3.9.06

Dear Friends:

A message from Dave Crawford, who has returned briefly to take on the crucial prairie dog issue, regarding this past week’s rally at the Boulder City Council Meeting.

Thanks to everyone who was with us in person or in spirit last night as we filled Boulder’s city council chambers to express our concerns about what we perceive as a shift in the city’s attitude toward prairie dogs and wildlife. Estimates of the size of the crowd vary between 100 and 150 persons. It was one of the largest rallies in Boulder in recent history. The Colorado Daily published a front-page photo of the packed council chambers.

Four selected speakers – including two of Boulder’s young and caring citizens – spoke to council on the need for the community to treat wildlife humanely. Thanks to young Emi and Jake! Their heartfelt words brought forth tears and smiles. And thanks to Ed Withers of PC’s Pantry, who spoke on behalf of the 50+ businesses that have endorsed our statement calling for nonlethal management of wildlife.

Council briefly discussed the presentations following the public comment period. Unfortunately, and despite our conciliatory message, most of that discussion indicated that council members felt they were put on the defensive. No discussion occurred over our request to form a task force or permanent committee to deal with wildlife and general animal-related issues. We will continue to pursue that.

Thanks to Yemaya Thayer and Jill Bielawski for making this happen; to the Republic of Boulder for the free appetizers at the reception following the rally; to the phone tree callers who helped recruit participants; to the nonprofits that have endorsed the statement; to Sinapu for all their support. Apologies and thanks to the many I’m forgetting to thank. Onward!


A small but intimidating group of activists ventured to the Colorado Springs Regents meeting last week to stand up for the CU Monkeys (and a few didn’t make it into this photo):



ACTION ITEM#1: Please send a polite email or make a phone call to both CU and Wake Forest to ask that they both reconsider sending 38 monkeys to Wake Forest University. Details: FreetheCU34.org are asking CU for three things: 1) the immediate termination of Mark Laudenslager's pointless alcohol study; 2) the release of ALL monkeys to sanctuaries; and 3) CU's funding of sanctuary costs for these monkeys. Please ask Wake Forest to turn down CU's offer of free monkeys. Otherwise, our attentions will not only be focused on CU, but on Wake Forest also.

Contact information for CU:
OfficeOfThePresident@cu.edu
Greg.Stiegmann@UCHSC.edu
Peter.Steinhauer@colorado.edu
regent.carlisle@colorado.eduregent.hayes@colorado.edu
carrigan@colorado.edutom.lucero@colorado.edu
regent.bosley@colorado.edujerryrutledge@adelphia.net
regent.schauer@colorado.edugail.schwartz@colorado.edu
President Brown: 303-492-6201
Chancellor Stiegmann: 303-315-7682
Regents Secretary: 303-492-8203

Contact information for Wake Forest:
hatch@wfu.edurdean@wfubmc.edu
gordonwc@wfu.eduwapplega@wfubmc.edu welker@wfu.edu
Nathan Hatch, President: 336-758-5212
Richard Dean, President/CEO Health Sciences: 336-716-7425
William Gordon, Provost: 336-758-7323
William Applegate, Sr. VP Health Sciences/Dean of School of Medicine: 336-716-5026
Mark Welker, Assoc. Provost for Research: 336-758-3898


ACTION ITEM #2: The pair of Golden Eagles nesting in Boulder Canyon needs your help! Please take a moment to call or email the Forest Service to express your support of the temporary and seasonal closures to protect the eagles’ habitat.

The Boulder Ranger District of the Roosevelt National Forest is looking to do minimal 6 week seasonal closures of potential Golden Eagle cliff nesting habitat. This would be until the Boulder Canyon eagles have selected their yearly nest site (approximately 6 weeks) at which time the temporary climbing closures on these unused cliffs in the eagles' territory would be lifted. Then the nest site that the pair selected for this year's brood would be protected by a closure until July 31st.

Unfortunately, some climbers do not believe that these minimal closures and brief time frames are warranted, despite thousands of other climbing routes throughout Boulder County and the Front Range. The Boulder Canyon Golden Eagles are not faring well. The Forest Service states: “Recent nest success has been relatively low, with the pair raising and fledging one young bird only five out of the 13 seasons from 1992 through 2004.”



Details: Comments on this proposal should be postmarked by March 27, 2006 in order to receive full review. Written comments should be emailed to bbaker@fs.fed.us or mailed to: Boulder Ranger District, Attn: Beverly Baker, 2140 Yarmouth Ave, Boulder, CO 80301. If you have questions on this proposal or would like more information, please contact Beverly Baker at 303-541-2517.


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There is always something going on, so if you ever want to get more involved, send us an email or give us a call. Thanks!
- Chris