Some Metropark Visitors Upset About Mowing

HARRISON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Some Detroit-area park goers are upset about mowing they said destroyed plants and wildlife.

Vikki Jones of Harrison Township tells The Detroit News that weekend mowing at the Lake St. Clair Metropark decimated a wildflower field and wildlife.

"You could not possibly have chosen a worse time for wildlife," Jones wrote in an email to the Metroparks director. "I saw firsthand the dead snakes, frogs and birds. In addition to the loss of life, the habitat for insects and pollinators was destroyed."

Other residents said there has been similar destructive landscaping at other Metroparks.

George Phifer of the Metroparks Police Department told the newspaper the trimming was intended to improve aesthetics and address maintenance concerns.

"The Metroparks are about nature and the preservation of habitat," Phifer said. "That mission has not changed. The intent of the recent mowing was in no way to negatively affect wildlife but to address maintenance concerns that we have identified."

Concerned residents planned to air their objections at a Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority's Board of Commissioners meeting.

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