Published On:Tuesday, March 16, 2010

SMEARED mud along the observation deck at the Harold and Wilson Ponds National Park, left behind by park workers, has fueled complaints from an avid bird-watcher.

The bird-watcher, who frequents the area about once a week, told The Tribune he could not indulge in his hobby last weekend because of the flaky mud patches covering the park's observation deck.

"There's mud all over the place, it looks like vandals destroyed the place," said the bird-watcher who did not wanted to be named.

Yesterday Eric Carey, director of the Bahamas National Trust (BNT), which oversees protection and maintenance of the park, said the mud came from the ongoing removal of cattail plants, growing wild in the murky wetland.

He said the plants are a fire hazard to the boardwalk have to be removed for park safety.

"We are removing cattails which are a danger to the national park. They are in three to four feet of mud and to move them we have to move them over the boardwalk," he said, adding that the stains have accumulated because there is no running water on the boardwalk to clean the refuse.

He said that BNT will have the area cleaned once the plants are removed from underneath the boardwalk.

"It's temporary inconvenience but it's drop in the bucket compared to the beautiful result," said Mr Carey. "But at some point we will have to incur cost of running a pipe along the boardwalk in event of fire and dealing with matters on cleanup."

The BNT also has plans to build a boardwalk and walking trail at Bonefish Pond in an effort to beautify the protected area.