Bird Hills

Do we know why? Does it appear to be vandalism, natural disaster, or an operational move of some sort? This is disturbing news.

After I sent this to the Chronicle, I heard from a friend that they were removed by NAP because someone thought people were sleeping in them. I didn’t call NAP to confirm.

I didn’t know what NAP was so I looked it up. Doesn’t seem right that they should do that. [link]

I had a chat with Lara Treemore Spears of the city’s NAP program about this general issue. She didn’t have details on the specific Bird Hills branch structures, but said that generally this is question of balancing multiple broad public interests. On the one hand, there’s an interest in the public being able to experience Bird Hills as a natural area that does not offer visitors obvious signs of human alteration. There’s also a public interest in not allowing structures to be created in natural areas that facilitate illegal activity – camping there, for example. On the other hand, there’s societal value in the enjoyment kids get from playing in nature. Spears mentioned that folks at Leslie Science and Nature Center have actively discussed the possibility of creating areas where kids can “play in nature” without negatively impacting the nature itself (rare species for example) or adversely affecting others’ enjoyment. In any case, the overall impression I got from that conversation is that NAP staff don’t undertake removal of structures like the branches at Bird Hills without some reflection and discussion about these various competing public interests.

In Miller Woods, aka Miller Nature Area, the tree branch structures get put up, knocked down, moved around, put up again, knocked down again, etc. all the time, and I’m pretty sure city employees have nothing to do with it.