Post Bulletin letter to the editor

Apr. 5, 2021

Letter: Save the great blue heron rookery

Rochester's great blue herons are majestic creatures and a sight to behold! They're four-and-a-half-feet tall, greyish blue, with a long neck, an orange beak, a black crown with head plumes, and a six-and-a-half-foot wing span. To see them soar overhead or catch a fish with lightning speed is breathtaking.

Amazingly, we have a very large great blue heron nesting colony (called a rookery) right here in Rochester Township that includes 40 to 50 nests. This rookery likely supports the entire heron population in Southern Minnesota, and is the only known rookery in Olmsted County.

But now a proposal has been made to turn the area where the rookery is located into a suburban development with 10 homes. This will destroy the rookery – one of our area's great wildlife treasures.

Olmsted County already has 8,500 acres designated for "suburban development" – that's plenty! There is no good reason to change the status of the 30 acres where the great blue heron rookery is located from "resource protected" to "suburban development."

The fate of the heron rookery will be decided by the Olmsted County Board of Commissioners, which meets Tuesday, and the Rochester Township Board, which meets April 13. [EDIT: This Township public hearing has been cancelled or postponed.]

It is vital that both boards wait until an Environmental Assessment Worksheet is completed and reviewed by the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board before making any decisions on zoning or development. The initial assessment completely missed the great blue heron rookery, as well as a half dozen other very significant environmental issues. We can do better – and save the rookery.

Viki Morris, Rochester