North Carolina Wildlife Commission Says No to US Navy’s Plan to Use Avitrol
March 16, 2007
Avitrol is a poison used to control bird populations around airports and the choice of poison the Navy identified in their plan to control birds around the planned OLF site. NC Wildlife Commission has written a letter in support of Governor Easley’s letter earlier in the week. As part of the Wildlife Commissioners letter they point out that Avitrol has not been approved in North Carolina to be used to control waterfowl. There is also concern about the impact this poison will have on waterways and other animals that will come in contact with it if its used including the Red Wolf a species of great concern. Additionally Governor Easley forwarded the NC Wildlife’s concerns to other agencies within the state;
He forwarded the commission’s warning Friday to a group of state agency heads and boards with his own letter that urged them “to share your concerns about this significant threat to one of the most significant wildlife areas in our state.”
“It is important to note that this cannot be characterized as a local issue, the harm will not be limited to the area surrounding the OLF,” Easley wrote. “Because these migratory populations come from as far away as Alaska and western Canada, wide swaths of North America will be affected.”
WRAL has posted the info about the Public hearings;
The Navy will host six public hearings on its plan to build an outlying landing field in eastern North Carolina.
Each scheduled public hearing will be preceded by an open information session to allow interested individuals to review the plan. Navy representatives will be available during the information sessions.
Each information session will occur from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., followed by the formal public hearing from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Those wishing to speak at the public hearing should arrive early to sign up. Speakers will be heard on a first come first served basis. Public hearings have been scheduled at the following dates and locations:
• Monday, March 19: Mattamuskeet Elementary School, 60 Juniper Bay Road, Swan Quarter, N.C.
• Tuesday, March 20: Bertie High School, 715 U.S. Highway 13 North, Windsor, N.C.
• Wednesday, March 21: Perquimans County High School, 305 Edenton Road, Hertford, N.C.
• Thursday, March 22: Craven County Community College, Orringer Hall, 800 College Court, New Bern, N.C.
• Tuesday, April 3: Beaufort Community College, 5337 U.S. Highway 264 East, Washington, N.C.
• Wednesday, April 4: Vernon G. James Research and Extension Center, North Carolina State University, 207 Research Station Road, Plymouth, N.C.
Will Burr or Dole do anything? I’m not holding my breath.
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North Carolina Wildlife Commission Says No to US Navy’s Plan to ……
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It would be interesting to understand who actually owns the land the USN is looking at and any political affiliations of the land owners, hence profiting from their landing strip. It is curious that our US senators are not listening to their constituency on this and proposing alternative sites. There are hundreds of miles of potentially suitable alternative sites along the mid Atlantic seaboard. Who’s really behind this? Landing strips can be built in lots of places but we will never be able to replicate the unique habitat and natural wildlife resources.
My understanding is that this area is made up by a lot of family farms many owned for many generations and most do not have a desire to sell. If you look at a map the location is pretty evenly split between the three primary bases that would use it. The current OLF is in Virginia and development has encroached on that area and the VA politicians have supported it moving somewhere else. Governor Easily has stated on a number of occasions that he and the rest of the state government is willing to work with the feds on finding a location that will have less of an impact but thus far the US Navy is unwilling. Our Senators I suspect want to tow the party line on this and also not come out as opposing anything to do with the military.
North Carolina is nearly unmatched in their support of the military and in the number of military installations situated there. As a pro-military advocate, I have always supported the military’s need for areas in which to practice operations that will make and keep our armed force personnel proficient, especially facilities like Bogue Field in Carteret County; it was there years before the “tony residences” came to Emerald Isle and decided to run the Marines out. We TarHeels should have seen the writing on the wall when the DoD agreed to leave Vieques, Puerto Rico, where so much naval land/sea training took place. Such training had to be provided somewhere. But North Carolina should not have to absorb every new military installation requirement for the entire U.S., especially when the cost is so high regarding the disturbance of natural waterfowl habitat. North Carolina politicians who approved this decision to welcome the OLF are poor stewards of our diminishing wet and wild lands. Susan
I would agree with a lot of what you say Susan but I’m not convinced that there is not a place in the state of NC to put the OLF. I just know within a few miles of a National Wildlife Refuge with the number of large birds that are there every winter and the other species that live year round it’s not a very good idea.