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Friday, November 29, 2013
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Eagles vie for a meal of spawning salmon on the Chehalis Flats.
DANNY CHAN PHOTO
Pilots urged to stay off flats Hancock asks everyone to give eagles room to feed Jessica Peters THE OBSERVER
Eagles and aircraft aren't a good mix. A massive education campaign hit the ground at the Chehalis flats over the last year, but now that message needs to get up to local pilots, said ecologist David Hancock. More than 2,000 eagles have already been counted along the banks of the Harrison River this winter, as the majestic raptors make the long journey here to feed on spawning salmon. Interest
in both the eagles and their meals has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years — spurring on the need to educate the public. Informative signs have been put up to remind everyone to stay off the Chehalis flats (the gravel bars in the shallow ends of the Harrison River), between October and February. Local residents have also been trained to inform people of the importance of leaving the area undisturbed. Treading on the gravel bars could crush the salmon eggs and disturb the natural feeding cycle of the eagles and other wildlife
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in the area. And while that education campaign seems to be working, Hancock said, he noticed a troubling number of low-flying aircraft, including hovering helicopters and small aircraft landing on the gravel bars. "The biggest frustration to preserving the flats and not disturbing the eagles was ironically by airplanes and helicopters who buzzed the sandbars and landed on the flats totally scaring off the eagles and potentially exposing themselves to a collision," he
wrote on his website (www. hancockwildlife.org.) "We decided that our "Preserve Posters" need to also be placed at airports. I am sure that the pilots simply do not understand the disturbance they cause," he added. Hancock is hoping that when the pilots learn what disturbance their flying patterns are causing the eagles, they will change their habits — just as it has been with the kayakers, canoeists and hikers along the ground. Continued on 4
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