Stewardship and Waterfront Development

There has been a lot of concern in the last few years about the disappearance of frogs and other amphibians from their normal territories. The specific reason for their loss is still elusive but intuition suggests environmental degradation of one sort or another as the likely cause.

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At my cottage on the Medway River, the fellow who owned it before me cut all of the bushes and trees from the waterline back to the cottage. He wanted to have a better view of the river. He got the view he wanted but at a price.

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For example, at certain times of the day Salmon used to hold in the shadow of the Button Bushes he cut down. There has not been one seen there since.

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When I started going to Bear Falls, it was pleasant but the Salmon were on the decline anyway from the scourge of acid rain. It was more a place to go and decompress rather than a fishing destination. It was quiet.

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Over the last ten years the bushes and shrubs along the river bank have grown back. With the re-growth came an explosion of life. As I sit here, the sound of birds is almost tropical. For the first time since I can remember the Red-winged Blackbirds are nesting along the river shore. Each bird with a carefully measured territory he will defend with song and action. Song Sparrows abound, Robins, Blue Jays, Canada Jays, Pine Siskin, the cheerful Chickadees, comical and friendly Juncos, Wrens and Finches I have not identified yet and more. Someday I’ll make a list. I bet it will amaze me.

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It is not just the birds, insects too are rebounding. The dragonflies, damselflies and all of their aquatic brethren, those whose nymphs climb from the water for the metamorphosis into ephemeral winged beauty are colonizing the new grown lushness along the river.

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The frogs started their comeback a couple of years ago. This year they are as thick as the birds. If I walk from my cottage to the river now I fully expect to see frogs, Leopard Frogs, Bull Frogs, and the common Green Frog. It used to be a treat to spot one.
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With the frogs came the turtles, Snapping and Painted as well as a funny shaped one that may have been a Blanding’s turtle but I did not want to scare it off by trying to catch it and see.

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At night the fireflies are like a miniature galaxy along the river bank. Bats weave through the dusk, picking off the unwary. All to a chorus of the deep organ tones of Bullfrogs punctuating the river’s descent of the falls.
I guess what constitutes a view is in the eye of the beholder.