For years, marshy land east of Fort Worth’s Village Creek Water Reclamation Facility was the prime destination in Tarrant County for bird watchers, offering a chance to glimpse a wide array of avian species from across North America.
Today, though, the site is dry. What were previously wetlands for parts of the year have been overtaken by vegetation, making the area less hospitable for birds and other creatures. Now, a local birder wants to know why the city of Fort Worth hasn’t done more to protect what has long been documented as an important bird habitat.
On the west side of the property, which Fort Worth owns, there are tanks and other equipment for receiving, clarifying and treating wastewater before it is discharged into the nearby West Fork of the Trinity River. Part of that process involves removing solid waste from the water, which is treated and converted into what’s called biosolids. That material is then dried and used for fertilizer…