I contacted the Madison Parks Department and expressed my concern regarding the
work being done at the north end of the park and potential impact on bird and
wildlife habitat. I received a response from Paul Quinlan, Conservation
Resource Supervisor. I asked him if I could share this information with this
group as I know there are others who spend time in this park and may be
interested in what he had to say. In addition to his email below, he sent me a
couple documents that are mentioned in his response below. Iâm not certain
that attachments are allowed in posts to the list, so Iâve made them
available here for anyone interested:
https://drive.google.com/open?id J15YGVnYznr44bNMEeOrETN3HotvdoN
He also wanted me to let everyone know that he appreciatse eBird observations
as they plan to track species trends in relation to habitat changes.
Kris Perlberg
Stoughton, WI
Dane County
Here is the email:
Thank you for inquiring about the recent work at Edna Taylor. In addition to
the forestry mowing that was done in the NW corner of the park and west of the
main north-south trail, between the wetland and the pond, we hired a contractor
to remove non-native woody species from along the east-west trail in the
northern part of the park over the winter. The project specifications are
included in the attached document. As you will see, only non-native tree and
shrub species were selectively removed from this area by hand. Fast growing
native dogwoods and willows remain and will be allowed to spread through the
area in their place.
This work is done in accordance with our Land Management Plan, also attached,
which outlines the rationale and management goals for our Conservation Parks in
its last section. While one goal of our management at Edna Taylor is to restore
oak woodland, we also seek to provide a diverse native plant community with a
variety of seral stages in the remaining wetland and upland portions of the
park. This management is planned and implemented in context with the
surrounding landscape, which includes the Aldo Leopold Nature Center grounds,
Woodland Park in Monona, and even undeveloped land farther away to the
southeast. While the area along the trail and in the north end of the park has
suddenly become quite open, many areas remain with taller shrub cover and trees
close to water. The attached map delineates those areas within the red
squiggly lines.
We are confident that migrating birds still have enough habitat to successfully
use the park and surrounding lands, and are interested in knowing what species
are observed in all of these areas over the next 2-3 years. We will be tracking
data available through eBird <x-msg://4/ebird.org> to do so.
Please let me know if you have any other questions of concerns.
Thank you,
Paul Quinlan
Conservation Resource Supervisor
City of Madison, Parks Division
Office: 608-267-4918 <tel:608-267-4918>
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