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Conservation Commission

Conservation and More

              by Bruce B. Beckley

Issue #140, July, 2003
Prudence’s Plan

Miss Prudence lives in one of those 1890s houses on the hill above the village. She has lived there all her life except for the four years when she went off to normal school. That was a long time ago. Now the school which became the teachers college has graduated to university status. Well anyway, after she earned her teaching degree, Miss Prudence returned home where she taught English to two generation of the town’s youth.

After 43 years of grammar and Shakespeare, Miss Prudence retired to the family home she had inherited when her father died. Now, ten years later and still a maiden lady with no close relatives she is faced with deciding what to do with the family home when she passes on.

The house while not modern in its layout or facilities has been carefully maintained, even when it meant skimping on other items to pay the bills. With the house there is about one acre of land and a small barn that still has two tie-ups in it. Nearby on the street some of the similar homes now house two or more families and doctors’ offices are in another.

Long an admirer of nature and especially the birds that are attracted to the variety of garden plants and flowering shrubs, Miss Prudence wanted her estate to benefit the town conservation commission. Upon inquiry, she found out that the commission already had property outside the village where a training center and children’s museum are located. If donated, her house could become more of a burden than an asset to the town.

Miss Prudence contacted the local land trust and found out that as a private organization the trust, unlike the commission, could buy and sell property. A plan was devised by the three parties and Miss Prudence’s will prepared accordingly.

Upon her death, the house is to pass to the land trust which has agreed to sell it and then pass the net proceeds on to the conservation commission’s land fund. The commission agrees to use the funds to protect open space habitat. When all is accomplished, Miss Prudence will have used the value of her in-town home to preserve a dozen or more open space acres forever.

Backyard Good and Bad News

The bird life here seems to have settled down to those planning to nest hereabouts. A few transient warblers still pass through the back thickets and last week there were 16 white throats that stayed for a day. Now we seem to have two pairs that will make our yard their summer home along with nesting pairs of robins, chickadees, jays, catbirds, hummingbirds, cardinals and a rose-breasted grosbeak. The good news is that the varied habitats we work to keep on the three acres pay off when it comes to sheltering and encouraging bird life.

Unfortunately, we are not the only ones enjoying the bird population. There are feline observers too. From National Wildlife Magazine: Of the 73 million pet cats in the United States, an estimated 40 million roam outside unsupervised. Throw in feral cats and as many as 100 million cats are on the loose. “These cats could easily be killing 100 million songbirds a year,” says Al Manville of the USF&W Service Migratory Bird Office. A University of Wisconsin study in the early 1990s found that the estimated 1.4 million to 2 million cats that range freely in the rural areas of that state kill 31.4 million small mammals and 7.8 million birds a year – at a minimum.”

Cats do not need to go outside to be happy cats. If yours must go out, please bell you cat especially in these spring and summer months. Remember, curtailing you cat is for the birds.

MEGO

We recently heard of a new disease, MEGO. I hope I don’t give it to you with all these words, especially the conservation strain of the affliction. What is it? MEGO stands for: My Eyes Glaze Over.

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