TNBIRDERS: The dedication of the new 74,000-acre Sundquist Wildlife Management Area will occur this Saturday, February 22. The WMA will connect Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area and Frozen Head State Natural Area, creating a parcel of publicly-owned land that is the third largest in the state. Acquisition of the area was made possible through a coalition of private partners and federal grant awards acquired in part due to the tremendous importance of the area to forest songbirds, particularly the cerulean warbler and golden-winged warbler. Data collected by many TOS volunteers as part of the Cerulean and Golden-winged Warbler Atlases as well as that collected over years of point count surveys was integral to creating the justification that lead to the grant awards. I hope that many TnBIRDers will join TWRA this weekend to celebrate the dedication of this property to the public trust. For details, see the TWRA web page at www.tnwildlife.org. If you are interested in going, a shuttle service will carry people from the parking lot of the Antioch Church off Norma Road (see directions on web page) starting at 9 am. Please dress warmly and ready for inclement weather (including rain and snow). It would be wonderful to see a good turnout of birders to celebrate this exciting step in bird conservation in Tennessee. Hope to see you there. Troy Ettel State Ornithologist Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency P.O. Box 40747 Nashville, TN 37204 (615) 781-6653 Troy.Ettel@xxxxxxxxxxx =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423) 764-3958 =========================================================