OHIO-BIRDS Archives

October 2007

OHIO-BIRDS@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 8 Oct 2007 14:55:05 -0400
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (63 lines)
        Thanks to the one person who responded with information about the
transformation of the Lorain impoundment. It would be a shame if places
like this can just wink out without a peep from us. But if nobody else
has anything further to offer about this issue, I'll shut up and we can
just stay home and watch our feeders.
        The most paranoid interpretation of the recent bulldozing I've heard is
that they're building scenic duck ponds for a ritzy lakeside residential
area, or--Lorain residents are used to this one--a casino. All the soil
out there is dredged from Ohio's most polluted stream, the Black River,
and it's hard to see how anyone would want to live there. The most
likely explanation is to be found at the US Army Corps of Engineer's
site, at
http://www.lrb.usace.army.mil/Newsroom/news_releases/docs/2007/Lorain%20Berm%20Raising_26.pdf
and more completely at the USEPA site, at
http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-IMPACT/2007/March/Day-06/i1007.htm  ,
but it's still a bit odd.
        The local Audubon chapter is watching this closely, as the Lorain
impoundment is a designated Important Bird Area. They have asked that
observers send them lists of bird species and numbers seen there in the
past, and in times to come: send to Harriet Alger at
[log in to unmask]  .
        Many of us have birded at dredge spoil impoundments along the Lake Erie
shoreline since the '60s when their construction began. Much more
importantly, many birds have found feeding and roosting areas in these
pockets of relatively wild habitat along the evermore crowded shore. If
you have ever spent time birding at several Toledo sites, including
Bayshore, or Huron, or Lorain, or Cleveland (Gordon Park/Dike 14),
Fairport Harbor, Ashtabula, or Conneaut, you will recognize the
importance of these and similar facilities to birds. The Corps' Web site
has lots of fascinating educational pages on these sites. Check out
http://www.usaceiscconf.org/PDF/presentations/June27/SAME6.27.07Cadillac/ISC_DetroitWorking.pdf
for what seems to be a draft Powerpoint presentation for engineers: here
you can see aerial photos of various Ohio sites, where Dike 14 is
described as having been "turned over to the City of Cleveland," and
"Now a Popular Bird Watching Sanctuary"----well, maybe----and that the
"Future Planned Use" of the Lorain impoundment is as a "City of Lorain
Park and Entertainment Complex." Hmm.  There is an excellent tutorial on
these impoundments (called CDFs, or Contained Disposal Facilities), but
regrettably I cannot refind it on this huge site; be aware that visiting
certain sections of this military site may identify your e-mail address
to the government: this has happened to me.
        Anyway, we've developed the whole lakefront--even the areas we call
refuges and wildlife areas--for human uses, and paradoxically (with a
few exceptions) the basins we constructed to impound our pollution have
become the wildest bird habitats along the shore. The pressures to
convert them to human uses, or to allow them to rest in the interim as
monocultures of introduced weeds, are enormous. As usual, we birders may
have to take our last stand in sewage ponds, dredge spoil impoundments,
abandoned quarries, and strip mines, so keep your boots on.
Bill Whan
Columbus


______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]

ATOM RSS1 RSS2