Whats On the Sarge's Mind

Remember the Bald Eagles in Chicago that terminated a gun range for police

Beginning in 2010, the Chicago Police Department sought a lease agreement with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) for a 33-acre site at 134^th Street to construct an outdoor gun range. The proposed location, unfortunately, happens to be adjacent to O’Brien Lock Marsh and Whitford Pond, a popular bird-watching location identified for public recreation purposes. Friends of the Parks and a coalition of other environmental groups adamantly opposed the construction of the outdoor gun range at this sensitive location. For a year, the issue was dormant.
Then, on January 5, 2012, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District placed the Police Department’s gun range plan on the agenda for approval. Friends of the Parks, the South East Environmental Task Force, OpenLands, Chicago Audubon and other groups testified at the Board meeting against the proposal.
We argued that a gun range is an inappropriate use of the 33-acre site located both within the City’s Calumet Open Space Reserve as well as in the governor’s newly announced Millennium Reserve. The Calumet Open Space Reserve Plan identifies 4,000 acres for open space reclamation and future public recreational use (the Chicago Park District already acquired 600 acres for public use and recreation). Second, the governor’s Millennium Reserve Plan targets 140,000 acres of green space to redevelop the southeast side as a tourist destination and earmarks the region to be part of President Obama’s American’s Great Outdoors Initiative to reconnect Americans to our great outdoor treasures.
Friends of the Parks’ testified that “the MWRD site is not suitable for a gun range. The large parcel is contiguous to Whitford Pond and O’Brien Lock Marsh, both aquatic and wetland areas with vegetation and natural habitat that support a significant number of bird species including the state endangered black-crowned night-heron. In addition, bald eagles and trumpeter swans were regularly observed in the Calumet Reserve area. The regular gun bursts and noise from the gun range will have negative impacts on birds and wildlife adjacent to the site, will disturb sensitive nesting areas and make the surrounding recreational lands unsuitable for people to use for quiet recreation activities”.
All groups testified in opposition to the proposal, none were in favor. However, the MWRD Board approved the lease agreement at their January 5, 2012 Board meeting.
Enter the majestic bald eagle, our national bird. Recently, Carolyn Marsh, with Chicago Audubon, spotted a pair of bald eagles nesting a hundred yards away at the adjacent Whitford Pond area. As a result of the discovery of a pair of bald eagles nesting in the vicinity, the federal U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has intervened. A special permit under the Bald Eagle Protection Act will now be required.