Here's how Fountain Hills celebrated
Earth Day. Moving earth.
The palm trees went down first. Transplanting? Not "economically feasible." This coming from a town that spends thousands on art... Wonder if the contractor even asked anyone if they wanted them (if so, never mind then).
I try not to get political here since everyone has a different opinion, and I don't want to alienate anyone, but every once in awhile I need to vent a little (I don't seem to be the only one). In the name of beautification, Fountain Hills has decided to spend 1.2 million dollars to
upgrade a median on the main thoroughfare in town (for the 1st time since its installation in the 1970s, when the town was founded). No biggie, except that the project required the removal of over 30 trees (out of 45) - right in the middle of nesting season - some simply because they block the view of the fountain (19 of those). Hrmph.
Going down:
Not only could birds be nesting in the branches, but there are some birds and other animals that could be using the trunk as a place to nest too - so you wouldn't see them until you took the tree down and chopped it up (
examples). There is a federal law that prohibits "taking" nests & eggs of migratory birds without a permit (via U.S. Fish & Wildlife). The list of migratory birds is
immense (1,026 species). If there were any raptors, like owls, and other specific bird species hiding out in any of those trees, I think the
AZ Game & Fish Department would have also come into play (it did in
Chandler). Occupied nests mean babies - adult birds don't use nests. Of course, the question is did the contractors doing the cutting
see any nests? Will they in the remaining trees? The answer is yes, they found one Wednesday. Does it change anything? Not really.
A regional park ranger, Fountain Hills resident, and many-animal-causes volunteer was immediately on this when she saw the construction fencing go up and asked them to contact her if anyone saw a nest - she'd take it and bring it to
Liberty Wildlife (where we both volunteer - and you can too). She and someone from the Town of Fountain Hills were on-site before the chopping began, looking themselves. You couldn't have had somebody better on it, but it would have been hard to see anything in some of the trees that came down (like the palms) or those about to. Until they came down...
 |
| This should be transplanted. |
I wasn't living here when this
plan was debated on and voted for (about 2 years ago - one person did
vote against all this, if it's any consolation), but there were quite a few people who seem taken by surprise by it all. I'm not sure why - there were
public meetings, and the Fountain Hills Times has done
several stories on it. The plan has been been posted online and available to the public for two years. Any long-timers who are upset by this need to pay more attention. But like most projects, when something is complex, we don't know its impact on everything until the individual steps start getting implemented. Median upgrade - shrug. Tree removals in prime nesting season - wait! And what sounds nice, replace 30 trees with 60, doesn't look so good when those 30 trees actually come down.
The final plan, end date Oct/Nov, involves more trees to be planted (60), so in the long run, this will just be a blip, and many birds will be born another day in new canopies as if nothing happened. I'm not really against the project (some of the improvements, like irrigation and the replacement of long-gone trees, were necessary), but I do question the timing. And I have to wonder if some of the comments that were said on social media in the past few days would have been said in a town meeting. There was a lot of unhelpful, immature, and even bullying banter going on, but through the noise some people rallied and took some meaningful action. Kudos to them.
We've got your back, little guys!
nicely written - thank you!!! Yes, we all need to do a better job of paying attention. I think many more people will be going on the scavenger hunt to stay informed
ReplyDeleteTHanks. I suppose we'll just have to have faith. I'm trying, but it's still depressing to watch the process.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ken.....you made some really good points.....wish you'd been around the fall of 2012 when there were a number of citizens coming to the meetings, joining me in contesting the plan. While many arguments were made opposing the plan, no one brought up the nesting issue or even boxing the smaller trees. I always felt that once the trees starting coming down many people would have no idea how it came about....and be upset about it. The medians needed a facelift....yes....but I sure wish it could have been designed working around some of the elements that gave it character. It will take years to bring shade back to the medians.....guess we'll have to depend on the shade structures. In some states you have to get a permit to cut down a tree....interesting. When I came out of Town Hall after a meeting last night there was a man taking pictures....he said he couldn't believe they were cutting the trees down. We have large pictures of the Avenue decked out in holiday splendor from December 2012 that were put on display at one of the meetings where residents spoke in opposition to the plan....I think we'll hang on to them....maybe they could live in the museum one day!
ReplyDeleteThanks again for your input....did you vote in the Times online poll this week? The question asked if the trees should have been kept on the Avenue....so far it's about 2 to 1 that more trees should have been saved.
We lived in Fountain Hills for 16 years before taking off for the Caribbean for 7 years, where we were when the plans for this took shape. It's hard to think of every contingency, so I guess it's not surprising some things got lost in the shuffle. I didn't take the FH Times poll because I felt it was asking a question in a vacuum. Of course, no one wants trees to come down, but when I read the plan, I could understand why it made sense on a # of them. I definitely would have questioned the ones being dropped because of blocking the fountain - that was dumb. So was the timing. I'm going to try to have faith that the new trees and features will add something that someone thought was missing. Sometimes it's hard to envision the end product, but I'll hold my full judgement until I see it all done. I do think the Town needs to do a better job getting word out online, and acknowledge that there are a lot of part timers and newbies that wouldn't mind being in the loop, too. A lot of lessons to learn here - let's hope someone was paying attention. Thanks for reading and commenting, Renee
ReplyDeleteCompletely understand and agree! I drove up the Avenue yesterday at 9 am, when the work had first started. And I drove down it tonight after work. It's heartbreaking!
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right about the poll, and I actually made that comment to the Times. I wish it had been worded better, to taken into account the sick trees. I also asked them whether they would consider another/follow-up poll about better communications. Yes, I understand the Council stayed within the "letter of the law" (although I believe they used it to their advantage) - but I wish they had better embraced the "spirit of the law" in regards to making sure it was communicated clearly to the town, that this was no longer a proposal, but an actuality. I only hope this has truly awakened people to the fact that we need to be more vigilant, and that it won't "blow over in a week"
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
ReplyDelete