[birdky] Re: Brown-headed Nuthatches London Ranger Station Pines USFS contact info

From: "Judy Lundquist" <jlq.sci@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "'Frank Renfrow'" <frankrenfrow@xxxxxxx>, <birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 24 May 2023 21:47:24 -0400

Please keep us informed of contact information for decision makers when you get
it. This is encouraging.

Judy Lundquist

Anderson County

From: Frank Renfrow [mailto:frankrenfrow@xxxxxxx] ;
Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2023 7:04 PM
To: jlq.sci@xxxxxxxxx; birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [birdky] Re: Brown-headed Nuthatches London Ranger Station Pines
USFS contact info

Thanks so much Ce Ci, Judy, Travis, Mike, Nancy, Joyce and everyone else for
your actions in contacting various officials that may have a role in the London
Ranger Station decision making. I have just emailed USFS Forest Wildlife
biologist Kyle Edmonds asking whether any decisions had been made and who to
contact at the USFS that is making those decisions. Looking back he had told me
on February 1, 2023 that "they have yet to make any executive decisions
regarding this project." Here is my email with one location detail omitted to
protect the nuthatches) :

Hi Kyle,

Is there any update on the London Ranger Station plans? As they told me they
were gating off the parking there starting on June 3, I am wondering if they
have made any decisions as yet.  Also can you give me the names of the USFS
officials who are or will be making those decisions?  There are now a lot of
the Kentuckians most heavily involved in birding and the nature field who are
contacting the USFS and others to save the Shortleaf Pines at the Ranger
Station. I think the cutting that went on the [other USFS] site (one of two of
the only other locations for the Brown-headed Nuthatches) and especially the
photo of the large pile of logs that represent the live, healthy trees that
were removed in the middle of the nesting season as well as the three standing
dead pine trees that were cut and left laying in the middle of the pine woods
far removed from the buildings and the parking lot, has really gotten a lot of
nature folks pretty upset with the Forest Service. These were very valuable
trees for nesting birds, probably all three were being used by cavity nesting
birds at the time, in fact I know for certain that Red-headed Woodpeckers were
nesting in one. There were dead branches in the large live pines that were cut
as well where I thought at least one or two pairs of the Brown-headed
Nuthatches may well have been nesting.

There is a good chance I think if the building of a new Ranger Station
contributes to even more Shortleaf Pine removals than the unnecessary road
project which the USFS should have been able to refuse to have put through at
their historic ranger station facility,  many Kentuckians that are nature
lovers will not forget that the USFS did not make alternative plans to put the
Ranger Station elsewhere, such as by the Resources Manager's Office at Laurel
River Lake. It seems to me that the USFS should be protecting the Shortleaf
Pine stand atb the Ranger Station instead of replacing it with parking lots and
buildings as it is likely one the best Shortleaf stands in Eastern Kentucky and
the USFS is supposed to be prioritizing the restoration of Shortleaf Pine
habitat within the DBNF.

I know as the Wildlife Biologist you probably have little say in the planning
end there, but I thought maybe you could pass on this information or at least
should be aware of it.

Best Regards,

Frank

Also I have updated the Facebook group with photos of the Red-shouldered Hawks
nesting in the Shortleaf Pines at the Ranger Station: "Parent Red-shouldered
Hawk and young at nest May 21, 2023 they will likely be losing if the new
London Ranger Station and new road cut goes through. It would make much more
sense to move the Ranger Station to the temporary location permanently. This is
near all their recreation areas around Laurel River Lake. They have
unfortunately already removed a lot of the low and mid level vegetation if you
look at the last two photos but that could easily be replanted or simply
allowed to grow back. I don't think they have actually cut any pines as yet.
Let's keep it that way!"
https://www.facebook.com/groups/savethebrownheaded.nuthatches.ky

Frank Renfrow Fort Thomas

-----Original Message-----
From: Judy Lundquist <jlq.sci@xxxxxxxxx>
To: frankrenfrow@xxxxxxx; birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wed, May 24, 2023 3:33 pm
Subject: RE: [birdky] Re: Brown-headed Nuthatches London Ranger Station Pines
USFS contact info

I have emailed Gov. Beshear; Scott Ray, Daniel Boone NF Supervisor; and Jim
Gray, Transportation Sec., for a start.

They all have contact info on their websites.

Judy Lundquist

Anderson County

From: birdky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:birdky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On ;
Behalf Of Frank Renfrow ("frankrenfrow")
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2023 6:30 PM
To: birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [birdky] Re: Brown-headed Nuthatches London Ranger Station Pines USFS
contact info

Here at bottom is a birdky post from Ce Ci April 26, 2022. Here is the main
USFS contact info he had for them then.

William Ryan

Supervisory Natural Resource Specialist

Forest Service

Daniel Boone National Forest, London Ranger District

p: 606-864-4163 x102

c: 606-767-2000

f: 606-878-0811

william.ryan@xxxxxxxx

I sent an email to William Ryan that same day on April 26, 2022 and never
received a reply, but might be worth trying again.

