Doug Von Gausig wrote:
>
> At 09:19 PM 9/11/2002, you wrote:
> >For those who are interested, here's Dry Pond Swamp May 10, 1998:
> ><http://frog_recordist.home.mindspring.com/naturerecordists/5_10_98-3005.jpg>http://frog_recordist.home.mindspring.com/naturerecordists/5_10_98-3005.jpg
> >
> >Sorry for the quality of the photo, I had just seconds, mamma duck was
> >leaving fast.
>
> It strikes me that we, who have a feeling for such a habitat, see that
> photo we are seeing a completely different thing and feeling completely
> different feelings than those people who just see a "mosquito-ridden swamp"
> and can't wait to "reclaim" it for higher uses. Somehow we need to educate
> people that such habitats are rich repositories of diversity and worthy of
> conservation. Unfortunately, with West Nile Virus hitting the news every
> day, I doubt they'll be listening...
As promised a photo from the same location as the first one taken this
afternoon:
http://frog_recordist.home.mindspring.com/naturerecordists/Rape-1_9_12_02.jpg
It's also in html form with both pics here, the start of a new section
for my website once I move it there:
http://frog_recordist.home.mindspring.com/naturerecordists/dry_pond_swamp.html
It was the biggest realtor locally who ordered it. He just called the
folks doing the work and asked them to clean it up. His parents still
own the land, they are straight behind my house, through the woods and
across the creek. I've handed it off to the Army Corps of Engineers and
they did promise to fix it. I'm not holding my breath. I did give them a
outline of what to do and my estimate as to how long it would take to
recover. And told them if they moved on it so that it fills with water
normally this winter that a few individuals of 3 or 4 of the species
would probably use it next spring.
Walt
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>From Tue Mar 8 18:22:43 2005
Message: 1
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 13:11:57 -0400
From: Walter Knapp <>
Subject: Re: The rape of Dry Pond Swamp
Doug Von Gausig wrote:
>
> At 09:19 PM 9/11/2002, you wrote:
> >For those who are interested, here's Dry Pond Swamp May 10, 1998:
> ><http://frog_recordist.home.mindspring.com/naturerecordists/5_10_98-3005.jpg>http://frog_recordist.home.mindspring.com/naturerecordists/5_10_98-3005.jpg
> >
> >Sorry for the quality of the photo, I had just seconds, mamma duck was
> >leaving fast.
>
> It strikes me that we, who have a feeling for such a habitat, see that
> photo we are seeing a completely different thing and feeling completely
> different feelings than those people who just see a "mosquito-ridden swamp"
> and can't wait to "reclaim" it for higher uses. Somehow we need to educate
> people that such habitats are rich repositories of diversity and worthy of
> conservation. Unfortunately, with West Nile Virus hitting the news every
> day, I doubt they'll be listening...
Well, the way I put it is this:
That was the base support for at least 50,000 frogs of ten species.
Those frogs eat several million bugs a year. And then there are all the
birds. And the swamp hardly ever had a mosquito larva visible. Most of
the mosquitos we have locally actually breed in the stream itself, or
it's wet margin. Or in containers around houses.
It's like a couple of people who have written me complaining and wanting
to know how to get rid of the frog noise. I have a simple reply to that,
move to the city and leave the country to those that do appreciate it.
I'm pretty well certain this is a yuppie cleaning up his patch of
nature. I'll know better later this afternoon, I'm off to search county
records to come up with a name at the request of the feds. And to
document the damage with photos. I'll post at least one of those. I'm
thinking about adding a section to my website on this subject.
Walt
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