value of the place. Will County's appraisers have come 

 up with a figure that is about half of what Chicago 

 Gravel's appraisers think is a fair price. The company has 

 come down from that first figure, but there is still a yawn- 

 ing gulf between the parties. At this writing, the county 

 is beginning proceedings to exercise its right of eminent 

 domain, so it will be up to a court to determine a final 

 price. 



If all goes well, the county will take over the prop- 

 erty and administer it as a nature preserve. Their plans 

 call for some marsh restoration along the shore lines, a 

 new fence around the property, and an absolute mini- 

 mum of human interference with the birds. An observa- 

 tion tower, or if that seems too obtrusive, some observa- 

 tion blinds, could be put up along the north shore. With 

 them in place, the lake could be a splendid educational 

 resource, a chance for close and continuing scrutiny of 

 the birds. 



But problems may be developing. Human activity 

 made this rookery possible, and it may take more such 

 action to keep it healthy. The rookery islands are tiny 

 things, not much more than six feet wide and less than 

 200 feet long. The box elders that invaded them have 

 now endured more than two decades of herons, and 

 some of the trees are beginning to collapse under the 

 strain. 



A rookery is a place that only a heron could love. A 

 little excrement is great fertilizer, but the constant rain 

 of droppings from all those big birds may be too much of a 

 good thing. And then there is the mechanical damage 

 produced by all those thousands of takeoffs and landings. 

 And if that isn't enough, beavers in the lake are appar- 

 ently thinning out some of the understory trees. There 

 are rookeries elsewhere whose nests are built on man- 

 made platforms, and that kind of construction may be- 

 come necessary at Lake Renwick. 



And then there are all those great blue herons. 

 They are the earliest arrivals in the spring and they nest 

 in the very tops of the trees. It is possible that their con- 

 stantly growing presence will eventually do harm to the 

 species that nest below them. 



Nature has means of dealing with these problems. 

 In the old days, herons just moved if the trees fell down. 

 If great blue herons messed up the lives of black-crowned 

 night herons, the night herons sought another nesting 

 place. But the facts of life today are that humans have 

 destroyed the other nesting places. It may take thought- 

 ful, cautious intervention to ensure that we keep getting 

 the good out of this gravel pit. FM 



Great blue heron 



Copyright © 1982 J. L Lepore; the National Audobon Society Collection. Photo Researchers. Inc 



