Monday, August 17, 2015

Biking With The Indian Ghosts In Arlington's Village Creek Unnatural Historic Area

Today in the noon time frame the outer world was chilled to a temperature somewhere in the 80s. That's about the same temperature I have my interior A/C set to.

What with the chilly fall-like air it seemed to me to be a good idea to drive to Arlington to roll my bike wheels with the Indian Ghosts at the Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

The two most recent visits with the Indian Ghosts have been made annoying be the presence of a clear cutting operation spewing a lot of dust, noise and trail blocking trucks.

Today the clear cutters were gone, and what they left behind is not aesthetically pleasing. Above you can see my handlebars looking at a section of cut clear of brush.

I have been visiting the Village Creek Indian Ghosts for many years. This is the first time this type extensive  clear cutting has taken place.

If the name of this place is Village Creek Natural Historical Area, doesn't it seem a bit counter-intuitive to destroy the natural brush?

I can only think of a few reasons for doing this. One being that maybe some people were made nervous by the closed in, jungle-like foliage the paved trail passed through, fearing some evil doer might be lurking.

Was it thought the dried brush presented a fire hazard? If so, why now and not years previous?

Had some people reported being freaked out be a snake suddenly slithering out of the underbrush, onto the trail? Currently it would be a lot more difficult for a snake to slither without being early detected.

I'm sure come next spring the brush will quickly grow back to jungle status. But in the meantime, what are the armadillos supposed to do? Armadillos like their underbrush.

So do I....

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