<html><div style='background-color:'><P>As Mike Hendrickson had warned, Owl
Avenue has been logged. Essentially ruined for birding. A 100 foot swath of
mature black spruce has been clearcut on the west side of the road and in some
places, on both sides of the road. This will certainly NOT be the place to look
for Boreal Chickadees. [I recommend the two-mile stretch of mature black spruce
along CR52 immediately east of Owl Avenue...Boreals can be found here.]</P>
<P>What is especially upsetting about this logging is that St. Louis County and
state Foresters KNEW THIS WAS AN IMPORTANT BIRDING AREA. After the Owl Invasion
of 2004-2005 there were meetings in Cotton to brainstorm on how Sax-Zim could
cater to birders and bring in tourism dollars to the local communities. The
foresters were at several meetings alongside the MN DNR Nongame, local
business owners and birders. They heard the excitement of the locals, of the
birders, of the Non game DNR...But the foresters attitude from the start was on
of "You can tell us the value of this area but we are going to log where we
want." Their solution was always to send birders to other areas where these
birds could be found. The arrogance was obvious and unproductive to the goals
of the meeting.<BR><BR>I'm also upset with myself and the birding community for
not seeing the handwriting on the wall and
doing something about it.</P>So scratch Owl Avenue out of the Sax-Zim section
of your copy of Kim Eckert's Birders Guide to MN.<BR><BR><BR>Sparky Stensaas
<BR>2515 Garthus Road <BR>Wrenshall, MN 55797 <BR>218.341.3350 cell
<BR><A href="mailto:[email protected]";>[email protected]</A>
<BR><A
href="http://www.stoneridgepress.com";>www.stoneridgepress.com</A><BR></div><br
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