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This message was posted to the SBNF-AAT Yahoo group:
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Subject: Balloon project
Hi everybody - I have a little project that I need your help on here on the Mountaintop District. We've become very concerned about the impacts of balloons on some of the animals on the forest. Virtually every time I'm out in the field, I find balloons on the ground in various stages of decomposition. They're everywhere. A recent autopsy of three bighorn sheep that were found dead by the limestone mines found a pile of balloons in each of their stomachs. We don't know if ingesting the balloons contributed to their deaths but it certainly couldn't have been good for them. No doubt other animals are eating them too.
If you encounter balloons while you're out in the field, could you please do the following:
Collect the balloons and get them to me with the date you found them, and GPS the balloon collection site or put a dot on a map where you found it (if you don't have GPS)
I anticipate doing this data collection for a full year. At the end, we'll be able to make a map showing all of the collection site plus display how many balloons drop onto our part of the forest in a year. This is just something I would like people to do while they're out in the field - and not create any extra work for anybody.
Thanks, Robin
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Robin Eliason
Mountaintop District Biologist
San Bernardino National Forest
P.O. Box 290,
42300 North Shore Drive
Big Bear Ranger Station
Fawnskin, CA 92333-0290
Phone: 909.382.2832
Fax: 909.866.8192 (or 866.2867)
Email: reliason@fs.fed.us
Every Species Counts
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Subject: Balloon project
Hi everybody - I have a little project that I need your help on here on the Mountaintop District. We've become very concerned about the impacts of balloons on some of the animals on the forest. Virtually every time I'm out in the field, I find balloons on the ground in various stages of decomposition. They're everywhere. A recent autopsy of three bighorn sheep that were found dead by the limestone mines found a pile of balloons in each of their stomachs. We don't know if ingesting the balloons contributed to their deaths but it certainly couldn't have been good for them. No doubt other animals are eating them too.
If you encounter balloons while you're out in the field, could you please do the following:
Collect the balloons and get them to me with the date you found them, and GPS the balloon collection site or put a dot on a map where you found it (if you don't have GPS)
I anticipate doing this data collection for a full year. At the end, we'll be able to make a map showing all of the collection site plus display how many balloons drop onto our part of the forest in a year. This is just something I would like people to do while they're out in the field - and not create any extra work for anybody.
Thanks, Robin
**************************************************
Robin Eliason
Mountaintop District Biologist
San Bernardino National Forest
P.O. Box 290,
42300 North Shore Drive
Big Bear Ranger Station
Fawnskin, CA 92333-0290
Phone: 909.382.2832
Fax: 909.866.8192 (or 866.2867)
Email: reliason@fs.fed.us
Every Species Counts
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