Will the Council Listen to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service?

December 7, 2009.
I received two encouraging phone calls today. The first was from Bob Russell of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. He called me to say that I should keep up the pressure as he has received some phone calls from Duluthians looking for confirmation of the information I have been publishing. Just today, he received a phone call from Councilor Tony Cuneo. Kudos to Councilor Cuneo for taking the initiative to look up the person I have been quoting and actually make a call! Bob says he explained to Tony the USFW reasons that this site is NOT a good choice. He explained that Eagles and Golden Eagles are highly protected by USFW and that this area is a known flyway for those species. If we have a foggy day with low ceilings, raptors could fall prey to this tower. He also explained during bird counts at the Pumping Station (almost within eyesight of this tower site) 250,00 birds were counted in one migration season. Counts are done during daytime, but most birds migrate at night to avoid the raptors who fly during the day. So you could actually estimate that millions of birds fly through the area at night. I'm sure he gave Tony compelling testimony as to why they do not want to see this tower go in that spot.

I asked Bob, "If this tower is built, and I walk down there and find dead birds, should I photograph them and send them to Fish and Wildlife?" He said yes, Fish and Wildlife will prosecute if there are kills at this tower.

My second call was from my new friend Claire, who contacted me after reading my letter to the editor. She likes to call people and volunteered to call anyone that I could direct her to. She called USFWS this weekend and again today, and really put pressure on them to get the letter to the City from US Fish and Wildlife, warning the city that there are laws that protect migrating birds, and putting a tower in that area would put the city at risk if there are documented kills.

She called me late today to say that the representative from the Ecology division of USFW is drafting a letter with the US Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement warning and it should be received by the City this week!

So, I'm wondering what the city will do now? They will have been duly warned that Fish and Wildlife takes it's role as steward of our natural resources seriously, and is willing to prosecute if there are kills at this tower, and that it should not be sited in this migration path.

This is the Federal Government telling the City that this is a bad idea!

I'm hoping that at least one councilor will put this back on the agenda asap, and that councilors who voted for it will wake up and heed the warning.