[va-bird] Re: Restoration project at Manassas Battlefield

Greetings,
A few things regarding the battlefield issue.  

One, it's been a plan to build a wetlands mitigation site near the Pageland 
Road area (defunct shopping center) for years.  I knew about the intent, but 
never heard about the start of it, nor about the EA review period.  My 
understanding is that the site is dedicated to replace wetlands lost during 
construction of the Smithsonian project at Dulles Airport (Air and Space 
museum?).  That 
may or may not be the case, but it is what I was told.  I haven't regularly 
surveyed the battlefield for a few years, so it has been in the works for quite 
some time.  I can't speak to how well they advertised it, or how long ago.  It 
might have been a while back.  

Two, there is (or was) a loose plan to return the battlefield to how it was 
in the 1860's.  The entire battlefield.  This plan may have been scuttled, and 
they may be returning only a small portion of it to the state back then.  Or 
it may still be a plan.  It was largely farmland then, very little woods (or so 
I'm told).  The problem with this is that Manassas National Battlefield Park 
(MNBP) is roughly 5500 acres, about half or so of it is forest.  It sits in an 
area that is being developed quite rapidly, and may someday be the only 
forested area nearby.  While I'll admit that changing one habitat to another 
isn't 
always a bad thing, there isn't much forest left in the area of MNBP.  I was 
asked by one of the administrators of the park (some years ago) what I thought 
about the possibility of the Hazel Plain/Chinn Ridge area, as well as the Deep 
Cut area being reverted back to pasture.  Those are about the two largest 
stands of trees over there.  I told them that I thought it would be disastrous 
to 
the wildlife in those areas.  

Three, my own little soapbox for a second, but it ties in some.  Hay-cutting 
the fields.  MNBP has had an irregular practice of cutting the fields at the 
park over the years.  Some years they have essentially shaved all the fields 
before winter, not leaving a whole lot of cover for field birds, nor a whole 
lot 
of hunting areas for raptors.  Other years, many fields have been left uncut. 
 In the winter of 2000-2001, the northeast corner of the park was left 
entirely uncut, and we had wintering Harriers, Kestrels, Long-eared Owls, and 
Saw-whet Owls, among the more regular "winterers" such as Red-taileds, Great 
Horneds,
 and Red-shouldereds.  This past winter, most of the fields in the same area 
were short, and I found no Harriers, Kestrels, or Saw-whets in my many visits. 
 Small study sample, to be sure, but there's a pretty obvious impact to short 
fields.  Further, I drove through MNBP yesterday, and noticed that there has 
been some recent cutting (as in the last two or three days).  Eastern 
Meadowlarks and Grasshopper Sparrows breed in these fields, and are certainly 
impacted 
by this cutting.  I suspect many nests of both species were destroyed, but of 
course that is only speculation.  When I used to be closer to the situation 
at MNBP, I did work with the biologist some, and he asked for suggestions as to 
when was the best time to cut.  I talked to ornithologists and a sparrow 
expert, and about the best consensus I could get was to cut sometime after 
mid-July (to protect breeders) and before August first or mid-August (to allow 
some 
cover to grow back in for wintering birds).  I suggested this time frame to 
MNBP, and it seemed like they were going to work within it to some extent.  
This 
was in the summer of 2000.  While whatever they've done in the Stuart's Hill 
area maybe be tough on many breeding birds this year, and leave no place for 
certain species to return to next year, the annual process of cutting the 
fields 
will impact birds every year until it is fixed.  

Four, Bryan Gorsira (the biologist at the park, who may have the title 
Natural Resources Manager or something similar), was always pretty easy to work 
with.  He, like most of us, saw MNBP as a park that could be historically 
significant, as well as wildlife friendly.  That said, his hands have always 
been tied 
to some extent.  Manassas National Battlefield Park is first and foremost a 
historic park.  The amount of birders that visit it are a tiny fraction of 
those that visit it for the history.  There is also a money issue, as those who 
visit once are likely to pay the entrance fee at the Visitor's Center, whereas 
those of us that bird there presumably have a National Parks pass.  Virtually 
the entire park is a fee area.  As a result, there is pressure and desire to 
see that history as the priority of the park.  Some issues may be good-sized 
battles if we take them on.  Preventing them from restoring areas to how they 
looked in the 1860's will be one of them.  As for cutting the fields, this is 
done presumably to generate some additional income to the park.  The hay 
cutting 
rights are leased out to private farmers, and MNBP gets paid for it.  This 
might be a smaller battle, but probably won't be easy.

Best,

Todd

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Todd Day
Jeffersonton, VA
Culpeper County
Blkvulture@xxxxxxx
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