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CHERRY CREEK: Small, But HugeBlink and you'll miss it. In fact, all most people see when they cross the NE 38th Street Bridge is a tangle of foliage. And that’s only if they’re looking south. But beneath those twisted leaves flows a stretch of history that represents the last natural segment of a uniquely-pristine waterway. Cherry Creek is timeless. As recently as 1947, this winding rivulet, which was bordered with tall mangroves, meandered across the marshy plain that became eastern Oakland Park. The only signs of urbanization were a few dirt roads, “Smith's Bridge” was built, but the farmland below 38th Street had yet to be developed. It was in the late 1950s, when the developers arrived in earnest, that the three Coral Lakes were dug as borrow pits to provide clean fill for house lots. Parts of Cherry Creek were widened, straightened and girded with seawalls. The New Apostolic Church owned a parcel of the original property, but sold-off its interests in 1979. Only then was the “Mandolin Woods” subdivision developed. Conservation restrictions prohibit bank development and clearing. The wilderness portion of Cherry Creek became a forgotten link in the chain of local development. Wildlife persists here much as it has for thousands of years. The pond apple and mangrove trees bend low enough to prevent powerboat traffic. Maybe that’s why the fish consider it their special place. Mullet, snook, jacks, sand perch, and a host of other species utilize this nursery area, while herons, kingfishers, anhingas, and other birds sit quietly on branches awaiting their chance to strike. You’ll see blue crabs the size of pie plates scuttling between rocks and balls of moss, and turtles sunning themselves on exposed tree roots. Butterflies sip at the blossoms of coin vine. Manatees come to mate in the quiet waters. Every low tide brings on a different show: Consider, for example, the hundreds of fiddler crabs that leave their burrows with claws held aloft, or the live eastern oysters that loudly smack open their shells, while a flock of white ibises marches across the bar. The adult ibises are teaching their fledglings to peck the tiny bugs and crabs. Meanwhile, young barracuda hover in the current in search of easy prey. The creek may be small, but to a juvenile snook, it has enormous significance. It is a nursery, and as its inhabitants grow larger and bolder, they eventually move-on to neighboring canals and lakes. They will help seed the next generation, which is why the creek is so important to the environment that stretches far beyond our city limits. At the small park that’s located at the corner of 34th Drive and 17th Avenue you can get a view up the creek. However, I suggest accessing Cherry Creek by canoe, drifting quietly while holding your breath. Everything sounds different here. -----Bonnie Lallky-Seibert and Friends of Cherry Creek |
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