Date: Tue, 28 May 2002 21:23:30 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Mike Milton Subject: Comments Wanted -Development of Kenilworth Park and Poplar Point Comments: cc: judy schaefer , patrick MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-2 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Development of Kenilworth Park and Poplar Point The National Park Service and the DC Office of Planning are currently making recommendations about how to revitalize and/or develop the entire Anacostia waterfront and the National Capital Parks-East. The NPS planning process has just begun, and DC?s is in the final stages. Many parts of the city?s plan will benefit the areas under discussion and the surrounding communities greatly, but two areas administratively part of Anacostia Park?Kenilworth Park and Poplar Point (which includes the "Anacostia wetlands") should concern birders. For Kenilworth Park, extensive development of soccer fields is favored by several strong interests. Their proposals include covering the entire area with individual playing fields, installation of lights for each, probably refreshment kiosks, and, of course, traffic. The people who live in Eastland Garden, the adjacent subdivision, are mostly against such development, and would like to keep the area basically as is, with use limited to walking, birding, and use of the existing playing fields. We should remind the planners that many bird species use this habitat and point out which breeding birds would be endangered by over-development. Poplar Point is a very birdy place. Access to the interior is restricted, but a walk around the fence lets you see and hear Willow Flycatcher, for example, a confirmed nester there. The city has marked the location for two "destinations" but has also promised to keep the wetlands in some form or other. We should ask them to keep the wetlands (both of them) as natural as possible, and we should propose keeping Poplar Point as a birding area, perhaps with a boardwalk and interpretive material. Future generations of Washingtonians will not thank us if we allow destruction of these two areas, so rich in birds, butterflies, and plants, so near the heart of the city. Please send your comments to both: or through the discussion forums at www.anacostiawaterfront.net For bird and habitat facts refer to http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/Infocenter/Nps/keacmeadow.htm and http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/Infocenter/Nps/anacintro.htm , and to the printed "Checklist of the Birds of National Capital Parks -East", listing additional species such as Grasshopper Sparrow. Judy Schaefer - DC Audubon 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 ======================================================================= =========================================================================