[BCNnet] FW: A Merger?

Tue, 18 Jun 2002 20:21:16 -0500

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Birding friends:

The following article is from the current (June 2002) issue of Birding,
published by the American Birding Association, and authored by Paul Baicich.
It is printed here with the author’s permission and encouragement.  In my
opinion, it argues, very persuasively, for something I have long believed
and urged: that IBET and BCNnet should merge.  After you read this
completely what is your opinion?

Donald

Donald R. Dann
Highland Park/Lake County

Birding Perspective - Why the Disconnect

Once upon a time, long ago, in a place called “America,” and at a time
called the “turn of the last century,” wild birds and animals were
persecuted throughout the land. Hunters shot with abandon to the point where
wagon-carts ached with the weight of birds piled aboard. Women’s hats and
clothing were adorned with the plumes of egrets and other wild birds. The
local markets were filled with the meat of many animals—ducks, geese,
shorebirds, and pigeons, among the birds alone.
There was sadness over the land. Soon the hunters (and the anglers, too) saw
that the animals were growing scarce. Ladies who loved the birds led a ban
on bird plumes for their elegant clothing. Privileged men who had studied
the birds began to militate against the slaughter.
Eventually the hunters, the anglers, the thoughtful ladies, and the men of
bird-study held hands, gathered friends, and stopped the dreadful waste.
Laws protecting the birds and setting aside sanctuaries were proclaimed
throughout the land. The birds and other animals rested and took refuge in
places set aside for them.  Local officials worked hard to bring back wild
creatures to field, stream, bay, and forest.  And they all lived happily
ever after.

Well, not really.  This fairy tale—only slightly sugar-coated for the
uninitiated—ends about 1950. The real background story covers the rise of
North America’s bird protection movement, the passage of basic wildlife
laws, the connection to habitat sensitivity (especially in response to the
Dustbowl), the promulgation of a real system of refuges, the continued
intersection of citizens and scientists with conservation concerns, the
engagement of the states as well as the feds, and much, much more.
Somewhere along the road, perhaps after Silent Spring, perhaps after the
first Earth Day, paths definitely diverged. A traditional conservationism
became displaced by a bolder, some-times confrontational environmentalism.
In the interim, while the population at large, thankfully, has become
more sensitive to the environment, wild places, and wild things, many real
connections to the outdoors seem more remote.

For better or worse, the arrival of environmentalism has marked, for many of
us at least, a conservation apart from birds. Indeed, the camp of the
environmentalists can easily embrace other issues (such as air quality), and
may actually view birding as a trivial pastime. Of course, those other
concerns are important—be they toxic discharges, water pollution, fossil
fuel issues, or ocean reefs—but why this particular view of a frivolous
birding? Let me be so bold as to say that we birders helped advance this
perception.  We have made it possible to pursue a pastime apart from the
resource. Many newcomers to our activities have now learned that their
birding can be appreciated quite apart from bird conservation.  Therefore,
the disconnect between birders and many environmentalists is not the one
that concerns me. Not at all. In fact, I think that that particular
dichotomy will always be there. (Many of my friends among environmentalists
will never understand our interests.)

The disconnect that troubles me deeply is the one we have created for
ourselves.  The choice between conservation or birding is false. There
should, instead, be ways to unite the two, to develop an
environmentally attuned recreation.  This very issue was central to a lively
discussion among birder-conservationists at a special meeting in McAllen,
Texas, in February, a meeting attended by John Arvin, Ted Eubanks, Paul
Green, Kenn Kaufman, Madge Lindsay, Dick Payne, Fr. Tom Pincelli, Bill
Stott, Jim Williams, and others.  It was also very much a part of what was
discussed at a single panel at the Partners in Flight meeting in California
in March. Ted Eubanks organized the session on “Conservation Through
Birding,” a discussion which included the works of Eubanks and his
co-authors (Robert Ditton and John Stoll), John C. Robinson (on the presence
of African-Americans among birders), Ken Cordell (on those impressive
National Survey on Recreation and the Environment birding numbers), Lisa
Shanks (on an innovative birding trial experiment in northern California
connecting agricultural communities to birding interests), Madge Lindsay (on
the creative elements behind the World Birding Center in the Rio Grande
Valley), and myself (on birding growth and opportunities).

