May 26, 2004
Click here to see an article in the Ozaukee Press.
May 27, 2004
Visit the We Energies Press release here.
Birder's World Magazine has this to say about the Quad 30 Campaign.
Noel will be on Larry Meiller's Wisconsin Public Radio program, on Monday,
May 31, from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM.
May 28, 2004
Here's an article about the Quad 30 Campaign in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
And here's an article about the Quad 30 Campaign in the Kenosha News.
July 8, 2004
Here's an article that will soon appear in national publications:
WISCONSIN MAN SPENDS ENTIRE MONTH OF JUNE BIRDING
Noel Cutright Birds Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, & Minnesota for Campaign to Raise Awareness - and Funds - for Important Bird Areas Program
West Bend, WI, Wednesday, July 7, 2004 - This June, Wisconsin birder Noel Cutright boldly went where no birder has gone before. Cutright spent the entire 30 days of June birding, attempting to conduct 30 North American Breeding Bird Surveys (BBS) in celebration of his more than 30 years of participating in the BBS - with a goal of personally raising $30,000 to help bird conservation. Cutright succeeded in this endeavor, christened the "Quad 30 Campaign," raising more than $36,000 to-date.
Cutright - who serves as chair of the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative's Important Bird Areas committee and is immediate past-president of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology - covered 33 BBS routes in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, and Minnesota. The first route was completed in Ohio on May 30, and a Wisconsin BBS on July 1 concluded the field effort - 33 consecutive BBS routes! The three "extra" routes were to provide some protection against problems that were likely to be encountered. Throughout the "Campaign" he paid all his expenses out-of-pocket, and all of the money he raised goes toward bird conservation, specifically the Important Bird Areas program.
"I wanted to do this to raise awareness of the value of long-term bird monitoring projects like the BBS and the critical need to do more for bird conservation; I did it for the birds," Cutright remarked. "In my wildest dreams I never imagined completing all 33 routes consecutively, with all the potential pitfalls that are out there - rain, wind, impassable roads, car problems, oversleeping, and others."
Cutright also recognizes that he wouldn't have exceeded his goal of raising $30,000 without his web site that another Wisconsin birder and volunteer, Lennie Lichter, designed and operated. "Sending Lennie almost daily updates wasn't always easy; I was in some pretty remote areas," commented Cutright.
The Breeding Bird Survey roadside routes conducted by Cutright are part of a Federal program started in 1966 to monitor the status and trends of North American bird populations. The survey relies on participants skilled in bird identification. Each route is 24.5 miles long, with stops at 0.5-mile intervals. At each stop a 3-minute count is conducted; every bird seen or heard within a 0.25-mile radius is recorded. Surveys start 30 minutes before sunrise, must be done under suitable weather conditions, and take almost 5 hours to complete. Over 4,100 BBS routes are located across continental U.S. and southern Canada. More information about the BBS can be found at http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/index.html .
Most states now have Important Bird Areas (IBA) programs. IBAs are sites that provide habitat essential for breeding, feeding, wintering, or migration of one or more bird species. IBAs may be large or small and either publicly or privately owned, sharing characteristics such as high bird diversity, threatened or endangered species, or the presence of unusually large numbers of birds. To be designated an IBA, a site is nominated and then evaluated based on standard scientific criteria to ensure its significance to birds. Audubon chapters, scientists, and the general public may nominate sites. Recognition of an IBA does not confer any legal or regulatory status and is entirely voluntary.
The Important Bird Areas Program is directed in the U. S. by the National Audubon Society and is coordinated internationally in more than 120 countries by BirdLife International. There are more than 1,500 IBAs identified throughout the U.S.
To read about Cutright's unique experience or to contribute to his Quad 30 Campaign, please visit http://www.quad30campaign.org.
July 13, 2004
Here's a link to a We Energies internal website.
July 19, 2004
And here's a link to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.
August 12, 2004
Check out this link to an Ozaukee Press article.
August 28, 2004
These 2 pieces appear in the October 2004 issue of Birder's World.
Page 18 in the Birding Briefs: This Just In column:
Noel Cutright, president of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, raised more than $37,000 for Wisconsin's Important Bird Area program when he conducted 33 Breeding Bird Survey routes from May 30 through July 1. In all, Cutright counted 24,111 birds of 179 species on routes in Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan.
Page 94 in the Learn More column:
NOEL CUTRIGHT
Website
As noted in "Birding Briefs " (p.18), Wisconsin Society for Ornithology President Noel Cutright conducted 33 Breeding Bird Survey routes this spring to celebrate his 30 years as a BBS volunteer. To read his journals and checklists and learn more about the BBS, visit www.quad30campaign.org.
March 2, 2005
An article in the Kenosha News
There are bird success stories in Kenosha County. On the other wing,
however, there are some disappointments.
"We have stories where species are disappearing from the
landscape," said Noel Cutright, past president of the Wisconsin
Ornithological Society. "We need to take action to bring them back or
at
least to keep those that are common today for future generations."
The West Bend resident will talk about his experience as a
birder during a
7 p.m. Thursday presentation at the River Bend Nature Center, 3600
Green
Bay Road, Racine. The Hoy Audubon Society of Racine is hosting the
gathering.
Cutright's bird activities included an annual counting survey
has taken him through the town of Paris and other sites for more than
20
years.
Cutright expanded his bird canvassing in 2004 from five surveys
to 33 across Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. His trek, called
the Quad 30 Campaign, is outlined at www.quad30campaign.org.
Cutright, an ecologist for We Energies, drove through Paris on
June 1,
2004 and noted the continuing decline of eastern and western
meadowlarks.
He said their combined numbers reached about 100 in surveys from the
1970s.
The numbers had dropped to three for the former and zero for the
latter in June.
People building homes and shopping malls can destroy bird and
wildlife habitat, he said. Changes in agricultural practices - earlier
harvests and the decline in the number of pastures - also have had
major
impacts on meadowlarks, he said.
But Cutright also found that wild turkeys and sandhill cranes
were flourishing here.
"When I started driving these routes, neither one of those
species occurred in Kenosha County," he said. "Now we have at least
10,000 cranes in the state, and they've spread into this county."
More wetlands as habitat and less poaching are major reasons for
that, he said. He also said turkeys were part of a successful program
to
reintroduce them in many areas. "Now they are in just about every
Wisconsin county," he said.
All of this means people need to know the power they have, he
said.
"It's interesting that man also can do things to the environment
to help birds recover," he said. "Everybody has a stake in this and in
doing the right thing. The right thing is to be concerned about the
plants and animals we share Kenosha County with."
Birds contribute to quality of life, he said. But, there's also
money to be made. Birdwatching, as well as hiking, fishing, hunting and
other wildlife activities, support the economy, he said.
"We often underplay the value that natural resources contribute
to mankind," he said. "Birds are a part of that chain, and we need to
keep that chain intact."
By John Krerowicz, Staff Writer
