Hi Mark
Unfortunately, I am not aware of any appeal process. Both the surveyor and
myself have had much email dialog with the people involved at FWS. Email,
because I want incriminating evidence in writing just in case. So far, the
one person at FWS who has had dialogue with us has said a few things in
writing that are contradictory and/or defy all scientific approaches to
collecting and using data. ( Old data is respected before new data ). And
would you believe that the this one person holds a PhD ( in Toxicology of
all things ??? ). He is relatively new on the scene in that office and I am
firmly convinced that he is reading and replying from a script set forth to
him by a superior in that office. The surveyor has told me as much since
this PhD is rattling off the same party line and jargon and lingo that the
surveyor has heard before. They evaluate data depending on how many shopping
days until Christmas or if the sky is cloudy, it seems. The consistency is
just not there.
We are convinced that FWS wants the transition from Federal Mitigation to
County Mitigation to proceed with success and use early applicants, such as
myself, as examples of it's success. Our county could very well be the
success story that they need to get other counties on board. Sarasota County
tried it first and flopped but I am not sure why. But I have been told that
our county spent a great deal of effort to dot the I's and cross the T's
prior to submittal to Atlanta FWS which is presumably the district HQ. The
final submission was approved by the Vero Beach office and sent to Atlanta
last June. In the meantime, a lot of property owners have to wait a long
time. Many of them have building permit applications pending waiting to find
some way to get past this process.
The choices are :
1) forget you own the property and keep paying taxes ( $100 / yr. at
present ) + Association Dues ( $300 / yr. )
2) Pay the Federal $54K Mitigation Fee to free up the land for eternity
3) Wait until end of 2014 and take advantage of the Mitigation Fee process
that the County will take over from FWS ( $6K ).
4) Get a Congressman onboard ( never any guarantees with this approach ).
5) Get a lawyer ( Free Service or Paid Service ) who knows how long that
will take
6) Put it up for sale, again, who in their right mind would buy SJ land.
7) Hire RAMBO to solve the problem.
By the way, my property is in a deed restricted community which has no
restrictions on ham radio antennas or towers as long as they are 38 feet
tall or less. You only need a county permit to pour a concrete slab for the
tower. The community has many hams. It also has paved roads, cable
TV/Internet, mail delivery to the house, trash pickup at the house and is a
beautiful community with nice homes. My present home is beautiful but that
is where it ends. I am out in the jungle. The new property has green belts
between properties in a row so that there is community owned and maintained
property where you can walk your dog, walk your wife, or just sit down and
have a sandwich. There are fresh water canals for canoeing and my property
abuts one of those canals.
My present home is also on a canal but this canal goes out to the Gulf and
that means I have a seawall to maintain.
Best Regards
Dan Schaaf
=================================
K3ZXL www.k3zxl.com
60 Meters www.60metersonline.net
=================================
NOBSKA www.nobska.net
Cape Cod Instruments www.gnm-inc.com
Tel: 941-766-0706
Fax: 941-766-0707
=================================
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Beckwith
Sent: Monday, September 02, 2013 7:02 AM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Territorial birds
Thanks Dan,
I very much appreciate this degree of detail. You had not said that the
surveyor who did your survey this time was the same surveyor who did the
FWS' survey previously. Also, the process they use would definitely get
results if there were any results to get.
You must be very frustrated. I would be to. Is there any kind of appeal
process? That surveyor could make a very compelling argument for your
position.
Mark, N5OT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Schaaf" <dan-schaaf@att.net>
To: "Mark Beckwith" <r-emails@n5ot.com>; <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 01, 2013 12:47 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Territorial birds
Hi Mark
I do understand a lot about the FL SJ habits since I have been forced by
this situation to learn about it. The interesting notes are that:
1) There are no scrub oaks within at least 1,000 ft. and the US FWS buffer
zone around suspect properties is specified to be 850 ft.
2) There were no birds heard/sighted within my 850 ft buffer zone by the
surveyor
3) The natural predator is the hawk and the hawk perches in high trees
with a good view of the ground. All of the properties in my buffer zone
are populated with Heritage Oaks that are huge and tall plus Brazillian
Pepper trees which the SJ just does not nest in plus thick vines in
between all other growth.
