OK, so we all know where good intentions lead. I'm beginning to think it's because the intenders haven't got a clue what it means to act. That said, in the interest of Mother Nature, stupidity has to be called out.
Now, the reporter for the Brunswick News may have got it wrong, but Donna Stillinger tells us that the trimming and clearing of vegetation along coastal Georgia’s Jekyll Island Causeway through the marshes of Glynn "maximizes the natural and aesthetic value of an artificial landscape." There's even a "management plan," so it must be good. Never mind that "management" seems to be the new euphemism for "control" and that really means "destroy."
“Periodic disturbance, due to fire, high winds or flooding, is increasingly recognized by natural resource managers as essential to maintaining ecological diversity,” Carswell said…."The rotational clearing called for in this plan is intended to mimic that periodic natural disturbance and recovery cycle.”
Clik here to view.
How the terrapin are to be "helped" by chopping the shrubbery three feet above ground is a puzzlement. Perhaps the work crews didn't understand that everything, but the be-ribboned branches, wasn't to be razed.
“The trimming will be done entirely with hand-operated tools and will be a cross-departmental effort with the invasive plant-control to be supported by JIA Conservation staff,” Carswell said.
Well, the chain saws may well have been hand-held, but there is no evidence of care having been taken here:
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
If James Holland's emphasis on legality seems excessive, keep in mind that the JIA is claiming the full panoply of regulatory agencies has been complicit with this fiasco.
"The JIA continues to work closely with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Georgia Environmental Protection Department, Georgia Coastal Resources Division, as well as the Georgia Department of Transportation and Glynn County Community Development to ensure all appropriate permits are obtained and regulatory requirements are strictly adhered to.”
AS Robert Burns, the poet wrote:
The best-laid schemes o' mice an 'men
Gang aft agley,
An'lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
Perhaps the self-designated spokesperson for conservationists spoke too soon.
Alice Keyes of the One Hundred Miles environmental group, in attendance at the authority’s January board meeting, applauded the conservation plan.
“It is especially important to maintain mature wax myrtles and other native berry-bearing trees to provide an important food source for the amazing tree swallows that move through our region, and to ensure plants are trimmed responsibly, allowing the continued filtration of pollutants and root-structure for stability near the marsh,” she said.
Clik here to view.
Ms. Keyes is right about the tree swallows, but Ben Carswell thinking about "tall grasses and small, patchy shrubs" in an "artificial landscape" doesn't seem to have a clue.