Posted by Toe on January 01, 1970 at 00:00:00
We are losing birding spots at an alarming rate and nothing is being done. Just in the time that I've been birding (16+ years), here are the locations that we've lost, or at least have been degraded to the point where birding is no longer as productive: Kendall Drive Sparrow Spot Manfredi Marsh Dump Marsh (2 of 3 ponds, the remaining one will be lost soon) Virginia Key Wastewater Plant Lucky Hammock (fields no longer productive and access limited) Cutler Wetlands (overgrown and water levels suck) Flynn's (no longer productive) Mt. Trashmore (pond on west side gone) Matheson Hammock west side (now it's a dog park) What's happening at KIH doesn't surprise me. No one out there is looking out for the interests of birding, not even the biologists and land managers at the public agencies. If TAS doesn't do it, trust me, no one will. As someone that works for a very large environmental non-profit, I can tell you, birds and birding are the forgotten step child when decisions concerning our open areas are made. No where is this more evident that here in Dade County. Just as an example, in other counties in Florida birders can drive into their local landfill to see birds. That was the case when I did the Cocoa CBC and went to the landfill to count the gulls. Here in Dade, if you even stop outside the fence to look in you will get security guards coming to question you and even ask you to leave. In Palm Beach, Wakodahatchee and Green Cay were built to treat reused water AND provide access to nature enthusiasts. By contrast, most of the public land owned by the water management district in Dade is off limits to anyone. Just look at the fence down Aerojet Road. I fear that we will see more of this in the future.