They really HAVE Paved Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot

[sm4him]

it doesn't sound handicapped accessible and could create a safety concern. potential lawsuit. where would you expect everyone to park their cars? on the road? sounds like a traffic problem in the making. The ones I have been to, having the parking on the designated land. As, the land is designated. They cant park cars for the place on someone elses land they don't own it. The cars have to stay on the designated site (land). so im trying to understand where you are going with this walking thing...

Here, I will write it out in a convenient step by step list of instructions:
1) Park at the nearest existing parking lot or other parking area open to you. This might be 5 miles away.
2) Walk to the bird area. This might take an hour or a little more.
3) Shoot some photos of birds / enjoy your destination.
4) Walk back to your car
5) Go home.

Rarely does any government not own some sort of property within 5 miles of something else in pretty and populated regions. Or a local business owner who hopes to sell you some refreshments when you get back.
And if they don't? Boo hoo, walk 7 miles.


No, it's not.
But nature is ALSO not handicap accessible if you bulldoze nature to make it accessible to handicapped people, because it doesn't exist anymore.
So handicapped people aren't accessing it either way, and this is a silly excuse.

potential lawsuit.

Driving is significantly more dangerous than walking.

now you know that is dreaming and wont happen. They probably have a designated footage allotment allowed by government regulations on exactly where the parking lot has to be in proximity to the site just to avoid legal issues on handicapped accessibility and for emergency personnel.
what I am wondering, is if the o.p knows it could get worse than this. I seen one wildlife refuge, which not only made parking lots but also came up with opened and closed times of years and hours. His ability to travel on that land may (not definite but may) end up somewhat restricted.

Oh, believe me, I know. It not only COULD get worse than this, it will. This is just the tip of the iceberg, which is really why I'm upset about it. Heck, I'd be HAPPY to give 'em that one big field, if I thought that was the end of it.
Last year when the area was named as the first State Birding Park, most people were pretty happy about it. I expressed my concern then that this could be a very bad thing unless they largely left it alone. Well, they are not leaving it alone, clearly.
So really, my qualm is more about it ever having gotten this designation which may have been signing its own death warrant, in the first place.

 

[sm4him]

You'd be bawling your eyes out every day if you lived in Florida. All the places in my neighborhood have been turned into condos and houses. Here's a few samples of animals I recorded about 15 years ago with my old Sony DV video camera:

redhead6 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Red Head WP feeding babies1 d5 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

pileated1 d5 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Cedar Waxwings1 d10 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

yellow bellied sapsucker1 d23 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

None of these birds have been seen in my neighborhood for several years now. All the fields where I used to go snake hunting are gone. The trees are mostly gone. Colonies of feral cats have moved in. Some crazy lady the next street over dumps bags of cat food in her driveway. I've stopped feeding birds because all I get are cats and cat manure. I'm so fed up with what used to be my nice neighborhood that I bought another house 20 miles from here with an acre of ground and I'm in the process of moving. You should be thankful they haven't started building apartment complexes instead of just a parking lot.

Oh, it's here too. My childhood home is gone, just in the last few years and in its place is a "gated community." A whole "community" of houses/condos where my HOUSE used to be! Granted, we lived on about 15 acres.

But the particular IRONY of this situation is what kinda gets to me. It's one thing when they bulldoze nature and put a mall, or tear down a 100-year-old house and put up condos. Progress…as several said or alluded to, none of us want the old things to be gone, but we ALL use the paved streets and the garages, and visit the restaurants that those things were torn down for.

But in this instance, the state saw this beautiful refuge, which is one of the top places in the state in terms of the diversity of birds it attracts, and they said, "Wow, what a beautiful place. We should NAME IT as our first BIRDING STATE PARK." And then…we should immediately bulldoze over one of the biggest reasons that birds are attracted to this park.
When they START the process like that…well, you just know it's only gonna get worse from there.

 

[Gavjenks]

States don't have laws saying every square inch of public land must be handicapped accessible. What state has laws like that?

Where are the big caution-taped ramps going up to the top of the Flatirons in Boulder?
Where is the wheelchair elevator going to the bottom of the Grand Canyon?
Is the government obligated to parachute drop you onto George Washington's head on Mt. Rushmore if you want?

