Philip Wylie wrote: > For one thing Dave, I personally advocate seasons appropriate for > Eco Tourism, the same as there are seasons for hunting. > Spring time, when water foul are nesting (laying eggs, hatching > and nurturing) would be a time for wisdom not to intrude upon > their domain. Good suggestion. In my area, there are hundreds of Canada geese which nest in/on the islands mentioned in my original posting. They are in no way endangered (at least that seems to be true for the subspecies nesting here), and it appears that the USFWS has adopted a "hands-off" attitude re: travel/day visits to Refuge lands during nesting season. (Some areas are posted off limits at all times of the year, but this is typically not enforced.) Worth noting is that the restrictions apply to LAND, not water, which is all "navigable" here. Someone (stuck in a hotel on the Gulf, if I recall correctly) detailed the behavior of great blue herons, which "flush" a hundred yards or so along a shore as a paddler parallels it, repeating the behavior until the end of the heron's "territory." This is the sort of conflict -- low-level and really pretty darn benign in the grand scheme -- which could have subtle (to us, but maybe not the heron!) negative effects on wildlife, particularly if there is a parade of gentle paddling intruders, and not just one or two. That's the sort of thing a Water Trail can make much worse. What do others see as the trade-offs? I'm ambivalent about Water Trails. Mostly, I feel they tend to bring in more folks, albeit nice folks, and conscientious ones who don't throw beer cans about. But, they remain, *more folks.* On the other hand, without the support of the general public (particularly duck hunters), there would not be any USFWS National Wildlife Refuges. And, the "exposure" to the character and value of protected areas engendered by use of Water Trails probably helps build political pressure to keep what wildlife refuges we have. So, I do not see the promulgation of Water Trails as a black-and-white issue. It's for darn sure my own behavior is not consistent on this. I'm perfectly happy to travel to other places and snap up (greedily!) literature detailing access to cool places to paddle, and lots of those places have wildlife-harassment problems similar to the ones here. I'd like to hear more from folks who have wrestled with this. Thanks to all (my flame shield is eroding a little, but still intact). -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Apr 23 1998 - 02:20:20 PDT
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