[obol] 25+ male WISA at Glaze Meadow, & c., and in pursuit of this most excellent bird survey, I am shot at 6 times by a hunter
- From: Courtney Kelly Jett <ckjannabirds@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "cobol@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <cobol@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2015 22:26:46 -0800
I copy this COBOL post, also I hope to our Sisters Ranger Station of the NFS,
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Black Butte Ranch – if I can find
emails for them ... , or by snailmail: I don't know particular VIPs: I hope
this email will get distributed to the right people. Please if any Oregon
birders can forward this email to appropriate people, thank you!
I, Courtney Jett, of Bend, Oregon, age 32, demand that Glaze Meadow and Black
Butte Swamp – which are National Forest Service land – be made legally a
No-Shoot Zone, and I hope after reading my email, that many others will join to
help make this happen, as immediately as possible.
So yes, today, now to add to the 9 Williamson's Sapsucker I saw in Central
Oregon in January, today I encountered 25-30 of them, all males, at Glaze
Meadow. All birding of which will follow, an impressive woodpecker list at
end! This is an amazing place! I can't wait to bird here again.
But yes, today while birding at Glaze Meadow I was shot at 6 times by a hunter
- at close range, in pretty direct line of fire. I could have been killed. And
it is legal for him to shoot here – even in non-hunting season.
Glaze Meadow is the popular birding site just to the east of Black Butte Ranch:
it is the upper meadow: the lower meadow is their golf course, "Glaze Meadow
(golf course)". The western edge of birders' Glaze Meadow - NFS land - joins
along the eastern property of Black Butte Ranch, and BB Ranch has walking and
horse trails and dirt roads directly from the Ranch, leading to and through and
around the meadows: this NFS land must be regularly used by their residents and
guests. Today, I entered the meadow, by parking at Black Butte Ranch's police
station, and walking down their trail through Black Butte Swamp (what birders
call the northern swamp/meadow of Glaze Meadow), to Glaze Meadow. My intention
was to do a wonderfully accurate like-a-CBC bird count of Glaze Meadow: today
was my first time ever here, (though I have birded the Black Butte Swamp
before).
Here is the eBird hotspot of Glaze Meadow: you can click at top left to see its
pinpoint on a map:
http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspot/L1217133?yr=all&m=&rank=mrec
So this morning I was birding on the east side of Glaze Meadow, which is the
popular Trail 99 – Metolius/Windigo Trail, a hiker, horse and mountain-bike
trail: it follows Glaze Meadow from Hwy 20 south along/through the east side of
Black Butte Swamp/Glaze Meadow, south to Graham Corral and Cold Spring
Campground and continuing south bordering the Three Sisters Wilderness. So here
I was, getting thick with woodpeckers, and hearing one call something I've
never heard, when I saw a newish white truck drive in, along some dirt roads
that come right up to Trail 99/Glaze Meadow. A nicely dressed man, aged ~ 40's,
got out with a dog: I assumed he was walking his dog. I continued birding -
weaving around trees to see a woodpecker. A short side trail lead to a pond
here, on the eastern edge of the meadow, which was so exciting to see! so I
approached it, so I could know to log which ducks were in it into eBird.org,
and I was standing on the eastern shore of the pond, counting Ring-necked
Ducks, when at 11:10am a shot was fired, from the north behind me, directly
south at the pond where I was standing.
A few ducks flushed – I froze! I have never in my life been shot at. After a
minute of silence, I called out as loud as I could, and my voice echoed across
the meadow: "Hello! Hello! There is a girl in this meadow! Please don't shoot
me!" No response – but a couple minutes later, he quickly shot off 5 more
times, directly where I was standing at the pond! (I guess I was camouflaged in
my new brown birder coat, which my mom gave me for my recent birthday.) All of
the 50 ducks flushed and flew away.
I walked away from the pond, returning 10-yards to Trail 99, where I could see
the man's truck, which was not even a football field length away from me, and
he was even nearer to me than the truck. He was at the eastern edge of the
meadow, just north of where I had been, shooting directly south – at me, a Poet
birding at a meadow pond!
Imagine! If I had been shot, if he had hit me – and I don't say this just
egoistically because it is my own life to care for – but – imagine the loss! I
have my life's work ahead of me, I am only 32! Alexander Pushkin, Russian Poet,
was shot in a duel, he died when he was 37: and I am only 32! His great work,
EUGENE ONEGIN, kills its Poet, Lensky, halfway through: Lensky is shot (by a
gun): a theme of the book is, the Death of the Poet. And here it really could
have happened today to me.
