[mou] "NO Birdwatching" signs
Chris Fagyal
Chris.Fagyal@udlp.com
Tue, 08 Feb 2005 10:01:55 -0600
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It is too bad how backwards and behind the times a lot of this state is
with regard to eco-tourism.
Just look at Florida or Arizona for two shining examples of how much
money can be pumped into local economies and local peoples by
birdwatching. How many people on this listserver, for example, have
been to Paton's in Patagonia, or Beatty's Orchard, or Mary Jo Ballator's
in Ash Canyon? I personally have been to all three, Paton's 4 times,
Beatty's 4 times and Mary Jo's once, and I contributed 5$ each time I
went to each of the places to help stock their hummingbird feeders.
There are many other such places in Arizona that I haven't been to, such
as the George Walker house in Portal, along with different nature
conservancy sites such as Ramsey Canyon. Arizona truly understands.
In Florida, they have established the Great Florida Birding Trail, and
there are websites with complete 50+ page PDF's for each of the 6 or 7
regions in Florida (Basically the documents have been split by
region...Everglades, East, West, North etc) with detailed information
regarding driving directions and birds possible at hundreds of different
birding locations across the state. This is above and beyond the books
out by people such as Bill Pranty that mirror Kim Eckert's book for
Minnesota.
Obviously these two states "get it" with respect to eco-tourism and
specifically birding. And the residents get it as well (only speaking
here for Arizona). The amount of money that would flow into the Sax-Zim
area (Cotton, Meadowlands, Eveleth, and probably all the way to Ely) if
the area was "developed for eco-tourism" in some of the ways denoted by
Mike below (boardwalks into areas of the bog, turnouts/rest areas in
specific locations, etc) as well as other ideas, such as maybe setting
up a TNC site somewhere in the bog staffed with a person or two, and
complete with a significant feeder setup and habitat
restoration/preservation agenda would draw in many people from around
the country I am sure.
Personally, I have taken my business elsewhere over the last month or
two. Firstly because there were just too many people in the Sax-Zim
area, and secondly because of incidents like the one below. Other
counties have just as many Owls and seem to have less contentious people
to deal with. I found the people at the gas station in Cotton, where I
always fueled up during my stays up in that area to be very pleasant
people to deal with and thus why I always gave them my business. I just
don't need to be driving down McDavitt Ave. and have to watch where I go
fo fear of being spiked by resident planted tire spikes in the snow.
Chris Fagyal
Senior Software Engineer
United Defense, L.P. ASD
Fridley, MN
(763) 572-5320
chris.fagyal@udlp.com
>>> "Mike Hendrickson" <smithville4@charter.net> 02/08/2005 08:59:57 AM
>>>
Hello:
I been to Sax Zim Bog a lot this year and seen some changes in the past
weeks. In the beginning all the birders that came to this area were
doing everything they could to keep the residents happy. I posted in
the past some houses to avoid to stop at. I posted later on asking
birders, do not even bother stopping on shoulders of roads to glimpse
the birds in front of houses in Sax Zim Bog.
Yesterday I lost it. I was with a small group of birders and we were
moving along Co. Rd. 7 and saw some birds on the road. Yes on the road
and not in the residents yards or anything like that. We watched the
birds from the shoulder of the road with our flashers on. I noticed as I
looked over to my left there is a yard that is littered with small
fluorescents signs that say "NO BIRDWATCHING"!! I looked at it and
realized I parked across from the yard where the woman in the past
claims birders are stealing her mail! Yes her mail. Now that is funny!
So I sat there thinking "hold on here, I pay my taxes in this county, I
am parked legally, I got my flashers on, and were all in the car looking
at all the birds". Now this lunatic woman and her neighbors are telling
me I can not stop on a public road and look at birds. They must think
the feeders they put up to attract the birds are THEIR birds and THEIR
property. They should be the only ones to enjoy them. So if the birds
land on the road to grit, They obviously feel they own the road as well.
