From: Greg Reis
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2002 2:19 PM
Subject: Mono Basin Clearinghouse Updates for 2/28/02
Dear Friends,
I apologize for the lack of updates in January. My time was spent instead on
much-needed office computer upgrades. We've got some good stuff for you in
February, however. The Clearinghouse is starting to feel its first growing
pains, with the list of online reports getting long enough that we needed to
start organizing them in some way. They are now organized by subject, in the
same way the Current Research and Raw Data sections were organized. The links
page will be organized this way soon. These pages also now have colored
backgrounds behind the headers, helping to offset the different sections. Please
let me know if you have any suggestions or comments.
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ONLINE REPORTS
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PRBO Eastern Sierra Riparian Songbird Conservation Project 1998-2000 Final
Report and 2000 Mono Progress Report You know those researchers from PRBO that
you've been running into on the Eastside over the last few years that have been
hanging out in riparian areas banding birds? Well, this is what they've been
working on! Thanks to Sacha Heath, who provided the report to us entire (about a
4MB download) and in more manageable bite-size pieces. If you have a slow
connection you'll still have a slow download of the Summary & Methods (2MB) and
Appendices (1.5MB). We also still have their 1998 and 1999 results here. See
http://www.monobasinresearch.org/onlinereports/esrscp.htm
List of Mono Basin Draft EIR Library Locations
A list of 52 libraries in California and Nevada (plus all state universities,
not listed), where the 1993 Draft Mono Basin EIR was placed. If the section you
are looking for is missing on the Clearinghouse or if you just want to see a
hard copy, these are the places to go. See http://www.monobasinresearch.org/onlinereports/eirlocations.htm
Impacts of Climate Change on Landscapes of the Eastern Sierra Nevada and Western
Great Basin USGS Open File Report 01-202 by Angela Jayko and Connie Millar.
Sept. 2000 Workshop Summary. See our link at http://www.monobasinresearch.org/onlinereports/
Israel Russell's Report on the Mono Craters
The Mono Craters Madness Website now has Israel Russell's 1889 report on the
Mono Craters online, from "Quaternary History of the Mono Valley, California".
If you haven't seen this Website, it is the place to go for the Mono-Craterphile.
The site has information on geology, recent history, hiking, a photo gallery,
and excerpts from the Guest Register on the top of Crater Mountain. See our link
at http://www.monobasinresearch.org/onlinereports/
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CURRENT RESEARCH / LINKS / GIS
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A Stratigraphic Study of the 610 A.D. Eruption of the Mono Craters Current
research by the California Institute of Technology. See http://www.monobasinresearch.org/research/index.html#GEOLOGY
Sierra Nature Notes Link
The Yosemite Association has added a new web publication -- Sierra Nature Notes
-- to their site. Written by researchers, their articles are first-person
accounts from the boys & girls who muck about in stream and fen discovering what
makes the Sierra tick. There is also a Naturalist's Notebook section where you
can send in interesting sightings of critters from your hikes & ski trips in the
Sierra. This site is almost a counterpart to the Mono Basin Clearinghouse, but
in article form for the whole Sierra Nevada. Currently featured is an article by
David Carle on "Tapping the Sierra Nevada Reservoir" and in the archives you can
find an article by Scott Stine on "The Great Droughts of Y1K". See our link at
http://www.monobasinresearch.org/links/
Mapquest link in GIS data section
Mapquest.com is the official Website to see USGS maps online. Scales range
between 1:250,000 and 1:24,000. You can save them and print them out. There are
ways to customize the maps with labels and links--look for some links to
customized maps on the Clearinghouse in the future, possibly for the Photopoint
Project. See http://www.monobasinresearch.org/gis/
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ALSO OF INTEREST
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...but not on the Clearinghouse (from European Water Management News): Society
for Conservation Biology 11. PROTECTING WATERBIRDS FROM WATERCRAFT There you
are, peacefully eating or resting when BLAM, up zooms a loud, splashy jetski.
You'd fly away if you could -- and that's exactly what waterbirds do. But new
research shows that waterbirds and watercraft can coexist as long as they are
far enough away from each other.
"Wildlife viewing…may cause waterbirds to abandon sites that managers are
attempting to protect," say James Rodgers and Stephen Schwikert of the Florida
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in Gainesville in the February issue
of Conservation Biology.
In 1999, Florida had more than 140,000 registered jetskis and other personal
watercraft (PWC), and there are an estimated 1.3 million in the U.S. PWCs can
mean trouble for waterbirds because they can navigate the shallow, secluded
waterways where birds like to eat and rest. To help protect waterbirds from PWCs
and motorboats, Rodgers and Schwikert determined flush distances for 23 species
at 11 sites along the east and west coasts of Florida.
Despite the PWC's reputation for noise and wildlife disturbance, Rodgers and
Schwikert found that flush distances were greater for motorboats most
(80%) of the time. For PWCs, the average flush distance ranged from about 65
feet for least terns to 160 feet for osprey; for a 14-foot motorboat, the
average flush distance ranged from about 75 feet for Forster's terns to 190 feet
for osprey. In general, larger birds had greater flush distances, which makes
sense because they need more time to take flight due to their slower take-offs
and flight speeds.
Based on their data, Rodgers and Schwikert conclude that a single buffer zone
can protect waterbirds from both PWCs and motorboats. Specifically, they
recommend buffer zones of about 330 feet for plovers and sandpipers, 460 feet
for terns and gulls, 490 feet for osprey and 590 feet for wading birds. However,
the researchers caution that managers should customize the buffer distances for
individual sites and waterbirds because some populations are more sensitive than
others. For instance, great white herons in the Florida Keys had a 25% greater
flush distance than great blue herons along the mainland.
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Thanks for your interest in Mono Basin research!
Greg
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Greg Reis, Information Specialist, (760) 647-6386 x41
Mono Lake Committee, ph (760) 647-6595, fax 647-6377
Hwy 395 & 3rd St., P.O. Box 29, Lee Vining, CA 93541 USA
Websites: monolake.org - monobasinresearch.org -
leevining.com - livinglakes.org - fallcentury.org
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The Mono Lake Committee is a non-profit citizen's group dedicated to protecting
and restoring the Mono Basin Ecosystem; educating the public about Mono Lake and
the impacts on the environment of excessive water use; and promoting cooperative
solutions that protect Mono Lake and meet real water needs without transferring
environmental problems to other areas.
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