Greetings... I thought that you might like to see an aerial photo of the 
Fernald site that gives an idea of the general "spread" of habitat in the 
area. Some of the recent wetland creation projects are not visible on this 
photo. There is currently a small wetland complex about where the words 
"Butler County" appear on the photo. There are some other wetland sites 
inside the actual former plant grounds, as well.

The attached photo shows the Butler/Hamilton County line, as well as the 
70-acre pine plantation in the northeast corner of the site. This plantation 
was planted in the mid-1960s as part of Lady Bird Johnson's "Beautify 
America" program. As part of the reclamation project, they thinned the 
plantation, removed nonnative plants, and planted native plants. This 
particular area had 6-10 red-breasted nuthatches, according to the people 
who visited on Saturday. The squiggly, brown line on the left or west side 
of the site is Paddy's Run, an interesting riparian corridor that forms 
Fernald's western buffer zone.

Fernald is just northeast of Miami-Whitewater's Shaker Trace Wetlands, and 
just west of the Great Miami River. So it's right between the Great Miami 
and Whitewater River valleys.

There is some controversy about the site possibly being turned over to the 
public as a natural area once the nuclear waste removal and cleanup project 
is completed in 2006. I really don't know what to say about all that. In any 
case, it's a 1,000-odd acre piece of real estate and it's fairly close to 
all of us on this listserve. There are no plans for recreational 
development--the intention is to keep it all in a natural or "wild" state.

Take care,
---Mike Busam
West Chester, OH