I decided I am not going to be bullied anymore by these paranoid,
HEE-HAW re-run watching bumpkins! I am NOT going to bend anymore to
them. If I see birds on a public road in front of people's houses I am
going to stop and view these birds.
I am tired of these people driving over the speed limit on county roads
they feel they own. I am tired of them stopping and giving birders the
"finger". I am tired of them yelling something and spitting Copenhagen
at the same time! I am tired of them stopping and shaking their heads
and then slam on the gas pedal like some wanna be Dale Earnahardt. I am
just plain tired of these idiots.
The sax zim bog group is thinking about taking this area and make it a
wonderful place for birders to come. This group wants to build
boardwalks in the bog and pull offs for cars to park and turn around in
and they want to work with the community. These are good ideas but I
know these country hay making, drug creating, and pot growing people
are going to use the boardwalks and trails for their ATV's and they will
not listen to smart people because they feel the land is theirs to hunt,
poach and drive their sleds and ATVS all over on! IF the any group
decided to buy one of them shacks and put a parking lot in and add a
bunch of feeders around the shack, the country bumpkins would come by
and destroy the feeders and spray paint their feelings about us on the
shack.
If it wasn't for nesting Great Gray Owls, Yellow Rails, Conn. Warbler,
Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, Black-backed Woodpeckers, Boreal Chickadees,
Sharp-tailed Grouse and LeConte's Sparrow there would be no need for
birders to come here, BUT they do exist here and its a really easy place
to find these birds. Unfortunately there are backwoods paranoid people
out here that do not like visitors at all. There is no way in my opinion
to even remotely work things out with them.
As far as these signs in front of some houses along Co. Rd 7 "NO
BIRDWATCHING" that means no standing on the shoulder and stare at their
house or feeders but legally in my opinion if you are off the shoulder
safely and have your flashers on it is legal. I asked a homeowner in
Two Harbors where he is hosting several Hoary Redpolls, if he is getting
complaints from neighbors and ect.. Oh by the way this guy is also a
sheriff. He told me as long as birders are parked safely and not
interrupting traffic, birders are allowed to park along county road
shoulders and view birds. So the people in Sax Zim once again feel they
own county road 7 and especially the piece of the road in front of their
houses. This is not true of course and birders in my opinion can view
all the birds they want from this road. This is no different from
looking at owls along Co. Rd 7. I am still waiting for them to place
signs all along Co. Rd 7 saying "NO OWL WATCHING" because the residents
have to slow down from 70mph to 50mph while they head to Eveleth to buy
more oven cleaner & other house hold chemicals, and dog food.
I am just tired of bending over for them, act nice to them and get
fingered at the same time while doing so. and also put on my "be a good
birding rep. smile on". To me the only good people up there are the
residents of Cotton, workers at Wilbert's Cafe, the owner of Farmer's
Market in Meadowlands and the good people at Food & Fuel gas station in
Cotton. The residents I am talking about are the ones that live in the
shacks, trailer homes and other houses in the backwoods of Sax Zim who
are life time members of Posse Comitatus and other militia groups.
Anyway the sad and funny issue about all of this is that these people
could of placed a drop box put in front of their houses and ask for
donations for feed. They could of made a really good profit each weekend
from all the hundred of birders that would of gave to them. I truly
believe there is no way to educate them or reach out to them. There
actions in the past months have shown me how they feel about strangers,
visitors and birders.
Oh I forgot there is one good guy who lives in the backwoods of Sax
Zim. I am sure some birders seen this guy, he the elderly man in bibs
that walks along the railroad tracks in the early morning and waves at
all the cars that drive by. That guy is truly a diamond in the rough.
Mike H.
