What About Volunteer Efforts?

With cormorant funding threatened, we need to be creative to save this program for the long haul. We're grateful for volunteers who want to work on the program. For anyone who wants to help, the very best thing you can do is contact your Congressman and tell him, "Restore Cormorant Management" today!

You may ask, "why do the feds need to be involved?" Because if there's one thing we've learned after 20+ years of working on the cormorant issue, it's that USDA's trained wildlife experts are the only ones who can do this job in a big enough way to make a lasting difference. Here's why:

 -- USDA has the right tools: wildlife experts, specialized equipment and supplies purchased on low-cost contracts, and many years of successful experience.

 -- USDA does the job without controversy: Oneida Lake is a big, public body of water with lots of different user groups watching it. In such a high-profile environment, USDA has proven that they have the relationships with law enforcement, landowners, and local agencies, and they know the techniques needed to lethally manage cormorants without creating gruesome scenes that would turn public opinion against us.

 -- Only USDA can manage large numbers of cormorants: Volunteers can make a dent, but USDA can spend tens of thousands of staff hours on many different waters to make cormorants go away, and stay away. They buy their shotgun shells by the pallet! and they know how to use them responsibly.

 -- Only USDA can do it legally: Cormorants are migratory birds, and it's the feds who have the legal authority (in fact, the responsibility) to manage their population. It would take years of negotiation and legal action to set up a permit system for local volunteers--years we don't have the luxury of waiting!

 -- Other approaches haven't worked: In other examples where volunteers have tried to manage cormorants on big, public waters, the results have been disastrous. For example, in Tillamoook, Oregon, the state legislature got so fed up with a volunteer effort run amok that they outlawed all cormorant management--volunteer and professional--after just a year.

This is the rare federal program that generates a huge economic return (as much as $50 in local revenues for every federal dollar spent) and it works extremely well. Cormorants have stopped nesting on Oneida Lake and the fishery's starting to rebound. If you want to see even fewer cormorants (and you want them gone for good), contact your Congressman today by clicking on http://oneidalakeassociation.org/1_20_10_cormorant_action_guide.pdf

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