservation letter. My apologies for missing last month’s newsletter, but things in the other parts of my life piled up to the point that something just had to give. Now all kinds of issues have piled up on the conservation front during that time. I cannot address all of them so I will confine my comments to the president’s emerging energy policy.

Not a day goes by that we don’t hear something new about brownouts and blackouts in California, rising utility and gasoline prices everywhere, and the threat of more of the same to come if we don’t do something real soon. The president’s answer is to drill and mine our way out of this situation. The environmentalist community maintains that energy conservation, energy efficiency, and accelerated adoption of renewable energy technologies are the solutions. As is always the case there is truth in both positions, depending on how you define "truth." The real issue is who benefits and who pays?

It is true that greatly accelerating drilling for oil and natural gas, and mining of coal can increase our energy supply. It can hold down prices for the short term. However, in the long term, given that fossil fuel resources are finite, accelerating their extraction and utilization, ultimately only accelerates their depletion and increase in cost. This is why some people have derided such a strategy (which is not new by the way, it was first proposed by president Nixon) as "deplete America first." On the other hand, conservation can "increase" energy supply almost instantaneously, and since it reduces demand for fossil fuel it actually reduces their cost. It will take years to deliver any significant increase in fossil fuel supply to the market; whereas, significant "deliveries" of energy supply through conservation can begin immediately, and once delivered, they last forever.

However, my primary concern is not cost in dollars, but cost to the environment. This may seem a naive, and idealistic statement. I assure you, it is neither. Any cost to the environment will ultimately become a cost to the consumer. The only difference is that someone, usually a big corporation, will make a lot of money by shifting this cost from itself to the consumer via environmental degradation. Want higher medical expenses? Allow utilities to run dirtier power plants. Want increased water bills? Allow industries and agriculture to further degrade the nations water supplies. Want larger cooling bills? Allow polluters to continue to increase their emissions of greenhouse gases. I could go on. It all comes out in the wash. As I said, the question is who benefits and who pays.

What price does the environment pay for a fossil fuel versus a renewable energy strategy? Much of the debate has centered around the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). I am happy to report, that for this year at least, ANWR appears to be safe from oil development. Too many republican senators just won’t go along with the president on this issue. However, ANWR is a distant and abstract concept for many people. It is not necessary to travel so far to see the costs of a fossil fuel centered energy policy. Currently in the coal fields of Appalachia (Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama) huge mining machines are systematically removing the tops of the mountains and piling the mine spoil into what remains of the valleys between the former peaks. In West Virginia, an area larger than that state’s largest county has already been leveled ("almost heaven, West Virginia"?). Obviously the streams that once flowed in those valleys are obliterated, but for many miles downstream, they are degraded. The extent of mining in these watersheds assures that entire river systems will be degraded by the cumulative effects of these innumerable wounds. Even larger coal fields in the high plains and Rocky Mountain states, many within sight of national parks and monuments, are being mined, or could be developed. So who benefits? Obviously the coal companies and their shareholders will make a lot of money. The coal company employees will benefit too, until the coal is gone. But then what? The land will be unfit for agriculture. Trees will grow poorly. The water will be polluted. The wildlife gone. Perhaps a new tourism industry can be developed to show off the world’s largest unnatural disaster. Come see the plains of West Virginia! Will consumers realize lower costs as a result? Perhaps for their electric utility bills, for a time. But what about their water bills? What about their taxes that will have to be raised to deal with the environmental and social effects of all that coal extraction? Where will all the people go that used to live in the hollows and valleys of those mountains?

The Bush administration is currently touring the country promoting their energy plan. The plan does acknowledge that conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy need to be part of the plan. At every stop the president takes the opportunity to have a "photo op" at some venue where he can talk about these concepts. It is a very common strategy of this administration that some have coined "greenwashing." The idea is to appear to be friendly to the environment in order to achieve the political support needed to pursue their agenda. While talking about the environment is good, make no mistake about it, the president’s plan is a drill and mine plan. The president needs to "walk the walk," not just "talk the talk."

Waldo Rassas, long a member and a former president of the Warioto Chapter of Audubon, pasted away on May 16 at the age of 91. Mr. Rassas, a retired local attorney, has attended meeting regularly until very recently. His continued active involvement in our organization into his 91^st year is to be admired.