Some of this background is now clustered around a web site:
<www.conservation-throughbirding. org>. While we will never recapture the
early birder/hunter/angler movement, at least as the driving conservation
force, we should learn important lessons from it. Hunters and anglers
learned early on that they were inextricably linked to the resource.
(Crudely put, of course, they had to pay for it.)
Spokesmen for their activities, therefore, hammered away at the fact that
conservation underpinned their pastimes. We birders should consider making
the natural connection a vital part of what conclusions emerge— linking our
personal connection (birding) to the resource (birds) with the need to
preserve that resource.

Unfortunately, that isn’t happening.  Indeed, birders have often been told
the opposite—the unusual message that someone else, somewhere, somehow, will
take care of our interests.  If we continued our initial fairy tale, we
might say: A selective amnesia then spread over the land, causing the sons
and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters of the sweet ladies and fussy
bird-study men to forget that saving the birds linked them to the lure of
nature in the first place.

So if the disconnect persists today because we birders have forgotten, then
there is the possibility to remember. If there has been a separation between
our activity and the preservation of the resource, then there can be a
reuniting.  Pivotal to this reuniting task is a mantra illuminated at the
Conservation
Through Birding meeting in McAllen and then again at the panel at the PIF
meeting. It is a simple precept: we birders need to value what we enjoy and
conserve what we value.  Some of us think that the connection to the
resource is not merely a choice; it is closer to an imperative. In
addressing the re-connection, many future elements could have a role, as we
consider bringing accumulated and valued birding skills to the task—from
education and training of birders at all levels, to ingenious uses of
birding economics in securing a broader constituency for birds, to looking
at new ways of bringing people to birds (and nature) in the first place.

So how will the fairy tale end?  Perhaps in the next few decades we’ll
concentrate on ticking the last of the Roseate Terns, Golden-cheeked
Warblers, and Altamira Orioles in the ABA Area, worrying about the proper
rules to count them. Alternatively, perhaps we birders will be sufficiently
persuaded by our good enviro friends to give up our parochial interest in
bird ID, finding, and enjoyment, concentrating instead on confronting and
denouncing an environmental Armageddon. Neither scenario seems particularly
attractive.  Perhaps, however, we birders will come to insist on finding our
own way to enjoy and preserve those things which give us so much pleasure,
so much satisfaction. This would mean linking an engaged pastime to the
resource, growing the avocation while at the same time protecting the birds
for the long haul.  Indeed, there may be a happy ending to this fairy tale
after all.

—Paul J. Baicich

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<div class=3DSection1>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:63.0pt;color:black'>Birding =
friends:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:63.0pt;color:black'><![if =
!supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:63.0pt;color:black'>The following article is from the
current (June 2002) issue of Birding, published by the American Birding
Association, and authored by Paul Baicich.<span style=3D"mso-spacerun:
yes">&nbsp; </span>It is printed here with the author&#8217;s permission =
and encouragement.<span
style=3D"mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>In my opinion, it argues, very
persuasively, for something I have long believed and urged: that IBET =
and
BCNnet should merge.<span style=3D"mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; =
</span>After you
read this completely what is your opinion?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:63.0pt;color:black'><![if =
!supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:63.0pt;color:black'>Donald =
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:63.0pt;color:black'><![if =
!supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

Donald R. =
Dann<o:p></o:p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><span
class=3DEmailStyle17><font size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New =
Roman"><span
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"'><span
style=3D'mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>Highland Park/Lake County<span
style=3D"mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; =
</span></span></span></font></span><font
color=3Dblack><span =
style=3D'mso-bidi-font-size:63.0pt;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font>=
</p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:63.0pt;color:black'><![if =
!supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D5 color=3Dblack face=3DArial><span =
style=3D'font-size:16.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
63.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'><![if =
!supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D5 color=3Dblack face=3DArial><span =
style=3D'font-size:16.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
63.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>Birding Perspective - =
</span></font><font
size=3D5 color=3D"#575757" face=3DArial><span =
style=3D'font-size:16.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
36.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#575757'>Why the =
Disconnect</span></font><font
size=3D5 color=3Dblack face=3DArial><span =
style=3D'font-size:16.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
44.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:44.0pt;color:black'><![if =
!supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

