.

Received this from a friend.

Hello, Al,

I hope you are doing well and have had a good summer. All is well here. Ethelle and I have stayed healthy and are looking forward to leading birding trip to Colombia in December. Meanwhile, I have been involved with local birders to help advocate for protection of a 77-acre grassland between the Battle Creek Regional Park and Ramsey County corrections land in Maplewood. The planner in charge of the Master Plan for the Battle Creek Regional Park did not address the opportunity to preserve this parcel even though it is used as nesting habitat for eight Minnesota species of special concern including the state-endangered Henslow's sparrow. Below are the comments that I have submitted through MOU for consideration by Mr. Karp. Comments are due by October 31. Please take a look at my comments. Let me know if you might wish to join in support to "join the chorus" and help spread the word on your blog.

Best wishes, Carrol

Send comments to:

Benjamin.Karp@ramseycounty.us

Dear Mr. Karp: I wish to submit the following comments regarding the proposed Battle Creek Regional Park Management Plan proposal.

I sincerely appreciate all of the work that has gone into preparing the master plan for the Battle Creek Regional Park. I would, however, like to point out what I consider a serious omission and flaw in the plan. In the initial request for public input on the planning process, there were 87 public comments that expressed concern for the need to protect the 77-acre grassland parcel between the southern boundary of the Battle Creek Regional Park and the Ramsey County correctional property south of the grassland. In the final version of the 2021 Master Plan, all reference to that input and the ecological and biological significance of that grassland parcel was totally ignored. It should have been recommended that the parcel be included within the proposal for protection and management of the eight bird species listed by the Department of Natural Resources as species in greatest conservation need, including the state-endangered Henslow's sparrow.

The other birds at risk include such iconic species as the bobolink, dickcissel, and eastern meadowlark as well as the grasshopper sparrow, clay-colored sparrow, field sparrow, and savannah sparrow. All those species have undergone dramatic population declines over the past 56 years in Minnesota-including destruction of their grassland nesting habitats through land development and land conversion to crop production. Those species have declined from 37% for the clay-colored sparrow to 97% for the grasshopper sparrow.

I strongly and enthusiastically suggest that the master plan include the 77-acre grassland parcel in the Battle Creek Regional Park Master Plan for preservation in its entirety with no development like trails or other disturbance to the grasslands. Preservation of this grassland for its ecological and biological significance would generate significant positive publicity for the vision of Ramsey County in preserving a gem of a natural wildlife habitat right within Ramsey County. I am not aware of any other comparable grassland songbird nesting areas in the county or adjacent metropolitan areas.

There is an additional enormous benefit for preserving this area: It holds the potential for designation as Minnesota's first "Birdability" site. This is national Birdability Week. This is a week in which national efforts are being made to promote access to persons with accessibility impairments to enjoy and have nature-based experiences. This includes blindness and vision impairments.

In the case of the Ramsey county grassland property, I suggest collaboration with Ramsey County corrections staff to discuss creation of a veranda-type seating area on the southern boundary of the grassland on northern edge of the corrections property. There blind and vision-impaired citizens with mobility impairments could sit and listen to the sounds of nature like spring and summer bird songs. There would be no access or trail creation on the grasslands. It could be called the "Birdsong Reserve." There could be bird feeders and nest boxes in the immediate vicinity of the veranda to add more interest and songbird activity near the seating area. When people think of accessibility issues, they usually think of making trails for people with mobility impairments--but people who are blind, legally blind, or vision-impaired are typically ignored by planners who just put in trails and think that accessibility issues are addressed.

We have a local national Board member for Birdability, Michael Hurben, who is legally blind, reknown and lifelong Minnesota birder and author Bob Janssen, Julian Sellers, and myself who wish to "join the chorus" to save the grasslands for the songbirds and their potential as an accessibility site for vision-impaired birders and nature lovers. This would generate an enormous amount of local, statewide, and even national publicity for Ramsey County for their vision in designating this site for its unique biological and accessibility benefits.

Thank you for the opportunity to share these ideas.

Carrol Henderson