celery pond

Moving into the new year are $1.6 million going towards restoring wetlands as well as doing related conservation work in both the Black River and Paw Paw watersheds.  That’s wonderful news!

The monies are sourced from a federal grant ($806,000),  with the other half coming  from related organizations (ie. Ducks Unlimited, Sarett Nature Center, to name a few).  The Van Buren Conservation District initiated the search for funding and will apply the monies over a 3 year time span.

There are three main areas to consider: wetland restoration, trying to purchase development rights from riverside property owners and finally, active education.  Between the two watersheds, surface water is collected from over 1,200 square miles of land.

Matt Meersman is the watershed coordinator for the district.  He sent us a notice that there will be a steering committe meeting on Wednesday night, February 10th at 6pm at Geneva Township Hall.  All are invited.  Check their website at www.VanBurenCD.org for more details.

In a closing gesture Mayor Dorothy Appleyard and other Council members tried to register enough votes to widen the new linear park along the northeast corner of Dunkley Avenue.  With 2 Council members absent, a vote of 3-2 wasn’t the required majority to approve the land.  After so much time and comment from citizens, it was a sad adieu to the year.

Will the land be voted on with the new incoming Council?

Mother Nature seems to be ruling the scene right now - a heavy lakeshore snowstorm put over a foot of snow in the path of many on Monday, January 4th, making an emergency situation that closed City Hall and consequently canceled the Monday night meeting due to install the new mayor, Bob Burr, and new Council.  The event happened on January 5th.

If the New Year brings in tidings of good will, we can only hope that the linear park issue will be addressed again.

CPA has a great plan for the area which will soon be displayed on our new website.  We’ll direct you to it once it’s finalized, probably in a week or two.

Happy New Year!

Next Monday, December 7th at 6pm, the Council will meet at City Hall in a workshop to discuss ideas for the Dunkley Avenue property.

Possibilities for the linear park will be aired as well as the consideration of the next steps to take.  With the recent decision to tear down all the city buildings in the area, considered an eyesore by some, there is a new impetus to move forward.  Please plan to attend.

The City Council’s meeting last night at South Haven’s City Hall heard a unanimous vote come in, giving an OK to take down all the existing city buildings on Dunkley Avenue.  This includes the old DPW building which sits next to the new Black River Linear Park B.  With this decision, all the lands will be renewed with a leveling of ground and grass seeding.

We will have an open palette in 2010 to think again about the possibilities for the area.

Celery Pond Advocates holds to its original conception of using the public lands for public space, recreation and events, with the hope of converting it to an arboretum with kayak trails running through it, with wetland classroom and creative spaces for art and nature.

Along with the Wetland Overlook Design, we have a more detailed plan for Linear Park B, both of which we hope to present to Council next year.  We will encourage city officials to consider another planning workshop exercise to share ideas which will let us all arrive at a concept for a more eco-sensitive plan.

If you scroll down to the last entry, the new trend for preservation is something the general public wants  - for now and for the future.

The Nature Conservancy held a series of focus groups in September,  followed by a national poll of Americans, to see how they felt about supporting new conservation funding.  Almost 2/3s of those polled said yes to wanting more increased public investments in conservation at the state, local or federal levels.

The poll showed that the people believe that protecting clean water and lands are most consistent with the needs of  future generations.  While the biggest concerns were the economy and the health care, isn’t it good to know that 3 out of 5 Americans would endorse protecting natural areas.  The commitment to conservation also showed solid majorities that would be willing to pay as much as $100 in annual taxes to support conservation.

If these overall statistics apply at a local level, let’s hope that in the new year, with new Council and Mayor incoming, the voice of the times for now and the future will be heard and acted upon at our local level of government.  We are grateful that professional people come forward to serve at the local government level and we warmly thank all the outgoing officials along with welcoming the new.

This picture, taken in late September, shows the area which is a natural overlook to Celery Pond.  This is part of the City land, running down from Conger and Prospect Street with its lengthy right of way land.  The City parcel starts at about this point of view and goes out into the wetland.

In the City’s Abonmarche plan which was approved by the Council in 2006, a boardwalk was drawn across the wetland to this point to connect walkers and bikers to the Kal Haven trail.

In Phase 1 of the CPA plan we will seek to establish the overlook platform with appropriate signage here.

In Phase 2 of the CPA plan we will seek to re-introduce the boardwalk idea.

There’s much work ahead to plan the engineering of this spot but it’s a project that will benefit everyone.  Not only will it give the public a wonderful vista of Celery Pond, it will be a spot for educating us all about the wetland and its wildlife.

With the leaves and cattails changing colors, you might enjoy walking or biking to this area.  It’s always a treat in the evening when the birds fly into the pond as a stop-over point after a day of flying around the neighborhood.

Celery Pond Advocates are having another remarkable year.  Along with a successful fundraiser in August, we are setting up our new website http://www.Celery Pond Advocates.org/ which will link to the blog and Facebook.

We recently presented the Prospect Street Wetland Overlook plan to the Parks Department, who unanimously recommended it to the Council.  As there are many details to pull together for this site, we anticipate the Council meeting will be in the spring.

We invite you to join the CPA family with your membership.  The objective of our first project is to blend education, nature and art.  We’re excited  about it and hope you will be too.

Choose a membership level from one of the below categories.  Your check can be made out to Celery Pond Advocates.  Our address is: Celery Pond Advocates, P.O. Box 241, South Haven, MI 49090.  Be sure to include your address, email and telephone number for our records.

• $10 Student/Senior
• $15 Individual
• $30 Couple/Family
• $100+ Big Advocate
• $200+ Super Advocate

Next year we’ll submitting a park design for Black River Linear Park B to the appropriate city officials, along with hoping to break ground on the Wetland Overlook.

Sunday was the St. Francis of Assisi Festival day.  It was a full moon too.  Today’s post is in honor of this great man.

Rather than watching the sunset at the beach last night,  I headed over to Celery Pond, intent on using a film camera loaned to me.  I’d forgotten how active and exciting it is to use film:  you become one with the action you’re trying to capture.  It’s not just a matter of just pressing a button like our electronic toys.

Focusing on the reflective beauty of the wetland and bordering forests was soothing.  But it was a challenge to capture the ducks and song birds sweeping into the Pond.

Countless formations of geese were calling out.  Impossible to know where they were in the twilight, they’d suddenly appear, arcing overhead for a second, before sweeping into the Pond.

Close to 100 birds had gathered together in the Pond’s waters which are more expansive from the storms.  Songs cut through the cool crisp air, sounding as if each one was having fun.  It was a big pow-wow.

The finale came when looking up, a dome of translucent blue sky was shot through with shafts of magenta light.  I breathed in the clean air and light of Celery Pond’s embracing ecosystem - a remarkable testament of the wonder of life.

How lucky we are to have Celery Pond!  Why not go down to the Pond and look at the proposed overlook spot.

You’ll find it if you go down Broadway headed towards the bridge from Phoenix, turn right at the bend of Broadway - Conger Street - and follow Conger up to the corner to where the Animal Hospital is located.  Conger intersects Prospect Street.  To your left is the area for the proposed space shown in the design on the previous blog entry.

From dawn to dusk, the overlook site is a place to enjoy.

Dawn at Celery Pond as it looked a couple weeks ago.

And on another day, the sun was getting ready to go down - and Celery Pond was aglow with a rosy light  — a very peaceful place to be at day’s end.