VOLUME 34, NUMBER 9 JUNE 2003

HOSPITALITY: Amy and Casper Wallace will provide refreshments following the program.

BOARD MEETING: In the Sundquist Building biology conference room, D126 at 7:00 p.m..

President Randy Ellis will update us on chapter issues as well as board and officer nomination in the July newsletter.

PROGRAM REPORT, Daniel Moss

A small gathering turned out for the May program to hear Deb Beazley, a Naturalist from the Warner Parks Nature Center in Nashville, talk about southeastern tree species and their unique characteristics. Deb showed how general shape, bark color, and lenticels (to mention a few) can help identify a particular tree – even in winter. Tree identification is a handy skill to have when birding in a group. Our appreciation goes to Deb for entertaining us with her tree knowledge!

Join us June 5^th when Logan Snyder will bring some of his live reptiles to show and discuss! The primary topic will be the proper care and maintenance of reptiles in the home. Logan, the youngest son of Dr. Dave Snyder, is an enthusiastic young herpetologist who is very knowledgeable about our scaly friends. Some may have seen past Spring Fling "Snakes Alive!’ programs at Dunbar Cave State Natural Area where Logan has teamed up with his dad. Logan has a very nice collection of herps and is extremely well informed about their biology.

On Saturday, April 26 Dr. David Snyder led Warioto Audubon birders on a successful field trip through varied habitat of Land Between the Lakes. Sixty-five avian species were seen or heard. Thirteen of those species were warblers including the Northern Parula, the Black-throated Green Warbler, the Kentucky and the Nashville Warbler. Various vireos vocalizing on the twenty-sixth included the Warbling Vireo, the White-eyed Vireo and the Red-eyed Vireo. Hematite Lake was the perfect setting for a "shared lunch" and a closing summary to the delightful morning of birding. The group was particularly pleased to include Roy and Melissa Turrentine, Normandy, TN who are members of the John Sellars TOS Chapter.

Special thanks once more to each of the individuals who so graciously gave of his/her time this Audubon year to lead a field trip. You provided much knowledge and enriched each of our lives.

Last year at this time I described the problem of mountaintop removal mining for coal. This is where the entire top of a mountain is removed to access coal seams and the overburden is dumped into the adjacent valleys obliterating any streams found therein. I will update you on this topic in more detail at a later time, but for now I want to report on a matter closer to home which is both related and has some eery parallels. No, there is not a strip mine coming to middle Tennessee, but there is likely to be a new 500kV power line. On May 20 TVA hosted an open house to take comments on their draft environmental impact statement (EIS) describing the proposed new power line. A complete copy of the EIS is available for review on line at:

From this page scroll down until you see the link titled "500kV transmission line." The report details four possible routes running from the Cumberland steam plant to the Montgomery County substation. Many of you, as is the case for myself and the Ellises, probably live on or near to one of these routes. At this month’s meeting Logan Snyder will be presenting a program on reptiles, but Randy Ellis will be available to provide information about the power line and our efforts to organize interested individuals to support a proposal to TVA to run the line along an existing power line that would be upgraded from 161 kV to 500 kV.

Why do I say this situation has some eerie parallels to that of mountaintop mining for coal. First, let me emphasize that the power line is not nearly so bad as the situation confronting those residents of coal country. We only have to deal with the unpleasant prospect of a company coming in and installing something we find esthetically unpleasant and worry that it may have some possible health effects. The residents of coal company are confronted with mining companies tearing down entire mountains and filling in valleys that have been their home place for generations. The blasting associated with these mines often tears apart their homes and creates dust so thick that drivers have to turn their car lights on to see to drive. Their wells sometimes run dry. However, we are getting a first hand exposure to what it is like to be confronted by powerful economic and political forces. Another parallel is that both activities degrade the

environment and are of concern to the Audubon Society. In the case of a new transmission line, if it is run in an entirely new route, this will result in significant forest fragmentation and possible new disturbance to wetlands and other sensitive bird habitats. A paradox, if not a parallel, is the fact that we are both ultimately the victims of our country’s insatiable appetite for electricity, most of which is produced by coal. If you have never been the path of the energy industry you tend to think that electricity comes from the light switch on the wall. If you have been in the path of the energy industry you know electricity comes from places where people live.