12/06/2023
This is outside Decatur, but the elimination of this greenspace will affect the greater community -- I apologize for the long post, but there's a lot of good info in here, and action items. Please make your voice heard:
A development scheme threatens DeKalb wild animals and their homes. Otters, turtles, warblers, fish, beaver, frogs, kingfishers, deer, wading birds, geese and wood ducks, muskrat, hawks and owls, bobcat and fox depend on what we do.
Together, let’s SAVE THEM!
A small remnant of wild land belongs to Mercer University Atlanta. Irreplaceable, undisturbed, hemmed in by streets and buildings, the complex of floodplain forest, shrub swamp, and beaver ponds raises the water table, irrigating woodland far around, purifying water, guarding against wildfire, and buffering stormwater.
If Mercer grants permission, DeKalb County will spend our tax money for PATH Foundation and Peachtree Creek Greenway to build two elevated concrete roads that would dissect the tract. The concrete roads would be two cars wide. Why permanently wreck valuable wildlife habitats? For “scenery” riders would swoosh past on bicycles! Without them being inconvenienced by cars, that is. PATH refuses to discuss a compromise (the Flowers Rd. route). Why? https://savehendersonmillcreek.org/objections/
1. Please sign the petition: https://savehendersonmillcreek.org/joinus/
2. Email/phone every DeKalb Commissioner. Give 3 reasons why you OPPOSE building the raised concrete roads of PATH and Peachtree Creek Greenway. Politely AND Firmly Tell Commissioners: NO! DO NOT authorize them. Instead, use Flowers Rd. Ask each Commissioner to write what s/he decides.
Commissioner
Staff
Lorraine Cochran-Johnson
Leah Davis
404-371-2899
[email protected]
Ted Terry
Kelly Cato
404-371-2159
[email protected]
Mereda Davis Johnson
Demetrius McCoy
404-371-2159
[email protected]
Steve Bradshaw
Robin Flieg
404-371-4749
[email protected]
Larry Johnson
Brandon Fields
404-371-2988
[email protected]
Michelle Long Spears
Caroline Enloe
404-371-2863
[email protected]
Robert Patrick
Tara Smith
404-371-2844
[email protected]
3. Also, email your comments to Teriya Mattox [email protected] .
As the forest ages, more individual birds, of more species, inhabit it. Floodplain forests have the highest nesting bird concentrations in the state and are the most important habitats for birds. Bird diversity doubles in spring and summer when Neotropical migrants (many are depleted species) which spend several months in the tropics return to northern parts of their ranges to breed. Forest-interior species must nest away from habitat edges. Eighty percent of wildlife species depend on habitats created by beaver, a keystone species. One oak tree may shelter 120 mammal species, 147 bird species, 60 species of amphibians and reptiles, and 257 species of invertebrates. Mammals from far and wide visit during drought. Temporary pools in small depressions without fish are important. Were fish present they would eat the eggs and young of salamanders and many frogs.
Intact floodplains are the highest priority habitat for preservation in the Piedmont region because of their importance to birds, bats, herpetofauna, and aquatic habitats. The South has lost an estimated half of its bottomland forests in 50 years. Forested wetlands are still suffering the most. Marshes rank second in losses. It has been difficult to make an economic case for preserving marshes, especially on a short-term, loss-benefit basis.
https://savehendersonmillcreek.org/
At the link above, have a look at the “Study Area” map. Direct habitat destruction. Clearcutting an area equivalent to 3.4 football fields with end zones (4.5 acres) would be required just for the Henderson Mill Creek concrete road (NOT including the Peachtree Creek Greenway concrete road). Who profits from hundreds of valuable hardwood sawlogs?
Altered hydrology. Removing vegetation, rutting delicate soil with heavy machines, developing upstream, and adding impervious surface area upslope would worsen siltation and exacerbate flood risk. Severe floods threaten human safety and property. Flooding for long periods during the breeding season can harm plant and animal reproduction.
Habitat fragmentation is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Edge (or ecotone, where two habitat types meet, e.g., the boundary between a forest and a field) of the Henderson Mill Creek concrete road (again, NOT including the Peachtree Creek Greenway concrete road) would increase almost 2 miles. The ratio between the habitat’s boundary and its interior would increase. Remaining patches of forest would be smaller and more isolated. Reptiles and amphibians are particularly vulnerable. Reduced patch size affects area-sensitive birds and small mammals. An edge constitutes a particular habitat itself, and certain species thrive at these boundaries. Predators of bird eggs and nestlings are more abundant near edges. Breeding success is less in patches than in extensive stands. Birds in forest fragments are much more vulnerable than in continuous forest. Windiness and temperature affect the availability of food and nest site suitability for forest-interior birds. Bare concrete exposed to sun and wind would be a barrier to dispersal for food, cover, and mates; a heat island winding through and drawing moisture from the habitat; and an interface that would increase soil erosion.
Bikes are great. But not everywhere. The Silver Comet Trail and Beltline were built on abandoned rail roadbeds in dry upland. In this watery basin concrete roads for bikes would be inappropriate
PATH and Peachtree Creek Greenway are businesses trying to sell something. Following their advice has been likened to asking a car dealer if you need a car!
How are the paychecks at the “nonprofit” PATH? $ 227,251 was the median reportable compensation (W-2/1099-MISC/1099-NEC) of the four top officers, according to IRS Form 990 (2022).
So far, DeKalb Commissioners have spent $ 46,000 on a “study” of the Henderson Mill Creek proposal, apparently with NO environmental oversight! (A 2021 Peachtree Creek Greenway “study” was separate.) Is it not true that DeKalb has needs more compelling than to squander our tax money paving over nature?
Chromium, lead, nickel, cobalt, and mercury are readily found in cement. Concrete installation can contaminate streams and bodies of water with high concentrations of suspended solids and other chemicals. Poor air quality associated with the cement manufacturing industry is receiving attention because of its particulate concentration, which causes major damage to leaves and hinders the growth and development of horticultural plants. Cement industry-derived pollutants play multiple roles in stimulating abiotic stress responses in plants. Cement making generates 8% of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
You can walk the unmarked 2 ½ -foot wide dirt footpath in the floodplain forest as-is, now. To explore, at 2877 Brandywine Rd., Atlanta 30341, from the parking lot behind the building, step into the woods.
Or, from Shallowford Rd. take the I-85 frontage road just past Regal Hollywood cinema. Turn right on the first driveway to 3355 Northeast Expressway Access Rd NE, Atlanta 30341. At the rear of the parking area, look through the row of tall pines for the beaver ponds. At this approach there is no footpath. Getting closer means wading through brush.
You’ll want to wear drab clothes and shoes that can get muddy. Binoculars and a folding beach chair are handy. Animals see you first, but when you’re still and quiet, they go back to what they were doing. Here is natural wild land. It is not a park. Not a dog park. Kudzu festoons some trees. The periphery is littered here and there. Absence of human disturbance enriches the place with wildlife.
Animals in their burrows. Crushed beneath bulldozers.
DeKalb/PATH/Peachtree Creek Greenway. Anti-nature. Anti-environment.
Unnecessary. Bureaucratic boondoggles.
The PATH Foundation and Dekalb County are planning to build a concrete bike road through the floodplain/wetlands surrounding Henderson Mill Creek.
