Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 19:38:09 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "rick@blazie.net" Subject: war and Conowingop and atlas MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable The effects of the September 11 attack and the response has rippled = out until it touches even bird watching. Military facilities such as = Aberdeen Proving Ground are clsoed to bird watchers, as is Conowingo = Dam. I do not doubt that many other public and private lands are = likewise closed.=20 This could go on for some time, even years. Certainly there has been = discussion here in harford about APG and the general concensus is that = it will be at least a year and it could be more. I suppose heightened = security will vary from site to site but it doesn't appear likely that = there will be a rapid resolution. My question concerns the Breeding Bird Atlas, scheduled to begin = officially on January 1, although most field work will start until mid = to late spring. Has anyone thought about the effect of all these closing = on the atlas? Many pieces of land will be off limits and in many blocks = in the Baltimore/Washington Corridor those facilities are about all the = habitat there is. In addition, there are a good number of government = installations in Maryland, not just those associated with the military.=20 Is any effort being made to assess the problem? Is there a = preliminary list of sites that field workers probably won't be allowed = on to and has anyone thought about getting in touch with the people in = charge to find out if security will prohibit atlassing?=20 If this situation continues for more than a year the possible effect = on the atlas could be severe, especially if the results are compared to = the previous effort. Is it possible that, the goal being a first-class = atlas, that initation should be delayed a year?=20 I don't have answers, just questions, which arose out of = conversations with a number of Maryland bird watchers.=20 Does anyone know of any other closed birding spots? Sewage plant?=20 Rick Eirik A.T. Blom 4318 Cowan Place Belcamp, Md 21017 410-575-6086 rick@blazie.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================