Quote:
Originally Posted by jacksonla
Our home backs onto a gopher turtle preserve (Chaparral Drive) with high power lines. A coyote hid her three pups in a turtle nest this spring and we enjoyed watching the pups play through our binoculars. Bald eagles nest nearby and hunt for prey in the foot high grasses. A wild turkey can be seen feeding in the grasses most days. Many butterflies, birds, rabbits and squirrels live here also. They feel safe because only occasionally does a human being enter this beautiful preserve.
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Well, that would make sense if the grass was really a foot high, like you say. But it's not, in any of the preserves I have seen. It's mowed regularly -- which gives the lie the notion that it's a "preserve". And they are NOT pretty. There are just grassy plains interrupted by a tortoise mound and a red flag, every 10 yards or so.
Yes, my property is a block from a "preserve", too, and I love the fact that there is a big tract of undeveloped land near me. I just pity the poor creatures who are imprisoned there in order to call it a "preserve". And I wish it wasn't so ugly.
If it's really a preserve, it should remain unmowed, and include a few trees and natural food sources for the inmates. In fact, there should be a program to check on the tortoises and insure that they're getting a proper diet in their little prison, so maybe they won't be so desperate to escape.
On the other hand, if it's just a tax dodge, my question is, why can't the tax dodge be "preserved", while also allowing low-impact use of the land, the same way the everglades is preserved? I take a walk every day. It would be nice to walk around the perimeter of a pretty nature preserve, instead of facing traffic in the golf cart lane of a busy street like Belle Meade.
And just one more point. Did you notice how every single responder found something to oppose in my pointing out the absurdity of mowing a "preserve"? I've noticed that every time someone suggests an improvement or problem in our community, it is always met with vociferous resistance on this forum. Does an old mind have to be a closed mind?