[CPEO-BIF] Whittier Peninsula bird center, Columbus, Ohio

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

AN INDUSTRIAL BROWNFIELD IN OHIO GETS A MAKEOVER FIT FOR BIRDS
COLUMBUS, OHIO, ISN’T EXACTLY KNOWN AS A BIRDING MECCA. BUT AN  
AUDUBON CENTER, LOCATED A MERE MILE FROM DOWNTOWN, IS ATTRACTING  
AVIAN SPECIES GALORE—AND PEOPLE, TOO.

BY GREG BREINING
Audubon Magazine
November 16, 2012

Great blue herons bully great egrets for the best positions on the  
fringes of a backwater. A raft of 20 cormorants swims on a shallow  
river pool. A red-tailed hawk swoops over a road, a furry brown  
morsel in its beak. In other circumstances, such scenes would seem  
too commonplace to mention. But this location makes them special -  
less than a mile south of downtown Columbus, Ohio, nearly in the  
shadow of Interstate 70-71, on acreage that housed an impound lot,  
rows of warehouses, a concrete factory, and a city dump.

The site is the Whittier Peninsula, a stretch of hard-used land  
wedged between the Scioto River and the city’s gentrifying German  
Village. Overlooking a backwater is the Grange Insurance Audubon  
Center, opened in August 2009 and dedicated to restoring the  
peninsula while bringing outdoor education to city kids lagging in  
science achievements. "We love the idea of taking these neglected  
urban areas and reforesting and making healthier habitat," says  
Heather Starck, the center's director until she became Audubon North  
Carolina’s executive director. "If we really want to get people  
engaged in conservation work, this is where we can do that. We’re  
right at the core of the city. We can get all kinds of people involved."

The center stems from a cooperative effort by Audubon, the city, the  
metro park authority, and the business community to remake an  
industrial brownfield into natural space for city residents and  
wildlife....


...

For the entire article, see
http://www.audubonmagazine.org/articles/birds/industrial-brownfield- 
ohio-gets-makeover-fit-birds

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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