During the luncheon, the Conservancy also presented awards to four individuals from federal and state agencies for their leadership in the recovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker and the development and implementation of conservation plans for the Big Woods. The award recipients were: Scott Henderson, director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission; David Goad, deputy director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission; Sam Hamilton, Southeast regional director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and Jon Andrew, regional chief of refuges for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.Without the hard work and/or major donations of the above people, I think it's possible that there might not be any Ivory-bills in Arkansas today.
The evening before, at a reception hosted by David and Terri Snowden of Little Rock, several members of the board of trustees for the Conservancy in Arkansas were presented "Ivory-billed Woodpecker Major Donor" awards for supporting conservation work in the Big Woods of Arkansas. Those receiving the awards were:
* Fred Berry of Yellville, Ark.
* Hank Browne of DeValls Bluff, Ark.
* John Chamberlin of Little Rock, Ark.
* John Cooper III of Rogers, Ark.
* Elaine Deming of El Dorado, Ark.
* Ben Hussman of Little Rock, Ark.
* Julia Peck Mobley of Texarkana, Ark.
* Mark Simmons of Siloam Springs, Ark.
* David Snowden Jr. of Little Rock, Ark.
Mike and Cathy Mayton and Mackie Hamilton, trustees for the Stella Boyle Smith Foundation, also received an "Ivory-billed Woodpecker Major Donor" award during the same presentation.
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Too bad the guests of honor weren't present.
I guess they're up in that great big bottomland in the sky.
They're in our hearts and our minds though.
don't fall into the trap of thinking that these awards were for "conserving the Ivory billed woodpecker" ... these awards were for conserving the "big woods" - the awards were named "Ivory bill donor" - which is like saying "platium" donor -
The TNC just like Fitzpatrick has made the shift to thinking that his entire programme is about "conservation" and conserving the "big woods"
This is not about "evidence" about 33.3 or about how america's leading ornithologists, and pre-eminent conservation group claimed to have seen a bird they could not document - how power corrupted the peer review process at science magazine ... got it.
This story is dead. The big woods are conserved - there are prothonotory warblers everywhere - it is a good thing.
What is the endgame here? Wait till the 20th and see if the media pays any attention?
Fitz has made his last trip to Brinkley, he has moved on. Time to think about publishing the skeptic blog as a book ... it is over folks. The resounding silence that will accompany the end of the search will signal that this has all just gone away.
Tom, it was fun while it lasted. Put it in hard copy so we can buy one for our bookshelves.
This thing is over.
Speaking from 30 years of experience, Federal Officials lap up those awards like sharks in a feeding frenzy. The awards hang on their walls wherever they go.
Keep flushing those Federal tax dollars down the big TNC and Southeast F&WS hole. These guys have learned well from the Defense Department.
you forgot to mention that the TNC is awarding its donors for helping to conserve the big woods - but praising the state and federal partners for conserving the IBWO -
subtle but effective - it was the government that was behind the woodpecker - TNC was behind the broader conservation programme.
What is rather sad is the liklihood that Ivory-billed Woodpeckers probably haven't been in Arkansas for about a hundred years. Even when there were remnant populations in Florida and Louisiana the Arkansas birds were already extirpated.
I agree with El Carpinterio Real, on May 21st we put an end to the Good Ship, Ivory Bill Skeptic, it's been a wonderful ride. Great job.
This may be best posted in what will certainly be a long discussion about Jack Hitt's New York Times piece on Sunday May 7. Read it and weep my friends. This post also relates to the TNC Luncheon announcement. Ugh.
I dunno, color me a cynic, but what in the Lord God's name have any of these folks done for the REDCOVERY of an extinct bird. They have given $$, TNC spent it on land and a snipe hunt, and now they get the plaques for their walls.
But you gotta ask - what do they know about the bird they didn't know before (in Sunday's New York Times we'll see Fitscrow say that now we know it is a REALLY rare bird)? Nothing.
We know nothing new. No habitat information, no prey choice, no foraging strategies, no mate choice, no brood size, no fledging rate, no feeding rates, no growth rates, no cavity choice, no dispersal information, no population size, no call notes, no freakin real flap rates, no moult information, no DNA, no drumming rates, no range information (unless NONE is the answer), no roost information (remember, that was THIS year's Grail), no real freakin size information, no no no no no FREAKIN anything.
They should hang their heads and plaques in shame. Methinks they have defiled a fabulaous critter, and now they not only seek to steal other folks $$ to pay for their back-slapping, but they seek to slink off with their bull-poo about the bird being really rare and that they have done the right thing and that they'll return next year with a more robotic search.
Ewwww. Yuck. Maybe the robots will have more of a soul and be able to tell us the freakin truth.
So remember, just like we should never forget that John Ashcroft was beaten by a dead man in the election just prior to being appointed Atty. General, we need to always remember that after umpteen million dollars, train-wrecks of Science (I use the term loosely) papers and behind-the-scenes manipulations (the likes of which would make your tertials curl), Fitscrow has now decided that IBWo is a REALLY rare bird (yeah, like so rare that their are none).
Please, in the name of the Lord God Bird, somebody get some cojones real and show this guy the freakin door.
I suggest a rename of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Major Donor Award, to the
Ivory-billed Woodpecker Major Boner Award (with neither woodie nor pecker puns intended.)
TNC didn't have to make any shift. Land protection has always been their mission. They're not ornithologists.
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