Hendricks Park last resource to the last stretch of truncated, but remaining, <br />mainland forest of the Laurel Ridgeline. <br />To date, since the building of the Ribbon Trail, my house which borders the <br />southwest section of the 8 acres, has seen drastic change to these woods due to <br />a wind tunnel effect where in a short period of time, I have lost 57 trees. This <br />has drastically altered the look of my property forever. <br />If you start exploring, you can also see signs of this extensive tree loss <br />throughout the 8 acres and Ribbon Trail and also in Hendricks Park as <br />hundreds of trees are down everywhere. <br />This implies that Hendricks Park may be at a tipping point where its fragile <br />natural eco-system is already compromised to an extent that it cannot sustain <br />itself into perpetuity-especially if it is fully cut-off on all sides from the last <br />remnants of the mainland forest of the Laurel Ridgeline as stated in the 1987 <br />Army Corp of Engineers study. <br />My concern and reason for speaking today is to request that before the city <br />determines the development of the 8 acres bordering Hendricks Park, it must <br />consider the possibility that further, significant tree loss on the 8 acres, along <br />with the wind tunnel effects & the impact the Ribbon Trail has had on the <br />delicate eco-system of the Laurel Ridgeline, could compromise Hendricks <br />Park to the point of utter extinction if it cannot continue to naturally generate <br />enough natural diversity & protection to preserve itself. <br />