Belle Isle like you've never seen it!

[torbusto]

Wonder video capturing the beauty of Belle Isle!

Brian Kaufman a videographer for the Detroit Free Press shows the beautiful nature and wildlife of the island in a project he spent a year working.

3 separate videos and the story here -->

http://www.freep.com/article/2010090...e-silent-siege

"The jewel of the Detroit River is rich with a forest of old oaks and young maples, home to a secluded natural prairie where migratory birds feast on tall grass. But amid this beauty are invasive plants and animals that threaten the island's fragile ecology. Now a corps of volunteers and city officials is fighting to protect native species and this isle -- the gem of Detroit."

[DC48080]

I tried three times this morning to view the video. Each time it would play for a few seconds then stop for a long period of time to buffer. All in all I got to see less than a minute of it in about 5 minutes of trying. I just tried again about 10 minutes ago and it was the same thing.

I am on a high speed line and never have any trouble with other videos. I think the Free Press site has technical problems.

[Hermod]

Native species??

The island was overrun with snakes and was known as Snake Island.

They introduced pigs to kill the snakes and it was called Hog Island.

They finally cleared off the pigs and made it a park, Belle Isle.

[fryar]

LOL, Hermod. That reminds me of a story about Australia and rabbits...

It's a good thing if some people are out there engaging in some form of beautification of Belle Isle. A corps of volunteers is civic engagement, which is nice, in the trite sense, but is also something that is helpful in soliciting funds. I'm not saying I have them or have some magical formula to raise them [[or don't have a day job that keeps me plenty busy, along with this damn webboard), but I'm under the impression that it is a lot easier to convince someone to part with their funds if you can show that the affected give a real damn about the proposal. For example, the real value of your $10 donation to PBS is that it allows them to turn around and claim that people really care when soliciting the real funding.

[Hermod]

Fryar.

I loved Belle Isle and had some good times there.

Folks want to raise funds to maintain the place or volunteer their time, more power to them.

But to pretend that Belle isle is unspoiled wilderness unknown to the touch of man, the place has had several ecological makeovers since Cadillac landed.

[RickBeall]

Ha ha Hermod, I love it when people give a dose of historical truth. Very good!

And I wish all the success in the world to the volunteers. I think it is a shame that the deer now have to live in small pens somewhere on the island.

[Parkguy]

The videos are really well done. Kudos to the Freep.

[Mackinaw]

Love that video. Planet Earth-type quality to it.