18 June 2010

For whom the bridge tolls

The bridges are down. They collapsed, even before they were ever built.

The Mt. Graham squirrel safety bridge system slated for construction in Arizona with $1.25 million in federal funds has become a casualty of community protest. People evidently believed it was a waste of money to create of a system of rope bridges, enabling the squirrels to bypass the highways below - the roads on which many of the endangered animals lose their lives each year.

So transportation officials dropped the project.

The bridges are thus the first casualties of this unfortunate decision.

And that means unless an alternative effort is devised by local wildlife officials, the rare, endangered squirrels will continue to be casualties for some time to come.

1 comment:

chet said...

Since the $1.25 million would have been paid to workers to construct the bridge (and not for either nuts or treats), why the fuss? It would have been money going to the community, for which the squirrel aid would have been a byproduct. And that upset people?
Ah well . . .