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Fw: Bird impacts of towers - They are just getting started.



I received this message today, link is to American Bird Conservancy.


Craig Watson
Mt. Pleasant, SC
(843)881-2652
----- Original Message -----
From: <Craig_Watson@fws.gov>
To: <jcraigw1@comcast.net>
Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2003 9:00 PM
Subject: Bird impacts of towers - They are just getting started.


>
>
> "Jerry W Davis" <jwdavis@fs.fed.us>
> 07/10/2003 04:05 PM
>
> To: jbednarz@mail.astate.edu, Bryan@srel.edu, jcecil@audubon.org,
dean_demarest@fws.gov, jdickson@rans.latech.edu, phamel@fs.fed.us,
carolhardy@fs.fed.us, krementz@uark.edu, allan_mueller@fws.gov,
kgsmith@mail.uark.edu, chris.kellner@mail.atu.edu, "Ernesto Garcia"
<egarcia@fs.fed.us>
> cc:
> bcc:
> Subject: Bird impacts of towers - They are just getting started.
>
>
>
>
> For some this may seem like a duplicate post, but this message brings
up a
> different area needing consideration.
>
> The link below goes to the 2000 bird tower kill report.  For those
> interested, keep in mind that the bird mortality reported are from 47
tower
> kill studies.  A point to note is the variety of species involved
including
> Red-cockaded woodpeckers and other species of concern.
>
> Today instead of the impacts of 47, there are about 80,000 + towers.
Since
> the cell phone revolution in 1990s about 5,000 new towers are built
each
> year.
>
> The towerkill.com website can give you a graphic of the towers by
height
> and by state.  This graphic shows only about half of the current
towers
> because the site is behind in its updates.
>
> This is not new news and has been bouncing around for a while.
However,
> this is the time that people that are concerned about birds need to
start
> thinking the cumulative impacts that are coming.
>
> There is no turning around the cell phone demands.  The companies have
> tower coverage in the metropolitan areas.   Their charge is to provide
> uniform coverage throughout the US so that there are no blank spots in
> coverage.  To do this the telecommunication companies say they will
need a
> communication tower every three miles.  They will be coming to all
public
> land owners for permits to erect towers for this coverage because
these are
> the areas now with the biggest gaps.
> How are the Forest Plans recently written and those in the process of
being
> written going to deal with the cumulative impacts of such a tower
density
> and their impacts on birds?  The electronic technology is going faster
than
> the biological answers and scientific solutions to this technology.
>
> If this is not dealt with at the Planning level, the towers and issued
> permits will be addressed and permitted one tower at a time.  The
public
> land administrators will need answers and standards on how to deal
with
> these upcoming demands.  Some of the current plans say that towers
will
> only be placed in the approved administrative sites identified in the
land
> management plan.  This is helping to address the current situation.
New
> Plans need also to have standards that will consider the birds.
>
>
> Jerry W. Davis, Forest Wildlife Program Manager
> Ouachita National Forest
> P.O. Box 1270
> Hot Springs, AR 71902-1270
> E-mail  jwdavis@fs.fed.us
> What Have You Done For Wildlife Today?
>
>
> http://www.abcbirds.org/policy/towerkillweb.PDF
>
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