[va-bird] Re: Willow Flycatcher in Loudoun County
- From: "scott clark" <sc8y@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 15:45:55 +0000
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2003 11:48:37 -0400
From: Michael Bowen <dhmbowen@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [va-bird] Willow Flycatcher in Loudoun County
[snip]
I remember when a lot of Loudoun County looked like
this, but the planners have apparently decreed that the county must be=
developed from end to end. Very sad.
I may be off topic, but will try to relate this to the issue of bird habi=
tats
in Virginia.
With respect to Michael, I have to rise to the defense of my profession.
First, planners don't have the power to "decree" anything. We are at most=
advisers to those who make the decisions, and our influence is strictly
circumscribed by the society and economy we live in. In urban development=
and especially in the era of "urban renewal," planners have sometimes giv=
en
in to the dominant paradigm in a way that now seems indefensible, but eve=
n
then they had no real power of their own.
Second, it's a very rare planner who would advocate the conversion of Lou=
doun
County's rural areas suburban residential uses. The planners in Loudoun
have been through a trying and very contentious rezoning that attempted
to keep most of their rural areas in 20- or 50-acre parcels, rather than
suburban lots. The process was apparently politically heated, even viciou=
s,
and the planners worked under great stress to stave off suburbanization,
despite the fact that any legal protection is under constant pressure for=
revocation. Some landowners, developers, business promoters, elected offi=
cials,
and (granted) some government employees might see landscape conversion as=
a positive indicator of economic vigor, but most planners (I hope) would
have a more complex understanding.
Finally, the impacts of suburbanization of rural areas are well beyond "v=
ery
sad." What we're seeing is the next of the great lurching shifts in the
history of our landscapes, from complexity and connectedness to simplicit=
y
and fragmentation. What I find sad is the human capacity to accept and ad=
apt
to that level of change, and to forget from generation to generation what=
we once had.
Again, Michael, I say all this with respect and mainly to react to a comm=
on
misperception. I would encourage birders to influence their local plannin=
g
processes to work against the fragmentation and loss of rural and natural=
landscapes. I apologize to anyone who feels I've strayed too far from the=
list topic.
scott
# Scott Clark * Charlottesville, VA, USA
# "The love of the irregular is a sign of the
# basic quest for freedom."-Soetsu Yanagi
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