Once upon a =
time, long
ago, in a place called &#8220;America,&#8221; and at a time called the =
&#8220;turn of the last
century,&#8221; wild birds and animals were persecuted throughout the =
land. Hunters
shot with abandon to the point where wagon-carts ached with the weight =
of birds
piled aboard. Women&#8217;s hats and clothing were adorned with the =
plumes of egrets
and other wild birds. The local markets were filled with the meat of =
many
animals&#8212;ducks, geese, shorebirds, and pigeons, among the birds =
alone.<o:p></o:p>

There was =
sadness over
the land. Soon the hunters (and the anglers, too) saw that the animals =
were
growing scarce. Ladies who loved the birds led a ban on bird plumes for =
their
elegant clothing. Privileged men who had studied the birds began to =
militate
against the slaughter.<o:p></o:p>

Eventually the
hunters, the anglers, the thoughtful ladies, and the men of bird-study =
held
hands, gathered friends, and stopped the dreadful waste. Laws protecting =
the
birds and setting aside sanctuaries were proclaimed throughout the land. =
The birds
and other animals rested and took refuge in places set aside for =
them.&nbsp; Local officials worked hard to =
bring
back wild creatures to field, stream, bay, and forest.&nbsp; And they all lived happily =
ever after.<o:p></o:p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><i><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;color:black;font-style:italic'><![if =
!supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>

Well, not really.&nbsp; This fairy tale&#8212;only =
slightly
sugar-coated for the uninitiated&#8212;ends about 1950. The real =
background story
covers the rise of North America&#8217;s bird protection movement, the =
passage of
basic wildlife laws, the connection to habitat sensitivity (especially =
in
response to the Dustbowl), the promulgation of a real system of refuges, =
the
continued intersection of citizens and scientists with conservation =
concerns,
the engagement of the states as well as the feds, and much, much =
more.<o:p></o:p>

Somewhere along the road, perhaps =
after Silent Spring, perhaps after the =
first
Earth Day, paths definitely diverged. A traditional conservationism =
became
displaced by a bolder, some-times confrontational environmentalism.&nbsp; In the interim, while the =
population at
large, thankfully, has become<o:p></o:p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>more sensitive to the =
environment, wild
places, and wild things, many real connections to the outdoors seem more
remote.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><![if =
!supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

For better or worse, the arrival =
of
environmentalism has marked, for many of us at least, a conservation =
apart from
birds. Indeed, the camp of the environmentalists can easily embrace =
other
issues (such as air quality), and may actually view birding as a trivial
pastime. Of course, those other concerns are important&#8212;be they =
toxic
discharges, water pollution, fossil fuel issues, or ocean =
reefs&#8212;but why this particular view of a =
frivolous
birding? Let me be so bold as to say that we birders helped advance this
perception.&nbsp; We have made =
it
possible to pursue a pastime apart from the resource. Many newcomers to =
our activities
have now learned that their birding can be appreciated quite apart from =
bird
conservation.&nbsp; Therefore, =
the
disconnect between birders and many environmentalists is not the one =
that
concerns me. Not at all. In fact, I think that that particular dichotomy =
will
always be there. (Many of my friends among environmentalists will never
understand our interests.)=
<o:p></o:p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><![if =
!supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

The disconnect that troubles me =
deeply
is the one we have created for ourselves.&nbsp;
The choice between conservation or birding is false. There =
should, instead,
be ways to unite the two, to develop an<o:p></o:p>

environmentally
attuned recreation.&nbsp; =
This very
issue was central to a lively discussion among birder-conservationists =
at a
special meeting in McAllen, Texas, in February, a meeting attended by =
John
Arvin, Ted Eubanks, Paul Green, Kenn Kaufman, Madge Lindsay, Dick Payne, =
Fr.
Tom Pincelli, Bill Stott, Jim Williams, and others.&nbsp; It was also very much a part of what was discussed at =
a
single panel at the Partners in Flight meeting in California in March. =
Ted
Eubanks organized the session on &#8220;Conservation Through =
Birding,&#8221; a discussion
which included the works of Eubanks and his co-authors (Robert Ditton =
and John
Stoll), John C. Robinson (on the presence of African-Americans among =
birders),
Ken Cordell (on those impressive National Survey on Recreation and the
Environment birding numbers), Lisa Shanks (on an innovative birding =
trial
experiment in northern California connecting agricultural communities to
birding interests), Madge Lindsay (on the creative elements behind the =
World
Birding Center in the Rio Grande Valley), and myself (on birding growth =
and
opportunities). <o:p></o:p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><![if =
!supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

