by Glynn Wilson

ROEBUCK SPRINGS, Ala., Sept. 25 — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed a solution to the Corps of Engineers and the city of Birmingham to build a temporary dam out of sand bags and then construct a permanent structure to control the flow of water from the spring pool behind the Roebuck tennis courts into Village Creek.

The permit was expected to be approved Thursday afternoon and work is expected to start Friday morning, one week after a beaver dam and man-made dam were removed illegally by a crane operator, not a backhoe, as previously reported, according to sources on the fish-kill scene.

Sources who are familiar with the area and its history say beavers have constructed a dam in the same spot on and off for years. And well before the endangered watercress darter was discovered there, city officials would periodically rip out the beaver dam, supposedly based on a fear that the pond would overflow and flood the tennis courts.

Today, with the Endangered Species Act and other regulations on wetlands — and with the full knowledge of the presence of an endangered fish species in the pond — that destruction would not be allowed under federal law or state regulations without a permit.

To naturalists, a beaver dam is actually the perfect natural solution to controlling the water flow from the pool to the creek, if the tennis courts and drainage pipe had to be built on that location at all.

According to a federal official on the scene today, however, the spot is not really where you would want to build a tennis court if you had it to do over again with modern knowledge of science. It is on a high spot between the pond and the creek.

“What a stupid place to put a tennis court,” the biologist said, who will remain anonymous since the Atlanta field office has still not concluded its investigation and released a report, or even so much as a statement about what the plan is for the area, yet.

According to multiple sources, the intent of Regina Nummy, the director of Roebuck-Hawkins Park, and her superiors at the city, was most likely to tear out the beaver dam, which had been done in the past by park and city officials. So some of the culpability for destroying the entire dam rests with the crane operator.

It is still not known whether the operator who actually removed the dam was a city employee or a private contractor, which could still be an issue in any investigation or lawsuit.

Biologists sampled the area today and found at least 100 watercress darters still alive, so at least the destruction of the dam did not wipe out the entire local population.

But the incident still shows an appalling incompetence on the part of park management and makes one wonder what kind of an educational program is set up for city workers — or private heavy equipment operators — when it comes to working around ecologically sensitive waterways.

There is a consensus building among federal, state, and local sources that heads should definitely roll as a result of this disaster — and that a legal price should be paid.

by Glynn Wilson
Editor and Publisher

If Regina Nummy, the director of Roebuck-Hawkins Park, has not already resigned her position — for her ignorant order telling Birmingham city workers to illegally excavate wetlands without a permit and to remove a dam on a Village Creek spring pool — she should be fired immediately.

Glynn Wilson

A yellow-crowned night heron feeding on the section of Village Creek that intersects the Roebuck Golf Course, just down stream from the destroyed dam.

It may take the discovery phase of a lawsuit and depositions to find out who came up with the dimwitted idea to remove the dam in the first place, as well as how the order was carried out, since city officials have now clammed up and are not talking in expectation of a lawsuit.

What is clear is that what Ms. Nummy told The Birmingham News about the need to remove the dam to prevent damage to the tennis courts due to flooding is just a lie. What is not clear is why she would concoct such a story. But ignorance is no defense in a court of law.

What we know is this.

Last Friday, Ms. Nummy somehow obtained a work order for a crane operator to drive into a protected wetland that was home to the largest population of endangered watercress darters on the planet. Without a federal or state permit or permission of any kind, the heavy equipment operator removed a beaver dam built on top of a small man-made dam that helped the Roebuck Springs pool hold water in part of Village Creek.

Over the weekend, most of the water ran out of the pond downstream through a drainage pipe leading under the Roebuck tennis courts. The shock of all the water rushing out of the pool forced at least 1,000 darters, most likely way more than that, to hide in the grass, where they died of suffocation.

There is no doubt that this constitutes a blatant violation of the U.S. Endangered Species Act, and the Locust Fork News-Journal is calling on the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service and the Alabama Department of Conservation to move with all deliberate speed both to restore the habitat and to hold the responsible parties legally accountable.

This story is not just about some little rare fish. The destruction of its habitat will no doubt have a ripple effect throughout the ecosystem and have a negative impact on bird populations as well.

In recent times this independent online news organization has focused more on national issues and crimes of the Bush administration, specifically on the Bush Justice Department’s political prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, than local stories such as this. But we have extensive experience covering science and the environment going all the way back to the 1980s.

And this particular spot holds a special place in our hearts. It is a remarkable place to experience the wonders of nature in the very center of an urban area.

For the past four years, I have joined other wildlife photographers to keep a watchful eye on the special population of yellow-crowned night herons that nest in the area around the Roebuck Golf Course along Village Creek. We have taken hundreds of photographs of these beautiful creatures during that time frame.

And right now, in addition to being concerned about the endangered fish, we are also concerned that the destruction of this dam and the habitat for the fish will have a negative impact on the bird populations in the area.

In addition to the herons, there are often wood ducks feeding in the area as well as great egrets, kingfishers, red-shouldered hawks, great blue herons, and red-winged blackbirds.

In fact, my photograph of a red-winged blackbird on Village Creek just downstream from the destroyed dam was recently chosen for an educational poster showing the 50 most common bird species in Alabama. Of 50 pictures chosen, submitted by birders from all over the state, nine or 10 are mine.

You can see a picture of the poster and order free copies from this link on the Legacy Partners for Environmental Education Website.

We would also like to see the local television news shows and the local newspapers do more to get to the bottom of this environmental tragedy.

For the past three days in a row, The Birmingham News environmental reporter has published the same lie about the tennis courts flooding, apparently by taking information on the phone from the office and not actually visiting the site in person.

Any empirical observation by any lay person will show that the tennis courts have not flooded and have not been damaged by flooding. It is not enough for a news organization to take the word of a city official in a case like this. There is a responsibility to get off the phone, away from the e-mail, and out of the office to go look at the scene. Anything less is irresponsible journalism.