Now may be the time......

I have spent much of my life living within a mile of my river, if not on its banks.....soon after moving into an apartment literally on the banks of the river 4 years ago, there was suddenly talk of how much better the river would be if commercialized.

The talk centered around taking 100 acres of the west bank of the river right at the exact point where I lived.   Nothing was said publicly about taking out the apartments, but there was no way I could see to get the 100 acres without tearing down my home and the home of many others.

The river has a path along both banks which gets lots of foot and bicycle traffic, yet, the west bank is 'the road less traveled' and so has many sights that the east bank doesn't.  The trail along the east bank is also bordered by a 4 lane road.  The speed limit is 40 mph, but many seem to feel that doesn't apply to them, and routinely whiz by going 50, 60, and up from there.

Thus the westbank is quieter, has more opportunities to view wildlife, and to slow down.   So when the talk came of 'commercializing' it with restaurants, bars, etc, my heart sank.   I protested loud and long to anyone I could find, wrote letters explaining how there seem to be so few areas left where people can be close to nature, without car traffic.

One such experience came when I was walking the path, and a grandfather, and grandson passed me on bicycles.   The first I knew of them was as I was walking down a steep incline with a right angle turn at the bottom (if you go straight, you get to go swimming in the river).   One morning I heard someone say, "Do you know how to use your brakes", and thought uhoh, and turned to see the grandfather, and grandson who might have been 6 or 7.   The grandson replied 'yes' and smoothly passed me, and safely made the turn.

I caught up with them again later, as they had stopped.  The young man was picking up goose tail feathers and giving them to his granddad to keep.  One was pretty much like another, but the grandfather was carefully taking each one and putting them in his backpack.

Again they climbed on their bikes and road off.   Further down the path was a little inlet adjoining a floating amphitheater.   They had stopped there again, as the boy had seen many turtles sunning.  There were also several little blue herons wading in the water, and people had stopped to take pictures of them.

The boy was wanting his grandfather to take pictures of the turtles as well.

Living there, and watching people's joy as they had these brushes with nature, to me is priceless.  The path is open to anyone, and all its delights are free.  There are many of us who can't take fancy (or even not fancy) vacations to wilderness spots, or national parks, but we can enjoy these sights free, and without extensive travel.
I had recently seen this article which to me seemed to express the feelings and thoughts that I have about my river........http://blog.nature.org/2010/10/why-we-love-rivers-our-threads-of-wildness-and-mystery/

To commercialize this area seemed sure to change the whole 'vibe'.   I decided rather than sit there and wait for it to happen, I would simply move to the other bank.   There it is more congested, with fewer opportunities to witness nature, and with more traffic, traffic noise, and exhaust, but it is still rather unspoiled compared to some places.  I felt it would be safe from further development because there are old historic housing districts nearby, and I was sure the residents of those places would not want commercial development en masse next to their homes.

So evidently I was wrong, and now the plan is to develop both sides of the river, with the current plan to take the apartments where I live (which were quietly sold for such a purpose 3 years ago).

So I've decided rather than stay and worry about when and how and where I'd go, and what will happen to all the creatures, great and small who live and travel through here, I would just move further from the river.

A type of 'out of sight, out of mind' defense.  I also decided to try to once again buy a little house, where I can have my own small nature preserve, albeit without a river running through it.