I considered approaching the man, who was holding a rifle/shotgun (I don't know
the difference), and saying to him, "Hello, I am hiking around the meadow here,
birding, please don't shoot here with me here!" But the
highly-improbable-but-not-impossible idea occurred: what if he shot me on
purpose, as I approached and spoke?
So I called the Sisters Ranger Station. The woman was very nice, she advised me
NOT to approach a stranger-man-with-a-gun, she said, "He shouldn't be shooting
into the meadow!" and gave me the number to call a Sheriff.
I called the number, and a nice woman answered: she also advised me NOT to
approach and speak to a stranger-with-a-gun. She dispatched a Sherriff to come
out. She said me, "Well, it's not a No-Shoot Zone, … but it's not hunting
season, … he's supposed to be aware of his surroundings." I looked through my
binoculars to read to her his license plate number: a Sisters resident: the
truck had his business decal on it: probably a decent man.
A very nice Sherriff/officer called me: long story short: he drove in and
intercepted the man and spoke with him. The hunter told the Sherriff that yes,
he "had seen a lady" in the meadow, but – his story – he had waited 30 minutes
for me to continue down my trail before he began shooting. The hunter was
there – his story – with real-life-but-banded decoy ducks, to train his young
dog how to fetch. He had all the proper permits to legally be shooting on any
National Forest Service land. The officer – also a hunter, so he told me –
NEVER shoots anywhere where he sees people around: he therefore informed the
man who shot at me, that he should never shoot where there are people.
The Sherriff told me, that with permits, shooting is legal here: outside of
hunting season, you can't kill ducks, but you can still shoot guns.
Regardless of the hunter's lie, that he was here shooting at his own decoys,
instead of wild ducks, – whatever –
My problem is this:
Glaze Meadow/Black Butte Swamp is surrounded by trails: the land itself is
bordered by Black Butte Ranch, whose residents and guests use the trails, and
by the popular Windigo Trail 99, used by all number of recreants. This trail is
highlighted on every hiking/biking map sold at REI.
In addition to these users, Glaze Meadow is also the number 17 ranked birding
hotspot in all of Deschutes County. Birders do bird surveys here. It is a
central tour location of East Cascades Audubon Society's Woodpecker Festival.
It is an important part each year of the Sisters Audubon Christmas Bird Count.
About a year ago, I believe it was Mike Patterson? who wrote up a statistical
report blog, that concluded something like, only 2% of birders are eBirding
(which is a deep shame, … ). According to eBird, in 2014 alone, there were 18
logged visits for Glaze Meadow, also 22 logged visits for Black Butte Swamp,
and if this is only 2% of birding trips, we can assume 2,000 birding groups
visiting this area in one year.
If there are 2,000 birding groups, also hikers and horse riders and bikers,
residents and guests from Black Butte Ranch, each year, all using this NFS land
– Glaze Meadow –
Why on earth is shooting permissible here?!!!!
This section of NFS land absolutely needs to be a No-Shoot Zone.
I don't know how land politics work, how this change is to be implemented, -
and fast! - whether Glaze Meadow becomes a state or city park or preserve, or
merely signed off-limits-to-shooting/hunting, whatever –
But there can't be shooting here anymore.
And everyone should agree to this. Making Glaze Meadow a No-Shoot Zone is in
the best interest of all birders, also of hikers and bikers, also of guests and
residents of Black Butte Ranch (unless there are a few who enjoy as easy access
to shooting as they do to golf – in which case, still, the safety of all the
others ought to be prioritized: i.e. there is a very good reason firearms can't
be discharged within city limits!); even hunters should agree: as no wise
hunter, no man in his right mind among them could possibly support shooting in
such an open publically used area: it would give hunters a terrible name, were
any to support shooting in any place with such real risk – really! – of
shooting bystanders.
My map of the Three Sisters Wilderness – of the Deschutes National Forest –
reads at bottom:
"
Wilderness Regulations:
Firearms. Discharging a firearm within 150 yards of a campsite or occupied
area or across a body of water or in any manner or place whereby any person is
exposed to injury. 36CFR261. 10d.
The indiscriminate discharge of firearms in areas of recreation use is
dangerous and incompatible with social wilderness values.
"
So wherever I hike, either on Park and Recreation city trails [which are in
city limits], or State Parks, or in NFS Wilderness, no shooting is ever allowed
anywhere where I am! There can be no shooting in any of these places, even if
otherwise allowed, within 150 yards of any trail, or campsite, or across water
– so I can never fear to be shot while hiking on a trail or camping at a lake!