Michael Hendrickson
Duluth, Minnesota
Minnesota Birding Treks
http://webpages.charter.net/mmhendrickson/
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<DIV>It is too bad how backwards and behind the times a lot of this state is
with regard to eco-tourism. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Just look at Florida or Arizona for two shining examples of how much money
can be pumped into local economies and local peoples by birdwatching. How
many people on this listserver, for example, have been to Paton's in Patagonia,
or Beatty's Orchard, or Mary Jo Ballator's in Ash Canyon? I personally
have been to all three, Paton's 4 times, Beatty's 4 times and Mary Jo's once,
and I contributed 5$ each time I went to each of the places to help stock their
hummingbird feeders. There are many other such places in Arizona that I
haven't been to, such as the George Walker house in Portal, along with different
nature conservancy sites such as Ramsey Canyon. Arizona truly
understands.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In Florida, they have established the Great Florida Birding Trail, and
there are websites with complete 50+ page PDF's for each of the 6 or 7 regions
in Florida (Basically the documents have been split by region...Everglades,
East, West, North etc) with detailed information regarding driving directions
and birds possible at hundreds of different birding locations across the
state. This is above and beyond the books out by people such as Bill
Pranty that mirror Kim Eckert's book for Minnesota. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Obviously these two states "get it" with respect to eco-tourism and
specifically birding. And the residents get it as well (only speaking here
for Arizona). The amount of money that would flow into the Sax-Zim area
(Cotton, Meadowlands, Eveleth, and probably all the way to Ely) if the area was
"developed for eco-tourism" in some of the ways denoted by Mike below
(boardwalks into areas of the bog, turnouts/rest areas in specific locations,
etc) as well as other ideas, such as maybe setting up a TNC site somewhere in
the bog staffed with a person or two, and complete with a significant feeder
setup and habitat restoration/preservation agenda would draw in many people from
around the country I am sure. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Personally, I have taken my business elsewhere over the last month or
two. Firstly because there were just too many people in the Sax-Zim area,
and secondly because of incidents like the one below. Other counties have
just as many Owls and seem to have less contentious people to deal with. I
found the people at the gas station in Cotton, where I always fueled up during
my stays up in that area to be very pleasant people to deal with and thus why I
always gave them my business. I just don't need to be driving down
McDavitt Ave. and have to watch where I go fo fear of being spiked by resident
planted tire spikes in the snow.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Chris Fagyal<BR>Senior Software Engineer<BR>United Defense, L.P.
ASD<BR>Fridley, MN <BR>(763) 572-5320<BR><A
href="mailto:chris.fagyal@udlp.com">chris.fagyal@udlp.com</A><BR><BR>>>>
"Mike Hendrickson" <smithville4@charter.net> 02/08/2005 08:59:57 AM
>>><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>Hello:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>I been to Sax Zim Bog a lot this year and
seen some changes in the past weeks. In the beginning all the
birders that came to this area were doing everything they could to keep the
residents happy. I posted in the past some houses to avoid to
stop at. I posted later on asking birders, do
not even bother stopping on shoulders of roads to glimpse the birds in
front of houses in Sax Zim Bog.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>Yesterday I lost it. I was with a small
group of birders and we were moving along Co. Rd. 7 and saw some birds on the
road. Yes on the road and not in the residents yards or anything like that. We
watched the birds from the shoulder of the road with our flashers on. I noticed
as I looked over to my left there is a yard that is littered with small
fluorescents signs that say "NO BIRDWATCHING"!! I looked at it and
realized I parked across from the yard where the woman in the past claims
birders are stealing her mail! Yes her mail. Now that is
funny!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>So I sat there thinking "hold on here, I
pay my taxes in this county, I am parked legally, I got my flashers on, and were
all in the car looking at all the birds". Now this lunatic woman and her
neighbors are telling me I can not stop on a public road and look at birds.
They must think the feeders they put up to attract the birds are THEIR birds and
THEIR property. They should be the only ones to enjoy them. So if
the birds land on the road to grit, They obviously feel they own the road as
well. I decided I am not going to be bullied anymore by these paranoid,
HEE-HAW re-run watching bumpkins! I am NOT going to bend anymore to them.
