As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Sunday 30 December 2012

Environmentalists, Bird-Watchers Outraged After Valley Wildlife Refuge Nearly Leveled


Eventually meant to improve a Van Nuys wildlife reserve, a federal plan first nearly leveled it

Some members of the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society were so sickened by what they saw that they had to leave.

Bird-watcher Kris Ohlenkamp chokes up just thinking about what happened to the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve in Van Nuys.

He made himself enter the property after learning it had been, to his mind, turned into a wasteland.

"I had a responsibility to go on," Ohlenkamp said.

More than 50 acres of habitat that harbored migratory birds – and bird-lovers – were practically leveled this month as part of a federal plan meant to eventually restore the area.
But the way the aggressive way the plan was carried out came as a surprise to local environmentalists and bird-lovers who frequent the area within the city of Los Angeles' Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area.

The city's parks department boasts that the site is a "haven of rest for wildlife and humans alike, a welcome oasis in an urban setting."

Ohlenkamp called it "a premier birding site in Southern California."

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