Where have all the Wildlife Gone?

"Great Blue Heron"
Photograph

One of my favorite nature places is Lake Katherine Preserve in Palos Heights. You can walk around a small lake, take photographs if you're so inclined or just sit on one of many benches scattered throughout and meditate on nature's beauty. There's even a manmade falls nearby that is quite beautiful. The water rushing over the rocks is very soothing. I used to love going there during each of the four seasons. Different flowers and different creatures offered a dizzying variety of sights to dazzle my eyes. Yet, it's not really all that remote. Nearby condominiums flank one side of the lake, making it rather urban in a sense. I've noticed in the last few years that the workers at the preserve are trimming and cutting back on the foliage. Perhaps this is to allow new growth to occur, but I rather think it's due to the safety of the visitors who come there. More open land deters crime. It also deters the creatures who once made this haven their home. I used to see a beautiful great blue heron walking around the lake's edge, dipping his long neck into water for succulent fish. It was so much fun to stalk him, trying not to rustle the brush as I moved closer for a better photo. A family of swans was a delight to behold a few years back. I photographed the growth of the babies for much of the year. Then the babies grew up and flew away, never to return. Turtles, muskrats, fish, ducks, geese, snakes, frogs and a variety of birds too numerous to mention here also dominated the landscape. I don't see that kind of wildlife anymore, at least not in that quantity. Now busloads of children are carted in, and led around to see what a nature preserve looks like. A tractor moves quickly around the lake's landscape, trampling brush, killing snakes and scattering the featured creatures. The noises that fill the air are distracting for someone just looking for solitude. As I reflect on this now, I am thankful for the photos I have taken to remember those days past, not realizing that I might never see these special wonders again.
I wish these places would make up their minds about what they want the preserve to be. A wildlife preserve, a park, a zoo, or just another walking path like all the rest. I, for one, was willing to risk my life in nature's wild brush to bond with the exquisite treasures that resided there. I choose, though, not to linger too long on what once was, mourning its passing. For too much pondering on past and future thoughts make the now slip through my fingers. Other opportunities await me, and exploration beckons to me every minute of the day.