January, 2020
Lincoln – Last year I wrote a blog on disappearing birds. It drew many hits and several readers commented to me personally about it. The disappearance of birds and insects is alarming.
For those who live in Nebraska, there is still time (until February 15th) to see two artists' take on the same subject at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha. The show, which purports to speak for birds, has drawn national attention through reviews such as one in Hyperallergic magazine.
It's hard to read the first two paragraphs of the review without wincing. So this is how others see us?
Unfortunately, it's all too true. We Nebraskans are destroying our bird populations. It has been going on for decades, abetted by fencerow-to-fencerow agriculture, destruction of New Deal windbreaks, and a get-big-or-get-out farm policy. The Nebraska I once knew, of small farms and plenty of bird habitat, is gone.
I'm hoping for at least a little pushback in the anticipated Flatwater Group report on protecting the Nine Mile Prairie environs near Lincoln. These environs, with streams, pastures, riparian woodlands, and several native and restored tallgrass prairies, are a haven for birds. City and county governments will have the report for consideration as part of their 2050 comprehensive planning process.
As to the national picture, the outlook is not good. The Migratory Bird Act is being undermined even as I write this. This will not get the same attention as the impeachment trial (maybe that's the idea), but the disappearance of birds will be affecting us just as profoundly, and perhaps forever.
