Untitled Document

Links Have Been Removed
The information provided is time sensitive and links are routinely broken.
To save you from the frustration of broken encounters they have been removed.
Please refer to the source from which the information came if you want to know more.

WETLANDS NEWSLINK – A Compilation of Wetland & Migratory Bird News from
Around the World

Wetlands NewsLink is a monthly news service. Submissions are encouraged – any international news is welcome – and subscribership is available to
anyone who asks. Let me know of colleagues that might like to receive this e-mail and I will gladly include them.

– Note from the Editor
– News from Wetland Friends
– Wetland & Migratory Bird News – in the News – from Around the Globe
– Migratory Bird Opportunity in Mexico
– International Wetland Calendar (The year 2002 and beyond)

This was a quiet month on the international wetland & migratory bird scene. I noted however an interesting conservation tactic. According to the
Environment News Service, the Pope was asked by a conservation group to “help save sea turtles.” The request: that the Vatican declare turtle meat
to be “red meat” and therefore make it off limits to practicing Catholics during Lent. The group says that illegal consumption is a major threats to
sea turtles in southern California and Mexico.

The DU Rochester, Minnesota Chapter is auctioning off nine original David Maass paintings through Sotheby's on April 18th. The auction will take
place in New York, however bidding will be available by phone: (212) 606-7585 and over the Internet at www.sothebys.com. David Maass is an avid
sportsman, conservationist, and two-time Federal Duck Stamp winner. For more details go to: http://www.ducks.org/

A Wetlands Friend brought to our attention the EWA web site, home to a non-profit association of European water management scientists and experts.
To learn more about this groups’ activities go to: www.ewaonline.de National Audubon Society

The National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology announced the results of the 5th Great Backyard Bird Count. State-by-state results
are available online at www.birdsource.org “Close to 50,000 checklists were submitted for a total of almost 5 million individual birds counted from
across the United States and Canada, with every state and province reporting in,” said Frank Gill, Audubon’s vice president of science and conservation.
For more about this go to: http://www.audubon.org/news/release/index.html

The cut off date for the Annual Conference “early registration” is April 15th. You are now 24 hours late. Good luck! For more information go to:
http://www.sws.org/index.html

The Bureau now welcomes applications for this most senior post in the 20-member Ramsar secretariat based in Gland, Switzerland (near Geneva.) The
deadline for applications is September 30, 2002. The term of the present Secretary General of the Convention expires on July 31, 2003.

A Ramsar “draft” Strategic Plan for 2003-2008 is now available. For more information, or how to obtain a copy go to:
http://www.ramsar.org/w.n.stratplan2003a.htm

-- Austria: designates Lafnitztal as its 11th Ramsar site.
-- Saint Lucia designated two wetlands: Savannes Bay and Mankoté Mangrove – as its first Ramsar sites.
-- The USA names Quivira National Wildlife Refuge in the state of Kansas as a new companion site to Cheyenne Bottoms.

WETLAND & MIGRATORY BIRD NEWS – IN THE NEWS – FROM AROUND THE GLOBE (by most recent date)

Restoring Life Through Sustainable Management to the Floodplains of the “Zone Humide du Moyen Niger”

This video entitled “Niger – Bawa Ousmane Goah,” of the World Wide Fund for Nature’s International TV Centre, won a Certificate of Merit in the category
of Public Affairs/Video News Release, in the Chicago International Television Competition. The film highlighted Mr Ousmane’s work in fostering community-based planning and management in Albarkaïzé, in the Gaya region of the southwest of Niger. The film surveys the prevailing problems of deforestation and unorganized use of the flooding cycle of this important length of the River Niger, and follows Bawa Ousmane Goah as he illustrates planning meetings with villagers and draws upon their traditional knowledge of reforestation projects and sustainable use of available water.

Army Engineers Issue Permits to Expand Limestone Mining in the Everglades
(Florida, USA)

April 12, 2002, Associated Press, by Coralie Carlson, Miami – The Army Corps of Engineers issued permits that allow mining in 5,409 acres in the Everglades for the next 10 years, more than doubling the amount of limestone quarries in the protected wetlands. The 10 companies who receive the permits will pay about $46 million in fees that will be used by the federal government to purchase and improve another 7,500 acres of wetlands near the Everglades, officials said. For the full article go to: http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/04/04122002/ap_46928.asp

April 2, 2002, Environment News Service, by Cat Lazaroff, Washington, DC – Almost half the nation's coastal waters are so polluted that their
usefulness to humans and their ability to support aquatic life are impaired, finds a new report by a quartet of federal agencies. The study, the first
environmental report card on the condition of the nation's coastal waters, rates the quality of these resources as fair to poor.
http://ens-news.com/ens/apr2002/2002L-04-02-06.html

Migratory Bird Conservation Commission Approves Additions to Nine National Wildlife Refuges in the USA

March 21, 2002, USFWS News Release – The Migratory Bird Conservation Commission approved the acquisition of more than 1,735 acres of important
migratory bird habitat at its March meeting in Washington, D.C. Newly acquired lands will benefit migratory birds and other species on units of the National Wildlife Refuge System in nine states, from South Carolina to Washington. The Cabinet-level commission, chaired by Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Craig Manson, approved funds of $3 million to acquire the land. All acquisitions had been previously approved by the affected states. For complete details visit http://news.fws.gov/NewsReleases/R9/D5AB5A7B-44D4-416A-A8F906E8F773A013.html

March 21, 2002, Environment News Service, Fort Pierce, Florida, – In what is believed to be the first such attempt, captive raised sea fans, a form of soft coral, will be planted on a reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary that was damaged when a ship ran aground in 1989. Harbor Branch reef restoration biologist Kevin Gaines said re-seeding the reef is a "giant step" in a project with two main goals; to better learn how to conserve and restore coral reefs, and to learn how to culture soft coral for re-seeding projects and for the aquarium industry. For the full story go to: http://www.ens-news.com/ens/mar2002/2002L-03-21-09.html

March 20, 2002, Environment News Service, Washington, DC, – "A federal district judge ruled that the U.S. Navy and Department of Defense are violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act by bombing and shelling a small island in the Pacific Ocean and killing protected birds. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, passed in 1918, prohibits killing or otherwise harming migratory birds without a permit issued in accordance with federal regulations " For the full story go to: http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2002/2002L-03-20-09.html

New York Protects Birds Along Lake Champlain Shore
March 11, 2002, Environment News Service, Albany, New York, – New York state has designated a new Champlain Marshes Bird Conservation Area, along Lake Champlain, protecting 2,800 acres of waterfowl and migratory bird habitat. The area contains a variety of large marshes, forested swamps, and shrub swamps as well as upland forests, grasslands, and shrublands. The new Champlain Marshes Bird Conservation Area (BCA) is located along a 90 mile stretch of the western shore of Lake Champlain, starting near the Canadian border and continuing to the southern tip of the lake. For the full article go to: http://www.ens-news.com/ens/mar2002/2002L-03-11-09.html

This project is sponsored by the Institute for Bird Populations (IBP) and is being carried out in Oaxaca, Mexico by several Mexican institutions including, Serbo A.C., Huatulco National Park, the Santo Domingo Etnobotanical Garden in Oaxaca City, and Mancomunados, a community - based group located in Sierra Juarez. The author is collecting mist-netting data birds for demographic studies. He is willing to collaborate by providing feathers samples to genetic and isotope projects in exchange for information on the origin of the winter bird populations in Oaxaca. For further information, or to provide data, contact: Manuel Grosselet, Serbo AC, Tel: 01 951 5141734, Fax: 01 951 5160098, E-mail: birdinnet@yahoo.com.mx