I agree with Ed & Bev. There were dozens of short eared owls in the field north of the Sportsmans Center before the people with the horses and hunting dogs started going through that field on a regular basis. The short eared owls disapeared. Now that the dog and pony shows are in the past the short eared owls are comeing back although less than a dozen. The location of owl habitat must be taken into consideration when opening area to other uses. There used to be a breeding population of short eared owls who stayed all year round on the reclaimed strip mine land in the Woodsburry WA in Coshocton County. How do I know this? My friend who lives out there and I watched them all year round. The State did not believe that short eared owls were there and started using the land for hunting dog training and trials as well as putting in several oil wells. The owls are no longer there. I believe there is plenty of room for all types of use of the land without destroying it. The hard part is putting together a plan that makes everyone happy. Hard but not imposssiable so we have to at least try. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]