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<br />UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA <br /> <br />'\- It} ~~; k:tfe-- . . <br />I -~{:rl ? }, , (,'I) _ I. \ .J.I , 1,;. flr.p.k'2 <br />\t' .~,,;:> ,," V-Jtol"<",,",!- 'I &;/J <br />", ,- -.;S'o"-" ", 1'/lW <br />...... :..~\ /d/ <br /> <br />January 23,2002 <br /> <br />James Ford Bell Mus-Bum of Natural History <br />College of Natural Resou.rces <br /> <br />10 Church Street S.e. <br />Minneapolis, MN 55455-0104 <br />612-624-7083 <br />Fax: 612-626-7704 <br /> <br />Joan G-dlli <br />Non-Game Wildlife Specialist <br />1200 Warner Road <br />St. Paul, MN 55106 <br /> <br />Dear Joan, <br /> <br />Thank you for inviting me to today's meeting. I'm sorry thac r had to leave before <br />the meeting concluded but I had a meeting back on campus for which I couldn't be late. <br />Perhaps you wilJ find the following hasty summary of my thoughts after the meeting <br />helpful in thinking about next steps. <br />We spent a great deal of time talking about water skiing but 1 think we would be <br />wise to keep other possible explanations in mind. The following are nine alternatives, <br />presented in alphabetic order, and my assessment of the likelihood that each is the <br />primary cause of abandonment. Importantly, I've suggested steps that could be taken to <br />either eliminate each potential cause or at least to obtain data that would help us to <br />determine whether each alternative might be contributing to the heron! egret <br />abandonment. To maximize the probability of successfully maintaining this colony now, <br />and to maximize our ability to prevent colony abandonment in the future, we should <br />seriously consider all of these possibilities. <br />It is likely that someone will suggest that there is insufficient evidence to identifY <br />the primary cause of abandonment and that no restriction on lake use should be imposed <br />until such time as we have conclusive data. I would suggest that we used that philosophy <br />in 2001 with the result that once again there was no successful breeding in this colony. <br />Given the status of this colony as one of the largest, of a relatively small number of metro <br />area colonies, this is a matter of great concern for the entire north metro area. For the <br />health ohhe metro area ecosystem we cannot afford to wait another year for all the <br />necessary data to be obtained before we act. We must make an educated guess and take <br />action. <br />In my opinion, the most likely explanation is that the colony has been abandoned <br />due to direct human influence in the form of human disturbance (noise and physical <br />presence) in close proximity to the colony. We should work with the community to <br />encourage the adoption of a no-wake zone north of the bog poles. <br /> <br /> <br />-~ <br /> <br />d/Yj <br />t/. <br />o M. Lanyon, Ph.D <br />, irector, Bell Museum of NaturaJ History <br />Professor, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and <br />Behavior <br /> <br />~~ <br />,?L..lOI <br />