Discussion: Route Gadget and Out-of-Bounds at Flying Pig Day 3?

Does anyone know why there is an out-of-bounds section marked over the area that contains control number 138 on Day Three of the Flying Pig on Route Gadget? The control was included on two courses--the Blue and Brown.

My apologies if this question has been answered somewhere else in the forum. I don't frequent Attackpoint that much I'm sorry to say. Many Thanks--Dave O

The link to Route Gadget is http://us-o-team.us.orienteering.org/events/routeg...

I'm sure someone who knows the answer will post something soon, but my uneducated guess when looking at the course was that all the "out of bounds areas" seemed centered around hunting platforms, leading me to believe that they were just meant as "areas of caution if hunters were around."

Great Horned Owl nests. We removed the out-of-bounds for the competition maps, since it appears that West Nile Virus has decimated the population at the park. This is apparently an older version of the map file we used for Sunday. We were required to spend time listening and looking for GHO activity as we set the courses.

That was particularly interesting to hear - since this owl is the origin of my AP nickname...
PS. I guess you could note some GHO activities on the results board as well ;)

Not as much GHO activity at this year's Pig as in the past but
here is a report:

http://ghocanadagho.blogspot.com/2007/03/flying-pi...

Scroll down on this link for last year's Flying Pig GHO activity reports:

http://ghocanadagho.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_archiv...

Vladimir Gusiatnikov posts our maps for Route Gadget & I mistakenly sent him an earlier version of the map than the one actually used day-of-event.

There are several artificial nest platforms in the park, and 5 or 6 years ago you could count on most of them being occupied by Great Horned Owls at this time of year. The park requires us to stay at least 100 feet (30 m) away from any occupied nests, so we mark a substantially larger circle on our maps (Disturbing the owl off the nest in cool weather could damage or destroy eggs or nestlings). As Cedarcreek said, the owl population has been severely depleted in the last few years, probably due to West Nile virus. We checked with area owl experts who told us that there were no known GHO nests in MWW either this year or the previous year, and coupled with our own observations, we planned courses to come closer to the unoccupied nest platforms than we have been able to for many years.

A week before the Pig, I spotted a large owl in MWW North, which I am 99% sure was a barred owl, but as a precaution, I changed Friday's blue course and moved one other advanced control, and marked substantial out-of-bounds areas around the 2 nest platforms in MWW North.

This is a great example of an orienteering club working with land managers to minimize environmental impacts and protect the native species. We can only hope that the owl population will eventually recover. My own theory is that the nest platforms themselves may be partially to blame, since they are made from metal drums and could potentially retain water, creating a breeding spot for mosquito larvae. Making sure the platforms have adequate drainage holes should be a priority for owl conservation efforts.