There are a number of thoughts in this contribution.
Is Michael the ranger doing a good job? - yes
Is the recent number of reports evidence that the impact of redesign is minimal? - not a sound proposition, in my view
Should hide design aim mainly at greatest usefulness as a hide or at aesthetics and airiness? - I think we shall agree to differ
Should we ‘move on’? - if this means make no further representations, disagree (a structural modification to Bittern is already under discussion); if it means we have heard enough on the subject on this chatline, well, yes, probably
From: martin butterfield [
Sent: Monday, 17 December 2012 12:03 PM
To:
Cc: Yarden Oren; Chris Davey; Freeman, John; Maconachie, Michael; BirdlineACT
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] re hide refurbishment at Jerrabomberra Wetlands
Those who know me will be surprised (at least) to find me supporting an ACT Government initiative, but that is where I end up on this one.
Surely the number of uncommon species recently being reported from the hides is major evidence that the impact of the redesign has been minimal? My views are pretty much summarised by Margaret's post. I was not a fan of the changes but now find them inoffensive, and since I have seen a few unfamiliar names reporting to the chatline perhaps they have encouraged a few new people to join the observer pool?
WRT to the need for COG to have input: surely these changes would have been made with the agreement of the Board of Management, on which COG is represented?
One issue that is unfortunate is that the announcement of the extension of refurbishment was made the day after the Ranger (who IMHO is doing a damn fine job) went on leave and is thus unable to respond to the matters raised. Hopefully some of the constructive ideas about redesign of viewing slots in the new hides can be revisited for the other two hides but as far as A B C are concerned it has happened so let us move on.
On 17 December 2012 10:53, Geoffrey Dabb <> wrote:
Well, yes.
However someone hasn’t been reading their draft Master Plan. For this generation of planners, hides are not hides - they are fun places for the new demographic. Hard though it might be to credit, the following is a snip from the draft Master Plan on the guiding principles for our hides:
Not much there about not scaring the bird life. Anyway, you don’t need to see birds when there’s the interpretive signage. The true aim of a hide should be to modify an otherwise threatening presence - even though the bird can generally ‘see’ the observer. Here is an example of a 2-way sighting from the Cygnus hide just this morning -
From: Yarden Oren [mailto:m("yahoo.com.au","yarden_oren");" target="_blank">]
Sent: Monday, 17 December 2012 10:10 AM
To: 'Chris Davey'; 'Freeman, John'; 'Maconachie, Michael'
Cc: 'BirdlineACT'; 'Canberra Birds'
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] re hide refurbishment at Jerrabomberra Wetlands
Very well put!!
From my view as a birdwatcher, the new hides have undone some of the advantages that the HIDES were supposed to perform. The brush screens as already mentioned, should be remodelled to achieve useful ventage points for a broad range of persons (I won’t be surprised if we start seeing individual “adjustments” soon to the current slots).
I second the call for COG input into hide design (and other such adjustments) before any further maladjustments take place.
Yarden
--
Martin Butterfield