I have never felt fear before, to be birding.
So why can people shoot on Trail 99? Why can people shoot so close to Black
Butte Ranch that I can hear homeowner's dogs barking?
Of all the top 20 Deschutes Co. birding hotspots, none, so far as I can see,
allows shooting, except for Glaze Meadow.
[Currently, the top 20: 1. Hatfield Lake (Bend sewer ponds), 2.Wickiup
Reservoir, 3.Redmond Sewage Ponds, 4.Tumalo Reservoir, 5.Lower Bridge Way,
6.Camp Polk Meadow Preserve, 7.Calliope Crossing, 8.Smith Rock SP, 9.Tumalo SP,
10.Shevlin Park, 11.Drake Park, 12.Black Butte Ranch, 13.First Street River
Trail, 14.Sawyer Park, 15.Sunriver Nature Center, 16.Crane Prairie Reservoir,
17.Glaze Meadow, 18.Cold Springs Campground, 19.Hosmer Lake, 20.Indian Ford
Campground]
Glaze Meadow/Black Butte Swamp absolutely needs immediately to be made
gun-free. I have faith in my Sisters Forest Service, which I love, truly! -
that they will not oppose my fierce request. I love our forests and
stewardship. I have been going through my maps and hiking guide books, and
eBirding our forest trails, and making eBird hotspots for our wonderful places!
so we may work to build a public database of birds and habitats - for
knowledge/information, yes, but also, I hope, conservation.
[For example, here is a link to all of Deschutes Co:
http://ebird.org/ebird/subnational2/US-OR-017?yr=all&m=&rank=mrec
]
My goal is to have eBird hotspots - and bird them - for every trail and hike on
my maps and in my books.
In all my previous encounters with them, I treasure my rangers and officers,
Sheriffs, who have been wonderful, helpful, pretty kindred-spirits. I feel
certain they will make the right decision to value the safety of their public
recreants, at Glaze Meadow, and along all popular NFS trails - so I will not
have to apply to public media/newspapers/TV.
This is not an anti-hunting email -
It is anti-shooting in popular-public-lands email - which should not be
controversial. Just as in Wilderness, and in city parks and trails, ALL of our
NFS trails and destinations which are highlighted on popular hiking/biking maps
and in books need to have restrictions for safety against firearms shooting.
Life is too valuable, precious, - anyway, mine is! - to be accidentally shot
while birding at a popular Top Hotspot.
And anyway, Glaze Meadow certainly would be worthy, of habitat–wildlife
protection, if that would be the easiest and/or welcome route by which it will
be made gun-free.
Besides woodpeckers :) -
As we learned in 2014, one of Oregon's rarest-breeding-birds, maybe only a
pair, breeds here.
So here now, is my sort-of-unbelievable woodpeckering! 68 or 73 woodpeckers
today at Glaze Meadow! (incl the ones from earlier morning, along roads NW of
meadow):
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S21811907
25-30 Williamson's Sapsucker
3 Red-breasted Sapsucker
2 sapsucker sp.
14 Hairy Woodpecker
6 White-headed Woodpecker
13 Northern Flicker
5 woodpecker sp.
My good volunteer eBird Reviewer and friend, Tom Crabtree, will hardly know how
to approve any of my excess over the Rare filters!! or Chuck Gates, how to make
or not make records. But really, with the woodpeckers especially, I was
extremely careful/conservative in counts, as you can see from my detailed field
notes (click link): I think my numbers are good! as good as any person can do:
I ever look and listen. A beautiful chill-to-warm sunny day. After a couple
hours trying to figure how to do it, muddling about in the swampy NW section, I
then walked entirely around Glaze Meadow, starting at the north, then hiking
clockwise, along Trail 99 (where I was shot at!), to the south, which was
fabulous birding for over an hour, really birdy, then back up the western
stretch to the north, which was silent and really swampy, and no way around it,
my boots and socks soaked through:
(I don't have swamp boots: I need swamp boots, with good ankle support to hike
long hours in: what do other birders use? Any recommendations for me, please? I
know Steve Dougill, - and Don Harker – must have some good boots, because they
birded Glaze Meadow this year for our flooded Sisters CBC, and Steve rather
skeptically asked Don, "Do you have boots?" and Don said, "Yes, I have boots."
- What do you wear?)
Courtney Kelly Jett
Bend, Oregon
(I only write today, on list serves, because this is so important: I could have
died today. I hope some of you can help me get this to the proper land
management people.)
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