The Virginian-Pilot
©
HALES LAKE, N.C.
Navy jets could be scaring water-fowl away from the Hales Lake site proposed for an outlying landing field, making it more likely to have a low probability of bird strikes, local officials say.
Meanwhile, bird counts in the area conducted by state biologists show a rise in waterfowl populations over the past five years.
This month, the Navy announced plans to do an additional wintering bird count in the expansive farm fields of northern Camden and Currituck counties, one of five sites chosen as a possible airfield where jets could practice aircraft-carrier landings.
Hales Lake has the best environment of all the sites for wintering waterfowl, said Patsy Kerr, spokeswoman with the Navy Fleet Forces Environmental Group.
Since Sept. 1, jet-noise complaints have numbered 566, with nearly all of them in Moyock, the community closest to the Hales Lake site, according to a database of calls kept by Currituck County. That is the highest total of complaints in a three-month period since the count began in July 2008.
From September through November 2008, there were 386 noise complaint calls.
"Some say they're conducting all these flights to run the birds out," said Gene Gregory, a Currituck County commissioner. "Those jets have been flying continuously for several weeks now."
Extra jet activity over Moyock has nothing to do with the OLF but corresponds with aircraft carriers operating off the coast, Kerr said.
Neither the Navy nor Ecology and Environment Inc., a company in New York hired to do the bird counts, will release data collected so far.
But state biologists have done one-day waterfowl counts in eastern North Carolina every year since 1961, said Joe Fuller, migratory game bird coordinator for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.
For the counts, the state is broken down into units or areas.
Swans and snow geese have been increasing while ducks have declined slightly.
In an area that includes the Hales Lakes fields and others in Currituck County, the average number of tundra swans was 599 over the past five years, 228 more than the overall 48-year average.
The average number of snow geese was 1,796 over the past five years, 758 more than the overall figure.
Finally, the average number of other waterfowl, mostly ducks, was 2,813 over the past five years, 167 fewer than the overall average.
Opposition over wintering waterfowl was the key to getting the Navy to drop Washington County as a preferred OLF site in 2008.
Residents in all five sites, two in North Carolina and three in Virginia, have opposed the Navy's plans.
Camden and Currituck counties hired a law firm, an engineering firm and a public relations firm to help keep the Navy out of the Hales Lake site.
Most elected officials have opposed the North Carolina sites. Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Dare County, sent a letter to nationally elected officials opposing the new bird count, saying it was wasteful to continue looking at sites in North Carolina.
Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com
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They can trust the Navy to put theirselves in front of a bullet but they can't trust them to count birds.
Digest that one.
Funny. Many of the residents
Funny. Many of the residents affected are or have been in the Navy. Seems that being in the Navy to be put "in front of a bullet" has not done much to convince them if the intentions of the dubious bird "studies" either.
the pilots who "put themselves in front of a bullet" are not
the ones doing these studies. The studies are sponsored from the Secretary of the Navy's office. Do our pilots really wish to practice at a field where there are geese and ducks that may harm their aircraft or endanger themselves because the jets and birds potentially share the same airspace? How effective is flying FCLPs and flying the ball to simulate flying at the carrier when the previous plane may have flushed some geese, and another pilot is now flying into those birds? Will our pilots have to fly with one eye on the "ball" and one eye looking for birds? Is that realistic flying, or flying like they will see at sea? Because of the birds in the region, the Navy is having to buy or control so much additional land just to control the bird population. That alone should have disqualified Hales Lake a long time ago. To much impact to the habitat of the region. Today, the people and birds coexist. Since the Navy cannot prove this runway is required, let the birds stay. Our pilots have the capacity to be trained, if the Navy would fix Oceana's runways so our pilots may fly 24/7 vice 15 hours a day/5 days a week VB LG desires.
They are flying very low
They are flying very low over the Mackay Island refuge as well. The flights are low and often, more often than not, performed by multiple aircraft.
I did not understand they were keeping numbers on complaints. We complained several times but did not continue as we felt we got our thoughts across to the receivers of the e-mails.
