bigcitysmalltown with Bob Rivard
169. How Phil Hardberger Built a Park, a Land Bridge, and a Wildlife Corridor for San Antonio
Beschrijving
This week on bigcitysmalltown, host Cory Ames tells the story of the Robert L.B. Tobin Land Bridge at Phil Hardberger Park — in a new format for the show. Rather than a traditional guest conversation, this episode is a narrated oral history, recorded in the field at the park itself, weaving together tape from a morning walk Cory took with former Mayor Phil Hardberger and natural resources manager Wendy Leonard. Just a week or so before this episode was released, a bronze statue of Phil Hardberger was unveiled at the park that bears his name. He is 91 years old and still walks the trails. The episode covers: * How Phil Hardberger promised San Antonio a new park while running for mayor — and spent two years looking for the right land * The phone call that led him to a former dairy farm on the north side, never fully clear-cut, 330 acres still largely as nature left it * How Wurzbach Parkway split the property in two — and why that became the genesis of one of the most celebrated wildlife bridges in the country * The $23 million fight to fund the land bridge, the jury of architects Phil assembled, and the moment he committed to raising $12 million himself * How the bridge was engineered — steel girders, three feet of soil, Corten steel walls designed to block sight and sound from 60,000 cars passing underneath daily * Why animals began crossing before construction was even finished — and how within one year, all 31 mammal species known to inhabit the park had been documented using it * What Wendy Leonard has learned managing the bridge's natural systems, and why the vegetation hasn't always cooperated * How the land bridge reconnected a wildlife corridor stretching to the Salado Creek Greenway — and brought painted buntings back to the park RECOMMENDED NEXT LISTEN: ▶ 168. More Than Parks: How San Antonio Is Building Trails, Gardens, and Green Space Into a Growing City [https://www.bigcitysmalltown.com/168-more-than-parks-how-san-antonio-is-building-trails-gardens-and-green-space-into-a-growing-ci/] — A Creative Futures panel on green equity, urban nature, and the push to integrate green spaces into every corner of a fast-growing city. Essential context for this conversation. ….. GET THE NEWSLETTER 🗺️ If you enjoyed this conversation, subscribe to The San Antonio Something — Cory's newsletter with few things worth your attention about the city we call home. Things to do, taste, read, notice, and consider. Thoughtful, grounded, and unapologetically local. Subscribe here. [https://cory-ames.kit.com/cfc0c898b2] -- -- CONNECT 📸 Connect on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/bigcity.smalltown/] 🔗 Join us on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertjrivard/] 🎥 Subscribe on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@bcstsatx] SPONSORS 🙌 Support the show & see our sponsors [https://www.bigcitysmalltown.com/sponsors/] THANK YOU ⭐ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts ⭐ Rate us on Spotify
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