His (developing) Eye is on the Sparrow
June 21st, 2007 by Eric
I live in a village with roughly 2,800 of my fellow citizens, and I have done so for all but a few years of my life. The houses are moderately sized and spaced apart. We all have “Baby Bear”-sized yards and there hasn’t been a lack of trees since I can remember. There have always been thick woods on three sides of our community (a river on the fourth), and there is a lot of wildlife. We usually don’t see it; it’s always been well hidden, given the ample habitat surrounding the village.
But in the past month there have been three different sightings of foxes and even a couple of deer that were walking in the middle of the biggest street in broad daylight. A lot of people that I’ve talked to about it can’t understand the strange behavior of these animals, but I have a theory. I don’t think it would take much for me to prove this theory.
When I moved back from Florida after a four-year absence, four new developments had popped up outside of the village. The “dirt trails” we blazed through the woods as kids are now the back yards of mid to upper income homes. The places that these animals lived are now inhabited by a different breed, Homo sapiens. It’s called “urban sprawl.”
This morning when I picked up the Buffalo News, I was pleased to see that a housing development project in a neighboring town has been stopped due to the recent discovery of Henslow’s sparrows, a threatened bird species. (I was even more pleased to see it on the front page.) Here’s what the News had to say:
Homes now stand on uncontested parts of the property, but preservationists are blocking a new wave of construction of at least 25 homes with an estimated worth of $6 million.
Seven years after their discovery, the Henslow’s sparrows remain, making it virtually impossible for the property owner to build on approximately 123 acres that the Department of Environmental Conservation considers the songbirds’ domain.
Bravo, and well-spotted, DEC. Stopping urban sprawl is no easy task. The American Association of Architects (pdf) and the Sierra Club are two groups with active efforts to slow this phenomenon. For too long we have destroyed the habitat or food chain of wild animals and claimed over-population when they come into our yards. It’s time we showed a little responsibility and restraint.
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