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Posted by Jeff Weber on 15:10:46 07/30/08
In Reply to: AD Barnes Meeting? posted by Angel & Mariel
I sent the following message to Diana Cornely, of M-D Parks & Recreation, when the invitation to attend the meeting was first sent out. Never got a reply:
Dear Diana:
The e-mail from you, below, was posted on the Tropical Audubon Society website (www.tropicalaudubon.org).
While I can t attend the July 29 meeting, I would like to make a couple of points about A. D. Barnes Park. With its canopy of native vegetation in the midst of a largely unforested urban area, A. D. Barnes is an extremely important place for migrating birds to rest and replenish their food supplies. This is borne out each spring and fall, as many rare and endangered bird species are observed in the park by members of Tropical Audubon and other birders (we guide birding field trips at A. D. Barnes each year, particularly during migration). Another significant thing we have seen is that feral cats in the park are killing many of these birds, especially the ones that are ground feeders, such as Ovenbirds and Swainson s Thrushes. If you want to improve the park, making it more useful to both people and native wildlife, I strongly encourage Miami-Dade County to undertake a program of permanently removing these cats from the park.
Another endangered native animal found at A. D. Barnes is the Eastern Spotted Skunk, which could soon be extirpated from south Florida, as its populations are shrinking rapidly as its habitat is lost to development. The cats at A. S. Barnes also pose a strong threat to young Spotted Skunks that reside in the park.
A second thought about A. D. Barnes (my opinion, anyway) is that more areas should be preserved for wildlife sanctuary. The extensive ball fields and picnic grounds that already exist at A. D. Barnes are enough for local use. I strongly encourage M-D Parks & Recreation to maintain a reasonable balance between recreational and natural areas at Barnes, and at all of the parklands in the county.
Thanks for hearing me out.
Jeff Weber
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