The traffic has increased greatly. We thought we were being probed for complaints. The bird disruption is now obvious. They fly more on cooler days, and less on the warmer days when our windows are open. I notice they are not flying directly over head during prime hunting hours now as well.
Devious.
Noise report
The No OLF group and the county of Currituck set up a weblink where you can post your complaint concerning jet noise.
http://www.co.currituck.nc.us//olf-forms.cfm
This is the preferred method, our calls to NAS Were they counted? Who knows this way no chance of fudging numbers, pass this link around I post on the third pass of the day and every time after 8PM.
Get your cameras ready
Every concerned citizen in the Hales Lake area must take as many photos of every kind of bird...local and migratory...make sure the date and location is known in the photo. I have documentation of hundreds if not thousands of snow geese and red-tipped black birds in the Moyock area alone from last year. Just yesterday the Mallards Ducks made their presence known. If you hear them or any other birds, film them. Do not wait on the Navy's one day study. A picture speaks a thousand words.
Why wont the Navy release the data already formulated
for this project? This data was supposed to have been released in Summer 09, and it got pushed to Fall 09. Since something pushed the study so this NEPA study would coincide with the JSF NEPA study, the Navy is now holding all their data. WHY? Are the SEC Navy cooking the books to make things meet their desire? The Navy will release data on the Red-cockaded Woodpecker http://www.olfeis.com/documents.aspx, why not release other data that is ready. Most of it should be ready now. Make it public.
The Navy is doing a JLUS study around NAS Lamoore, and they did the HRJLUS with a release date of 2005. So the Navy CAN and does talk to host communities. Why is the Navy refusing to talk to the community they claim will make Oceana viable again? What is the Secretary of the Navy afraid of? He allows a presentation that has half truths to be repeated numerous times, but he wont allow the people of the rural sites to be a part of the study, or to see the data collected for this study. The Sec Navy was invited by those around Mason to visit the sites, will he?
My only hope. . .
Is the next round of BRAC hearings. With the F35 (JSF) coming out Oceana is done as a MJB. Ideally, Cecil Field will be reopened and the jets will be moved. There is also Cherry Point. BRAC needs to see all the stupidity of an OLF, as it would only be a "bandaid" as they Navy will have more lawsuits filed against them regarding noise then ever before when the JSF is out.
Let Me Get This Straight
The Navy has VERY recently (within the last year or two) begun flying almost daily overflights of Moyock. I have lived in Moyock for more than 15 years and I can NEVER remember overflights of F-18s in this area until now. What is going on?? The Navy has refused to give us any information regarding the purpose of this significant increase in overflights which coincidentally coincide with this ongoing OLF study.
And the Navy says that they are conducting another entire winter's bird study "just because they have time to do so" now?
Tell me, how does the Navy expect to get an accurate bird count at Hales Lake this winter when they have been buzzing the area DAILY with F-18s???
Something stinks here. The Navy is literally wasting our taxpayer dollars on this bird study. How much are they paying this big New York consultant to do a bird study that the Navy's own jets have very likely already altered/flawed??? This is beyond a ridiculous waste of taxpayer dollars.
I really wish the Navy would use our tax dollars to fix their problems at Oceana and Fentress instead of on USELESS additional bird studies!!
humm, the Navy has been conducting flight training since
when? The Navy is doing more flights over land, why? What is over Moyock, or NE NC besides Dare County Bombing range? Two years ago, 30 years ago, the Navy did not fly over Moyock and the area. Well, at least the Navy can claim they have been visiting at least the Moyock site. See, we have been at the sites. We have 566 incidents where we were at Moyock, and the people complained we were there. Is the Navy going to use them complaints to justify condemning lands as a first option for this project. Kind of a the community is not supporting us thing? What around Moyock has a training value that warrants the Navy flying over the community? What mission is being trained at Moyock by the Navy? Air v Air, Air to ground, Bombing, refueling? Moyock has not been a waypoint for the Navy enough to generate 566 incidents were the people identified that the Navy was flying about. Since the Navy DOES have time to perform these extra bird studies, when is the Navy going to find the TIME to come talk to the communities about this plan. The scoping meeting was a failure, and this presentation demonstrated that if the Navy used Oceana, they would not require this OLF.