I had already been on the frontline for two years. My tactical pack — complete with camera and 500mm tele-photo lens, a dozen padlocks, six feet of welded steel chain in various pre-cut lengths, notebook and pen, GPS receiver, and pocket-sized camcorder — was prepped for my morning patrol. The target zone was a 25-acre housing development, and once thriving grassland habitat, that fell victim to the real estate bubble. Construction stood still but had already scarred the landscape with a maze of asphalt streets, concrete sidewalks, and streetlights. Over the course of two years, with the development stalled, nature had begun reclaiming the land that she had lost.I was there to protect a community, to guard the lives of 18 individuals and their offspring, to defend a suburban colony of western burrowing owls.
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