VOLUME 34, NUMBER 6 MARCH 2003

PROGRAM: "Prairies in the Hill Country" by Dr. Edward W. Chester, Austin Peay State University

HOSPITALITY: Debbie and Steve Hamilton will provide refreshments after the program.

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

FIELD TRIP: Welcome Spring at Dunbar Cave SNA, Sunday, March 30 at 1:30 p.m.; Park Naturalist Amy Atkins Wallace will lead the outing.

I recently read a book by Peter Huber, Hard Green: Saving the Environment from the Environmentalists, A Conservative Manifesto. Now I know some of you are getting your blood pressure up just seeing the title, so take a deep breath and read on. I think it is very useful to intermittently read opinions of others who disagree with you. It is similar to a business person investigating the complaints of a disgruntled customer. Often the complaints are without merit, but frequently they shine light on issues or problems that were unrecognized or ignored. Mr. Huber and I can actually find some common ground, such as the belief that more land needs to be excluded from economic development. I also think that sometimes environmental groups "cry wolf" too often when they claim that every issue is going to wreak environmental disaster. This only makes people skeptical of all claims. For example, I was reading recently that environmentalists were claiming that the Porcupine caribou population will be decimated by drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refugee. Now I am opposed to drilling in ANWR for several reasons, but I think it is potentially harmful to the cause to claim the caribou numbers will plummet. I think caribou activity and migration may be altered, but I think the caribou will adjust and avoid the drilling sites, maintaining fairly strong populations. However, if the oil companies get their wish and drill in ANWR, you can bet people will be watching the caribou closely. When the caribou numbers do not fall dramatically, the environmental groups will lose respect. The point of this message is: 1) Read the critics. It helps fine tune your message and exposes weaknesses in your arguments. 2) Do not make alarmist claims that don't have some scientific basis. Be willing to readjust your stance when knew information is available. 3) Be willing to criticize other environmentalists if you don't agree with their claims, message, or tactics. Protecting God's creation is a noble cause. We just need to maintain integrity in our pursuit.

Dr. Edward W. Chester, Professor of Biology at Austin Peay State University will present "Prairies in the Hill Country." Dr. Chester writes,

"The first settlers in the hill country of central Tennessee and Kentucky found extensive prairies, or flat-rolling landscapes dominated by grasses and with many western forbs. These areas, called barrens, were almost totally agricultural by the middle 1800s. Until recently it was believed that there were no reference sites left from which original conditions could be deciphered. Not true! This program looks at historical aspects and current conditions of some existing examples of this unique landtype."

Please join us at 7:30 pm. on March 6 for what will certainly be program filled with great information and wonderful stories.

Ten eager birders (Suva Bastin, Elaine Foust, Gloria and Bill Milliken, Daniel Moss, Polly Rooker, David and Logan Snyder, Amy Atkins Wallace and Barbara Wilbur) met Dwight Cooley, Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge manager, about 8:45 a.m., Saturday, February 1 for an adventure-packed day birding a variety of habitats. Seventy species were recorded for the trip with 66 of those being observed on the refuge. The day began with Horned Larks and Lapland Longspurs, continued with Greater White-fronted, Snow, Ross’ and Canada Geese, several Sandhill Crane sitings and all the occurring woodpecker species. Throw in a couple of Bald Eagles, several Red-shouldered and Red-tailed Hawks, along with a most cooperative Cooper’s Hawk and lots of Kestrels, and you will begin to get the picture. Savannah, Song, Swamp and White-throated Sparrows all put in appearances as did a Hermit Thrush. But perhaps one of the most memorable portions of the field trip were the fantastic, frequently up close and personal, views of 12 species of ducks, all in perfect light. A great day was had by all and there’s talk of going back in August or September for shore birds.

March Field Trip

Warioto Audubon will join Amy Atkins Wallace at Dunbar Cave State Natural Area on Sunday, March 30, 1:30 p.m., to Welcome Spring. Mark your calendars now to join Amy for a leisurely stroll through the park especially planned to see what wonders Spring has brought!!

At this time of year, congress is still just getting rolling on new legislation. However, because a budget for last year was never passed, congress had to first pass a budget for the current fiscal year before moving on to new business. One important aspect of the budget legislation in the senate is that it is not open to continuous debate. The significance of this is that it cannot be filibustered. Thus, the Republican caucus is attempting to move many of the more unpopular environmental initiatives they seek to pass into the budget bill. Then they can be passed with a simple majority, which they hold in both houses of congress, instead of the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture on a filibustered bill. This year a group of moderate republicans broke rank with their colleagues and refused to go along with an attempt to put the issue of drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) into the budget bill. However, this remains a strategy that may be employed next year to approve ANWR drilling or other similarly unpopular legislation. It is important to remind our senators, especially Senator Alexander, that we oppose drilling in ANWR and other anti-environmental initiatives of the Republican leadership and Bush administration. Senator Alexander used to have a reputation as the sort of moderate republican who would support sound environmental legislation and oppose poor environmental initiatives. Please write and ask him to show the kind of integrity and independence in such issues that his moderate Republican colleagues demonstrated earlier this year when the refused to support a back door strategy to approve drilling ANWR by placing its fate in the budget bill.

