Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 00:37:33 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Mike Milton Subject: Request for Klingle Road, DC bird sightings MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Opponents of re-opening the closed section of Klingle Road, off Rock Creek Park in DC, have asked DC Audubon to help by compiling a "list of birds recently observed, and the current spring migration visitors". This will be used in their presentation to the Mayor's environmental committee, at the earliest "sometime in mid-April". Here is what a member wrote to our newsletter editor: "Ten years ago this section of roadway was closed to traffic due to deterioration of the roadway caused by drainage failure. Fact is, the road should never have been converted from the private drive connecting Alexander Bell's estate to the Rock Creek Parkway to a modern roadway. The city is now faced with the threat that this finger of the Rock Creek Park, these ten years restored to nature, will reopen. I have seen the Great Blue Heron, the Pileated Woodpecker and many other wonderful birds returning to this greenspace. They will be gone if this roadway is reopened. The influx of federal road funds into the area, coupled with a move by some area residents who feel that reopening this roadway will relieve traffic on the roads in front of their homes, threatens this verdant swath beneath Connecticut Avenue, so clearly an important part of the watershed draining into the Rock Creek. Please take a walk down there and see for yourself what a difference keeping it green will make. For a better idea of the overall effort please check out klinglevalleypark@clevelandpark.com. " . DC Audubon agrees with this position, although one director believes that E-W traffic flow considerations support re-opening. Judy Schaefer and I have seen Pileated Woodpecker on all visits; Judy may have heard three different warbler songs last Sunday, a windy and not very birdy day. Wee have asked our members, especially those who live in the vicinity of Klingle Road, to go in there and check the birds out, and email their list to me, as support for the presentation to the Mayor's environmental committee. Observations of any Osprey subscribers would be much appreciated. This would be about 15 minutes of birding as urban respite. The directions are: " ... the best way to approach Klingle Road is from the West entrance - just below Woodley Road. It will be easy to park and then walk into the old roadway -- there are concrete barricades at the mouth of the road. As you face Klingle Road and the barriers, you will see a small stone bridge on your left. That is the exit from Washington International School and the old Tregaron estate which runs alongside the Klingle Valley. Coming from [the east] you can use Connecticut or Massachusetts. From Connecticut drive north to Woodley Road. Turn left. Drive 2 blocks to 29th St. Turn right.Drive one block to Cathedral. Turn left. Drive one block to Woodley Road, turn right. Drive one block to the stop sign at Klingle, turn right. And there you are. From Massachusetts, drive north to 34th street (opposite the Vice President's house at the Naval Observatory). Turn right on 34th. Drive about 6 blocks to Klingle Rd.(opposite the Cathedral playing fields). Turn right. Drive down Klingle Rd., past the intersection with Woodley, to the barriers -- about three blocks. On Metro, get off at Woodley Park Zoo. Walk up Woodley Road using the same directions as the drive from Connecticut above." Mike Milton Washington, DC mikemilton@attglobal.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================