[va-bird] Re: Restoration project at Manassas Battlefield

Greetings all:
 
I don't always see the problem with taking out trees and/or restoring habitat 
to a state that it was in 160 years ago.  Half of Wisconsin, for example, was 
tall-grass prairie and oak savannah until early settlers arrived and started 
planting trees as well as plowing up the ground.  I'd personally like to see it 
restored to that state, but that's not going to happen, of course.  The point 
is, in the case of Manassas Battlefied, what's the difference?  It does not 
sound to me that habitat will be destroyed, but rather changed into a different 
type in this case.  Correct me if I am wrong.  It would be different if the 
habitat changed into a strip mall, since that's not a viable habitat for birds 
except for Feral Pigeons, English Sparrows, and Starlings.
 
Habitat changes all the time without the help of man, from just maturing 
naturally or from natural disasters such as fires and tornados to name two, and 
consequently so do the species that inhabit it.  It happens every day without 
our help.  Pileated Woodpeckers, for example, are returning to areas that they 
were "kicked-out" of decades ago because of logging simply because the habitat 
has matured enough to support them again.  I see it as a part of nature.  In 
the case of Manassas Battlefield, I don't see a problem with changing it back 
to the way it was in the 1860's.  Man had surely changed the landscape to what 
it was then from what it was before Europeans arrived in North America.  Sure, 
a few species might disappear from those specific areas, but others will 
replace them that were not there before, or that have not been there for 
decades because the habitat changed as it matured.  Yes, there are other 
issues, like disturbing nesting species, erosion, etc., but that's not what I
 am directly commenting on.  Sure, a major change to certain types of habitat 
might be happening, but I don't specifically see it as troubling.  I'd be 
troubled if it was going to be replaced by "the world's largest cement slab and 
waterpark."  THAT would trouble me greatly.
Kelpgull@xxxxxxx wrote:
Greetings to all,

I am not sure if Stuart's Hill is the area off Pageland and Groveton, 
but I was on this site this morning in Manassas (SR622, going north on Lee 
Highway, where Groveton is the left side and Featherbed Lane is the right).
The idea that the Park Service says that what they want is to bring the 
area to what it was during the Civil War is troubling, because what I saw at 
7am today indicated that major change is happening. Would not one expect that 
to leave the area natural, with possibly the secondary or tertiary growth 
since the 1860s, would be the solution? It had been quite quiet and supportive 
of 
the life within for the last years, since it was dezoned for a shopping 
center.

My list for today's visit:

Hay bales curled around drains as though someone expects runoff to be averted 
from some unnatural substance;

A Spill Kit Salvage Drum noted to be from 1 800 Hot Hogs

5 big Caterpillar land machines

1 bobcat digger and its trailer

1 Whitmans Oil Company tanker from Catlett, VA

One long trailer car, with no name on it, interestingly

Rolls and rolls of extra wide black plastic sheeting

2 Don't Johns (not sure this is the company they used during the Civil War!)

1 barbecue grill

Signs denoting the Environmental Quality Resources LLC of Gaithersburg

301 208 6123

1 large pile of trees removed from the first pond, which is rich in bird 
life, and now minus some very close sheltering trees

1 site of major digging near the cedar or juniper trees ( I don't know which) 
which I know to be the main Kestrel habitat in the area. This is located on 
the right, about 100 yards in from the entrance on Groveton.

Usually I visit this location to find birds on the list. Sorry to say the 
list was so scary.

As a taxpayer and a NPS pass holder, I feel that I am in need of further info 
on what is happening to this land. Any guidance on whom to contact would be 
truly appreciated.

To comfort myself this am, I went to Gravelly Point and Roaches Run, where 
two black crowned night herons were lazily swooping above water frothy with 
small mouth bass, too distracted with breeding to take live bait from the 
regular 
fishermen there.



Ellen





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Richard L. Smallwood-Roberts, Janesville, WI: M-Bander, Wilson Creek MAPS 
Station, SBBO Staff: www.wilsoncreekmaps.com 

"It seemed to me that, somehow, the Blue Jay was trying to communicate with me. 
I would see him fly into the house across the street, pick up the telephone, 
and dial. My phone would ring, and it would be him, but it was just this 
squawking and cheeping. "What?! What?!" I would yell back, but he never did 
speak English."






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