Letters to the Editor
Wetlands cannot be used as driving range
Residents of Campus Lodge on Livingston Avenue, a half mile from the university, are mostly USF students.
Behind the Lodge’s apartment buildings are wetlands required by law for water filtration and wildlife use. Herons, ducks, woodpeckers, egrets, flycatchers and owls, among other species, use the resources there.
But, sadly, on any given day a walk through the wetlands preserve allows me to collect another dozen golf balls.
Whoever is driving balls into what they suppose is a wasteland is mistaken, and his or her habit could be deadly. A family of Sandhill cranes — two parents and two babies — lives there. One of the baby cranes was killed recently. Students who can see from their window where the birds sleep — on an elevated platform in the water — saw the youngster (who walked but could not yet fly) limping first. A mother duck, raising a brand new brood of babies all on her own, also lives and sleeps in the wetland.
If someone is swinging a few balls, maybe they could rethink the wisdom of that.
Surely our university students have some conscience about shared resources.
Louise Raterman is a senior majoring in environmental science and policy.
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