Audubonic Plague

I just found a reason to dislike the Audubon Society.

I've always had a pretty good image of them -- nature, birds, all of that. There's a wetlands area near where I live that they take care of, and I like that. The wetlands is part of a housing development that went in about ten years ago. The original plan had been to put houses where the wetlands are , and there was a lot of argument about that. The wetlands designation, and some swales, was the result. Therein lies the problem.

There are trees that overhang the sidewalks in the swale area, so that every so often you have to duck down, or step out into the street, to get around them. Its not a big deal, but its a bother. The Society had been taking care of 'their area', but not so much the swales. So twice -- once, about six months ago, and today -- I went over there with loppers and I cut down the overhang, tossing the cutoffs into the underbrush.

Today I learned from a somewhat disturbed fellow that the homeowners association had just taken that responsibility over, and they were in the process of hiring someone to cut the grass, trim the overhangs, and all of that. They did not want someone like me just coming along and doing what I had done If the Society found out that I was doing that, he said, I'd be in Big Trouble.

My feeling? You see a problem that nobody's fixing, that you can fix? You fix it. And as for the Society? Well, if they really would have that attitude -- "We're not going to take care of that area, but we'll take Action on you if you do", then --

The hell with them.