Friday, April 15, 2011

A Tour of The Western Wetlands


The wetlands to the west of Pine Lake were finished a bit more than a year ago, as best I can recollect. I sure wish I had paid more attention!

Certainly they were under construction in July, 2010, as attested to by these images by Dennis Rotch, who posted them on the photo section of  PineLakeGA newsgroup.



The twin green rectangles at upper right of the photo above are the tennis courts on the west side of the lake. The houses in the bottom half of the image are on Oak Hill Circle.

The western wetlands are, like the wetlands to the east, Federally protected. That means that they will remain wetlands and will never be open for development.

The western wetlands are more open than those on the east side of the lake; there are no trees except at the borders. With lots of sun, grasses and water plants are flourishing.

A series of ponds lie to the left of a gravel path that leads west from Lakeshore Drive.




Snapfinger Creek runs to the right of the path.


Past the creek and through a thicket is an apartment complex in unincorporated Dekalb County. It's visible mid-right in the photograph below. Houses on Oak Hill Circle can be seen on the other side of the wetlands, and there is an access point from Oak Hill Circle near the bench, below. The roadbed can be seen to the left and just above the bench.



The wetlands terminate at a fallen tree. Beyond is unimproved bottom land that extends to Hambrick Road. How nice it would be if the wetlands could be extended!


A bench at the end of the trail overlooks a pond, reminding me of Monet's impressionist paintings.


Here's the same photo after I (pardon the pun) Monetized it with GIMP.


We're lucky indeed to have these protected wetlands in our little city!

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