No doubt the message below is occasioned by my post "Magee, near and far" of the other day. I don't see any distortions of fact in my message, and the only opinion I expressed was that some people might want others not to think too much about this issue. Dave Sherman is not among them, and he gives a very useful account of one side of the story, and refers to some essential documents that people must read to understand fully the controversy. I understand a lot of people don't want to think this over. Fine. Some think (wrongly: see http://www.ohiobirds.org/publications/emaillist.php#guidelines ) that talking about cormorant culling is not appropriate for ohio-birds. For these few, I suggest the delete key, rather than sending insulting messages to anyone. I myself don't think many readers will follow an extended debate on this issue in this forum, and I won't suggest one. But anyone who wants to criticize me, or criticize those who want to cull cormorants, should know the background. You will notice that all the information offered is from three to six years ago. I think we need to know what's happened in the meantime, but beyond yearly summaries of part of the information, I am always advised to file a Freedom of Information Act request to get it when I ask. How many cormorants have been killed each year, site by site? How have populations of other colonial waterbirds changed as a result? For one thing, is it not true that on West Sister Island, the numbers of egrets, herons, and night-herons have not changed significantly since the arrival of cormorants seventeen years ago, even though culling has been conducted only over the past three years? When exactly will the culling cease, if ever, and upon what criteria? Once or twice a year recently, I have posted to this list suggesting some alternative sources of information on this topic. They have included the following: --an article in Natural History magazine: http://nhmag.com/search.html?keys=cormorant&x=44&y=6&sitenbr=157877211&bgcolor=%23C7E0B0 --an article by a study group of the American Ornithologists' Union: http://www.aou.org/committees/docs/ConservationAddn5.pdf --an article by two cormorant experts on their history in the region: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1675/1524-4695(2006)29%5B9%3AHPOTDC%5D2.0.CO%3B2 I have lots more, available upon request. Go birding, and appreciate all our native species, Bill Whan Columbus I was asked to forward this to the listserve from Dave Sherman, who is a biologist with Crane Creek Wildlife Research Station. I just wanted to clarify the actions of the Division of Wildlife before the facts are distorted. In response to persistent conflicts and complaints relating to double crested cormorants (DCCOs), in 2003 the United States Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services (WS) completed a final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on the management of DCCOs in the United States (http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/issues/cormorant/finaleis/CormorantFE IS.pdf). The selected management alternative included the establishment of a Public Resources Depredation Order (PRDO) to address conflicts regarding DCCO impacts on public resources. The PRDO was created "to reduce the actual occurrence, and/or minimize the risk, of adverse impacts of DCCOs to public resources. Public resources include wildlife and their habitats, plants, and fish (both free-swimming fish and stock at Federal, State, and tribal hatcheries that are intended for release in public waters). Ohio is one of 24 states authorized to manage DCCOs under the PRDO. In January 2006, WS in cooperation with the USFWS, and the Ohio Division of Wildlife published in the Federal Register, an environmental assessment (EA) entitled "Reducing double-crested cormorant damage in Ohio." The document examines various alternatives for preserving the critical colonial waterbird habitat on the Lake Erie Islands. The EA selected an integrated cormorant damage management plan that includes lethal control of adult cormorants as the best method of saving the island waterbird habitat, and we asked for public comments at that time. We addressed all of the comments, published the final draft of the EA, and have proceeded with cormorant management during the past 3 years. Harassment of cormorants on the islands was attempted as part of the integrated management approach, but was unsuccessful. Please go to this site: http://www.fws.gov/midwest/MidwestBird/cormorants.htm to download the EA. For West Sister Island (WSI), the USFWS was involved with the decision to proceed with actions under the PRDO and has given consent as the land owner of WSI to control cormorant numbers based on observed and quantified habitat destruction on the island. In addition, the USFWS has a population goal (1500-2000 nesting pairs) for WSI which has been reached and the agencies are striving to maintain. Any time a management decision is made (including the decision to do nothing), the decision will be beneficial to some species and detrimental to others. As Rob Thorn mentioned in his post, resource management agencies make these decisions every day - cowbirds are killed to benefit Kirtland's warblers, old growth forests are preserved to benefit the spotted owl, etc. Way back when, these decisions did not need to be made because there was enough habitat to go around for everyone; however, in these modern times, habitat, especially for colonial waterbirds, is extremely scarce. Herons and egrets prefer to nest on the Lake Erie islands despite the energetic costs associated with doing so. An 18-mile round trip from the mainland to WSI several times a day to feed young expends a lot of energy. If suitable habitat existed on the mainland, I would expect the waders to use that habitat. If the cormorants were left unchecked, the Division is convinced that the cormorants would defoliate the islands (as they have partially done on Middle Island in Canada) and possibly extirpate great egrets, snowy egrets, and black-crowned night herons from the state of Ohio. The Lake Erie Islands remain the only long-term colony sites for these three species in Ohio, and WSI currently hosts one of the largest remaining colonies of herons and egrets in the U.S. portion of the Great Lakes. The decision to manage cormorants was not taken lightly, and the three agencies annually review management efforts and determine what actions, if any, need to be taken the next year. It is especially important to remember that the agencies' plan for DCCO management in Ohio recognizes DCCOs as a valuable member of the colonial waterbird community. Thus, the plan focuses on sustaining DCCO populations at a level which retains their viability as an Ohio breeding bird while also protecting against the degradation of rare island habitat upon which so many other species of wildlife depend. Mary L. Warren Wildlife Communications Specialist Magee Marsh Wildlife Area 13229 W. State Route 2 Oak Harbor, OH 43449 419-898-0960 #31 FAX: 419-898-4017 [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]