THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 11, 1994 TAG: 9410110301
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
The commander of Fort Monroe has been reprimanded for ordering workers at the Army base to destroy several heron nests, a violation of federal wildlife law, a newspaper reported Monday.
The nests were destroyed because droppings from the yellow-crowned night herons were damaging lawns and cars along the base's main road, base officials have said.
Although the birds were not harmed, destroying the nests violated the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service does not classify yellow-crowned night herons as threatened or endangered. But herons - and their nests and eggs - are protected by the 78-year-old federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Post Commander Col. William B. Clark, who received a letter of reprimand, hoped that knocking down the nests would force the birds to move to a less populated section of the 615-acre base. But they rebuilt their nests in the same trees.
Lt. Col. Lynn A. Westbrook, director of the department called on to knock down the nests, also received a letter of reprimand.
Two civilian workers who destroyed the nests have been told they may be suspended for five days without pay because of accusations that they disobeyed orders by knocking down nests with eggs in them, those familiar with the punishments told the newspaper. A third civilian, who works in the base's environmental affairs office, also was punished.
Electricians Donald L. White and Creighton D. Gastmier, the two workers who destroyed the nests, are to face Maj. Gen. Robert D. Orton as early as this week to argue they are being unfairly punished.
Both men told investigators the nests they knocked down contained no eggs.
Eight heron nests were knocked down in April and May, according to the Army's investigation report.
Six of the eight were in two oak trees on the quarters of Brig. Gen. Morris J. Boyd.
The others were in an elm tree across the street.
``It is absolutely untrue that Brig. Gen. Boyd had any involvement in any decision to remove the nests or was involved in any way in applying pressure on anyone to do so,'' said Col. George H. Stinnett, chief of public affairs for the Army's Training and Doctrine Command, which conducted the Army's investigation. ``It is only coincidental that several of the nests that were removed were in front of quarters he occupies.''
After some of the nests were knocked down in April, a few Fort Monroe officers learned the herons and their nests might be protected by a wildlife law.
One of those officers, Maj. Paul H. Avery, told Army investigators that on April 27 he ``relayed a quick summary of events'' to Westbrook, director of the base's Directorate of Installation Support.
In early May, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agent Daniel H. Hurt received tips that heron nests were being destroyed and began investigating.
On May 5, two nests in front of Boyd's residence and another nest across the street were knocked down.
Later that day, Lt. Col. James J. O'Donnell and other officers complained to Clark and Westbrook, according to an affidavit given by O'Donnell.
Hurt's report went to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Norfolk. The Army base faced a maximum fine of $10,000. And those involved could have been fined up to $5,000 and jailed for up to six months if convicted.
But federal prosecutors agreed to drop the case after the Army said it would discipline those involved. by CNB