CTroyMathis
01 August 2003, 08:45 PM
Don't pave you-know-what
Jack Z. Smith
Star-Telegram OpEd
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/6434930.htm
Fort Worth's unique nature center, a 3,621-acre preserve just 20 minutes from Cowtown's downtown skyscrapers, is supposed to be all about ... nature.
But after reading the center's new master plan, one might wonder whether nature will remain its dominant feature and No. 1 priority in coming years.
To my astonishment, the plan calls for $67.3 million in projects over the next several decades.
Much of the money would go for constructing an array of new facilities, including a large visitors center, office and administrative spaces, new entry area and loop road, operations and maintenance center, outdoor learning center with overnight lodging and teaching labs, rental pavilion, educational camp with overnight lodging and pavilions, 8-foot-wide concrete bike paths running nearly five miles, canoe launch pavilion, bison range viewing station, three large bronze bison statues for photo opportunities and other amenities too numerous to mention.
Altogether, the plan calls for 154,000 square feet of new facilities and parking lots for 575 vehicles, all within the treasure trove of flora and fauna officially known as the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge.
The plan, which Mesa Design Group of Dallas was paid more than $230,000 to develop, even calls for 2,400 linear feet of concrete bike paths on unspoiled Greer Island, one of the center's most-prized natural features.
Concrete on Greer Island? Egad!
A primary goal in constructing all these new facilities is to lure more people to the center, which draws 100,000 to 150,000 visitors annually.
If that's the overriding goal, why not put in a McDonald's? Or convert it to an amusement park and call it Six Ferns Over Texas?
A local steering committee, which included some very capable members who truly love the center, played a major role in drafting the plan. Indeed, the plan includes some good recommendations.
• A new visitors center would be nice (although 33,000 square feet may be bigger than necessary and the proposed building site may not be the best location).
• Improvements to the center's roadways and signs are needed.
• The plan wisely urges acquiring some surrounding land as a buffer against encroaching development, as well as gradually buying up and removing 35 homes located on 25 acres of the center (provided the owners are willing to sell).
I also support the plan's recommendation that the center begin charging an admission fee and significantly expand its budget and staff.
The plan doesn't recommend a specific fee -- $3 for adults and $1 for children might be suitable.
The center's annual budget of $398,585 and its tiny staff of seven-fulltime employees are far too small for an enormous preserve open seven days a week.
Although the city owns the center, the plan recommends greatly increased private fund-raising to help support it. That makes sense, if the city retains ownership and control.
City Councilman John Stevenson assured me that the plan is only a guideline that will be subject to continual review.
"If I thought [the center] would end up with hotels and ferris wheels, I'd throw up," he said. "We cannot destroy this thing just to get more people."
But I'm nevertheless troubled by the plan's excessively development-oriented tone and the fact that the highly respected center staff apparently has similar reservations.
I've found the center to be a wonderful place to escape the urban rat race, to hike and enjoy the beauty, solitude and unchoreographed surprises offered by a natural setting.
On a visit there in 1999, I saw a wild turkey, Texas rat snake and red-eared slider turtle all in the same moment and all within 15 feet of each other. I've taken long hikes through amazingly diverse topography that included prairie, savanna, river marshes, woods and picturesque limestone ledges.
You might spot bison, deer, wild turkey, bobcats, coyotes, beavers, prairie dogs and snakes, as well as an occasional bald eagle.
About 200 species of migratory birds visit the center annually. There are 1,000-plus plant species.
But after reading the new master plan, I couldn't help but recall the line from the Vietnam War about having to destroy the village in order to save it.
Or the Joni Mitchell song about paving paradise to put up a parking lot.
The center's charm and uniqueness lie in its simplicity and naturalness. We would be very foolish to forget that, wouldn't we?
Jack Z. Smith
Star-Telegram OpEd
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/6434930.htm
Fort Worth's unique nature center, a 3,621-acre preserve just 20 minutes from Cowtown's downtown skyscrapers, is supposed to be all about ... nature.
But after reading the center's new master plan, one might wonder whether nature will remain its dominant feature and No. 1 priority in coming years.
To my astonishment, the plan calls for $67.3 million in projects over the next several decades.
Much of the money would go for constructing an array of new facilities, including a large visitors center, office and administrative spaces, new entry area and loop road, operations and maintenance center, outdoor learning center with overnight lodging and teaching labs, rental pavilion, educational camp with overnight lodging and pavilions, 8-foot-wide concrete bike paths running nearly five miles, canoe launch pavilion, bison range viewing station, three large bronze bison statues for photo opportunities and other amenities too numerous to mention.
Altogether, the plan calls for 154,000 square feet of new facilities and parking lots for 575 vehicles, all within the treasure trove of flora and fauna officially known as the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge.
The plan, which Mesa Design Group of Dallas was paid more than $230,000 to develop, even calls for 2,400 linear feet of concrete bike paths on unspoiled Greer Island, one of the center's most-prized natural features.
Concrete on Greer Island? Egad!
A primary goal in constructing all these new facilities is to lure more people to the center, which draws 100,000 to 150,000 visitors annually.
If that's the overriding goal, why not put in a McDonald's? Or convert it to an amusement park and call it Six Ferns Over Texas?
A local steering committee, which included some very capable members who truly love the center, played a major role in drafting the plan. Indeed, the plan includes some good recommendations.
• A new visitors center would be nice (although 33,000 square feet may be bigger than necessary and the proposed building site may not be the best location).
• Improvements to the center's roadways and signs are needed.
• The plan wisely urges acquiring some surrounding land as a buffer against encroaching development, as well as gradually buying up and removing 35 homes located on 25 acres of the center (provided the owners are willing to sell).
I also support the plan's recommendation that the center begin charging an admission fee and significantly expand its budget and staff.
The plan doesn't recommend a specific fee -- $3 for adults and $1 for children might be suitable.
The center's annual budget of $398,585 and its tiny staff of seven-fulltime employees are far too small for an enormous preserve open seven days a week.
Although the city owns the center, the plan recommends greatly increased private fund-raising to help support it. That makes sense, if the city retains ownership and control.
City Councilman John Stevenson assured me that the plan is only a guideline that will be subject to continual review.
"If I thought [the center] would end up with hotels and ferris wheels, I'd throw up," he said. "We cannot destroy this thing just to get more people."
But I'm nevertheless troubled by the plan's excessively development-oriented tone and the fact that the highly respected center staff apparently has similar reservations.
I've found the center to be a wonderful place to escape the urban rat race, to hike and enjoy the beauty, solitude and unchoreographed surprises offered by a natural setting.
On a visit there in 1999, I saw a wild turkey, Texas rat snake and red-eared slider turtle all in the same moment and all within 15 feet of each other. I've taken long hikes through amazingly diverse topography that included prairie, savanna, river marshes, woods and picturesque limestone ledges.
You might spot bison, deer, wild turkey, bobcats, coyotes, beavers, prairie dogs and snakes, as well as an occasional bald eagle.
About 200 species of migratory birds visit the center annually. There are 1,000-plus plant species.
But after reading the new master plan, I couldn't help but recall the line from the Vietnam War about having to destroy the village in order to save it.
Or the Joni Mitchell song about paving paradise to put up a parking lot.
The center's charm and uniqueness lie in its simplicity and naturalness. We would be very foolish to forget that, wouldn't we?