In this post, I’d like to take you down a good road that I haven’t personally traveled. One that was shared with me by another compassionate person.
Here’s how that came to be.
In an article I wrote about glass frogs and posted on Medium a reader who liked it commented on how much she also liked frogs and had written a book about her work to save their habitat, White Pond, in the town she lived, Akron, Ohio.
I was curious and asked if I could see her book and she graciously agreed to send me a copy and I agreed to post a review of it.
The book is called “White Pond Drive”, the author is Charissa Soful and it’s about her work as a citizen to save White Pond and its surrounding wetlands.
From the back cover
The post-industrial city of Akron, Ohio is losing its trees. Politicians have been selling out the community’s greenspace instead of fixing up the areas in blight. However, when a developer comes in with plans to destroy a forested wetland on White Pond Drive, a group of concerned citizens begin speaking up. One of the people involved is a biology teacher hoping to protect the frogs before her memories of them are all that’s left.
And yup, you guessed it, Charissa Soful is the local biology teacher who really likes frogs! And White Pond Drive.
So how did this come about?
Why White Pond, of all places?
Falling in love
There are lots of reasons these days why people decide to protect areas from development; worries about climate change, concerns for property value reduction, degradation of the local ecology and so forth.
But the most powerful actions as always, are sourced from a very simple place, the heart.
When you fall in love with a beautiful place, and you have so many wonderful memories associated with times spent there, you don’t want to see it ruined for no good reason other than for someone just to make a bunch of money.
And that’s what happened to Ms Soful. Over many years she fell in love with what the White Pond wetlands offered to her, her dogs and the other neighbours that also frequented it.
It was never an official park, the trails were not marked or monitored by a parks board and the city already owned the property. But it had been left untended for so many years that the local citizens hoped it might gain more official status.
It was a small, but quiet and beautiful place that offered all the benefits that environs like that provide people and their canine companions; respite from the stress of the working world, a bit of serenity, and an ecological treasure for the area.
And you could hear frogs and see them, too.
As Ms Soful is a biology teacher, she knew that frogs are a keystone species and in many places, they are in decline and that’s not a good thing.
During one of her outings, she came across what she called a golden frog. Actually, there is no species of frog in the United States that is called a golden frog. But that was its colour and that was special for Ms Soful. Unfortunately, her camera at the time wasn’t up to the task of capturing its image so this will have to do, a typical pond frog.
Nothing special in the sense of unique, protected, endangered species, but special in the sense that all creatures are special and wonderful. That’s why I have always loved biology and learning about them and sharing what I learn with other people.
Over the course of her visits she also saw a mink and a fox there. I’ve never seen a mink! I’m jealous.
Any time you travel down a road because of love, then the chances are pretty good that you’re on a good road.
And of course, if you’re on a good road, the last thing you want to see is a bunch of litter. Ms Soful shares how this place was also instrumental in instilling in her a life-long habit of picking up litter.
She, her family, and friends often go out and clean up spaces in their city, filling up garbage bags full of it to help improve the landscape and give people greater pride in their neighbourhoods.
Another good road to travel down :-)
Protecting what you love
Alas and alack, as is so often the case nowadays, more economically and politically minded folks often fail to see the value of a place like this. To them, it’s just another resource to be turned into dwellings, or an industrial complex, or a lot worse.
And that’s what started to happen to the White Pond Drive wetlands area in Akron.
In the summer of 2022, a neighbourhood association sent around an email describing how the city of Akron wanted to sell the area to a developer. It also contained an attachment showing the developer’s plans.
…my heart sank to the ground. Sketched out in front of me were a set of plans to build over the entire area, chopping down all the trees in the wooded area…and developing into the wetlands where the frogs breed.
I was devastated, but what could I do?
And that’s what the rest of the book is about.
What you can do
As a result of her efforts, a group of like-minded people emerge as a coalition with a desire to persuade the city from allowing this developer to proceed with their plans.
Ms Soful takes action in ways she was never trained. She writes articles for the local paper, does interviews, emails all the members of the city council, gives short speeches and does everything she can think of to save White Pond.
From one of the articles she wrote to the local paper.
I have to question why the leaders of our town feel the need to build on wilderness when there are plenty of already developed areas in need of repair and revisioning, such as areas downtown…The population in our town is not growing and the need for housing can be better achieved by building up instead of out. Destroying the wetlands of White Pond Drive would be a misuse of taxpayers money…
I was in there rooting for her all the way!
Simply put, we can’t keep tearing down our greenspace forever or else our ecosystem is going to collapse.
As you read the book, you really get a feel about how deeply she and so many other residents love this place. And how much it contributes to their lives on a daily basis.
And as is so often the case nowadays, you have a group of concerned citizens going up against a political machinery whose only aim is to bow to corporate money so they can keep their coffers full for the next election to keep their jobs come hell or high water.
Regardless of how it affects the present and future generations.
Our ecosystem is going to collapse!
I’ll leave you with one more excerpt from the book’s last page to further whet your appetite.
Get involved in local politics starting with your school board and local city council representative. Call out corruption. Be willing to volunteer a little of your time to work to make your community better, even if it is just to pick up litter…and if you are blessed enough to have frogs sharing your habitat, do what you can to take care of them.
The book
Is 147 pages of text and photographs with a large size, double-spaced font so it’s accessible to the vision impaired and easy to read. I finished it quickly in 3 sittings.
It’s a good story and introduction on what it takes to promote an idea, whatever it is, to your city council. Ms Soful had had no previous experience with advocating for such an idea to a city council.
It is worth reading just for learning about and empowering yourself in that process.
The time and preparation she put into her presentations shows you the level of commitment needed to take on a task like that.
And why it’s worth doing, no matter the outcome.
You can order a copy of the book from Amazon.
[fyi: I receive no benefits if you purchase a copy(s)]
I hope you enjoyed going down this road.
Until we travel again,