Gleaning Facebook: Exploring Burwell Creek

I have taken these posts/pictures from two Facebook friends.

First from Melanie Abney:

Melanie Abney took these pictures and wrote the captions. I have included some of the comments made on the picture and the post. Comments in brackets are mine. Many thanks to Melanie for these wonderful pictures and gracious comments. This was a great day and I'm glad it was documented this way.

 

One last look at a dam in Burwell Creek. This tour was well worth the time. Go visit here if you haven't already. See what will be gone in a blink if something doesn't change.

Comment - Larry Madden: Thank you for a good story as only you can project. It would be so sad if these developers steal this jewel from future kids and grandchildren. They are rushing to destruction and the opportunity to stick dollars in their pockets. Sad, sad sad!

Greed comes in many forms and this is the ultimate...

A tree where the beavers have whittled the bark away.

Kids are our future. Let them learn to preserve things that can't be gotten back, like destroying wetlands for un-needed development.

More listeners.

I hope someone tags this gentleman. He cares and knows his stuff!
Comments: 
David Martin Rains: A voice crying in the wilderness 
Lyn Davis: He's a wonderful teacher, environmentalist, and uncle!
Terrell: Busy telling tonight at Cave Screams... Better hurry if you are coming. (Thx Lyn & Kevin...and David... I think. ) 

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2018 update: I had forgotten who took this great picture of me. Thank you Melanie Abney. I hope it is OK that I have used this photo a lot -- most recently on my business card.

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This pup regularly walks the Burwell Creek area. Dog trails would be an awesome thing to see here. (This is Amber Clark Ware)

Now...erase this image and replace it with apartments. NO! Why on earth would we do that? This doesn't benefit our town. This area needs to be preserved!

Can you imagine, boardwalks over beaver dams? A central park for all Romans, this is not a place for brick and mortar.

A very captive audience.

Teach your children to appreciate nature. It will pay off.

Former landfill is now a mature forest. How many of these do we have in downtown Rome, Georgia? It will be such a shame to replace this with a parking lot. Such. A. Shame!

This area was once a landfill. This area is best left alone!

A beaver slide. This is where beavers drop off into Burwell Creek. There are a lot of beavers in this particular wetland area.

If you haven't been here before...go see what we're about to lose before it's too late.

Several Dragonfly nymphs. Can you imagine a world without dragonflies? They are huge consumers of mosquitos. The larvae eat anything smaller than themselves. We really need our wetlands.

Looking for more Dragonfly nymphs. These two kids, I feel sure are not nature depraved. Kuddos to the parent!

Mosquito Fish. And guess what? I only saw ONE mosquito, during the whole tour. Destroy things, and we take away the very motion of keeping order in the ecosystem.

A dragonfly nymph with its very own photo shoot!

Both the tour leaders did an awesome job. (This is Riverkeeper Amos Tuck and David Matheny)

A beetle. Of course these are the critters that didn't vacate because of the tours. A LOT of wildlife makes this area home.

A snail. I don't remember the species.

Finding the littles hiding in the waters. This place gets deep very quickly!

There are so many "littles" that are crucial to the ecosystem. Wetlands hold so much importance to our environment. Please Google and research. Become educated!

Let's not put the drawings on these papers into existence. Save these wetlands.

Beaver Dam under the bridge. We take our natural areas too much for granted.

Burwell Creek

Second from Austin Matthews: 

Austin Matthews is my former student and I was so pleased that he came for the wetlands walk.

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Great walk through what potentially could be a strip mall. I don't know about you guys but I'd much rather see the natural beaver dams and wild life..thank you CRBI and Terrell Shaw for fighting the good fight!