I am however in touch with Kyle Edmonds the USFS Forest Wildlife Biologist but
he most likely has little say on the actual decision making process. Last I
heard from him is the final decision on the Ranger Station plans had not been
made and he has not updated me although I contacted him very recently about the
2nd area pine tree cutting. As of my last update he said he did not know how
many of the pines would be removed, and he indicated to me that more of the
removal would be due to the space needed for the proposed new Ranger Station
than for the road project itself. Thus I think the major possibility of
modification of the plan to save many of the pine trees lies with the USFS and
their plans for the new Ranger Station.

Here also is an update on my take on this from the revised description on our
newly revised Facebook Group for this effort -

"Save KY’s Brown-headed Nuthatches and the London Ranger Station Pines"

https://www.facebook.com/groups/savethebrownheaded.nuthatches.ky

The Shortleaf Pine habitat at the Daniel Boone National Forest (USFS) London
District Ranger Station is at risk of being destroyed for the purpose of
building a new Ranger Station with a road project being the excuse for doing
so. A slight variance in the plans could put the road through an adjacent field
where a new Ranger Station could also be built, keeping the pine grove from
being adversely impacted, Please contact the USFS, the DOI,  your Kentucky
State Representative and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to try to get this
project changed. The project is where KY 2069 is being rerouted to a new
intersection with a widened US 25, Laurel County, London, KY. London is the
only location where Brown-headed Nuthatches are presently know to breed in
Kentucky. The only other known breeding locations in London are two highly
endangered site, one a USFS location, another a State of Kentucky location,
where there has been recent pine tree removals right in the middles of the
nesting season. We are talking about very small numbers here , possibly
consisting of only one breeding pair at each location so they are by that
measure critically endangered within the State of Kentucky. To compound the
tragedy of this situation what pines might be removed by the new road project
may be only a small percentage compared to what the USFS may remove to build a
new Ranger Station right where the pine grove is located. The primary focus of
the USFS should be in protecting critically imperiled birds and their natural
habitats not in destroying them for the sake of building a new facility! The
Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves has done what is right on this by listing
the Brown-headed Nuthatches as category S1 Critically Imperiled for Kentucky.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife has done a bit by contacting the agencies involved
not to cut the trees during the nesting season but unfortunately their
oversight did not keep the cutting from happening in the other USFS and the
State location both during the nesting season. Many birds were undoubtedly
nesting in these trees including in all likelihood the Brown-headed Nuthatches.
KY Fish and Wildlife could do a lot more I think on status listing and breeding
season protection enforcement so it would be helpful to contact them as well.

Frank Renfrow Fort Thomas

-----Original Message-----
From: Ce Ci <thefarsidefarm@xxxxxxxxx>
To: birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <birdky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; frankrenfrow@xxxxxxx
<frankrenfrow@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Tue, Apr 26, 2022 2:46 pm
Subject: IMMEDIATELY CONTACT USFW REP re London Ranger Station active
Brown-headed Nuthatch nest in imminent jeopardy due to highway plan

This is the information provide to me some weeks ago by the KY Transportation
Cabinet - comments re the entire situation with the pine tree stand and the
negative effects to the nuthatches should be directed to this fellow AND I URGE
BIRDERS TO DO IT IMMEDIATELY AND EN MASSE.

A representative with the USFS, William Ryan has requested that we send you his
contact information so that he can coordinate directly with you and others
interested in the nuthatches and this project, please find his contact
information below:

William Ryan
Supervisory Natural Resource Specialist

Forest Service

Daniel Boone National Forest, London Ranger District

p: 606-864-4163 x102
c: 606-767-2000
f: 606-878-0811
<mailto:william.ryan@xxxxxxxx> william.ryan@xxxxxxxx

761 S. Laurel Road
London, KY 40744

<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/www.fs.fed.us/__;!!Db6frn15oIvDD3UI!yqRjWoJHX4ZLN6_SjQzVRC16ottNNkCxDdYNaRAGUoDptKjUxJdqsC8pcqx1sOxzSGwV$>
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On Tuesday, April 26, 2022, 02:35:25 PM EDT, Frank Renfrow
<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

It was so sad to get down to the London Ranger Station on Sunday  and see many
of the the trees there are marked for removal. The DBNF website says they are
right now in the beginning stages of demolishing the Ranger Station and putting
a road through there. We tried four years ago to call this to the attention of
those who might save the pines and the ranger station but to no avail. So sad
that they would destroy what may be one of the best Shortleaf Pine stands in
Eastern Kentucky with a very rare bird species breeding there and also the
historic Ranger Station there just to put an unneeded road where it could have
easily been put in the field next door. Seems like the people that we would
trust to save our environment, namely the State and Federal Governments often
do the worst things possible to it. The Brown-headed  Nuthatches are right now
nesting in one of the trees marked for removal. I have a message in to my DBNF
contacts, including the wildlife biologist hoping they could at least wait
until July or August when nesting is over to remove the trees. I have posts and
photos I took Sunday posted on various Kentucky Bird FB groups as well.

Frank Renfrow

Fort Thomas, KY

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References:
- [birdky] Re: Brown-headed Nuthatches London Ranger Station Pines USFS contact info
  - From: Frank Renfrow
- [birdky] Re: Brown-headed Nuthatches London Ranger Station Pines USFS contact info
  - From: Judy Lundquist
- [birdky] Re: Brown-headed Nuthatches London Ranger Station Pines USFS contact info
  - From: Frank Renfrow

[birdky] Re: Brown-headed Nuthatches London Ranger Station Pines USFS contact info

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