**********************Only time will tell whether the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is, in fact, extinct, but one thing is certain — the fanfare announcing these now-suspect sightings was way overblown.
And it’s worth noting that the beneficiaries of all this hoopla were also the ones behind it.The search to “find” the Ivory-billed Woodpecker was organized, supported and launched by the Nature Conservancy. The subsequent “find” was announced and widely publicized by the Nature Conservancy. Now, according to Jackson’s article, it seems the Nature Conservancy also stands to benefit substantially from its own “discovery,” possibly to the tune of $10.2 million federal dollars and hundreds of thousands of acres in Arkansas. ************************
I bought right into it when it was first announced. I was taking everything at face value and assuming no agenda but the truth. I reverse my position. I feel defiled. I am embarrassed to have temporarily resided with the ilk of DTW and the credulous crowd, instantly accepting one report as truth. The article said "time will tell". Time has told. Arkansas isn't some unexplored expanse in the Congo or Amazon basin. That woodpecker is extinct.
---Al
