To the Editor:
It comes to mind that the Land Bank repaired the walking trails of Tradewinds Airport with a material foreign to the site. The old trails were indeed sand, well packed and smooth with vegetation creeping into the pathway here and there — a most pleasant walking trail of indigenous material, part of the ecology of the sand plain that is of concern to us all. The new material forms pathways wider than the original and is a coarse, rough sand with large uneven gravel and stones that stops all plant growth and is devilish to walk on. In addition the pathways throw this gravel and stones out into the sand plain, amongst the grasses. If anyone brought such a foreign and dissimilar material to any Island beach they would be cited and forced to remove it. So the Land Bank is causing its own degradation of this remarkable and treasured place.
Is there any way we can have our old pathways back, or is the integrity of the sand plain compromised forever?
James Weisman
Vineyard Haven
