Birding and other ecotourism activities are becoming more recognized as an economic value to communities. If you can indicate to city officials that out-of-town folks come to the city specifically to bird in that area, and they shop, dine, buy gas, etc. in the city, that might help the officials think positively about re-opening the area to public use.
If they have specifical concerns, for example,legal liability, those might be addressed by a local group that would be willing to take on the responsibility. Good luck! Doug Johnson ***************************************** Douglas H. Johnson Research Statistician USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology 204 Hodson Hall 1980 Folwell Ave. University of Minnesota St. Paul, MN 55108 Phone: 612-624-4716 Fax: 612-625-5299 Email: Douglas_H_Johnson at usgs.gov ***************************************** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20081023/98abaa41/attachment.html
