Your Piece of the Planet

The schedule for public meetings is out, so now the public can participate in the official process for planning the future of the county’s parks.  The Prince William County Park Authority has an ambitious schedule to update its long-tern strategic and comprehensive plans, and also complete at least two site-specific plans for individual parks.

The park system’s Strategic Plan provides the “big picture” and guides the development of future recreation facilities and programs that will be offered during the 2011-2015 time period.

The Comprehensive Plan for the park system is a different document from the Comp Plan that the Board of Coounty Supervisors approves.  The Park Authority’s Comprehensive Plan is intended to portray how individual parks will be developed in the long run.  If you’re wondering what sort of ballfields, trails, or other development is planned for future development at a particular park, the park system’s Comprehensive Plan should be a useful reference.

Two individual park plans are likely to generate discussion this Fall, for the Wiita tract and Silver Lake.
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The National Park Service is inviting public comment on an environmental assessment regarding their proposal to repair 14 cabins at Prince William Forest Park.

It’s not a tough issue.   The cabins were built originally in the 1930’s.  The No Action alternative is to let the buildings continue to deteriorate over time.  The Preferred Alternative is to replace the roofs, rotted railings, broken windows, etc.

What’s nice to see is how the Federal agency invites public participation before taking action. Read the rest of this entry »

Like the idea of a Metrorail extension to Woodbridge, even to Potomac Mills?  Think that an extension of the Blue Line is the simple answer, the “silver bullet” to solve all of our congestion issues?  If the entire crowd in the carpool can figure this out during casual conversation while commuting, why can’t those silly politicians just make it happen?

And do you expect the Federal and state governments will pay for the extension, because we have so many cars crowding I-95 and there are so many Federal employees in them, commuting north to jobs in Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria, and DC?

As much as I’d like to see the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, and Santa Claus bring something for nothing… it ain’t gonna happen.  Prince William businesses, and probably homeowners, will have to dig into their pockets if we want to get Metrorail to run down the Route 1 corridor.  Expect to dig deep, perhaps pay $$$ billions of extra taxes in order to get extra services.
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(August is nearly over.  Summer break is done, and we’re back to blogging again.)

Every year, monarch butterflies migrate to the same patch of woods in Mexico. The insects will spend the winter there, just as generations have done in the past.

How the butterflies know when to leave and how they know what direction to fly is a stunning example of the wonders of nature.  Every year, they do the same thing.  By overwintering as adults in Mexico, they get a head start so massive numbers can move north in the spring.  Each spring, multiple generations will hatch, fly further north, and take advantage of the emerging milkweed flowers. (For more on the science, see Journey North.)

The downside of having rigid genetic programming for this migration is that the monarchs are at risk if conditions change.  Their forest haven in Mexico provides a rare shelter for survival – but if illegal logging continues there, the monarchs will be exposed to cold and moisture and may not survive.  Their evolutionary ability to adapt to fast-changing conditions is limited.

These smart-but-limited insects provide a parallel for the PW County Planning Commission and Board of County Supervisors.

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