Today was my last visit to the park this October and the weather is still warmer than normal. I hope it lasts even longer. I arrived just after 8am and the sky was a hazy mix of overcast and spots of orange sunshine trying to break through. My walk was rather quiet and uneventful until I go all the way to the north side just before the bridge where I spotted a Doe and two Fawns. I was glad to see that the trio has so far been spared by the archery hunt that had started at the beginning of the month.
I later spotted a large Hawk in a tree across the park -too far for a good picture. As I was making my way around the southeast side I noticed some containers among the cattails about 10 feet off the trail. They looked to be full of dark liquid and I thought to myself "no way would someone toss out used oil in a park." I had to find out for sure so I walked into the cattails, stepping into wet muddy places where my shoes sank halfway. Sure enough, I found
multiple gallon containers filled to the brim with used motor oil!!! I could not believe it. I was torn with feeling both anger and disappointment, trying my hardest to figure out why someone would do something so inconsiderate. With how much discussion of environmental concerns that our society has on a regular basis now, the person who did this must either be completely oblivious to all media; extremely uneducated, or have a personal vendetta against something that I don't understand.
With a still overwhelming feeling of disbelief, I picked up as many jugs as I could find and brought them to the path. Luckily the caps were still on and holding most of the oil inside. Sadly there were more than pictured here, and I even fished another full gallon out of the water on the opposite side of the trail! As I was gathering up all of these jugs, an older gentleman on a bike came by and decided to help me bring them to the nearest trash can. He then volunteered to call the City to tell them what we had found & have them pick it up. I felt a bit better at this point, thinking -and hoping- that the majority of people would recognize this action as a mistake and try to correct it. I thought about how upset this made me and how minute of an event it was in comparison the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year. The problem with some of the mistakes we make on such a large scale, is that they might never be corrected.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill
I later spotted a large Hawk in a tree across the park -too far for a good picture. As I was making my way around the southeast side I noticed some containers among the cattails about 10 feet off the trail. They looked to be full of dark liquid and I thought to myself "no way would someone toss out used oil in a park." I had to find out for sure so I walked into the cattails, stepping into wet muddy places where my shoes sank halfway. Sure enough, I found multiple gallon containers filled to the brim with used motor oil!!! I could not believe it. I was torn with feeling both anger and disappointment, trying my hardest to figure out why someone would do something so inconsiderate. With how much discussion of environmental concerns that our society has on a regular basis now, the person who did this must either be completely oblivious to all media; extremely uneducated, or have a personal vendetta against something that I don't understand. 
With a still overwhelming feeling of disbelief, I picked up as many jugs as I could find and brought them to the path. Luckily the caps were still on and holding most of the oil inside. Sadly there were more than pictured here, and I even fished another full gallon out of the water on the opposite side of the trail! As I was gathering up all of these jugs, an older gentleman on a bike came by and decided to help me bring them to the nearest trash can. He then volunteered to call the City to tell them what we had found & have them pick it up. I felt a bit better at this point, thinking -and hoping- that the majority of people would recognize this action as a mistake and try to correct it. I thought about how upset this made me and how minute of an event it was in comparison the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year. The problem with some of the mistakes we make on such a large scale, is that they might never be corrected. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill
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