If they don't need to make things like that accessible (the first two of which are already "unfairly" accessible by non-handicapped), then they certainly don't NEED to do anything to make wilderness accessible.

 

[Gavjenks]

Sm4, maybe the plan is that people can take really up-close photos of whatever birds fly there needing to eat sunflower seeds for the winter and starve to death conveniently on the asphalt.

 

[bribrius]

You'd be bawling your eyes out every day if you lived in Florida. All the places in my neighborhood have been turned into condos and houses. Here's a few samples of animals I recorded about 15 years ago with my old Sony DV video camera:

redhead6 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Red Head WP feeding babies1 d5 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

pileated1 d5 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Cedar Waxwings1 d10 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

yellow bellied sapsucker1 d23 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

None of these birds have been seen in my neighborhood for several years now. All the fields where I used to go snake hunting are gone. The trees are mostly gone. Colonies of feral cats have moved in. Some crazy lady the next street over dumps bags of cat food in her driveway. I've stopped feeding birds because all I get are cats and cat manure. I'm so fed up with what used to be my nice neighborhood that I bought another house 20 miles from here with an acre of ground and I'm in the process of moving. You should be thankful they haven't started building apartment complexes instead of just a parking lot.

Oh, it's here too. My childhood home is gone, just in the last few years and in its place is a "gated community." A whole "community" of houses/condos where my HOUSE used to be! Granted, we lived on about 15 acres.

But the particular IRONY of this situation is what kinda gets to me. It's one thing when they bulldoze nature and put a mall, or tear down a 100-year-old house and put up condos. Progress…as several said or alluded to, none of us want the old things to be gone, but we ALL use the paved streets and the garages, and visit the restaurants that those things were torn down for.

But in this instance, the state saw this beautiful refuge, which is one of the top places in the state in terms of the diversity of birds it attracts, and they said, "Wow, what a beautiful place. We should NAME IT as our first BIRDING STATE PARK." And then…we should immediately bulldoze over one of the biggest reasons that birds are attracted to this park.
When they START the process like that…well, you just know it's only gonna get worse from there.

next is the cutting trees for walks and designated picnic areas. widening and extending roads to meet state safety guidelines. porta potties. 9-5 hours and a 5 dollar admittance fee. oh yah....
you'll see more people than wildlife.

 

[DarkShadow]

States don't have laws saying every square inch of public land must be handicapped accessible. What state has laws like that?

Where are the big caution-taped ramps going up to the top of the Flatirons in Boulder?
Where is the wheelchair elevator going to the bottom of the Grand Canyon?
Is the government obligated to parachute drop you onto George Washington's head on Mt. Rushmore if you want?

If they don't need to make things like that accessible (the first two of which are already "unfairly" accessible by non-handicapped), then they certainly don't NEED to do anything to make wilderness accessible.

The Grand canyon has a elevator,It's a Air Elevator, you jump in the air and down you go.

 

[bribrius]

States don't have laws saying every square inch of public land must be handicapped accessible. What state has laws like that?

Where are the big caution-taped ramps going up to the top of the Flatirons in Boulder?
Where is the wheelchair elevator going to the bottom of the Grand Canyon?
Is the government obligated to parachute drop you onto George Washington's head on Mt. Rushmore if you want?

If they don't need to make things like that accessible (the first two of which are already "unfairly" accessible by non-handicapped), then they certainly don't NEED to do anything to make wilderness accessible.

not every inch, no. But course it has to be accessible or made a effort to be accessible. Think about what you are saying. you want a hundred million people that pay taxes for this stuff to the government who CANT walk seven miles or climb two hundred feet to not have access to what they pay taxes for in the country they live in? And it isn't wilderness now. IT is a state park. If it was wilderness it wouldn't have to be accessible.

 

[DarkShadow]

Humans ruin everything, knock it down and build,build,build. Poor wildlife is running out of room to live,everything is turning to black top. Soon the animals will share the same side walks as we do and sitting at star bucks having coffee.I actually think I seen a deer just the other day having a bagel in Dunkin Donuts.

 

[bribrius]

States don't have laws saying every square inch of public land must be handicapped accessible. What state has laws like that?

