bell slip "improvements"

The community begged New York State (ECHDC) not to destroy the sensitive area known as the Bell Slip Nature Preserve. This included a monarch meadow where 10 years of research and tagging of monarch butterflies took place, and a sensitive area known as the 'sand barren" where established populations of rare plants including Spotted Beebalm (Monarda punctata) have been for generations. The state, without public input but with great public concern, began construction in 2022 and the area has been closed off behind locked gates until the week of July 18, 2024. Part of the rare lakeshore meadow area, one of the rarest habitats along Lake Erie for birds, pollinators and native plants, was infilled, geoscaped, fenced in, and planted with who knows what, and with what management and maintenance plan. In the past at places such as Wilkeson Point Park, NYS landscaping brought in significant invasive species which has impacted the Times Beach Nature Preserve and many other spots along the Outer Harbor including ECHDC and other properties. Now part of our monarch meadow is the site of a new rest center, parking lot, and bright lights. to this sensitive plant, bird, and pollinator area.