The legislative year ahead appears very challenging given the Republican majority in the house and the senate. However, the greatest environmental threats are originating from the Bush administration through the process of administrative rule making that agencies of the executive branch undertake. Currently, various agencies of the Bush administration are proposing changes to rules that would effectively eliminate the ability of citizens to influence the administration of forest service lands, eviscerate the clean water act, allow energy development in almost any national monument or wildlife area, and allow snow mobiles in Yellowstone National Park. The surprising thing about all of these rule changes is that they are all being made despite strong scientific and public opinion against them. Almost all these new rules represent reversals of previous rules made after extensive public comment demonstrated overwhelming scientific merit and public opinion. Even when new scientific studies and public comment were undertaken that continued to support the original rules, the Bush administration has forged ahead with its new rules that have no scientific or public support. Why then would the administration push through rules that science and the public do not support? The answer is simple, these rules have the support of interest groups whose opinions matter most to the Bush administration-- wealthy and powerful business interests.

One has to give the Bush administration credit for consistency. When I considered the long list of anti-environmental initiatives this administration has pursued, in spite of strong scientific and public opposition, I could not help but be struck by the parallels between the administrations domestic environmental policy and its international diplomacy. At virtually every turn the administration has pursued international policy initiatives (many of them anti-environmental) in lonely opposition to the vast majority of international opinion. Examples include the Kyoto Global Warming Accord, International family planning, the World Court, and a bushel load of treaties and agreements on international development, trade, justice, poverty, and other issues. Now, of course, the issue most on the collective radar is the confrontation with Iraq. Again we find ourselves in near isolation with the rest of the world. Even in those countries whose governments support the Bush administration on Iraq, the people of those countries overwhelmingly oppose war with Iraq.

I realize some of you may wonder why I would even mention the issue of Iraq in a "Conservation Letter." The reason is two-fold. First, war is always an environmental as well as human tragedy. Much of the environmental damage from the first war with Iraq remains to be fixed. Second, the natural tendency of the American public to rally to the support of the president in times of war will be used by this administration and its Republican allies to advance anti-environmental legislation in an atmosphere where debate will be constrained and criticism will be portrayed as lack of patriotism. Bush already benefitted greatly from the American tradition of rallying to the president in times of war. The popularity it provided him was certainly a factor in his ability to sway enough close congressional races to provide Republicans their new majority in the senate. Although it is not easy to deny support to a president in time of war, the American people must come to understand that this administration is determined to parlay that support into legislative and administrative policies that are very much against the opinions and values of most Americans.

I regret that I am way behind in getting the results of our Christmas Bird Count published. This has been a very hectic semester for me and for the university. In fact, given the activities associated with war preparations, this is a terrible difficult time for many of us. Whatever the excuses, I have not even asked Joe Allen to write up his traditional analysis of the CBC and at this point it is too late. Perhaps we can call upon Joe to provide his analysis for the next newsletter. My apologies to all. Our count results are provided below.

Pied-billed Grebe         1

Great Blue Heron         19

Black Vulture   93

Turkey Vulture 111

Canada Goose 187

Mallard            48

Northern Pintail            1

Northern Harrier           3

Sharp-shinned Hawk    1

Cooper’s Hawk           2

Accipiter sp.     5

Red-shouldered Hawk  11

Red-tailed Hawk          26

Rough-legged Hawk     1

American Kestrel          27

Wild Turkey     57

Northern Bobwhite       17

American Coot 10

Killdeer            15

Common Snipe 6

Ring-billed Gull 2

Rock Dove       185

Mourning Dove            155

Belted Kingfisher          21

Red-headed Woodpecker        2

Red-bellied Woodpecker         67

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker         11

Downy Woodpecker    37

Hairy Woodpecker       11

Northern (Yellow-shafted) Flicker        51

Pileated Woodpecker   14

Eastern Phoebe            8

Loggerhead Shrike       2

Blue Jay           224

American Crow            268

Horned Lark    19

Carolina Chickadee      194

Tufted Titmouse            147

White-breasted Nuthatch          37

Brown Creeper            3

Carolina Wren  115

Winter Wren    2

House Wren     2

Golden-crowned Kinglet           17

Eastern Bluebird           215

Hermit Thrush   2

American Robin            28

Northern Mockingbird  179

Brown Thrasher            5

Eastern Starling 5330

Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler         6

Pine Warbler    1

Eastern Towhee            51

Field Sparrow  45

Savannah Sparrow       14

Fox Sparrow    3

Song Sparrow  74

White-throated Sparrow           159

White-crowned Sparrow          29

Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Junco          280

Northern Cardinal         551

House Finch     44

Pine Siskin        1

American Goldfinch      83

Red-winged Blackbird  650

Eastern Meadowlark    72

Rusty Blackbird            2

Common Grackle         427

Brown-head Cowbird   4

blackbird sp.    4206

House Sparrows                                         111

TOTAL # of INDIVIDUALS   14807

Total # of species = 69