The city is debating whether to use bond revenue and grants to buy the land from private owners and save the birds' nesting spot from bulldozers. Over 40 years, Troy has moved from rural hamlet to booming suburb.
Fate is uncertain for remaining preserve.
A colony of great blue herons has nested here for decades, returning every spring to a patch of wetlands that has somehow survived amid the sprawl of development. And developers picture the herons' home as an upscale subdivision. With the herons as their poster children, a group of residents and conservationists has persuaded Troy officials to study ways to preserve the wetlands in the southwestern corner of Square Lake and John R roads. The city is debating whether to use bond revenue and grants to buy the land from private owners. But the preservationists know they face an uphill battle in their effort to save the rare birds and a slice of nature becoming endangered in Metro Detroit.