A guy there tonight was from the neighborhood association and said they were
also working on getting the city to plant more trees before the existing
trees reach the end of their run. I absolutely love seeing the same
non-birding faces night after night down there! My gut feeling is that
numbers are still in the 10K range at least, but we had brought a friend for
the first time and the birds decided to do a spectacular swirl directly
above the trees that did not lend itself well to counting.
Jan
Richmond
_____
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Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 10:40 PM
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Subject: [va-richmond-general] success of martin festival
There are Purple Martin Roosts in other cites across the country that are
in serious trouble similar to what the roost in Richmond was before the Gone
To The Birds Festival on July 26th. Up until Steve Osberger and Jon Balilles
organized the festival the city would not commit to leave the trees for the
birds to roost in. They had possibly put cutting the trees off temporally
because of all the letters, emails and phone calls they had to be receiving
from bird lovers across the country. We never will know how big the threat
was but the festival appears to have removed any concerns the city may have
had that the roost was a problem and we believe they now consider it an
asset.
Sue Ridd told me today that an estimated 3300 hundred people have visited
the site since the middle of July many of which have spent money with the
merchants to wine and dine while in the Bottom to watch the birds go to
roost. It is absolutely amazing what at first seemed to be a festival that
would not draw more than a hundred people in the end resulted in turning a
potential disaster into a Hugh success and no doubt saved the trees for the
birds.
Another part of the success of this story is the fact that it has spread
to roost sites in other parts of the country and individuals and government
officials have taken notice of how the Richmond site went from a near
disaster to the success that we see in it today. Educating the public while
they are enjoying watching the birds go to roost has other cities
considering doing the same thing. There is a site on private corporate
property in Houston, TX. that was about to be destroyed but after hearing
about how the Richmond Site became a Hugh success they decided to leave the
trees for the birds to roost in. There is talk of a festival in Tulsa OK.
next year as a result of the success of the festival in Richmond.
Everyone that played a part in making the roost in Richmond a successful
and viable part of both the cities commerce and its wildlife deserve a lot
of credit. It just goes to show that where there is a will there is a way
and never give up on things that you believe in. Lets hope that we can make
this roost a home for the birds to use for many years to come and can entice
the city to plant a row of Bradford Pear Trees near by for them to use when
the existing trees die.
Your Friend,
Jimmy Fitzgerald
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