In conjunction with International Migratory Bird Day, the 2001 annual Warioto spring bird count was held May 12 in Montgomery County. Gloria Milliken compiled the count. Field observers included Joe Allen, Elaine Foust, Joe, Andrew and Matthew Hall, Debbie and Steve Hamilton, Rebecca Houtman, Gloria and Bill Milliken, Sallie Noel, Joe Schiller, and Stanley York. The five neighborhood/feeder observers were Danielle and Paul Evans, Annie Heilman, and Evelyn Nixon. A total of 135 species were counted. This count is up 13 from last year, up 3 from 1999 and equals the count from 1998. Again this year there were some interesting observations. So that you can compare this count to the 2000 count, I have bolded the species found this year but not last year and struck through those found in 2000 but not seen in the 2001 count.

American Bittern 1

Great Blue Heron 21

Great Egret 1

Snowy Egret 1

Green Heron 10

Canada Goose 36

Wood Duck 30

Green-winged Teal 4

Mallard 16

Blue-winged Teal 2

Black Vulture 62

Turkey Vulture 88

Osprey 1

Bald Eagle 1

Sharp-shinned Hawk 1

Cooper’s Hawk 4

Red-shouldered Hawk 3

Broad-winged Hawk 5

Red-tailed Hawk 23

American Kestrel 4

Wild Turkey 21

Northern Bobwhite 43

American Coot 2

Killdeer 16

American Woodcock 1

Lesser Yellowlegs 2

Solitary Sandpiper 1

Semipalmated Sandpiper 4

Ring-billed Gull 1

Rock Dove 48

Mourning Dove 257

Black-billed Cuckoo 1

Yellow-billed Cuckoo 7

Eastern Screech-owl 1

Great-horned Owl 1

Barred Owl 3

Common Nighthawk 7

Chuck-will’s-widow 4

Whip-poor-will 4

Chimney Swift 161

Ruby-throated Hummingbird 17

Belted Kingfisher 7

Red-headed Woodpecker 18

Red-bellied Woodpecker 49

Downy Woodpecker 25

Hairy Woodpecker 3

Northern Flicker 19

Pileated Woodpecker 11

Eastern Wood-Peewee 60

Acadian Flycatcher 21

Least Flycatcher 1

Eastern Phoebe 10

Great Crested Flycatcher 47

Eastern Kingbird 72

Horned Lark 1

Purple Martin 77

Tree Swallow 4

Northern Rough-winged Swallow 83

Bank Swallow 3

Cliff Swallow 340

Barn Swallow 128

Blue Jay 207

American Crow 264

Carolina Chickadee 76

Tufted Titmouse 79

White-breasted Nuthatch 13

Brown Creeper 1

Carolina Wren 89

House Wren 11

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 49

Eastern Bluebird 199

Veery 1

Gray-cheeked Thrush 1

Swainson’s Thrush 5

Hermit Thrush 1

Wood Thrush 26

American Robin 215

Gray Catbird 8

Northern Mockingbird 151

Brown Thrasher 40

Cedar Waxwing 92

Loggerhead Shrike 7

European Starling 440

White-eyed Vireo 30

Blue-headed Vireo 1

Yellow-throated Vireo 5

Warbling Vireo 13

Philadelphia Vireo 1

Red-eyed Vireo 30

Blue-winged Warbler 1

Tennessee Warbler 22

Nashville Warbler 2

Northern Parula 12

Yellow Warbler 5

Chestnut-sided Warbler 2

Magnolia Warbler 2

Black-throated Blue Warbler 3

Cape May Warbler 2

Yellow-rumped Warbler 2

Black-throated Green Warbler 5

Yellow-throated Warbler 7

Pine Warbler 3

Prairie Warbler 30

Palm Warbler 1

Bay-breasted Warbler 1

Blackpoll Warbler 6

Cerulean Warbler 3

Black-and-white Warbler 2

American Redstart 6

Prothonotary Warbler 19

Ovenbird 3

Louisiana Waterthrush 5

Kentucky Warbler 4

Common Yellowthroat 86

Canada Warbler 1

Yellow-breasted Chat 22

Summer Tanager 12

Scarlet Tanager 14

Northern Cardinal 243

Rose-breasted Grosbeak 4

Blue Grosbeak 4

Indigo Bunting 138

Dickcissel 89

Eastern Towhee 63

Chipping Sparrow 44

Field Sparrow 36

Grasshopper Sparrow 5

Song Sparrow 3

Swamp Sparrow 1

White-throated Sparrow 2

Bobolink 4

Red-winged Blackbird 242

Eastern Meadowlark 127

Common Grackle 255

Brown-headed Cowbird 88

Orchard Oriole 17

Baltimore Oriole 6

Purple Finch 3

House Finch 49

American Goldfinch 160

House Sparrow 188