urgent questions about house sparrow/starling control

[marhope2007]

Some good points, Mark- Yes, we should fix what we screwed up- though I still beleive within limits. It seems we have done such a great job at upsetting natural balances, that many of our efforts to fix things do more harm than good- so I may get a bit nervous around control subjects. Hunting is one thing, importing what we beleive would be quick fixes is another. (I know no one mentioned importing- I just tend to include that possibility every time I hear "control"- call it a nervous twitch.) I did not realize the cowbirds have been so destructive- shoot all you want Had my post not hit a nerve, I would still be ignorant Thank you.
Marianne

[pwatol]

[quote="admin"]The Double-crested Cormorant is not “reallyâ€Â

[marhope2007]

The NRC voted last month on changes to the Wildlife Conservation Order dealing with the take of house sparrows and starlings (note: feral pigeons are *not* included in this change). You can now take house sparrows and starlings doing and about to do damage or doing or about to commit depredations without a permit by means other than hunting (the whole transporting a firearm, etc. law still holds as far as having to have a hunting license to shoot these critters). Damage can be interpreted as damage to your property (starlings nesting in your gutters, etc.); depredation can be interpreted as harm to other species (destroying nests in your nest boxes, etc.). If you want to poison them, don't; there's a whole other set of laws and regs involved in getting a permit to apply pesticides in the environment. You can, however, trap them all day and night and be completely legal.

That's great news- Thank you for posting it
Marianne

[Russ Emmons]

Yes this is good to hear!

(BTW, I removed 2 EUST nests today from 2 of our Screech Owl/Wood Duck boxes plus 1 HOSP nest from a regular Bluebird box! )

Russ Emmons

[admin]

Thank you for your work on this Karen! It has been a long couple of years, but we have done the right thing for all native cavity nesting birds in Michigan! It may seem like a small victory to some, but it brings us up to speed with the other states and we can now legally do what needs to be done to protect our birds without any fear of violating any regulations. Many thanks to our DNR and NRC!

Mark

[Jeff Nelson]

Karen,

That is great news!!! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Now, the next step will be to change the wording so that 'can' is changed to 'must' as in 'You [b]mustb/b] now take house sparrows and starlings doing and about to do damage or doing or about to commit depredations'.

Hey Karen, is there any chance that you might make it to the gathering at Connie's? I'm sure a lot of people on this forum would like to meet you and thank you personally for your work.

And Mark, thank you too for your efforts!

Jeff

[Silvia & Dirk]

Karen,

that sounds great! Could you point us to the meeting minutes or some other document that I can show my pesky sparrow-feeding neighbors?

I only found the meeting minutes from April 7th:
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/A ... 6178_7.pdf

It states in there on page 14:

Bill Moritz, Wildlife Division, presented the proposed changes for nuisance species. To be compliant with Act 190, POC changes are recommended to standardize the hours that must pass before culling an escaped cervid (would now be 48 hours). DNR employees may take escaped cervids under scientific collector’s permit. Hunters may take escaped cervids if they have a valid Michigan hunting license and harvest them within small game hunting shooting hours. The DNR also proposed that the NRC allow the taking of House sparrows and starlings by means other than shooting, which is already legal, without a permit.

Silvia & Dirk

[admin]

Silvia & Dirk,

I believe that they will be in the May meeting minutes if the state can find enough money for somebody to print and post them!

Mark

[pwatol]

Meeting minutes from NRC meetings are written up and posted by Teresa Gloden, the secretary for the Commission. Generation of those minutes tends to take, well, as long as it takes. You'll note that approval of the previous meeting's minutes are generally the first thing on the Commission's monthly agenda, and the June meeting happened yesterday. So the May minutes should show up relatively soonish.

However, since the change has already taken effect, you can refer directly to Section 9.1 of the Wildlife Conservation Order at http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Wcao_134367_7.html which contains the updated language.

[TheLorax]

I love this thread. Congratulations to all of you who can now trap legally! Shame they weren't able to include the feral pigeon at this time.