SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - An old cottonwood tree that is a nesting home to red-tailed hawks near the Salt Lake City airport has been spared demolition after a neighbor persuaded the property owners to leave it alone.
Catherine Kirby has been visiting the urban nesting site for years to watch hawks raise their young in the spring, and she sprang into action after hearing four trees would be torn down to make way for an expansion of an auto recycling business, The Salt Lake Tribune reported .
Kirby, who owns the Noble Horse Sanctuary, saw crews clearing the property a few weeks ago and tracked down the landowners.
Chris Mantas had bought the 18-acre (7-hactare) property to expand his All Truck & Car business.
“We were just waiting until the baby birds were gone, and then we were going to tear out the trees,” Mantas said.
Federal law prohibits tampering with the nests of migratory birds while the offspring are present, Mantas said.
Kirby urged Mantas to save the trees and birds, leading Mantas to do more research. He learned the site was also home to great horned owls that take over the spot for breeding in the winter.
“It’s an Airbnb,” Mantas said, referring to the short-term lodging service.
The owls breed, fledge and leave nest before the hawks return to the site, said Joseph Dane, development and marketing director of HawkWatch International.
Employees and his wife, Emily, encouraged Mantas to change construction plans.
“We got together with our group and decided to work around the trees and have the hawks become part of our home,” Mantas said. “As auto recyclers, we get called ’junkyards’ and told that we don’t care about the environment. But we do care and want to do our part.”
Kirby was thrilled with the decision.
“It sets a good example,” Kirby said. “If more businesses did what he was doing, even if it’s just saving two or three trees in an industrial area, it would change the environment and the animals would have a place.”
___
Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.