As it states in the EA, the EA was advertised for a 30 day public review.
At that time birders should have stepped in and said "there is no timing
component, fix it". There was a message from Paula Sullivan earlier that
stated
"Apparently, the environmental assessment was on the National Park Service's
Manassas Battlefield website back then." The Park Service cannot be
expected to call everyone at home and inform them of impending projects.
You have to ask them or seek them out on the websites. Most agencies post
on their website upcoming projects and the timeframes for public comment,
they are also supposed to advertise in local and major papers. I can't
speak to whether or not birders on this list had prior knowledge of the
project, but this sort of project slides through the works if we just wait
for someone else to tell us about them.
What appears to be happening here is a project that has a timing issue that
folks don't like is getting built, and they are getting riled up a little
too late. On the other hand, if the Park Service did not advertise
adequately about this project and that is why you didn't hear about it YOU
HAVE LEGAL RECOURSE. If they did advertise adequately and you just missed
it...well it's too late.
Because there is a statement about biological monitoring you can call the
NPS on it if you don't feel they are not doing their job however, they may
have surveyed all the habitat and determined that there were no birds
nesting in it. If you have knowledge of existing nesting activity in the
removed habitat you can call them on that too.
Don't get me wrong. I read the EA this morning. In my opinion it is
inadequate, poorly written, and justifies taking out bird habitat based on a
blanket "existing disturbance" statement. There is virtually NO adequate
wildlife section. It's nice that the consultants that wrote the document
are listed in it. Call them and tell them you think they did a poor job of
mitigating habitat damage (timing restrictions are a common mitigation for a
project like this and the fact that they didn't put it in shows poor form)
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mark F. Gerber
Environmental Scientist III/GIS
Brown and Caldwell
600 E. Riverpark Lane, Suite 210
Boise, ID 83706
www.brownandcaldwell.com <http://www.brownandcaldwell.com/>
Reception Desk: 208.336.1340
Direct Dial: 208.384.3130
Mobile: 208.870.9481
Fax: 208.344.0825
mgerber@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:mgerber@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
-----Original Message-----
From: Thecattertons@xxxxxxx [mailto:Thecattertons@xxxxxxx] ;
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2003 10:06 AM
To: va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; mgerber@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [va-bird] Re: Restoration project at Manassas Battlefield
Hello Mark and VABirders,
In a message dated 6/30/03 11:04:56 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
mgerber@xxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
The NEPA process allows for public comment and contains a fairly effective
due diligence process for obtaining comment from the public. You all had a
chance to change the process. I have been involved in the NEPA process for
years and on many projects and one thing I have noticed is that if folks who
have concerns about these projects get involved early on, most changes are
incorporated into the construction process.
Wait a minute! I'm very sorry to say that we did NOT have a chance to change
this process, in regards to the TIMING. I'm speaking for the group of
volunteers, who for the last two years have been surveying the birds
Manassas Battlefield, as part of the NPS National Capital Region's Bird
Inventory Project. As far as I know, none of us had any prior knowledge of
the impending restoration project. You better believe that if we did, we
would have done our best to delay it until breeding season was over...maybe
a month. Had I been out there two weeks ago, when the bulldozers started
destroying habitat, I'd have been in front of those dozers, in protest.
Wasn't I in shock when I went out there on 6/19, to scout for the No. VA
Breeding Bird Survey (Fairfax Audubon), and found habitat already being
destroyed. I was unable to even start my survey.
Regarding the Environmental Assessment...on page 12, under the Wildlife
section, I find this sentence to be in glaring error to the reality of
what's taking place:
"Natural resource management personnel will closely monitor the operation to
insure minimal impacts to wildlife." Let's see...bird habitat is being
destroyed during breeding season and the NPS considers that to be a minimal
impact on wildlife?
The Stuart's Hill EA can be found at:
http://data2.itc.nps.gov/nature/documents/Ea2.doc
<http://data2.itc.nps.gov/nature/documents/Ea2.doc>
Laura Catterton
Manassas, Virginia
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