If I see birds on a public road in front of people's houses I am going
to stop and view these birds.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>I am tired of these people driving over
the speed limit on county roads they feel they own. I am tired of them
stopping and giving birders the "finger". I am tired of them yelling
something and spitting Copenhagen at the same time! I am tired of them
stopping and shaking their heads and then slam on the gas pedal like some wanna
be Dale Earnahardt. I am just plain tired of these idiots.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>The sax zim bog group is thinking about
taking this area and make it a wonderful place for birders to come. This group
wants to build boardwalks in the bog and pull offs for cars to park and turn
around in and they want to work with the community. These are good ideas
but I know these country hay making, drug creating, and pot growing people
are going to use the boardwalks and trails for their ATV's and they will
not listen to smart people because they feel the land is theirs to hunt,
poach and drive their sleds and ATVS all over on! IF the any group decided
to buy one of them shacks and put a parking lot in and add a bunch of feeders
around the shack, the country bumpkins would come by and destroy the feeders and
spray paint their feelings about us on the shack.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>If it wasn't for nesting Great Gray Owls,
Yellow Rails, Conn. Warbler, Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, Black-backed
Woodpeckers, Boreal Chickadees, Sharp-tailed Grouse and LeConte's Sparrow there
would be no need for birders to come here, BUT they do exist here and its a
really easy place to find these birds. Unfortunately there are backwoods
paranoid people out here that do not like visitors at all. There is no way in my
opinion to even remotely work things out with them.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>As far as these signs in front of some
houses along Co. Rd 7 "NO BIRDWATCHING" that means no standing on the shoulder
and stare at their house or feeders but legally in my opinion if you are off the
shoulder safely and have your flashers on it is legal. I asked a homeowner
in Two Harbors where he is hosting several Hoary Redpolls, if he is getting
complaints from neighbors and ect.. Oh by the way this guy is also a sheriff. He
told me as long as birders are parked safely and not interrupting traffic,
birders are allowed to park along county road shoulders and view birds. So
the people in Sax Zim once again feel they own county road 7 and especially
the piece of the road in front of their houses. This is not true of course and
birders in my opinion can view all the birds they want from this road.
This is no different from looking at owls along Co. Rd 7. I am still waiting for
them to place signs all along Co. Rd 7 saying "NO OWL WATCHING"
because the residents have to slow down from 70mph to 50mph while they head
to Eveleth to buy more oven cleaner & other house hold chemicals, and dog
food.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>I am just tired of bending over for them,
act nice to them and get fingered at the same time while doing so. and
also put on my "be a good birding rep. smile on". To me the only good
people up there are the residents of Cotton, workers at Wilbert's Cafe, the
owner of Farmer's Market in Meadowlands and the good people at Food & Fuel
gas station in Cotton. The residents I am talking about are the ones that
live in the shacks, trailer homes and other houses in the backwoods of Sax Zim
who are life time members of Posse Comitatus and other militia
groups.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>Anyway the sad and funny issue about all
of this is that these people could of placed a drop box put in front of
their houses and ask for donations for feed. They could of made a really
good profit each weekend from all the hundred of birders that would of gave
to them. I truly believe there is no way to educate them or reach out to
them. There actions in the past months have shown me how they feel about
strangers, visitors and birders. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>Oh I forgot there is one good guy
who lives in the backwoods of Sax Zim. I am sure some birders seen this
guy, he the elderly man in bibs that walks along the railroad tracks in the
early morning and waves at all the cars that drive by. That
guy is truly a diamond in the rough.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>Mike H.</FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=2>Michael Hendrickson<BR>Duluth,
Minnesota<BR>Minnesota Birding Treks<BR><A
href="http://webpages.charter.net/mmhendrickson/">http://webpages.charter.net/mmhendrickson/</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
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