by Riverwalk Birding Club
posted July 10, 2008
This week Chattanooga lost one of the prime birding locations in this area.
Monday morning Riverwalk Bird Club member Charles Dean arrived early at his favorite birding location only to find Standifer Gap Marsh (SGM) dry. He was there Thursday and did not notice anything unusual but was shocked to see it drained on Monday with thousands of dead fish.
For many years SGM has been a favorite location for birders. We had heard recently that someone had filed a lawsuit against the railroad because beavers had plugged the drain under the railroad and caused flooding on their property. We do not know what happened at this time, the drain could have been opened. TWRA was contacted and they were not aware that it was dry. A long dry spell would lower the water slowly and has before, also several reports indicate that it has dried up before in past years, but this happened very fast .
We can only hope that someday someone will do something to protect these valuable wetlands, a system to control the water level may be the answer. But who would be responsible to do that?
Leave it to the beavers may be the answer but they do not seem to know when enough is enough. We need to control and protect our wetlands.
Thanks to Charles for these great photos.
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