HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-17-22 Public Comment - C. Nagel - Gallatin Wildlife Association Comments on Fowler Avenue Connection ProjectFrom:Clint Nagel
To:Agenda
Subject:[WARNING: ATTACHMENT UNSCANNED]Gallatin Wildlife Association Comments on Fowler Avenue Connection
Project
Date:Wednesday, August 17, 2022 8:24:04 AM
Attachments:20220815.Fowler Expansion.docx
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Dear City Commissioners:
Please accept the comments found below in the attachment concerning the
issue listed above in the subject heading. We believe there is merit in
listening to residents and to turn this issue into a teaching moment for
Bozeman's community.
We see the issue of a forest corridor is certainly one that adds to the value of
people's home, but our organization is more interested in the preservation of
ecological niches as they exist. These isolated pockets of "urban wildness"
(and we use that term loosely) have value for the mammal and bird
population that exists.
We believe that perhaps both worlds can exist with the proper planning. That
in fact is what we would like to see. We do understand the city's desire for a
connection and linkage of streets for many purposes.
We believe that compromise and planning can alleviate some of the
disastrous effects of a full scale destruction of an ecological habitat. We must
learn to adapt and incorporate our ecological integrity into the city landscape
when we have the opportunity to do so. A park-like setting will blend and
soften the city landscape within the natural surroundings.
Thank you for this opportunity to comment.
Clinton Nagel, President
Gallatin Wildlife Association
August 15, 2022
Re: Fowler Expansion:
Bozeman City Commission
121 North Rouse Ave
Bozeman, Montana 59715
Dear City Commissioners:
As you know, the Fowler Avenue Connection Project (from this point on referred to as the
Fowler Expansion) has gained public attention recently. Actions by the city, reactions by
citizen groups, and follow-up reporting by news media have rekindled an old battleline
within urban communities, the value of greenspace vs that of concrete and asphalt.
Historically, our organization has not participated in such matters, primarily because
we’re a wildlife advocacy organization, focused on wildlife issues across southwest
Montana. Wildlife issues normally involve policies and actions as they occur on state and
federal public lands. However, with an ever-increasing amount of wildlife habitat being
influenced by actions of private landowners, the health of wildlife and their respective
habitat have become more problematic. As Bozeman grows in population, so does growth
that invades the habitat of many species of wildlife, entrapping many individuals over
time within or in close proximity to city limits.
Bozeman is fortunate. Wildlife exists in close proximity to our community. Many of the
city’s residents live here for that reason, to be close to nature. But with that accessibility,
there comes responsibility on everyone’s part to co-exist with wildlife and to do them no
harm. But people being as they are, make that goal easier said than done. Conflicts are
the normal result.
Gallatin Wildlife Association (GWA) is a local, all volunteer wildlife conservation
organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of wildlife, fisheries, habitat
and migration corridors in Southwest Montana and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem,
using science-based decision making. We are a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization founded
in 1976. GWA recognizes the intense pressures on our wildlife from habitat loss and
climate change, and we advocate for science-based management of public lands for
diverse public values, including but not limited to hunting and angling.
The issue of the Fowler Expansion was recently brought to our attention on a number of
occasions. We understand the city of Bozeman being in favor of the Fowler Expansion.
We also understand Bozeman has had project designs in their planning stage for a long
GALLATIN WILDLIFE ASSOCIATION
P. O. Box 5317
Bozeman, MT 59717
(406) 586-1729 www.gallatinwildlife.org
time. But we must recognize that lands absent of disturbance can and will revert back
their natural condition. Over time and under the right conditions, this may lead to a sense
of “wildness”, where a landscape may actually increase in biodiversity. Our organization
is not saying that the lands pertaining to the Fowler Expansion is an “oasis” of wilderness
in the city limits, but we are saying this “greenspace” has become more valuable in the
context of greenspace. Hence, we should tread lightly and properly.
Just as the city is saying that Bozeman’s citizenry should not be surprised by the city’s
willingness to move forward on this expansion, the city should also not be surprised by
the fact that this untouched landscape (over years) has drawn local support and
appreciation by many in the community for the role it plays in our urban society.
We surely know that greenspace is an important value in amongst the urban environment.
It is important to the mental health of people in those communities, as has been studied
and we could provide much science in that regard. But we want to keep within our realm
of natural and physical sciences as it relates to wildlife and our warming world. In an
online article in Eos dated May 21, 2021, Kimberly M.S. Cartier makes a number of valid
and scientific points.
“Green spaces in and around cities, collectively known as urban forests, can mitigate regional and local flooding from storms, reduce water scarcity, improve air and water
quality, regulate temperature, and aid soil nutrient cycling, all while sequestering carbon.