Some of this background is now =
clustered
around a web site: &lt;www.conservation-throughbirding.
org&gt;.&nbsp; While =
we will
never recapture the early birder/hunter/angler movement, at least as the
driving conservation force, we should learn important lessons from it. =
Hunters
and anglers learned early on that they were inextricably linked to the
resource. (Crudely put, of course, they had to pay for =
it.)<o:p></o:p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>Spokesmen for their activities,
therefore, hammered away at the fact that conservation underpinned their
pastimes.<span style=3D"mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>We birders =
should
consider making the <i><span style=3D'font-style:italic'>natural =
connection </span></i>a
vital part of what conclusions emerge&#8212; linking our personal =
connection
(birding) to the resource (birds) with the need to preserve that =
resource.</span></font><font
color=3Dblack><span =
style=3D'mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;color:black;mso-color-alt:
windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><![if =
!supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>Unfortunately, that isn&#8217;t
happening.<span style=3D"mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Indeed, =
birders have
often been told the opposite&#8212;the unusual message that someone =
else, somewhere,
somehow, will take care of our interests.<span style=3D"mso-spacerun: =
yes">&nbsp;
</span>If we continued our initial fairy tale, we might say: <i><span
style=3D'font-style:italic'>A selective amnesia then spread over the =
land,
causing the sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters of the =
sweet
ladies and fussy bird-study men to forget that saving the birds linked =
them to
the lure of nature in the first place.</span></i></span></font><i><font
color=3Dblack><span =
style=3D'mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;color:black;mso-color-alt:
windowtext;font-style:italic'><o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><![if =
!supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>So if the disconnect persists =
today
because we birders have <i><span =
style=3D'font-style:italic'>forgotte</span></i>n,
then there is the possibility to <i><span =
style=3D'font-style:italic'>remember. </span></i>If
there has been a separation between our activity and the preservation of =
the
resource, then there can be a reuniting.<span style=3D"mso-spacerun: =
yes">&nbsp;
</span>Pivotal to this reuniting task is a mantra illuminated at the
Conservation</span></font><font color=3Dblack><span =
style=3D'mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt;color:black;mso-color-alt:windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p=
>

Through Birding meeting in =
McAllen and
then again at the panel at the PIF meeting. It is a simple precept: we =
birders
need to value what we enjoy and conserve what we value.&nbsp; Some of us think that the =
connection to
the resource is not merely a choice; it is closer to an imperative. In
addressing the re-connection, many future elements could have a role, as =
we
consider bringing accumulated and valued birding skills to the =
task&#8212;from education
and training of birders at all levels, to ingenious uses of birding =
economics
in securing a broader constituency for birds, to looking at new ways of
bringing people to birds (and nature) in the first =
place.<o:p></o:p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><![if =
!supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

So how will the fairy tale =
end?&nbsp; Perhaps in the next few =
decades we&#8217;ll
concentrate on ticking the last of the Roseate Terns, Golden-cheeked =
Warblers,
and Altamira Orioles in the ABA Area, worrying about the proper rules to =
count
them. Alternatively, perhaps we birders will be sufficiently persuaded =
by our
good enviro friends to give up our parochial interest in bird ID, =
finding, and
enjoyment, concentrating instead on confronting and denouncing an =
environmental
Armageddon. Neither scenario seems particularly attractive.&nbsp; Perhaps, however, we birders =
will come
to insist on finding our own way =
to
enjoy and preserve those =
things
which give us so much pleasure, so much satisfaction. This would mean =
linking
an engaged pastime to =
the
resource, growing the avocation while at the same time protecting the =
birds for
the long haul.&nbsp; Indeed, =
there may
be a happy ending to this fairy tale after all.=
<o:p></o:p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><![if =
!supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;color:black'>&#8212;Paul J. Baicich =
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New Roman"><span =
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;color:black'><![if =
!supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>

<p class=3DMsoNormal =
style=3D'mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none'><span
class=3DEmailStyle16><font size=3D4 color=3Dblack face=3D"Times New =
Roman"><span
style=3D'font-size:14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:13.5pt;mso-bidi-font-family:=
"Times New Roman"'><![if =
!supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></p>

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