![[Nameplate]](http://gcdailyworld.com/images/nameplate.png)
RSS
Print
Email link
Respond to editor
Read comments (5)
Share link
Facebook
Twitter
del.icio.us
Digg
StumbleUpon
Technorati
Newsvine
Reddit
Google"Marsh Madness is for the community. It's another opportunity for the community to see some economic benefits from the area's unique natural resources. It is also an opportunity to educate and to instill a conservation ethic in festival attendees," says Brad Feaster, property manager for the Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area, who is heading up the festival committee. "The committee, which is made up of members from a variety of local civic organizations -- Friends of Goose Pond, Linton Civitan Club, Linton Rotary Club, Carnegie Heritage and Art Center, and the Linton Public Library -- hopes to help the community to take ownership of the resources in the area and to realize that there is a great opportunity for significant economic gain. The committee is committed to making this a community-based festival that will become a permanent fixture in Greene County."
The event will be March 5 and 6, 2010 and will coincide with the annual Sandhill Crane and water fowl migration at Goose Pond FWA.
The event will kick off at 5 p.m. on March 5 with a chili dinner and keynote speaker at the Roy Clark Community Building located in Humphreys Park in Linton.
Indiana Wildlife Federation Executive Director John Goss will be the speaker. Goss, who formerly headed the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, helped to engineer the deal that helped the DNR purchase the more than 8,000 acre Goose Pond/Beehunter Marsh area from Florida developer/farmer Maurice Wilder in 2004.
Saturday's activities will run from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
"During the day on Saturday there will be self-guided tours of the surrounding area, where festival participants can marvel at the annual bird migration. Bus tours will also be available. In addition to the tours, festival-goers can attend workshops on such topics as photography, oil painting and backyard wildlife habitat among others at various venues in the park and in Linton," Feaster said.
Hardy Lake Bird Rehab Center will be giving presentations and have several birds of prey on display. A craft and vendor fair will also be conducted during the day Saturday. Children's activities will include some art and coloring contests as well as bird house and bird feeder construction.
The festival will be based out of Humphreys Park, but some workshops and seminars will take place at other venues in Linton, such as Linton Public Library and Carnegie Heritage and Arts Center of Greene County as well as at Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area.
Feaster noted this event is a win-win from the Goose Pond FWA's perspective.
"We are thrilled that there are so many local people and organizations who have come together to support Marsh Madness. This really is a community-based festival and while myself and other IDNR personnel are helping with the planning, Marsh Madness is about so much more than GPFWA," he noted.
Planning volunteer Wendy Spurlin said the idea for the festival actually surfaced about three years ago.
"The idea of a festival around the Goose Pond came up almost three years ago among a group of Linton Civitan members. We thought it would be a great way to utilize this wonderful natural resource we've got now to bring some new tourism to the area. The vision is for the festival to become a large, annual event that draws bird watchers from all over the country. This being the goal, we knew for it to work it would need to be a collaborative effort among the various groups in the county," Spurlin said.
She believes the event will be an economic boost to the area.
"I believe this event could be extremely important in generating tourism in the area. It will take a few years to build up. Bird watching is a huge industry. Besides the income that could be generated from visitors coming in for the festival itself, it could also help put Greene County on the map as a regular destination for bird watchers, and help promote the other natural resources we've got in abundance here for camping, hunting and fishing," she said.
Advanced tickets for the entire weekend (including the kickoff dinner) are available for $7 each until Feb. 19 or for $10 each after Feb. 19. A $5 entrance fee will be charged for Saturday's events.
Feaster said volunteers are still needed for the event. E-mail bfeaster@dnr.in.gov for more information.
The committee's next meeting is 6 p.m. on Dec. 10 at the Carnegie Heritage and Arts Center of Greene County in Linton.
The group plans to have a Web site up and running by the first week of December at www.MarshMadness.info .
Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please
bfman,
Nice positive attitude. :(
There are a lot more bird watchers than you might think. But the idea is to encourage others to come here and enjoy Goose Pond. Have you ever seen hundreds of cranes at once on the ground? The reports of birds sighted over the last few weeks is lengthy with many species that are not that easy to find.
As to cost, do you think the county is paying for this? Not likely.
Goose Pond is close to Linton. Wouldn't it make sense that Linton would benefit more than, say, Solsberry? On the other hand, if there were a Tulip Trestle tour I'd expect Bloomfield to see the most direct benefit.
But people have to drive through one to get to the other. They'll stop when they need gas or get hungry. If we're all smart enough to provide something interesting along the way, they'll stop there too.
Having expressed this thought before and no response, I again state the disreguard for the KNOWN indian graves and artifacts in the beehunter marsh is just not right. One can only assume birds are a lot more interesting than native american history.
Wonderful! Keep holding these excellent gatherings. Goose Pond/Beehunter Marsh are World-Class migratory waterfowl flyways. I have sent the link to my People.
I think this is a great idea! Motivated people taking small steps will equal success for ALL of Greene County. I live in Bloomfield, but will be offering my group's help to Brad and his group.
When the people of Greene County realize that they have to start thinking "out-of-the-box" when it comes to economic development, then maybe things will change. I hate to say it, but we will NEVER again be the place where large companies choose to do business. Our lack of highways, infastructure and supporting businesses puts us near the end of the list when it comes to choosing a site to set up shop.
As far as ignoring the native american sites in the Goosepond area...I wonder if the farmers before GF&WA ever gave it a second thought. I may be wrong, but returning the area to its original habitat would probably make the native american's smile!
yes we did give much thought to native indians. Sending skulls and bones to indiana university in 1955. Later asking their thoughts ,IU replyed they had lost them. We had an area near the fuel tanks where all grinding stones and tomhawk heads were kept as found in the fields. After accidently finding the graves all digging was stopped in that area. As too natural habitat we found no evidence of large ponds dug in the relative flat fields.