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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA eirbi- it- January 23, 2002 Joan Galli Non -Game Wildlife Specialist 1200 Warner Road St. Paul, MN 55106 Dear Joan, James Ford Bell Museum of Natural History 10 Church Street S.E. Minneapolis, MN 55455 -0104 612- 624 -7083 Fax: 612 - 626 -7704 College of Natural Resources Thank you for inviting me to today's meeting. I'm sorry that I had to leave before the meeting concluded but I had a meeting back on campus for which I couldn't be late. Perhaps you will find the following hasty summary of my thoughts after the meeting helpful in thinking about next steps. We spent a great deal of time talking about water skiing but I think we would be wise to keep other possible explanations in mind. The following are nine alternatives, presented in alphabetic order, and my assessment of the likelihood that each is the primary cause of abandonment. Importantly, I've suggested steps that could be taken to either eliminate each potential cause or at least to obtain data that would help us to determine whether each alternative might be contributing to the heron/egret abandonment. To maximize the probability of successfully maintaining this colony now, and to maximize our ability to prevent colony abandonment in the future, we should seriously consider all of these possibilities. It is likely that someone will suggest that there is insufficient evidence to identify the primary cause of abandonment and that no restriction on lake use should be imposed until such time as we have conclusive data. I would suggest that we used that philosophy in 2001 with the result that once again there was no successful breeding in this colony. Given the status of this colony as one of the largest, of a relatively small number of metro area colonies, this is a matter of great concern for the entire north metro area. For the health of the metro area ecosystem we cannot afford to wait another year for all the necessary data to be obtained before we act. We must make an educated guess and take action. In my opinion, the most likely explanation is that the colony has been abandoned due to direct human influence in the form of human disturbance (noise and physical presence) in close proximity to the colony. We should work with the community to encourage the adoption of a no -wake zone north of the bog poles. Respect 1y, I M. Lanyon, Ph.D. i ector, Bell Museum of Natural History Professor, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior