Introduction to the Site
For this first blog post, I want to tell you about the area that I have chosen for my blog. As you can see from the maps below, it is very developed. It is located between S. 1st and S. Lamar. This seems like a unlikely place for this kind of assignment, but it is a great example of human development and the environmental costs that we sometimes don’t take the time appreciate even though we are surrounded by everyday.
Surrounding Structures
"The world has shrunk to those mean dimensions known to county clerks." A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
Notice that there is a railroad track that runs down the middle and through the city. On the east side of the tracks, the houses are a good distance away, but development has pushed more houses towards the tracks on the west side. The train runs multiple times a day and is quite loud, even from the east side. When sitting outside on Sept. 23, 2015 when the train was running at about 1pm. I don’t know much about the physics of sounds, but it was still pretty loud despite the distance and thick foliage.
Satellite View
Another perspective is to look at the satellite view as it will give an idea of how the space is being used. Obviously the straight line is the train tracks. The West Bouldin Creek is so small that it is not visible from this satellite photo. There is a great amount of wooded areas. There does not appear to be any development encroaching on the area which leads me to think that it is protected for some reason, but I will leave that for a later blog post.
Personal Reflection
"Men are only fellow voyagers with other creatures in the odyssey of evolution." A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
The main perspective that I wanted to cover in this post is what it is like living in an area such as this. There is a lot of development and many years that have gone into making this neighborhood the way it is. We forget sometimes that there are other living creatures living along side us especially in a decent sized city like this. Below are some picture of the view of that big wooded area, but from the side of the houses. It is manicured and walled off from the little bit of nature that exists around here.
I am not sure how I feel about that. We are nature, but have gone to great lengths to separate ourselves from the rest of the animal kingdom. This is just a fence, but it is also a great metaphor for humans and our relationship with nature. We find it bothersome when a raccoon, squirrel or rabbit is seen in the yard, but that is what they do. There are no boundaries or fences that they politely respect due to an understood etiquette. We have just successfully pushed them out more and more until a single sighting of animals is an event.
On Saturday Sept. 19, 2015, I was sitting outside taking some pictures and making a point to watch the trees and it was very active. We all know that there lot of squirrels, but these trees were going crazy with activity. I had just never paid attention.
Conclusion
In the upcoming blog entries I will be taking various views on the critters, plants, affects of the railroad etc. There will also be a point where I get a feel for the wooded area to see what it looks like first hand from the other side of the fence. For some reason, I think that there will be some surprising revelations. Especially when it comes to West Bouldin Creek.
