Readers Want to See Nature Center in Park

To the editor:

In the debate regarding Patrick Eagan Park's potential future as a golf course, the premise that this issue is of interest only to those bordering the park has been stated several times.

This has not been our experience. Personally, we live a couple of miles from the park and are very interested in preserving it. Many friends of ours, scattered throughout Eagan, feel the same way. Driving around the streets of the city, we see more and more "Save Patrick Eagan Park" signs popping up, most of them miles away from the park. Talking with others at school, church, Scouts, and even the grocery store, it is apparent to us that this is a community-wide concern.

Frankly, these conversations have not shown any support for a golf course. What they do show is an appreciation for the urban wildlife habitat that Patrick Eagan Park provides and a desire to preserve and maintain this treasure.

The creation of a nature center at Patrick Eagan would be delightfully consistent with the goals of preservation and community access. Such a center could provide education for our children and adults and easy access for the less mobile, while most of the park remained in its current lightly developed state. A nature center would be an appropriately modest project that would neither violate Patrick Eagan's essence nor burden the city with ungainly initial and ongoing expenses.

This is the kind of natural wonder that Eagan can point to pride for generations to come---something far more valuable that just another golf course, however deluxe it might be.

Bob and Michelle Moench
Eagan