This edition of Marsh Musings is different from all previous editions.  A couple of major changes have occurred.  Eric Giesing, my cohort in this endeavor, has taken another job.  He is going to work for a promote their pharmaceutical company.  He is thrilled at the opportunity, and sad to leave KWEC. I will miss his wisdom and knowledge as an exceptional advocate for KWEC, but look forward to our new adventures and the stories to come. We also hope all of this house keeping is of some interest-- we want you the reader to know that we are grateful when you read our column, and that we do honestly try to give you the best information about the greatest place in Kansas to see the wonders of our area.
 I would like to mention one other important thing that each of you who read our column can do. The National Wildlife Federation has created a process and certification for establishing wildlife habitat.  It can be as small as your yard, or as large as your imagination and diligence can conjure up. If you can provide the 4 basic components of  a “habitat” which include, water, food, cover and places to raise young-- then you can be certified  by the organization.  You also get a copy of their magazine with the certification and a sign to designate your area.  I would love to see as many certified wildlife habitats as possible in our area. It would also be a dream to create a list of the certified habitats so that visitors to our area that are birders or nature enthusiasts would have a map to these special sites.  
Cris Collier at the Great Bend Convention/Visitors Center will have packets of info available, and we are going to visit the city council of Hoisington, Ellinwood and Claflin to enjoin their support of this special way to help our birds and critters and enhance our tourism profile. We will have more information about this project in future editions with contact information and packets will be available. You can Google up National Wildlife Federation and get more information also.
We will be back to our more familiar wildlife musings in a couple of weeks!  Go look at the Bottoms-- we have some new water, and lots of shore birds are arriving.  We are also seeing whooping cranes and cinnamon teal which are great birds. Lots going on right now-- don’t miss it!
Doc Witt is a retired physician and Eric Giesing is a biologist. They are both nature enthusiasts.