Where are the big caution-taped ramps going up to the top of the Flatirons in Boulder?
Where is the wheelchair elevator going to the bottom of the Grand Canyon?
Is the government obligated to parachute drop you onto George Washington's head on Mt. Rushmore if you want?

If they don't need to make things like that accessible (the first two of which are already "unfairly" accessible by non-handicapped), then they certainly don't NEED to do anything to make wilderness accessible.

The Grand canyon has a elevator,It's a Air Elevator, you jump in the air and down you go.

Accessibility - Grand Canyon National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

Many of the facilities at Grand Canyon are historic and built before current accessibility standards were set.

 

[Gavjenks]

not every inch, no. But course it has to be accessible or made a effort to be accessible.

You're not understanding the basic principle here -- it is IMPOSSIBLE to make the birds accessible to handicapped people. Because the improvements you have to install to make that possible will drive the birds away.
So no, it shouldn't be made more accessible. To handicapped people OR to non-handicapped people, because doing so defeats the whole purpose and is really stupid.

you want a hundred million people that pay taxes for this stuff to the government

Birds don't require any tax dollars to thrive.
In fact, doing anything with tax dollars endangers the birds.
Thus, no. I don't want any handicapped OR non-handicapped people paying taxes for this stuff. I want them to leave it alone which is the healthiest option for wildlife.
Which conveniently solves your equality dilemma. Nobody pays anything = nobody has any expectations for a return on their investment.

 

[bribrius]

not every inch, no. But course it has to be accessible or made a effort to be accessible.

You're not understanding the basic principle here -- it is IMPOSSIBLE to make the birds accessible to handicapped people. Because the improvements you have to install to make that possible will drive the birds away.
So no, it shouldn't be made more accessible. To handicapped people OR to non-handicapped people, because doing so defeats the whole purpose and is really stupid.

you want a hundred million people that pay taxes for this stuff to the government

Doing nothing requires no tax dollars from handicapped or non-handicapped people.

sounds like you believe they shouldn't make it a park then, or a wild life refuge. Keep in mind, if they don't give it some status someone can come along and build condos or a minimall on it. wont change a thing. Doing nothing means it doesn't get preserved at all.

.....
And. why do you think this has anything to do with the birds? It doesn't matter if there is a single bird left there in five years. One of the wildlife parks here, "wildlife preserve" I haven't seen a single animal in it. What matters is if their are walks, picnic tables, accessibility, a bird park title for tourism, so jo bob and linda lu can go have a picnic with the opportunity they MIGHT be able to let little Leroy see a bird. And if little Leroy don't see a bird, that doesn't matter either because he had access and the opportunity so legal, legal, all is good. The actual birds don't matter.

 

[Gavjenks]

why do you think this has anything to do with the birds?

You really just asked, "Why does the first State Birding Park have anything to do with birds?"

Wow, okay. I'm gonna stop feeding you now.

 

[bribrius]

why do you think this has anything to do with the birds?

You really just asked, "Why does the first State Birding Park have anything to do with birds?"

Wow, okay. I'm gonna stop feeding you now.

im just trying to help you see it from a governmental system, realistic perspective .Realism. you seem to be a idealist. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing but I bet most of your viewpoints never actually transpire in reality. And im still wondering how many animals lived where you park your car.

 

[RunJZ]

It will probably be viewed odd but in all honesty Bribrius is right. We as humans suck. We suck the life out of everything.

I understand the frustration of the OP. I work in wildlife conservation and have dealt with this same issue time and time again. It blows to see habitat continually destroyed. Unfortunately there is no area in the US that isn't dealing with this problem. Until human growth and sprawl is considered second, then it will continue to happen. More and more. Even if it is "in the name of good birding" or "good stewardship".

 

[NancyMoranG]

The Eagles have a song with a line in it that sums it up, "call someplace paradise, kiss it goodby".
Yes, Sharon this is SO ironic that they are paving and defeating the purpose of the park! Utterly amazing.

i heard an old 'story'.... There was a need of a gate somewhere so they hired a gate keeper. Can't have an employee without a boss, hire a boss. Now you need a HR dept to handle employees, then a tax dept, etc.
now they decide this gate is costing too much money, SOOOO they fire the gate keeper. ;}
Nancy