The Oregonian, “Fireworks show canceled amid concern for sea birds”:
The coastal town of Depoe Bay is about to experience its quietest July 3 in 19 years.
Town officials this year reluctantly announced they were cancelling the annual pre-Independence Day fireworks show, following pressure from federal wildlife managers who said the noise disrupts protected sea birds.
Business owners, dependent on the popular show for foot traffic, are not happy.
“It’s a great loss to our community,” said Peggy Leoni, co-owner of Trollers Lodge, a small motel in Depoe Bay.
But Rebecca Chuck, deputy project leader with the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex, said the move was necessary to protect species such as the Brandt’s cormorant that nest at Pirates Cove. The cove is less than a mile south of Boiler Bay, where the fireworks show is held, and seabird colonies on the north coast face intensifying pressure from bald eagles and other predators.
The event at Boiler Bay has been a tradition since 1993.
Phil Taunton, one of the original organizers, said July 3 was chosen as the date to avoid competition with better-funded fireworks shows on the Fourth. The location was an easy shuttle ride just north of town.
The shows ran smoothly for two decades.
Then, in 2010, a Depoe Bay resident contacted the federal wildlife service and reported seeing seabirds nesting at Pirates Cove take flight during the fireworks.
The federal agency asked the city to consider moving the fireworks to Fogarty Creek State Recreation Area, a little farther north. But organizers responded that moving the show farther away was not an option.
Seeking more tangible proof of disturbance, Taunton and other Depoe Bay leaders asked the fish and wildlife service to conduct a study at the site.
Federal officials agreed. So, as organizers prepared for last year’s fireworks show, fish and wildlife officials positioned themselves in Pirates Cove.
Chuck, the federal wildlife manager, said staffers used aerial photography, video footage and the naked eye to see how seabirds at the cove reacted to the boom of the fireworks. The study showed the nearby explosions had an impact. Seabirds were frightened away from nests by the noise, and returned to find that eggs had been damaged or eaten by predators, she said.
“We did document disturbance, including nests that were lost,” Chuck said.
City officials put up a fierce resistance to the study’s conclusions, questioning its methodology.
But because the location where the fireworks are launched is on state park land, state officials were warned they could be liable for violating the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a federal law that makes it illegal to harm or kill protected bird species.
When Oregon Parks and Recreation decided not to issue a permit for the event this year, the city had no choice but to cancel.
Local business owners, facing the reality that this year’s show won’t go on, have spent the last two weeks coming up with other ways to draw tourists into town. Sidewalk sales, special menus, demonstrations, music and a special drawing with more than $1,000 in gift cards are all on the schedule for Tuesday.
[…]
Chuck, the federal wildlife manager, said she and her staff did not make the recommendation about the fireworks lightly.
“We all live in these little communities and we know events that bring cash and tourists in are extremely important,” Chuck said. “So this matters to us.
“It was not an easy thing to hand out by any means.”
And that’s their job: to — with great reluctance, naturally — exercise their enormous power and pronounce on the fate of an entire town that depends for tourism on its livelihood. So as not to frighten some birds. One day each year. For about half an hour.
Meaning that the businesses and the town itself are now likely more endangered than the birds being fetishized by the environmentalists increasingly in control of industry in this country.
None of whom are elected.
Land of the free my ass.
(h/t Jim Geraghty)
Heck, if fish can control the hydroelectric dams, why not the birds the fireworks? Birds aren’t any dummerer than fish, surely.
“I’m sorry to cancel your town’s summer, but on the bright side, my job is very secure.”
This we call getting things done. In a bipartisan fashion. Becuase after more than 200 years shit’s really gotten stacked up. In the offices a power-drunk, rogue, part-time, grifting Congress. In the pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
You figure it out. What it is is what happens when a little failshit nation jointly squanders its principles, to borrow a phrase.
Next up federal wildlife managers to cite God for thunderstorm activities.
Apparently, Thor hates the little birdies.
Maybe the Ad-Hoc Committee on Brandt’s cormorant should start taking a hard look at the discriminatory practices of the eagles. Though they will need to coordinate with the Eagle Executive Committee, the Court Master on the 1918 Migratory Bird Act, the local euphemism for ACORN, maybe the NRDC. The Chamber of Commerce? Which species or grievance group do they represent? “Commerce” just screams “no moral authoriteh”.
and when their neighbors start making it clear that living anywhere except a bunker is one of the consequences of that little decision is when we’ll start getting a handle on it.
The study showed the nearby explosions had an impact. Seabirds were frightened away from nests by the noise, and returned to find that eggs had been damaged or eaten by predators, she said.
Are Brandt’s cormorants endangered?
No?
Then they can handle a few losses.
And I say that as a bird fancier who digs cormorants.
Awesome.
Probably this is only because my parents recently totally wrecked a (non-endangered) Ring-billed Gull with their airplane, but I see this as precedent for OH NO THE BIRDIES LET’S SHUT DOWN THE AIRPORTS in the future. Never mind that wild bird populations nest around airports in the first place because of the necessary restriction on nearby housing, because most of the birds don’t give a flip about regular engine noise compared to their human counterparts.
And Canada geese flippin’ love golf courses.
Granted California already tried to kill general aviation by attempting to ban the use of leaded fuel completely. Thank goodness that failed.
But wait – isn’t the bald eagle a charismatic, endangered species? Don’t they deserve a good feed on cormorant eggs once a year? Why do you hate the eagles so?
So. No thunderstorms in Oregon. Odd.
Administrative lawfare.
Utah says the Federal Bureau of Land Management is violating the law when it makes land decisions in Utah.
The federal government had argued it could keep secret the documents that showed whether its decisions are legal.
The Red-Rock Wilderness Bill is an environmentalist proposal that covers 10 million acres of Utah land, and the BLM is restricting the use of the land for roads and drilling. The state of Utah suspects the federal government may be treating the proposal as if it were the law, even though the Red Rock Bill has never actually been passed.