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Sustainability
Recycling • Resources • Lifestyle
Building places where
birds and people thrive
I am not, and probably never will be,
a real birder. Certainly, not like my
bird-loving parents who rarely traveled
without several pairs of binoculars
and, amazingly, could still identify birds by
sound and sight, into their 90s.
Our family trips to Florida’s Sanibel
Island in the late 1950s and 1960s always
included outings to a protected wildlife
ATLANTA
AUDUBON
SOCIETY^
sanctuary that, in 1976,
became the J.N. “Ding”
Darling National Wildlife
Refuge, one of the country’s
largest undeveloped mangrove
ecosystems. There, we stalked
Roseate Spoonbills that fed in
the shallow waters, sifting the
muck with their wide flat bills.
The alligators were always the
big entertainment for my sister
and me, as we were not very
interested in birds at the time.
I wish that I’d paid more
attention in the incredibly
diverse sanctuary and that
I could visit Ding Darling
just one more time with my
parents and hear them tell
me about the birds. When I
see a Roseate Spoonbill now
— in its natural habitat
or in an illustration
as I did recently — it
always makes me
think of my parents,
our special island and
the excitement of being
the first one to spot the
colorful birds.
I have other bird
memories and favorites: the
Great Blue FFerons and Belted
Kingfishers that never failed
to “guide” our boat down
the Chattahoochee River,
ABOVE
THE
WATER
LINE
By Sally Bethea
Sally Bethea is the
retired executive direc
tor of Chattahoochee
Riverkeeper and cur
rent board president of
Chattahoochee Parks
Conservancy whose
mission is to build a
community of support
for the Chattahoochee
River National Recre
ation Area.
as we patrolled during my
riverkeeping days; the Swallow-
Tail Kites that swooped over
our boat on the Apalachicola
River, catching flying insects,
gliding, rolling upside down
and then speeding through
the air; and, more recently, the
hundreds of Sandhill Cranes
that flew over downtown
Atlanta on a chilly December
afternoon, heading south, as we
watched in awe from a fourth
floor balcony and listened to
their distinctive cries.
At home in my intown
Atlanta neighborhood, it is
the brown and white Barred
Owl who thrills me, when
I see him or hear his classic
hoot which sounds like: “Who
cooks for you, who cooks for
you all.” One early evening, I
looked out my back door and
saw the owl sitting on a large
tree branch, staring down at
me with his penetrating eyes.
Another time, I heard loud bird
squawking and raced outside to
find several small birds flying
around the owl in agitation,
dive bombing him. Just a few
weeks ago, I heard him hoot in
the morning, as I woke up to
snow that had fallen during the
night.
Maybe I am a birder, of sorts: one who
just needs to pay more attention (now that
I’m retired) and learn about these amazing
and beautiful creatures. Fortunately, there is
a thriving chapter of the National Audubon
Society in Atlanta, originally established
nearly one hundred years ago as the Atlanta
Birding Club.
For the past four years, Atlanta
Audubon Society (AAS) has been led
by Nikki Belmonte. A longtime birder
with degrees in wildlife conservation and
environmental education, Nikki says that
she has a “job of passion.” FFer organization,
which offers field trips and lectures,
organizes bird counts and monitoring
programs and restores bird habitat in the
20-county metro region, is, according to
Nikki, on a growth trajectory with new staff
and initiatives.
Bird Fest 2018 will take pi ace
from April 14—May 13, featuring
exclusive, bird and nature-centered
field trips, workshops, and other
special events across metro Adanta
and Georgia. Authors Julie Zikafoose
and Janisse Ray are confirmed
speakers. Registration opens to AAS
members on March 1 and the public
on March 8 at atIantaaudubon.org/
adanta-bird-fest. Slots fill up fast, so
register early. IN
Urban
Agriculture
New AgLanta
Grows-A-Lot
program to help
end food deserts
Mario Cambardella
City of Atlanta Urban Agriculture Director
The City of Atlanta has announced
the launch of the AgLanta Grows-A-Lot
program representing the first step towards
creating a process by which city-owned land
can be utilized for food production.
The AgLanta Grows-A-Lot pilot
program will provide a 5-year renewable,
license for farmers, non-profits and residents
to adopt vacant, city-owned land to grow
fresh, healthy food for themselves and their
community. Nine out of these 10 pilot
sites are located in a USDA low-income,
low-access food desert area. The pilot
reflects the city’s commitment to reach a
goal set by Atlanta’s former Mayor Kasim
Reed: ensuring that 75 percent of Atlanta
residents will be within a 10-minute walk
to healthy food by 2020. This goal has been
incorporated and Atlanta’s new Resilience
Strategy. The Grows-A-Lot pilot represents
one of the many action steps in the Resilient
Atlanta Strategy (which covers numerous
topics, ranging from affordable housing
to clean energy, transportation etc.) to be
implemented in 2018.
The Office of Resilience led by Chief
Resilience Officer Stephanie Stuckey,
with urban agriculture director Mario
Cambardella, food systems planner
Elizabeth Beak, and a host of community
partners spent a year planning this program.
The team analyzed 78 vacant, city-owned
properties and identified 10 properties
suitable for food production. An advisory
committee comprised of urban growers and
food system leaders helped create a clear
application process.
The good news is Atlanta’s food desert
map is also changing to reflect the evolution
of Atlanta’s local food movement. A food
desert is defined as an area that has limited
access to affordable and nutritious food.
Between 2010 and 2016 Atlanta’s food
desert area decreased by 17 percent (from
covering 53 percent of the total area of the
City of Atlanta to 36 percent). FFowever,
there is more work to be done.
Partnerships will be key in ensuring that
AgLanta pilot Grows-A-Lot urban garden
and farm teams succeed. We invite you to
visit AgLanta.org to learn more about the
program.
Editor’s Note: To read a more extensive
version of Mario Cambardella’s column on
AgLanta, visitAtlantaINtownPaper.com. EC]
32 February 2018 | ITT
AtlantalNtownPaper.com