FreeLists / va-richmond-general / [va-richmond-general] letters to the NY Times on the Ivory Billed Woodpecker

["Kathy Kreutzer" <k-kreutzer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

 Thought you all might like to see these letters from the NY Times today
- Kathy Kreutzer, Chesterfield, VA
 
 
 
May 6, 2005
Return of the Woodpecker: A Nature Lesson (3 Letters)

  

To the Editor:

Re "The Lord God Bird" (editorial, April 30):

My father was an Audubon Society volunteer in the East Baton Rouge
Parish Schools and a dedicated amateur birder who sought common species
as well as exotic ones, not to add to his life list but for the sheer
joy of watching them. 

Even though he never saw or heard an ivory-billed woodpecker, he shared
the awe of early settlers who exclaimed, "Lord God, what a bird!" when
they gave it its most romantic nickname.

The ivory-billed woodpecker seemed to disappear with the last great
cypress forest. But Daddy became convinced before he died that in spite
of every foolish, greedy, misguided thing we have done to our
environment, this great woodpecker somehow survived.

The old-growth cypress forests are gone forever, but rest easy, Daddy;
the Lord God bird does live.

Ginger Williams Marks
Shreveport, La., May 2, 2005

. 

To the Editor:

The rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker is miraculous testament
to the essential mystery of nature and its ability to surprise us. But
it also warns us of the peril of undoing our system of national wildlife
refuges.

In the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas, this fabled
bird managed to elude scientists and amateur birders alike for more than
60 years. One shudders to think what might have happened if that pocket
of protected land had also held oil, as is the case with the imperiled
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which is poised to open for drilling.

We have choices: to provide for a future for wildlife or to indulge our
short-term desires. It is too difficult to imagine what mysteries of
nature will fail to unfold when a national refuge is surrendered to
human use.

Steven Sanderson
President and Chief Executive
Wildlife Conservation Society
Bronx, April 30, 2005

. 

To the Editor:

To ensure the survival of the recently rediscovered ivory-billed
woodpecker, I suggest putting a mating pair on the ledge of a Fifth
Avenue building, preferably one with movie stars living inside.

Like the red-tailed hawks that caused such a squawk recently, the
resultant media attention on the woodpeckers would ensure that their
species outlast us all.

Mark R. Godburn
Great Barrington, Mass.
April 30, 2005



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