In this article from today’s Bee, we see the oft noted effects of allowing the balance between animal and human use of parks and open space to become awry; and the dilemma created.
The natural settings of parks and open space, and human use of them, will continue to struggle for congruence, not only in Davis, but also in our Parkway.
A wise and early influential member of the city planning and landscape architecture professions in the United States, John Nolen, (who also drafted plans for Sacramento and the Parkway in a still extant 1915 map) wrote about the congruent development of parks in his seminal work, New Towns for Old (1927):
“The keynote in the development of the park should be dignity and simplicity, doing away with large formal areas of elaborate construction, but at the same time having the park full of charm and appeal. Specimen trees and collections of uncommon trees and shrubs, labeled for those unfamiliar with them, would be of educational value and general interest…
“A park should be made for use, and the measure of its success can be gauged by the number of people it serves. Recreation should be thought of in its broadest sense, and facilities provided for the entertainment and enjoyment of young and old, men, women and children.” (p. 39 & 41)
Here is an excerpt from the Bee article:
Nesting herons and egrets endanger a rare oak grove
UC Davis officials face a puzzler as guano from protected birds boosts soil acidity - and drives off visitors.
By Edie Lau -- Bee Science Writer Published 2:15 am PDT Sunday, May 7, 2006
Birds and trees usually go together like fish and water, but in this environmental conflict with a twist, night-herons and egrets might be killing a prized oak grove in Davis.
The grove, formally known as Shields Oak Grove, is at the secluded west end of the University of California, Davis, arboretum. It contains 89 kinds of oaks collected from around the world since the 1960s.
Now filled with mature trees, the grove has become a magnet for leggy wading birds. The birds are nesting and roosting in such abundance that their droppings are turning the soil salty and acidic, possibly threatening the health of the trees.
Last summer, 2,400 adult birds took up quarters in the four-acre grove, producing more than 850 chicks, campus biologists estimate.
By season's end, the ground beneath the trees was white with guano, its musty odor, sharp with ammonia, almost intolerable to the human nose.
A nearby gazebo used for weddings had to be closed to public use.
"It's called 'White Flower Garden,' " said Kathleen Sokolofsky, the arboretum director. "Well, it was a little too white last year to do any weddings!"
As is their habit, the night-herons and egrets migrated to other roosts in the winter. With the return of spring, they are coming back.
Amanda Castaneda, a research assistant at the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, counted 35 nests in mid-April, 60 at the end of the month.
Guano is beginning to coat tree leaves, the breeze wafting a pungent scent.
The case of birds vs. oaks poses quite a dilemma for the arboretum.
