Cattails are a Watershed's Good Friend & If I Could (actually, I should), I'd Teach the Town of Stratford to Protect Them (They Heal)

Dear Ranger Kristin,

Thank you for your writing prompt, and I had to go for a long hike thinking about it. Normal Crandall would write about preserving a gigantic purple frog outside the 7/11 in the town square but, alas, that beautiful creature doesn't exist. I think I need to write my town about that. What town doesn't need a gigantic, purple frog outside its town square?

Actually, as I was going for my run yesterday I passed what I think is named Bruce Pond, because it is the larger body of water that extends out of Bruce Creek and back into it again. It exists in Wooster Park (What does a Wooster order every time he's out to dinner? A diet-coke-l-doooooo), the area around the corner from my house that huddles behind Wooster Middle School. Since moving here, I've always thought, "Holy-ideal outdoor classroom, Batman." On occasion, and it's rare, a teacher might have their class there.

When I first moved to the area, I loved how the town allowed the plant life surrounding the pond to inhabit the waterway as it would. There were beautiful cattails and wildflowers, and only a couple of places where you could step up to the water. As you did, bullfrogs and turtles would scuttle in every direction. Yet, a year after I moved in, I remember seeing the town mowers literally put their blades down to the shoreline, desecrating all the plant life that existed there, leaving it as an open-space for anyone to go directly to the water. Well, this was great for human beings who wanted to fish, but not so good for the insects, fish, water fowl, reptiles, and amphibians. For a while, I'd see all the creatures along the edge as if they were thinking, "$%@! What just happened? Where's my shelter?" Then, I imagined they retreated, or thinned their population, or maybe fled to another location. They're not in the abundance they once were.

I remember when I was part of the Beargrass Creek Task Force in Louisville, Kentucky and active in many watershed groups. Having easements along water ways allows plant life to grow as nature intended and it's actually a good thing...with cattails being one of the best purifiers there are (sucking out the toxins in the water, offering shelter for critters, and thrilling red-wing blackbirds during their mating season - hotdogs on a stick).

Then came the mowers. Vvvvvvvvvrrrrrrrr. Wiped out.

So, if I could, I'd like to see the town preserve more of the water's edgeways, so that they are more sustainable for the creatures that intended to live there. I don't mind if they cut occasionally to the edge, but do so in  small swaths, and  rotate each year so life can restore itself. Be strategic. Think.

I'm in the South Central Coastal watershed with the Housatonic River and the Long Island Sound nearby. Every waterway is like a lung to the earth, and I'd hope my town's people would have more environmental insight in their choices over their parks. More importantly, I would love to see the educators of Wooster Middle School adopt Bruce's pond as their whole-school project. 

Why do I think this way? When one pays attention to life, and its intricacies, it is easier to see the importance of sustainable development. We two legged, two-eyed, loud-mouthed, canine-teeth baring, polluting, machine-inventing predators have the potential to do smart things from time to time. Logical planning is one of them.