Posted on 06/28/2005 1:23:40 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
GROVE POINT - Jim Twohy's waterfront home might soon tumble into the Chesapeake Bay from atop a 60-foot cliff. He wants to build a wall to save the house, but some meddlesome neighbors are standing in the way.
The neighbors are puritan tiger beetles, a threatened species half an inch long. To protect the bugs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to stop construction of a rock barrier that Twohy and his civic association say is necessary to prevent a half-dozen houses from toppling into the water.
Although Twohy had never heard of the beetle until he applied for a permit last year, it turns out the puritans have highly rigid breeding rituals that happen to clash not only with development but also with many people's ideas of environmental protection.
The drab little insect demands the continued breakdown of cliffs along the Chesapeake Bay - active erosion - so its larvae can tunnel into crumbling clay beside the water. The rock wall that Twohy wants to build would stop the erosion and, thus, could illegally prevent the beetles from reproducing.
"We've heard a lot of support for the puritan tiger beetle from the federal government," said Twohy, 65, a retired computer consulting executive. "But what about the concerns of citizens, their lives and homes, and keeping the Chesapeake Bay clear of muddy runoff and siltation, which is killing marine life?"
Several clashes like this one across the country - over development plans complicated by the Delhi sands flower-loving fly in California or the eyeless Kretschmarr cave mold beetle in Texas - have persuaded some congressional Republicans to push for overhauling the Endangered Species Act.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
Really. These people need some endangered plants growing along the top of the bank, imho.
Why would someone build or buy a home atop a 60 foot cliff that is in danger of sliding down from erosion in the first place, be it from weather or an endangered beetle. People who build in wackadoo locations where mudslides rising tides wildfires etc lose the right to be "shocked" when something bad happens, and need to quit costing the rest of us money. I mean the obvious ones, im not belittling natural disasters, it would help with a picture.
No, but everyone benefits from the good karma.
LOL.
Which would win?
Bugs or bushes?
A lot of those homes were built when there was no ESA and creosoted lumber seawalls were the norm.
I remember building such seawalls in the summer on the Potomac when I was 14-16, many years ago. The walls were effective at preventing erosion. Now they use salt treated lumber, where permitted.
Many areas no longer permit building or replacing the walls, or, in this case, emplacing rock revetments (which have become the main means of erosion control), so what was a home comfortably set back from the water, can, with a few substantial storms or just a couple of hurricanes (or years of slow erosion) end up teetering on the brink of a 60 ft. cliff.
The problem is not mudslides, but wave action (from storms and boat wakes) undercutting the base of the cliff. When waves have removed sufficient material from the base, the unsupported strata collapse and are eventually washed away. Stop the undercutting and stop the problem.
Apparently the endangered beetles are accelerating the process and are also the reason the homeowner (aside from the incredible plethora of other environmental regs) can do nothing to stop the erosion.
Atop the cliffs at Grove Point, Twohy for the past six years has enjoyed living in retirement with his wife in a 60-year-old white ranch-style house with a broad porch and stunning views of the northern bay. He said he doesn't know how much respect to give the puritans that breed on his property.
That shoreline can move a lot in 60 years.
...Does this sound familiar (SOS), or is it just me...? ...The below references just ONE of the horror stories. There are MANY others, just here on the LEFT coast alone.
(Yes, it IS too bad that the 2002 decision referenced above was not upheld recently, by the higher court.)
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