Jenna Didier: Our rookery is threatened with imminent destruction
Our great blue heron rookery is threatened with imminent destruction. Can we save it?
Post Bulletin opinion column by Jenna Didier
March 19, 2022 08:30 AM
I've helped lead Save the Rookery for the past 14 months. Here is an update for those wishing to know where things stand now, as the news has circulated that many of the great blue heron nesting trees have been destroyed.
Although the landowner has still not sold the land or received final permits, in the past week he cut down ONLY the trees on his land with tape around their trunks indicating that they held heron nests, just days before the return of the herons. A January survey documented as many as 26 nests were present on his land.
Surveyors and consultants were there again recently. We believe the landowner plans to mill the downed trees and cause a ruckus just as the herons are returning — timed perfectly to scare off the herons from the remaining 25 nesting trees intact on adjacent protected land.
For decades, the birds have returned to this rookery. Its size (approximately 60 nests) is significant and well worth protecting! Nationally-recognized migratory bird expert Carroll Henderson says that there is enough of the rookery left to meet the birds’ needs — that they will build new nests to make up for the lost ones.
The landowner, Steve Connelly, is an elected supervisor and vice-chairman of the Olmsted Soil and Water Conservation District representing Rochester and Cascade townships. The mission of this local government agency is to promote more sustainable resource utilization and protection of natural resources in Olmsted County.
Meanwhile, we continue to lose natural resources in Olmsted, struggle to restore our polluted streams and facilitate unsustainable urban expansion. How can we make progress if those in power do not lead by example? At this rate, the bulldozers will roll up soon. Let’s not allow it! We should have a say in the way our city and county evolve.
Save the Rookery is a movement of thousands from across the country that is diverse in age and race. For example, the Youth Rookies are 60 Rochester-area students from all three public high schools. In January, they organized a rally outside the city-county Government Center, garnering coverage from all our local news outlets and grabbing hearts all over town. Local representatives need to understand that they ought to represent the community, not one or two developers, and developers need to hear that if they want wooded lots, build on lots that are not already-established forest ecosystems, and plant trees.
The outpouring of concern has been phenomenal. Last Tuesday, we affected local politics : Nathan Clarke came out in favor of listening to his community over catering to developers and he won 85% of the vote for a Rochester Township seat that normally runs unopposed. Now we may have the attention of the Township Board and the County Commissioners who repeatedly ignored our pleas to slow down the development process. Perhaps, with the real threat of being replaced in the next elections, they will reconsider permitting this treasured site’s destruction, and allow us a chance to pool our resources, buy the land, and place it in a DNR-protected program. But will there be anything left to protect?
We need all the help we can get to prevent this madness and show pro-development politicians the end of an era has arrived. If we can save this rookery, then we can also turn the tide against land-use policies that are out of step with the community and ignore the devastation playing out across the planet. Our remaining natural areas need to be protected to preserve the health of all living things.
A development in this forest will permanently fragment the 120-acre wildlife corridor of which this parcel is part. Deforestation is happening here. It is a local issue — not something that is only happening in Brazil.
This is the battle for conservation that can change the hearts and minds of our area representatives. We have a growing movement of support and will not back down now. We will push through with the legal battles we have begun to save this wildlife treasure. We will amplify our community’s voices demanding that wild places stay wild in Olmsted County.
Can you help us? Please visit https://savetherookery.org/take-action.
Jenna Didier, of Rochester, is executive director of the LA River Public Art Project and a founder of the Save the Rookery citizens group.
