Trumpeter and Tundra Swans in a Schmuck Road harvested corn field. Photo: John Gussman
March—April 2023
Project Swan Safe Update
by John C. Acklen, Project Manager
The overwhelming majority of our Sequim-Dungeness community enjoys and supports the Trumpeter Swans that spend their winter here. Each year since 2011 our Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society (OPAS) volunteers observe the swans and conduct a twice weekly swan census. Our objective is to better understand and document where the swans roost, where they feed, what causes them to move, and to monitor their well-being. Our volunteer surveyors work from November through March to note when swans run into trouble from disease, lead ingestion, or power line collisions. Such was the case with recent swan electrocutions along Woodcock Road, just west of Kirner Pond and along Holland Road off of Port Williams Road.
In early January, Shelly Ament, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) biologist and John Acklen, OPAS’s volunteer Swan Safe Project Manager, met with , Mike Hill, Clallam County PUD’s Engineering Manager. They met in the field to decide where the swan fatalities occurred and determine what could be done to prevent them.
Subsequent to that, two more swans died from power line strikes near the intersection of Port Williams and Schmuck Road. PUD’s crews responded quickly to mark the power lines with an array of avian bird diverters according to the plan agreed to during the previous field meeting. Mike Hill and his crews also determined that it was possible to remove a third hazardous line which provided power to an unused irrigation pump. His crews completed the work by the end of January.
Trumpeter and Tundra Swans in a Schmuck Road harvested corn field. Photo: John Gussman
PUD’s prompt response and willingness to work together with WDFW and OPAS has without doubt saved the lives of numerous birds, not just swans. It is a continuation of a collaboration among PUD, WDFW, OPAS, other non-profits and community members to underground a power line causing swan fatalities at Kirner Pond, fully described in the poster you see below. Click on the poster to enlarge the view or to view as an adjustable-sized PDF, click here.
We prepared this poster to display at the October 2022 International Swan Society meeting in Wyoming, where it received rave reviews. It highlights our unique local cooperation. We see the fruit of this approach in the recent utility responses. Not only was the work accomplished quickly, but it demonstrates the new care and attention of PUD crews. These PUD actions reflect not only a willingness to comply with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which protects birds, but also a sincere and growing commitment to bird well-being. In February OPAS sent a letter to the General Manager of the PUD thanking them for their responsive actions and cooperation.