Prairie grass, wetlands, 11,000 years of preserving an Iowa ecosystem all down the drain for a road completing 86th Street through Johnston?

Is an extension of a road proposed by the Army Corps of Engineers worth the adverse affects it may have on one of the few remaining wetlands of its kind in central Iowa?

Certainly not!

The funding for the road has not been approved yet and should not be approved in order to preserve the good conditions of prairie pothole and Beaver Creek adjacent to it.

While there are those who say there are few complete indications as to what kind of adverse effects to the wetlands, if any, would occur, it is important to look back and be able to be proud of the fact that an ecosystem was saved instead of looking back and regretting the damage done.

It is a risk that should not be taken.

Iowa State professors expressed their concern in an article appearing in the Daily, for the conservation of the prairie pothole and the diversity of life it holds.

Life such as birds that depend on vegetation specific to that kind of ecosystem and various amphibians and other animals.

Scientists are worried that the pollution from traffic and the construction of the road will affect the animals.

Another problem created by the road, if built, would be that cricket frogs, which are abundant in Beaver Creek, could be smashed on the road when migrating from the prairie pothole.

The Army Corps of Engineers is still deciding whether the project should move forward or if further research needs to be conducted.

But there is enough evidence to acknowledge that damage will be the only result of building a road in the middle of the prairie pothole.