Hart-Miller Island North CellGene:
Thanks for asking for our input for North Cell design elements. Here is my "wish list" for things that would make the North Cell birder-friendly when it enters it's public era. They are not necessarily in order of priority. I'm posting this to the list-serve in the hope of generating some brainstorming.
1) Lots of benches, spaced at intervals all around the cell.
1 a) It would be ideal if the benches had shade roofs. These are commonly used in parks in the desert southwest but aren't much seen in our area. The ones I am thinking of are metal (aluminum?) and appear to be available commercially - you see the same kind all over the place out west. The metal ones would be cold in the winter but would require less maintenance than wood.
1b) It would be nifty if the benches themselves were the kind they have at the boardwalk, with a backrest that can be flipped over to face either way. This would allow viewing of either the interior of the cell or the bay/inlet.
1c) Picnic tables with shade roofs with also be wonderful. Just two or three, close together, at the north end of the North Cell, again with shade roofs.
1d) Now this is truly on the luxury end of the scale, but thinking about Hart-Miller in the dead of winter, when the winds are roaring off the bay, leads me to add - IF there are picnic tables under shade roofs, it would be very nice to have some sort of moveable closure for the sides - sliding doors or panels that could be easily opened or closed, to create a windbreak.
2) Drinking water stations, for humans. Two or three, spread out around the cell.
3) Drinking water stations/birdbaths with fresh water, for birds, near the woodland at the current state park and in a location easily viewed by birders on the dike. Goal: to bring songbirds into view. Counting the birds in the woods is always a challenge. It would help to bring some of them out where they can be seen more easily. I'm surprised that we don't see them bathing/drinking in the little ponds in the marsh more often, but we don't. It might be a visibility issue or it might be a water depth/water quality. Hence, put something with shallow, fresh water out in the open.
4) This is a landscaping element and not technically a hardscape design element, but while I'm thinking about songbirds - plantings with berry-yielding and seed-yielding native plants, on the sides of the dikes and on the remnant of the original island at the north end. The idea is to provide food for songbirds and also to bring them out where they can be seen.
5) Restrooms. Two or three, spread out around the cell.
6) A boardwalk out into the North Cell.
6a) If possible, a boardwalk that would go right across the cell. It would offer close-up viewing of birds way out in the middle, plus would offer a short-cut across the cell for weary birders.
6b) If it is not feasible to build a boardwalk all the way across the cell, then two or three short dead-end ones going out into the cell, with large viewing platforms at their ends, would be a good alternative. The goal is to get close to the birds.
Based on what I saw in the man-made Wakadohatchee wetlands in South Florida this past September, such a boardwalk doesn't disturb the birds. I had Tricolored Herons perched on the boardwalk railing at arm's length, and Common Moorhens dabbled at my feet all through the wetland.
7) This is not exactly a design feature, but I don't know what else to call it. Some way to keep dirt bikes, four-wheelers, and other yet-to-be-invented man-made annoyances off the island. My concern is that once the island becomes a state park, fully open to the public, it will beckon to those who like riding in circles, kicking up dirt and dust. And they will find a way to get their machines over there, unless we plan to prevent it before it starts.
8) Mile markers at tenth-mile intervals around the dike. Goal: to provide an easy reference point for bird sightings. Come to think of it, it might be better to use alphabet letters rather than numbers. Most people would remember the alpha letters more easily than numbers. "The Whimbrel is on the side of the dike between M and N" versus "The Whimbrel is on the side of the dike between 5.6 and 5.7"
9) A sightings board/bulletin board/sign-in log. We have to start thinking about the day when birders might be coming and going at will on all days of the week, rather than the controlled access we now have. We will need a way to share our sightings on location. The clipboard at Bombay Hook is a good simple model that has worked for years.
10) This is certainly way out in the fantasy realm, but I wonder if it would be feasible to have a computer kiosk with an internet connection, at the sightings board. The idea is to give birders a way to post rarity sightings almost instantaneously. The internet browser could be set up to restrict it to specific sites (e.g., MDOsprey, other similar sites) to avoid abuse. Many birders now have wireless Blackberries etc that do e-mail from pretty much anywhere, but not everyone has this or would want to carry theirs out to Hart-Miller. A computer kiosk would take the simple sightings clipboard into the electronic age.
11) Dare I ask for an ice cream and soda concession? No, never mind. That would lead to a gift shop and I don't want to go there. Let's not get too domesticated out there. I will also forego asking for a burro stable.
Explanatory note about the burro reference:
I have been telling Gene that burros would provide the ideal means of locomotion to take birders around Hart-Miller, but he doesn't buy it. I mean, if they can have mules at the Grand Canyon, why not burros at Hart-Miller? They are small, they don't eat much, they are amiable, they can take extreme heat and cold, they can carry a lot of weight for their size, and their noses are velvet-soft. Wouldn't you like to ride a burro on your next trip to Hart-Miller?
Marcia
Marcia Watson
Elkton, Maryland
Cecil Bird Club
Maryland Ornithological Society
----- Original Message -----
From: Eugene J. Scarpulla
To:
Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2007 4:29 PM
Subject: Hart-Miller Island North Cell
At the last Hart-Miller Island North Cell Closure Team Working Group
meeting, a request was made to solicit input from interested individuals for
design elements for the final plan for Hart-Miller Island. This is the
opportunity for all of you that have told me over the years "Hart-Miller
needs ..." or "I wish Hart-Miller had ..." or "I would go to Hart-Miller if
it had ..." Please send me all of your comments. They will be submitted to
the consulting firm that is creating the final design for the North Cell. A
matrix will then be created evaluating "capital" costs and "operation and
maintenance" costs. The options will be evaluated by the Working Group for
the final design.
Now is your chance to have a say. Thanks.
Gene
Gene Scarpulla
Millers Island, Maryland
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