I have talked with many people about this cell tower since the article in the paper. Friends mostly, people who share my views. But there are a few people who have questioned my reasoning, and my passion for stopping one tower.

One of the arguments was at a New Years party. A couple of friends were praising my activism and asking about the issue further. We had a great discussion about all of the steps a person goes through to try and stop city hall. One of my friends was listening and finally asked, “You know that cats kill more birds than cell towers, why are you going after one cell tower?” I answered, “I know that cats kill thousands of birds, and birds hit windows in bigger numbers too. But I didn’t choose that battle, and the fact that you are aware of that issue means that SOMEONE is fighting it! I saw that no one was objecting to this tower and I chose to speak up.”

Some people believe this tower will not be an issue because it is under 200 feet.
Research provided to me from a Doctoral candidate at UMD shows that the majority of birds flying during daytime are flying much lower than is usually assumed:

“these birds are generally flying low (within 100m of the
forest canopy).”



So the majority of the birds are flying between the treetops and 328 feet above the treetops. This monopole will project at least 100 feet above the trees. This area is mostly Poplar, which average 50 – 80 feet high. Stick a pole 100 feet above that with four big dish type antennas on it, add the enormous numbers of birds that pass through this area, and you have a perfect opportunity for at least some to become victims.

The other problem with this site is are the enormous numbers of birds that pass through it in the fall and spring.

Here are some totals from Hawk Ridge counts sent to me by Anna C. Peterson, PhD Candidate Conservation Biology, Natural Resources Research Institute University of Minnesota Duluth

Total raptors 2007: 60412
Total raptors 2008: 61514
Total raptors 2009: 48853

Season high 2003: 201825

These numbers include significant numbers of Bald Eagles and Peregrine
Falcons. These raptor species and many other non-raptors are on the
MN DNR's list of Species of Greatest Conservation Need

Many of these birds are SGCN and help make the North
Shore one of the most concentrated passerine (songbird) migrations in the
interior U.S.

Nonraptors totals from HRBO:
2008: 160,000+ (I don't have individual numbers)
2009: 126404 (including 4632 Rusty Blackbirds, ~19,000 warblers,
~23,000 robins)
These numbers are from Karl Bardon, HRBO counter.

Common Nighthawk count (2009): 13,000+ in 3 days


I've heard arguments that birds have great eyesight, this is true, especially of the raptors. BUT, when you design the tower to blend in with the landscape, add rain, or fog, or very low clouds at night (which is actually when most songbirds migrate to avoid being eaten by the raptors who migrate in daylight) you will likely have birds hitting this tower because they had no chance of seeing it. Birds are not stupid because they hit the tower. Put a cement barrier in the middle of any freeway, make it blend in, and see if people can avoid it on a dark night, with fog and rain. Are they stupid, or was it stupid to put it THERE?

This is the description of this specific area from the Minnesota DNR website:

“This is one of the most important and visible migratory corridors for songbirds and raptors in the entire Midwest as birds pass along the North Shore and over Hawk Ridge every fall.”

Speaking up was just the beginning. I didn’t really think that one email to the City Council and one letter to the local newspaper would lead to months of working on this issue. I am learning the ins and outs of cell tower siting, learning a lot more about the North Shore migration, and learning how to communicate my position so that others might be persuaded. I’m hoping that it doesn’t all end with a “Wall of Shame” website where I post pictures of the dead birds alongside pictures of the bureaucrats who didn’t listen.