From Sandra Baker-Hinton:

I was concerned last year about what was happening at Huguenot Memorial Park, so went I down there to see for myself. There were way too many people there on the weekend. There was a string up to separate the cars area from the birds but there was no fence to prevent the birds from crossing over and getting underneath the cars where they got run over when the cars were moved.

It was distressing to me to see the problems these birds were having.  I realize it is a special place for humans

also, but I would think that for a few weeks out of the year when these birds need protection that the number of

humans could be limited and the area made more secure for the birds with a plastic barrier fence.  These are easy to

put up, as easy as the strings, and would keep the birds out of the human parking areas.

Huguenot Memorial Park on the Northeast side of Jacksonville is leased by the City of Jacksonville from the Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Florida. This remarkable park hosts a wealth of declining species, but has struggled historically with balancing the protection of these resources with intense recreational use, including high volumes of cars driving on the beach. In response to resource impacts like the death of chicks from the park’s interior colony due to beach driving and the all-too-common swamping of cars by the tide, the State required a new management plan, conditionally approved last December, to better manage the park’s resources and use.

This Thursday, the state Acquisition and Restoration Council will be reviewing the implementation of the plan. Write them now and voice your support for the wildlife at Huguenot!