Press Rochester Township board for win-win result on heron site
Leal Segura: Press Rochester Township board for win-win result on heron site
Let the township know that thoughtful development means protecting the resources that should belong to all of us — especially when private citizens are willing to buy and donate the land.
Written By: Leal Segura | Published in the Rochester Post Bulletin 9:00 am, Nov. 8, 2021.
Local citizens are urgently working to protect a wonderful and irreplaceable wildlife treasure: a 40- to 50-nest great blue heron rookery, located in an upland forest in Southwest Rochester, used by these birds for decades.
If you see a great blue heron in Olmsted County, this special spot is where it likely first left the nest.
A proposed development of 10 luxury homes will destroy this colony and the environmentally sensitive land on which it sits. Any community member concerned about the fate of these nests should attend the Rochester Township Board’s meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m., when members will vote to approve or deny the development plan.
Our fear is that the board, with their longstanding and openly acknowledged “pro-development” stance, will once again prioritize this single developer’s speculative profits (this developer does not own the land yet), ignoring the input of hundreds of actual township residents who have participated in the land use process to voice their strong opposition to the project.
Local citizens are doing everything they can to save this rookery and the essential forest around it. They created a website, SavetheRookery.org, which has more than 28,000 pageviews. Nearly 1,000 people joined the Save the Rookery Facebook group. More than 1,500 people registered for “Save the Rookery” email updates. Over 350 people have “Save the Rookery” lawn signs. A recent “HeronTrot” 5K attracted 80 runners. Citizens hosted “HeronFest,” raising thousands. Local meetings are standing-room-only as voters try desperately to make their voices heard.
Most importantly, local citizens are actively raising money to buy the rookery and forest land at fair market value. The goal is to create a state-managed Scientific and Natural Area, or SNA, which will preserve this natural treasure for generations. An SNA, paid for by funds raised and donated by concerned citizens, would be an unparalleled gift that benefits our whole region.
Each spring, the herons return to Rochester and fledge their chicks in these trees, which are vital for flood control. They have vast root systems that sustain and maintain steep slope above Cascade Creek watershed, already subject to unprecedented flooding. Tree removal above the creek promises to make flooding worse, and compromise costly conservation projects downstream.
Rochester’s youth are also eager to protect these resources. Local students have toured these woods and discussed future restoration projects. Local girl scouts waded in Cascade Creek, learning about threats to local water quality from deforestation.
Two weeks ago, the township’s Planning and Zoning Committee voted to recommend that the township board deny this proposed development. That is exactly what board members should do when they vote on it next Wednesday.
The township’s decision is, in the end, subjective. The best decision is for them to follow the recommendation of their own advisory committee and deny the development plan. Or, they can choose to overlook the many requested variances and significant deviations from their own General Land Use Plan and approve it anyway, ostensibly because they believe that one more development of luxury houses is worth more to our township community than this wildlife and ecosystem treasure.
To our other civic leaders -- Mayor Norton, City Council President Brooke Carlson, Senators Carla Nelson and Dave Senjem, Representatives Duane Quam, Liz Boldon, Tina Liebling and Nels Pierson -- please add your voices to this issue! Let the township know that thoughtful development means protecting the resources that should belong to all of us -- especially when private citizens are willing to buy and donate the land. That’s a win-win result.
Leal Segura, of Rochester, was one of the founding members of "The Rookies," a citizens group formed to protect the heron nesting site that has grown to about 1,500 members.
Want to contact the Township Board prior to Wednesday’s meeting?
Photo by Rick Kollmeyer