At the risk of opening old wounds I invite readers here to visit the OOS Forum, accessed through the OOS website (ohiobirds.org) and read the discussions (see Conservation Issues)I initiated last year under the heading "Mowing, making hay, and grassland birds." Many interesting points were raised in that forum.

While I will concede that the "modern farming practices" decried by Cheryl in her post have caused, or maybe more accurately perpetuated a decline in nesting success, farming is hardly going to go away any more than hunting is. Hay making is an essential activity associated with livestock farming. Because hay can be stored and fed over the winter, farmers need not slaughter their entire herds and flocks each autumn. In order to optimize hay making it must first be cut in mid-June. This takes advantage of the time when the highest nutritional value for the first cutting can be derived. Cutting in mid-June allows better chances for second or third cutting crops later in the season. It's not just grass. It's food.

Jane and I purchased 274 square bales of good grass first-cutting hay last weekend, and we were happy to get it. Our horses and sheep already appreciate it as well.

If Byer's Woods is a public area then it definitely should not be cut until after nesting season. This is the main point I made in initiating the Forum discussion. There is a lot of parkland and public property that is not mowed for hay, but rather for aesthetic reasons. This should stop, no doubt about it. Awareness of the value of grasslands should be encouraged, similar to the way awareness of the value of wetlands has. I was heartened when we visited the beach at Dillon State Park a couple weeks ago and I saw that a large expanse of grass around the approach to the beach was being allowed to grow, marked by signs that read "Wildlife Diversity Project - Limited Mowing Area" or something to that effect. I didn't see any bobolinks on the way in or out, but if this practice is continued it might happen in the next year or two (maybe it already has.)

So, let's encourage awareness of this issue by supporting events like the one at Byer's Woods in Ashland County this coming Saturday. And give the poor farmers a break!

Bob Evans
Geologist, etc. (including farmer)
Hopewell Township, Muskingum County

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