We really appreciate work by Mary Anne Bishop of the Pacific Northwest Research Station and Dan Logan, Erin Cooper and Dave Schmid of the Cordova Ranger District who put together this conference. They along with Chris Iverson of the Alaska Regional Office help us to understand the linkages between flyway sites including how many shorebirds and how long they stay at the critical stopover areas. I also would like to mention that Rick Cables, the new Regional Forester will be on the job next week. Rick comes to us from Colorado and brings 23 years of experience at many levels of the Forest Service. I know he will do a great job and encourage you all to visit with him.
Shorebirds are among nature s most accomplished travelers.
The 700-thousand acre Delta provides sanctuary and sometime home to one of the world s greatest concentrations of migratory birds. Many of these birds routinely migrate 22-thousand miles between some of the northernmost and southernmost lands on earth. The migration corridors for some of these species take them from South America to Alaska. I understand that the Delta is the largest breeding ground in the world for the Dusky Canada Goose and seven percent of the world s Trumpeter Swans. It is also the major stopover for Western Sandpipers, Dunlins that nest in the Arctic wetlands.