August at Kah Tai

courtesy Artemis Celt

On the walls of the restroom building at Kah Tai is a new announcement from the City - public notice of an upcoming Comprehensive Plan amendment that has been more than three years in the making. When proposed in 2011, it was intended to call attention to Kah Tai's special but not-quite-official status as a nature park. At that time, Kah Tai's continued intact existence was uncertain, under threat of commercial development, its history misplaced and forgotten.

The proposed amendment was tabled while the conflicts were resolved. Now all parties agree to the park's status, and the proposed final language for the amendment is declarative, thorough and stringent.

A nature park in the middle of a town and next to a transit hub has many challenges. But commercial development is no longer one of those challenges. When people have nowhere else to go, the park bears the burden of their needs. But homeless incursions cause little lasting harm, a different magnitude of damage than bulldozers and concrete would impart.

And the work of nature proceeds. Insects harvest Grindelia in bloom. Canada Geese honk their young into training flights. Shorebirds mine the mudflats and shallows as a dry month shrinks the lagoon a little. Life goes on.