WASHINGTON, DC--Deputy Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett will participate in a survey of the wild bird population along the C&O Canal National Historical Park on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008, followed by a press conference at the National Park Service’s Boathouse at Fletcher’s Cove. This event is sponsored by the Audubon Society of the District of Columbia in conjunction with the National Park Service.
“This 10th anniversary tally is a testament to all the volunteers who have helped study trends in winter bird populations in the national park and in our region,” says Scarlett. “Conservation of wild birds is a priority at the Department of the Interior.”
On October 7, 2007, at Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel, Md., President Bush and Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced measures to protect migratory birds. The Secretary will publish a “State of the Birds Report” by 2009 to chart progress and identify species that need additional protection.
The annual count is an all-volunteer effort to take a census of the birds inhabiting the entire length of the canal and the Potomac River. Groups of volunteers survey different parts of the canal beginning at milepost 0 in Georgetown and extending 184.5 miles to Cumberland, Md. The data is posted on the DC Audubon Society’s web site at www.dcaudubon.org/canal. In the past nine years, volunteers have recorded 113 different species of birds during the count
| Who: | Deputy Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett C&O National Historical Park Superintendent Kevin Brantt D.C. Audubon Society President Mary Pfaffko National Audubon Society Vice President Betsy Loyless |
| What: | Press Conference Following Bird Survey |
| When: | 10:30 a.m. EST, Saturday Jan. 19, 2008 |
| Where: | Fletcher’s Boathouse, 4940 Canal Road, Washington, D.C., 20007 |
For more details or for earlier coverage of the survey before the press conference, call Denise Ryan of D.C. Audubon Society at (202) 431-0259.