Each tree in that forest is important. With all of their steel, asphalt, and concrete, cities
are typically a few degrees hotter on average than the surrounding undeveloped land, a phenomenon known as the urban heat island effect. The same phenomenon occurs on a
subcity scale to a degree that depends on a neighborhood’s green space. “Trees are a really important contributor to reducing heat in neighborhoods,” explained Fushcia-Ann
Hoover, an urban hydrologist whose research is informed by environmental justice. She is a postdoctoral researcher at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center in
Annapolis, Md. “If a tree shades part of your home or much of your neighborhood, it’s going to be cooler than neighborhoods where you don’t have trees on the block at all.””
We are not writing this letter just for the protection of greenspace, although we could
easily support such an approach. We need to be true to our mission, to defend and speak
on behalf of wildlife. We were presented a document entitled “Habitat and Wetland
Assessment, Section Line Ditch Corridor, Bozeman, Montana” dated September 2001.
This study was prepared for Section Line Ditch Homeowners and was prepared by Hyalite
Environmental, LLP in association with Biologist Renee LaFond. We noted in reading the
Pre-Design Report by Sanderson Stewart, reference was also made to the report by
Hyalite Environmental. We realize this study may be viewed as being outdated being 21
years old, and we realize that the surrounding landscape has changed over these past 21
years. But recent statements by area homeowners and residents still seem to verify some
of the findings within the report.
The quote below found on page 10 of the report highlights the recent reports of citizenry
observations. Bozemanites have come to expect deer and other wildlife species inhabiting
areas within the confines of the city limits. Perhaps it is even desired by many. GWA wants
to speak for wildlife that have either been left behind; whether it be by the interruption of
migration patterns of some species or species experiencing dieoffs as a result of being
entrapped within the city limits from a fast-paced development. This scenario may exist
especially where remnants of their habitat may still remain largely intact yet surrounded
by development.
The report above brings into the discussion an issue which does not receive much
attention in and around Bozeman, the role of cottonwood forests. We need to recognize
that the cottonwood forest ecosystem does exist as defined in this report. These forests
are part of the region’s ecology and deserve to be considered as having value.
“Mule deer (Odocodein hemionus) take advantage of many types of habitat, including
cottonwood forest and were observed during the field investigations. Mule deer browse and eat a great variety of vegetation including fresh green leaves, twigs, lower branches
of trees and various grasses. Seasonal movements of mule deer include migrations from higher elevations (summer range) to lower winter range associated with decreasing
temperatures, severe snow storms and snow depths that reduce food supply and mobility. Cottonwood corridors provide useable range during these times. The forested
corridor provides protective cover from predators from spring to fall and for delivering (mid to early June) and harboring their young.”
This report does not just focus on mule deer, but on the other small mammals and
countless species of birds. We would like to focus the City Commission to the paragraph
below. This is the opening paragraph of a letter from Jay Rotella, who at that time (April
2001) was Associate Professor and Head of the Ecology Department at Montana State
University. If the City Commission has not read or become informed of this document,
we suggest they do.
“I am writing regarding the preservation of the cottonwood corridor along the irrigation ditch that runs along the east side of the Swenson – Kreitzberg – Anderson properties
and the western boundary of the Sipple properties. As a wildlife biologist that has been studying avian communities in the Gallatin Valley and the Greater Yellowstone
Ecosystem for 9 years, I have been very impressed with (1) the historic loss of cottonwood
habitat, (2) the rarity of cottonwood forests in our region, and (3) the incredible diversity
of wildlife that depends on cottonwood habitat. Cottonwood forests and other riparian habitats such as willow and sedge dominated sites along rivers, streams, creeks, and
irrigation ditches comprise much less than 1% of vegetative cover in our region and are rare throughout the west. They, are however, used by a very impressive array of wild
birds, mammals and amphibians. Species ranging from small songbirds such as warblers, sparrows, towhees and vireos to large birds such as cranes, several owls to
gamebirds such as partridge and pheasants are often associated with these rare habitats. Further, many of these species depend completely on these habitats for nesting
and rearing young. Our field studies (funded by USDA, MT Fish Wildlife and Parks, and NASA) indicate that 28 species of birds depend upon cottonwood forests in the Gallatin
Valley, i.e., they are not present in other habitats.”
Again, we recognize conditions and landscapes on the ground surely have changed in
these past 21 years as development encroached upon the area (surely one would think so).
The biodiversity and abundance of wildlife has surely changed, but we would like to fully
ensure that the utmost consideration be given to the forest and surrounding landscape.
GWA has also read the Pre-Design Report by Sanderson Stewart of Bozeman dated July
2022. Within that report, only minor attention was given to the Biological Resource
Summary, an assessment which was conducted by Weston Solution. The same can be said
for the Wetland Summary, again prepared by Weston Solution. In both instances, the
public is referred to Appendix H, an appendix which is fairly brief in its analysis compared
to the report of 21 years ago.
