The eradication of cormorant colonies has often been advocated by those who say they want to protect Lake Erie vegetation. This protection has been invoked by Canadian National Parks staff who recently shot cormorants off their nests in Point Pelee, and by Ohio Division of Wildlife staff doing likewise on the Ohio side again this season. The idea is bogus. This vegetation, usually called "Carolinian," characterizes merely the northern portion of the deciduous forest region so common in the eastern U.S., mingled with a few Canadian Zone plants common farther north. Widespread in northern Ohio, in Ontario it is widespread in the southern part of the province, on the islands and well inland: see maps at http://www.carolinian.org/FactSheets_CCUniqueness.htm . It occurs in only about 1% of Canada's immense land area (similar to coastal mangrove habitat in the southern US), and hence as the northern extent of far more diverse vegetation from farther south it contains 40% of Ontario's rare plant species. But these species are far from rare farther south, just as the region's many fewer species from farther north are rare only for the U.S. In addition, only in a tiny fraction of Ontario's Carolinian areas do cormorants post any threat whatever to its characteristic vegetation. In Ohio, our very small number of locally rare Canadian zone plants at risk also falls well short of justifying local eradication of a native bird species. Both Canadian and US arguments for wiping out cormorant colonies for such a reason seem to be make-believe. An interesting article in Canada's newspaper The Globe and Mail http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080524.CORMORANTS24/EmailTPStory/ covers a non-lethal way of curbing the growth of the largest cormorant colony on the Great Lakes, on narrow peninsulas in a popular Toronto park. Because cormorants are intolerant of human presences at large nesting sites, Toronto authorities plan to encourage roller-skating and tai chi practice sessions in certain areas to limit incursions by nesting cormorants further inland at the park. They have deliberately abandoned shooting as a control measure. US enthusiasts also allege cormorants' negative effects on the numbers of co-nesting wading birds, but have produced no numbers to prove it. They also tell us no deleterious effect on the fishery has been established, so what are they left with to justify wiping out cormorant colonies? Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]