Don't Let our Herons Suffer the Same Fate as our Bald Eagles
We are heartbroken by the unnecessary destruction of a beloved eagle’s nest in Rochester by a developer. This nest, located on the old Meadow Lake Golf Course, has been inhabited year-round by a pair of bald eagles for at least a dozen years. Neighbors observed eagles in the nest just the day before it was destroyed.
If you haven’t heard about it, you can watch the KTTC news story here, and the KIMT news story here.
Most likely the developer – after seeing our tireless, multifaceted, community-based fight to protect our great blue heron rookery from development – wanted to destroy this beloved eagle’s nest as quickly and quietly as possible, before anyone in the community could object, and most importantly, before the eagles started laying eggs - which can happen as early as January, after which removing the nest would be illegal.
This is exactly what the developer tried to do to the 40 to 50 great blue heron nests in our rookery. We very narrowly missed this fate.
If a few neighbors had not had the good fortune to discover, by happenstance, that the rookery trees were scheduled to be felled by the developer’s contractors the next day, and then heroically rushed to court to get an injunction to block the chainsaws and bulldozers, there would be no rookery left to save.
That happened almost exactly one year ago. . .And since then over a thousand community members have taken action - again and again - to protect them. THANK YOU ALL!
Happily today the rookery trees and heron nests are intact, but that is only because hundreds of citizens took action -- again and again -- to protect them.
And our fight continues.
The good news is that it’s finally moving from the staunchly pro-development County and Township boards (where we can’t win), to the courts (where we can).
We have three strong cases pending:
1. We are appealing Rochester Township’s approval of International Properties LLC’s General Development Plan (GDP) in Olmsted District Court. The GDP approval process was flawed in several very significant ways. It was not difficult for our attorney to build a very strong case.
2. We are appealing Rochester Township’s decision not to order an Environmental Impact Statement following the EAW at the Minnesota Court of Appeals. We argue that the Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) accepted by the Township was both incomplete and inaccurate, and we argue that the potential environmental impacts of development on this wildlife and natural treasure clearly warrant further investigation. The case is strong, International Properties should be worried.
3. The Olmsted District Court has accepted our lawsuit seeking to protect the rookery and upland forest under Minnesota Environmental Rights Act (MERA). Under MERA, citizens may bring suits for civil remedies where activities are interfering with their enjoyment of natural resources, including nesting sites, or where they have a sufficient interest in protecting land, water, air, wildlife, ecosystems or any natural resource.
If we win any one of these three lawsuits, the obstacles to development will become exponentially higher. We hope this will encourage the landowner to sell us the land at a fair price to hold until it can become a protected Scientific and Natural Area for the state of Minnesota.
How can you help?
Contribute!
We need to raise money pay our top-notch attorneys and to buy the land.
All contributions are tax deductible, and very much needed and appreciated.
EAGLE PHOTO COURTESY OF STANDLEY LAKE REGIONAL PARK/ HERON PHOTO BY JOHN RUST