U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Northeast Region
News Release
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External Affairs Office ~ 300 Westgate Center Drive ~ Hadley, MA 01035-9589 ~ (413) 253-8328
For immediate release, June 8, 1997
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has accepted for review a "biological opinion" on the Service's avian diversity plan at Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge on Cape Cod and noted that several of the opinion's 13 conclusions and recommendations have already been considered and/or adopted.
Lamberston said the decision came in response to significant public concern expressed during the past year over the project. In 1996, Service staff removed herring and great black-backed gulls from the north end of South Monomoy Island using a gull toxicant to provide nesting habitat for other, less abundant bird species.
"Although we intend to look at the document more closely," said Ronald E. Lambertson, the Service's Northeast Regional Director, "we feel that many of the recommendations, or portions of them, have been previously considered, agreed to, and we are pursuing them as a part of our continuing management actions on the refuge.
"Suffice it to say, that the Service remains committed to an open dialogue to accomplish the broad objectives of this project and welcomes all constructive input," Lambertson said.
The 67-page document, prepared by the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, at the request of Congressman William Delahunt, was released to the public at 4 p.m. today (Sunday, June 8) and contains 13 conclusions and recommendations.
"Prior to our decision to hold the so-called Monomoy Forum recently," commented Lambertson, "Congressman Delahunt asked the Center to conduct an independent review of our proposed program. Because of the requested study, these experts felt that they could not participate in the Monomoy Forum, so in some ways they were reviewing many of the same topics as the Forum. So as a result there was a lot of duplications of issues that were more or less resolved at the Forum."
Lambertson noted, however, that the Service has only conducted a preliminary review of the report and will study it further. But Lambertson did focus on study recommendations in three major areas:
--The need to work with others to develop regional long-term avian diversity plans (i.e., to include Nauset and other parts of the mainland). "The forum reached the same conclusion," Lambertson said. "And we agreed that there needed to be more effort given to increasing the partnership efforts with the National Park Service, state agencies, towns, and private organizations."
--The need for more resources (staff and funding) to conduct more programs on Monomoy. "We appreciate the fact that the Center recognizes that we are working with very limited resources, and we appreciate their support for adding more resources," Lambertson said.
--That all activities on Monomoy stop until the program is peer reviewed. "This proposal was considered by the Forum and rejected," Lambertson said, "because it would not take advantage of the gains made by last year's gull removal program."
Lambertson asserted that "We will work with the Center and Congressman Delahunt's office, to note our agreement with many of the suggestions made in the report, and to incorporate them into the continuation of the Forum process."
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Northeast Region covers 13 states from Maine to Virginia with more than 100 field offices. Headquarters for the region is located in Hadley, Mass.
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