"They will find another place to feed"

Comments on the discussion at FLOD-milfoil

Well, I didn't read this thread until last night, probably a good thing. I tend to shy away from online discussions about this--I'm a bat researcher, I'm long-winded, and some contributors' fact-checking seems to be terribly poor in these debates about Capitol Lake vs. an intertidal mudflat. A couple of the previous posters have clearly done research... Guglielmo, Thad, 'emmettoconnell' and others are seeking out, and presenting, credible information. Some others have made comments that are just baffling to me. We can read the CLAMP committee minutes and reports that have come out of the CLAMP process, but the facts and back-story, much of which has not been presented in the newspapers or on OlyBlog require some digging beyond the official Estuary website. I've done some linking to custom site searches at Capitollake.com. The one report not to miss is the 'ITR' or Independent Technical Review completed last November, a comissioned review and critique of the 4 prior 'technical reports.' My opinion is that it tore soem of those studies to shreds, but you wouldn't know that from the Executive Summary. The text of the ITR points out many examples of inappropriate analysis methods or study design, constrained RFP guidelines (I believe code for 'here's what we want to hear'), uncertain results, the RFP not asking the right questions... Its a can of worms, not all that long to read, and can be found here:
www.ga.wa.gov/CLAMP/Deschutes_ITR_Report_Oct23_2007-Out_300dpi.pdf

I have radio-tracked bats from the Woodard Bay nursery colony to Capitol Lake, starting in summer 2003. The vast majority of these bats feed at Captiol Lake every night, April/May through Aug/Sept.