Ducks and Golf

walking through the park there are two lens of analysis through which the world strikes me. sociologically i find it interesting that the mayority of the park is devoted to a golf course, with a club house and little pathways for golf carts. now anyone could potentially use these facilities, but the are cordoned off from a good bit of the park by water, and in some cases there are costs or skils involved that only the rich tend to posses. so i found it quite fitting that the outside perimeter is open to all for jogging, biking, walking, and so on but that the space inside is reserved in some way for the pursuits of the rich. it completes a social picture and goes unquestioned. truly there could be more trees or general recreation facilities that are of use to a wider demographic. secondly an ecological aspect of the park struck me, which was that in its artificiality, it bring many ducks to what would otherwise be a break resting spot, were it not for the fact that the waters are so stagnant and the pond an unnatural man made formation. the water is terribly contaminated with their waste, as is the ground in some places. in a more natural setting the nitrogen and other elements would disperse naturally back to where they belong, but here they simply contaminate. i calculate that there are 350-500 birds at any given point in an afternoon, more or less i imagine by season, all in all a dozen or so species. not it might not be enough on a large scale, but all of that manure could be put to better use, so that the park could reflect more natural order.. this is an example of better thinking when it comes to duck poop:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/04/nyregion/a-duck-farm-turns-dross-into-gold.html?pagewanted=all