NEWS BRIEFS
WBCI Issues Committee
Members
- Andy Paulios (Interim Committee Chair; WBCI Coordinator; WDNR)
- Karen Etter Hale (WBCI Chair; Madison Audubon Society)
- Owen Boyle (WDNR, Southeast Region Ecologist)
- Bill Brooks (Ripon College, Professor Emeritus)
- Stacy Craig (LoonWatch Program, Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute)
- Noel Cutright (We Energies Senior Ecologist Emeritus, WI Society for Ornithology Historian)
- Jane Dennis (WI Society for Ornithology Secretary)
- Scott Diehl (WI Humane Society - Wildlife Rehabilitation Center)
- Marge Gibson (Raptor Education Group, Inc. Executive Director)
- Chris Lepczyk (Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa Assistant Professor)
- Bill Mueller (WI Society for Ornithology Conservation Chair)
- Joel Trick (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, WBCI Wetlands and Shorelines Subcommittee Chair)
Goals
- Keep WBCI partners up-to-date on relevant current events, including diseases, pesticides, tower kills, effects of free-ranging cats on bird populations, road mortality, window collisions, and other topics through regular communication, including the issuing of white papers.
- Recommend strategies to address problems (e.g. how best to reduce overabundant populations that are in conflict with other wildlife and humans.)
Accomplishments
- Planned and coordinated a Gull Management Symposium, "Planning for Gulls in Your Community", held at the We Energies auditorium in Milwaukee on March 11, 2004, and sponsored by WBCI and the WI Society for Ornithology. This event was attended by 67 persons from throughout Wisconsin, with a few attendees and presenters from Minnesota, Michigan, and Illinois. Scott Craven of the UW - Madison Dept. of Wildlife Ecology facilitated the symposium.
- Began a series of Issues Papers on various topics by developing and writing "Wind Power and Birds", "Ethical Standards in Birding: Protecting Endangered, Threatened, and Rare Species", and "The Effects of Free-ranging Cats on Birds in Wisconsin". The finished papers and a set of linked information about birds and building/window collisions are at IssuesPapers.htm.
- Wrote letters to staff at U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, and Wisconsin DOT regarding excessive wildlife and bird mortality caused by vehicle collisions along Highway 49 where it bisects the Horicon refuge in northern Dodge and southern Fond du Lac counties. The letter, signed by 24 WBCI partners, asked for increased awareness of this problem of highway mortality and a decision on a management response. A written response was received from both agencies, with management activities planned by the Refuge and the Fish & Wildlife Service to begin during the forthcoming year.
- Initiated, along with a group of approximately 20 volunteers and members of the Urban/Suburban Habitat Subcommittee, the first coordinated effort in Milwaukee in spring 2005 to assess the extent of building collisions during migration. This effort was taken over by The Wisconsin Humane Society and their WiNGS (Wisconsin Night Guardians for Songbirds) initiative, where it continues. The Urban/Suburban Habitat Subcommittee will expand this effort in communities along the lakeshore and along the Mississippi River valley in 2006. See more at http://www.wihumane.org/wildlife/wings/default.aspx.
Current Activities
- Continuing work on additional Issues Papers on other topics, including papers focused on the effects of lead poisoning on birds, tower kills of birds, the effects of pesticides on birds, the effect of feral cats on bird popoulations, and climate change and birds.
- Developing additional online resources regarding problem gull populations.
For more information about the Issues Committee or to join, please contact:
Andy Paulios, WBCI Coordinator, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 608-264-6137 / Andy.Paulios@wisconsin.gov.