To the editor;
Re: “Neighbours Despair Over Bose Forest Denizens,” www.cloverdalereporter.com, Sept. 26.
Like most cities, Surrey has failed to recognize the importance of what is wrongly called “scrub brush”. These areas are widely seen as “useless” areas waiting only for tax-producing, mostly-residential subdivisions.
Sadly, these “scrub” areas (which “we” produced through logging and clearing) are actually habitat for a range of wild species, including birds large and small, mammals large and small (from coyotes and deer, to coons and prey animals like voles and field mice).
Sadly, the strategy is to convert wild “scrub” areas into groomed parks that delight part-time, human visitors (aka voters). Aren’t we special? Aren’t we proud of our earlier “City of Parks” promise? Isn’t it fun to walk through a groomed park ... and see nothing but squirrels (most of them “non-native”)?
The heron in this photo is a symbol of all of the wild creatures displaced by thoughtless and pointless development.
He has nowhere to go, and neither do any of the wild animals that are evicted when the bulldozers show up.
David Hathaway