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Editorial: Help Elect Cedar Key News` Board of Directors
April 13th, 2003

Editorial: Cedar Key News: A Progress Report
March 11th, 2003

Editorial: Mercedes Meets the Mud
February 28th, 2003

Editorial: Happy New Year to All
December 29th, 2002

Editorial: Letter to the Editor - Thank You C.K. Police for Doing Your Job
December 15th, 2002

Editorial: Poll Results: Fact, Fiction, or Propaganda?
December 4th, 2002

Editorial: WANTED
November 27th, 2002

Editorial: 1,2,3,4 What Are We Fighting For?
October 10th, 2002

Editorial: Do We Really Want Law Enforcement in Cedar Key?
August 15th, 2002

Editorial: Levy County Emergency Management
July 26th, 2002

Editorial: We Have Our Own Heroes
July 17th, 2002

Editorial: Take a Little Time!
July 3rd, 2002

Editorial: Water Management District Trying Its Best
June 26th, 2002

Editorial: Bribery and Misuse of Public Office
June 25th, 2002

Editorial: Police Officer`s Improper Conduct Case Fades Away
June 24th, 2002

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Editorial: State of the Birds

Editorial: State of the Birds

Editor

State of the Birds Message

Bird watching is a hobby enjoyed by an estimated one out of every four people, despite the worst intentions of Alfred Hitchcock. Some of those people are casual observers of back yard birds. Some bird watchers are obsessive, traveling great distances to see a rare sight such as a flock of Whooping Cranes. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar has issued a State of the Birds report that has both good news and bad.

The status of coastal birds is of particular interest in Cedar Key which draws tourists in pursuit of one of our attractions - the birds. We may take our Brown Pelicans for granted, but thirty years ago they had become rare. Likewise, our Bald Eagles and Ospreys were in danger of extinction prior to the banning of DDT in the United States. Whooping Cranes are of special local interest. Establishment of a Gulf Coast migratory population is well under way, thanks to Herculean efforts by Canadian and U.S. ornithologists who rear and train young Whoopers to fly from Wisconsin to over-wintering sites in Florida.

With recognition of conservation success stories like the return of Bald Eagles to Florida, consider shore bird species currently in danger. Red Knots depend on horseshoe crab eggs to fuel their long migration. Over-harvest of horseshoe crabs for pharmaceutical purposes has reduced the breeding success of the Red Knot by 82 percent. (This new value of horseshoe crabs illustrates the formerly unrecognized value of a marine species.) Habitat destruction to build condos on beaches has hurt other shoreline species such as Plovers and Sanderlings. Hurricanes, exotic mosquito borne diseases and rising sea level all afflict shore birds.

Yet there is good news in the Department of Interior report. Several species of gulls are thriving. Garbage dumps are their buffet. In the past twenty years, Department of Interior programs have protected or restored 250,000 acres of coastal wetlands. Whooping Cranes, who depend on coastal marshes as over wintering grounds, have rebounded from 15 birds to 266 birds in seventy years. This recovery is proof that, with help, an endangered species can be saved.

The next time special interests call for repeal of endangered species legislation please remember that these species can be saved, and the hospitality industry will benefit as well.

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