Waveny Cornfield Alliance
April 14, 2009 by admin
Is this a $250,000 joke? A band of aging volunteers intends to lift tons of concrete and asphalt debris and sort through thousands of yards of dredged mud, weeds and rubbish?
The truth won’t come from the glamorous journalism of the New Canaan Advertiser, nor from the politicians who approved the immolation of the cornfield area.
The ‘Cornfield Alliance’ is asking for $250,000 for a project titled “Waveny Cornfield Restoration Project” that has stated restoration is not the goal of the project.
- Clear invasive shrubs in overgrown fields.
- Clear stone fences and trees of choking vines.
- Re-distribute and grade pond fill.
- Replant fields and borders with natural grass, native wild flowers and shrubs.
- Build a trail, and add benches.
Re-distribute and grade pond fill?
The “pond fill” was newly introduced and contains thousands of plastic bags, bottles and rubbish, scrap metal, tires and literally tons of crude oil. Re-distributing that material can in no discernible way represent restoration of the habitat.
restoration – noun
1 the action of returning something to a former owner, place, or condition
Building a trail and adding benches is considered Restoring?
When the proposal was heard by the Park and Recreation Commission, there was a question as to what the annual maintenance cost would be for mowing the area once it is cleared.
Not only did they save money by using our public parkland as a dumping grounds for unsightly and hazardous waste, but also saved on the mowing expense that just five years ago Parks and Rec. handled without complaint. I guess they forgot the not-so-distant past when this was a field abundant with wildlife. I haven’t.
Without removing all traces of foreign soil, all toxins and all pollution from the area it cannot be restored. The truth is Waveny Park will never be the same. From the moment the diesel trucks began delivering sludge, the ground began to absorb the toxins, the wildlife displaced and the area contaminated.
There is a difference between ‘neglect’ and ‘abuse’ just as there is a difference between ‘restoration’ and ‘transformation’. If it were an “alliance” asking for funds to ‘transform’ the ‘abused’ area into a path through planted fields, I wouldn’t have gone out and taken pictures while I am sick as a dog.