4) One area of my buffer that the FWS pointed to was a southerly direction
where there was a sighting in 2007 by the same surveyor that did my lot.
The surveyor indicated that the flight path of the bird was to exit the
region further to the south and totally away from my lot. Now, the FWS had
no problem accepting that data point in 2007 but will not accept a recent,
fresh data point 6 years later that indicates no birds.
So, anyplace within 1,000 ft of my property is NOT quality SJ habitat. The
problem is that the FWS simply refuses to acknowledge that the survey is
negative and therefore the birds MUST be there without verifying the
survey, even by another independent surveyor.
The method for finding birds is to playback a tape of the birds in a
certain pattern around the property out to 850 ft. These birds are very
friendly and will come to you if they hear the recording. They will land
on your shoulder. They rarely fly much above 8 ft. height , maybe onto a
power line if they really need a bird's eye view.
This process is repeated for 5 days from 1 hr after Sunrise to about 11 AM
due to air temps getting warm by 11 AM. Overall, it is a 30 hour process
for 5 days.
It seems to me that if FWS was really concerned about the survival of
these birds, they would be putting in more effort to know where they are
nested and where they are NOT nested rather than just assuming. It is
easier to just sit back in their chair and just make blanket statements
based on old data and wait for retirement.
I am an animal lover. I will not drive over the diamond back rattler in my
road and I stop driving to get out and move a gopher turtle out of the
road lest it get run over by some bonehead. These animals all have a
purpose on this earth and it is not my intention to upset that balance.
But anyone who lives here knows about the SJ situation and how ridiculous
the management of them has become.
Best Regards
Dan Schaaf
=================================
K3ZXL www.k3zxl.com
60 Meters www.60metersonline.net
=================================
NOBSKA www.nobska.net
Cape Cod Instruments www.gnm-inc.com
Tel: 941-766-0706
Fax: 941-766-0707
=================================
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Beckwith
Sent: Sunday, September 01, 2013 1:08 PM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] Territorial birds
[Thread change alert - grew out of discussion of scrapping military tower
trailers]
Dan, with all respect, I think you might be confused on one point.
these are just sightings, not nests. The birds fly from the nest and back
to it. They are very territorial.
It reads like you are trying to make the argument that even though the
Florida Scrub-Jays are seen, it does not necessarily mean their nests are
nearby.
What you may not know is that birds generally establish their "territory"
(and defend it, i.e. "they are very territorial") as the buffer zone
around
their nest. They have to be close enough to respond quickly to any threat
to the nest coming from any direction. This means that if you see them,
then, by definition, their nests *are* nearby. Which I think is the US
Fish
and Wildlife point. I would say you are in a position with considerable
downside potential, and if it were me I would be working on Plan B = sell
the property to a bird lover who has $54K he's willing to invest in the
future of Florida Scrub-Jays.
Yes, I understand the survey you acquired concluded the birds were not
nearby. You're in a pissing contest with the federal government who
thinks
their survey is better than your survey. Good luck with that. It is not
fair. You are absolutely right about that.
I do very much appreciate how absurd it seems that they would take your
$54K
and not use it in any way that you could see it, and still, as you say,
allow you to then "bulldoze the nests." That's almost as dumb as
scrapping
perfectly good tower trailers. The Endangered Species Act, which protects
Florida Scrub-Jays, is not a perfect law (is there such a thing?) and is
particularly infamous for being hijacked for political and societal
reasons
like your case-in-point. There is obviously enough oak scrub to support
the
Florida Scrub-Jay population, especially if there are so few of the birds
as
they claim. Plus, trust me, the birds are smart enough to find it and
move.
It's what they do.
Full disclosure: I am a bird enthusiast who also has a bunch of towers,
but
not in a state that is as environmentally overboard as Florida. Yes, the
Endangered Species Act is a federal deal, but for some reason we don't
hear
too much about it where I live.
73
Mark, N5OT
P.S. Sorry I took too many contrarian pills this morning by accident.
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