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"RETURN OF THE NATIVE"



(With apologies to Thomas Hardy)
Next time you see a member of The North Carolina Wildlife Commission,
especially the Non-game and Endangered Species people, please take time to
say "thanks" for bringing the Peregrine Falcon back to our mountains.
The recovery effort began in 1984 and the operative word is "effort". The
process of hacking young peregrines requires dedication beyond the normal.
Raising money to purchase the young birds;packing in hacking boxes and other
equiptment to almost inaccessable cliffs; continuous protection of the hack
site for more than six-weeks; feeding the young for that period; and
monitoring twenty or so cliffs for those 16 years to see if the hacking was
successful are only some of the work that had to be done.
All this while monitoring other endangered species from mussles to wood rats
must have been discouraging at times. Especially when there were years when
almost no young peregrines survived.
BUT!  This year there is good news. Sixteen young peregrines have fledged or
are about to, and there are 10 know eyries. As usual some of the pairs did
not produce young this year, some because the adults were not yet mature
enough to breed successfully.
Hats off to the Wildlife folks!! You have only to see a peregine over cliffs
like Grandfather Mountain or Devil's Courthouse to realize that the effort
was well spent.
Reece Mitchell
Flat Rock, NC
rmitche2@tds.net