Saturday, December 6, 2008
Protect Austin's Greenbelts!!
Having grown up hiking and swimming in the Bull Creek greenbelt of northwest Austin, I have developed a deep love for the Texas hill country. Over the past 20 years Austin has experienced rampant growth and it has taken a serious toll on the environment. Bull Creek currently exhibits bacteria levels that exceed State of Texas water quality standards for parks."..the most likely source of the impairment is recreational use of the park; specifically, off-leash dogs within the park that are entering the water, functioning as a vector for dog excrement in the park and/or agitating potentially contaminated bottom sediments." It is very sad, what was once a beautiful swimming hole is now a cesspool of dog terds and diapers. Unfortunately, there are many other locations in the city facing a similar fate. Like Shoal Creek...Have you caught wind of Shoal Creek lately? It's repulsive.. The list goes on.. I understand that Austin is a very desireable place to live and there is money to be made, but I wish that the city and local developers would care a little more about preserving Austin's lakes, rivers, woods, etc..(Ok who am I kidding? Developers will never give a s&#%, most are from California anyways). One of the great features of Austin is it's natural beauty and as a city we need to showcase this more. I would like to see legislation enacted in Austin that ensures selected parts of Austin will never be developed on. We need more state funding for the protection and preservation of the environment. More hill country, less apartments!
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2 comments:
But where else should those people take their dogs?
Keep in mind that only a small percentage of dogs actually poop in the water, and a lot of those dogs are much better off playing in the parks with their owners and it gets their owners out to experience Austin's parks. Maybe if more non-creekbed parks had off-leash rules it would alleviate the watershed parks.
Regardless Austin will continue to have, too many people concentrated in too few parks. Best to figure out how to adapt to the situation than to just be a leash Nazi or something like that.
Recently I read a commentary on one of my peer’s blogs about the condition of Austin’s parks and greenbelts. If you would like to check it out first hand you can find the original post at Secure the Texas Border blog. The commentary mentions a few local creeks where the local water quality has been deteriorating for years. And as the author mentions at certain places it has become simply unacceptable. I would agree with the author’s position one hundred percent; we need some type of local legislation in order to preserve Austin’s immense beauty, which many of us take for granted on the daily. The fact that Austin has been growing so rapidly for years has definitely taken its toll on the local environment. The reality is that the growth does not appear to be stopping any time soon (Austin recently was voted one of the best places to live in the country).It is for this reason in particular that this type of legislation is going to be so important within the next couple years. Like the author points out in his commentary, one of Austin’s most important assets is its natural beauty, one that needs to be preserved for future generations. We should go beyond just trying to preserve what we have already, we should try to reclaim park and greenbelt land. Although I don’t think that a reclaimation program will take off anytime soon, I would hope that the local government seriously considers a preservation program. I think that the author of the commentary did a good job raising awareness and tying it to local parks and creeks in which we can all relate. High Five.
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