A former farm field turned wildflower meadow on Route 534 in Penn Forest Township was recently bulldozed for the construction of a 45,000-square-foot self-storage facility at the Meckesville Road crossing. This development is deeply out of character with the surrounding rural landscape and is a classic example of a misuse of land that could have been put to better use.

Open grasslands and wildflower meadows like the one destroyed for this project are prime habitats for a variety of insects, invertebrates and birds that perform valuable ecological services for both human and natural communities. These meadows attract pollinators like bees, butterflies and moths, as well as natural predators of mosquitoes such as dragonflies, hummingbirds, small bats and grassland birds.

Even small plots of native grasses and wildflower meadows provide foraging and protection for these species. Grassland birds have experienced the steepest decline of any bird group in North America, mainly due to habitat loss and pesticides. Meadowlarks, bobolinks, grasshopper sparrows and red-winged blackbirds, once common all across the commonwealth, are among those now considered “species of concern” in our region. Thousands of dollars spent yearly on pesticide spraying might be better spent protecting the habitats of natural predators that help control insect populations without the toxic side effects of chemical spraying.

Currently there are several vacant grassland and wildflower meadows in the vicinity of Meckesville Road, left over from the days when this was an active farming community. Hopefully the remaining meadows will not meet the same fate as the meadow that was bulldozed for storage units.

Juliet Perrin

Albrightsville