We would like to focus on a couple of quotes from that memorandum report of July 7,
2022.
“The riparian corridor provides a unique habitat that is declining in the region and is
within an otherwise developed area. Regional wildlife are known to use the habitat for
nesting and foraging. Throughout most of the project area, the wildlife habitat is of low
quality as would be expected in an urban roadside environment.”
We agree with the summation that this riparian corridor is a unique habitat, one that is
declining in the region. And we agree that regional wildlife are known to use the habitat
for nesting and foraging. Even though the habitat may be of low quality due to the location
of the habitat, (an obvious assumption) we contend the fact that this represents an
ecosystem that is declining in the area makes it more of value not less. The second quote
that we would like to comment on is found page 3 of same memorandum.
“Due to the heavily altered and urbanized habitat within the project area, mammal species are limited to those adapted to urban environments such as deer, fox, skunks,
coyote, racoons, squirrels, mice, and voles.”
In referencing the bird population, we would like to augment our comments by
highlighting the following below concerning populations and habitat. Continuing on page
3 of that memorandum, there is the following:
“Due to the suburban environment surrounding the project area, and the current and
historical agricultural management of the fields, species are limited to those that are well
adapted to altered and urban environments. A narrow riparian zone is present along
the creek that is within and adjacent to the project area. The riparian area and
surrounding fields provide foraging and nesting habitat for a variety of bird species.”
After the listing of the variety of birds utilizing this corridor, the memorandum sums up
the habitat in this light.
“The birds in the project area primarily use the narrow riparian corridor within the
project area for habitat and foraging. Riparian areas provide valuable habitat wherever
they are present. Due to the rapid suburban development in the Bozeman area, similar
impacts to riparian habitat outside of the project area are present, increasing the overall
impacts of development on regional bird species.”
In spite of the obvious condition that the urban development is not a high-quality habitat
for mammals and birds, these reports seem to overlook the quality of the landscape that
the area does have. What needs to be acknowledged, is the character of the forest corridor
places even more importance upon the landscape – the fact that the habitat character
exists at all is in itself of importance. We agree and disagree with two statements found in
the Biological Resource Summary on page 51 of the Pre-design Report by Sanderson
Stewart.
We disagree with the statement:
“Due to the existing low-quality habitat conditions within the proposed project footprint,
the long-term impact to mammals is expected to be negligible.”
We take the counter view. Removal of this fragile habitat for wildlife will have severe long-
term impact on those specific mammals because these habitats are isolated and few in
number upon the urban landscape.
We do agree with the statement:
“Due to the rapid suburban development in the Bozeman area, similar impacts to habitat
outside of the project area are present, increasing the overall impacts of development on
regional mammals.”
This is certainly true and is why we take the position we do. The city must decide how or
if we want to incorporate wildlife within the city limits. Do we want to give them space?
Do we want to give them protection? The City of Bozeman along with the County and
other stakeholders are involved in the Sensitive Lands Study. It would be wise to
understand the linkage and the migratory habits of species as to how or if they move from
outside to within the city limits. What do those migratory habits look like. Where are those
linkages and how important are they?
Until then, we believe there is room for both worlds to exist. We need to take emphasis
off of a high use corridor destroying a natural landscape and place more emphasis on the
protection of the forest and the adjoining ecosystem. Both can be done by converting the
appropriate landscape as a park with a low-speed parkway paralleling the Section Line
Ditch Corridor. This makes the most sense as we get to protect the resource and still
provide connection to the community with a north-south alignment providing emergency
services with accessibility. The city of Bozeman needs to take advantage of the assets it
has. Greenspace which has been part of the community for all these years is an asset, not
a liability. It needs to be viewed as such.
In the rush of urban and community development, communities across this country are
too quick to tear down in order to build something up. Bozeman is no different. We seem
to be too concerned about trying to become a “big city”, but the city must not neglect
listening to their residents. This corridor along the Section Line Ditch is prime habitat for
a park with an informative center explaining the importance of the cottonwood forest
ecosystem. There is something of value here and the city would be better off to enlist this
resource and make it part of the community. This could be a teaching moment for
Bozeman and its residents. Perhaps science field trips could be organized to inform and
educate the public about the landscape in which they live. GWA recommends we should
take advantage of what we have. Just as each tree in the forest corridor has value, so does
each forest corridor that exists. They all maintain a semblance of ecological integrity to
the community that perhaps we as a community can build on. These enclaves of forests
have never been more necessary and important than now, especially in a time of climate
change.
We thank the City Commission for any serious consideration it gives our comments and
suggestions.
Sincerely.
Clinton Nagel, President
Gallatin Wildlife Association