Disc Golf versus a Wetland

I read - with a groan - another rant in the newspaper from someone about those "special interest" people in McHenry trying to stop progress because it would mean kids throwing frisbees in their backyards.

I thought: Can't we all learn to get along? Isn't this world big enough for the frisbee-golfers too?

After a call from one of the anti-disc golf neighbors, I realized it wasn't just a case of some folks wanting to keep other folks out of their backyards. The proposed disc golf site is located on a wetland listed on the County's natural area inventory.

There are only about 170 such natural features remaining in the entire county. These natural areas took millenia to evolve, yet the only take hours to destroy through thoughtlessness -- or malice. There are lady slipper orchids growing out there. These flowers are typically only found in natural areas that have survived the onslaught of human beings.

The soil at the park is wet, mucky, not suitable for building anything, and certainly not appropriate for a bunch of people to be running around in, tossing hard discs into metal cages.

When most parks develop amenities in wet areas, things like boardwalks are built to allow people to move across the wetlands without damaging them. Think of Volo Bog or the Bog at Glacial Park near Ringwood. The wetland isn't usually planned for intensive use best suited to a mowed lawn.

Now I will rephrase my early question: "Can't we learn to get along with nature?"

People have destroyed or dramatically altered at least 99% of the landscape somoehow to the detriment of the natural communities that were once here. There are so few remnants of these unique combinations of plants, animals, soils and insects remaining, and yet we still find ways to trample on what little is left.

Call me a savage, but I think nature deserves some places to play too.