It’s been quite a year, this 2004, and for our feathered, finned and furry friends, things have been tough. Our hard-won wild habitat is under siege and the spectacular wild animals who live out there and all around us, our “smile food,” are in danger.

Few things lift our spirits like the sight of a pair of young deer fawns trailing along behind their mother. The small black bear cubs, if one is fortunate enough to catch a glimpse, are sure to please, but are becoming rarer each season.

The ocean dunes were, until recently, homes to fair numbers of grouse and quail, uncountable numbers of little brown birds, sanderlings and the base food stock of owls and hawks, field mice.

The reduction of grass and plant cover from industrial grade mowing has been widely covered here, and is one of the prime culprits of wild habitat loss, followed closely by the county’s complete lack of concern for those wild animals that have lived in these same dunes for thousands of years.

The good news is that the influx of new people to the coast, as reflected in the real estate boom of last summer, brings along a heightened sense of habitat preservation and conservation of existing wildlife populations. Bird feeders, squirrel boxes, bat houses, no trespassing signs, no fishing signs, no hunting signs, trees and wildlife food and cover, all being planted here, are all good signs that wildlife have not been forsaken.

It really doesn’t take a lot to help our wildlife friends, but we should realize that if we allow their homes and habitat to be flattened, they will be gone and gone forever. It is entirely possible that elk, bear, deer, hawks and owls could never again be seen here on the coast if the land and habitat isn’t secured against the “take.”

I can’t imagine a walk through the dune grasses without looking up and seeing a marsh hawk, or a peregrine falcon, or pheasant tracks in the sand dunes. Those smiles are like money in the bank!

Imagine if the fragile little deer were never to return to your grassy yard, or the dunes were reduced to a strip of condos 20 miles long!

I love seeing baby deer and elk, songbirds and seabirds, and I am saddened by senseless roadkill, but it is becoming increasingly clear now that if you love this place you must defend her. No one else will.

It’s Christmas already and we earth lovers have a long way to go. The animals who call this magnificent coast their home can do nothing to protect themselves. Perhaps the very best Christmas gift we could ever bestow on our “other” family is the gift of life.

Merry Christmas to all of you and may you have a wonderful wildlife-filled holiday season!

Check out our new weekly nature movie at (http://home.earthlink.net/ ~wildnature1/sitebuildercontent/ sitebuilderfiles/current.mov).

Craig Sparks is director of NAWA, a filmmaker, freelance writer and wildlife rehabilitator.

Found injured wildlife? Questions? Call the Wildlife Center at (503) 338-3954 or send an e-mail to wildnature@earthlink.net.