are at the top of the food chain. 

 They're important environmental 

 barometers which indicate the health 

 of the ecosystem. They're also an im- 

 portant part of the ecosystem and we 

 don't know what would happen if they 

 weren't there. For all we know, they 

 could be important links in the 

 transfer of energy from the ocean to 

 the estuary. 



"On bad days, I tell people that the 

 birds have as much right to be there as 

 any other bird, animal or human. 

 They're pretty, and people want to see 

 them and enjoy them." 



For years the government and 

 private organizations have worked to 

 manage the populations and habitats 

 of game birds such as ducks, geese and 

 doves. But until recently, the idea of 

 managing non-game birds usually 

 meant only protecting them, says 

 Parnell. 



Under the Migratory Bird Treaties, 

 it is illegal to kill waterbirds. The 

 National Audubon Society, which was 

 conceived in part to stop the carnage 

 of waterbirds to feather women's hats, 

 has worked since 1904 to protect 

 nesting areas through its sanctuary 

 program (see story, page 4). And all 

 colonial-waterbird nesting sites on 

 wildlife refuges or at national parks are 

 protected. 



Since the 1920s and 1930s, the U.S. 

 Army Corps of Engineers has managed 

 colonial-waterbird habitats inciden- 

 tally to its management of the In- 

 tracoastal Waterway and other 



Photo by J . Foster Scott 



"I tell people that 

 colonial waterbirds are at 

 the top of the food chain. 

 They're important en- 

 vironmental barometers 

 which indicate the health 

 of the ecosystem." 



— James Parnell 



navigational channels. The sand, silt 

 and shell dug from these channels 

 resulted in the creation of over 400 

 man-made islands in the state's 

 estuaries. 



The dredge-spoil islands were ideal 

 nesting areas for colonial waterbirds. 

 And they were built at a time when the 

 birds were beginning to come up short 

 on natural nesting habitats because of 

 increased beach utilization and 

 development of the barrier islands. 



The continued maintenance of the 

 waterway and channels through dredg- 

 ing has also meant continued upkeep 

 of waterbird nesting habitats. The 

 corps occasionally deposits a new 



covering of dredge material on some of 

 its man-made islands, leaving behind a 

 bare site. Such sites will revegetate, 

 passing through a series of predictable 

 stages of succession, each of which may 

 provide nesting habitats for different 

 species of colonial waterbirds. 



But modern environmental protec- 

 tion laws now require the corps to 

 dike any upland deposition of dredge 

 material. Parnell says diked islands 

 tend to sag, forming hollows for the 

 collection of fresh water, which speeds 

 the growth of vegetation on the island. 

 And for those species of waterbirds, 

 such as terns and skimmers, which 



■ 



PRIVATE 



trespa; 

 will be prosecuted 



Heedless to the warnings of man, these gulls make themselves at home on a private dock 



