Barn Swallows Losing Homes as Yesan Market Becomes a 'Hotspot'

There is a place that has recently surged to prominence as a role model for local governments nationwide. It's the Yesan Market, a collaboration between Yesan County in Chungcheongnam-do and Baek Jong-won, the representative of The Born Korea. Their joint project to revitalize the Yesan Market, known as the "Yeosan Market Revival Project," has been a great success in boosting the local economy since the beginning of this year.

According to the county, since its establishment in January, the Yesan Market drew 180,000 visitors in just two months. After undergoing remodeling in March and reopening on April 1st, it accumulated 680,000 visitors in two months, reaching a total of 800,000 visitors by the end of June.

The Yesan Market has truly emerged as the most notable 'hotspot' nationwide, and yet the barn swallows that had made their homes here have lost their nests.

While the increase in visitors to the Yesan Market, the growing local population, and the promotion of various businesses have contributed to the activation of the local economy—a positive development—there is an opinion that measures should also be taken to address the sudden displacement of barn swallows, which have lost their longstanding homes due to these one-sided changes.

According to the Chungnam Wildlife Rescue Center, a considerable number of barn swallow nests are disappearing recently as the Yesan Market undergoes redevelopment. According to a report by Kim Ji-eun, a student at Kongju National University who surveyed the barn swallow nests in the Yesan Market, Within the market area, the barn swallow nests have decreased from around 75 last year to approximately 55 this year, with 20 nests disappearing due to factors such as construction.

The barn swallow nests outside the shops of the Yesan Market, which were so densely populated that the area was called barn swallow apartments. The nests decreased from 54 last year to just 9 this year, resulting in a reduction of 45 nests totally.

Chungnam Wildlife Rescue Center's rehabilitation manager, Park Jin-a, commented "The unilateral changes in Yesan Market without considering its ecological value are clearly having a negative impact on the barn swallows that used to nest and live here every summer." She further stated, "While the redevelopment has been promoting local development and increased human activity, it's personally experienced that wildlife habitats like those for barn swallows are gradually diminishing."

In fact, there was an incident on June 16th where a citizen reported to the Chungnam Wildlife Rescue Center upon hearing news that a barn swallow nest in a shop at the Yesan Market was scheduled for demolition due to external construction work.

When the rescue team from the Chungnam Wildlife Rescue Center arrived at the scene, they found a barn swallow nest under the remaining steel bars of a demolished shop. Inside the nest, there were fairly grown young barn swallows with their faces peeking out. Understanding the barn swallows' characteristic of not easily giving up on their offspring, the rescue team opted to install artificial nests instead of taking the offsprings to the center.

Initially, the rescue team had aimed to install artificial nests in a neighboring shop as close as possible to the original barn swallow nests. However, due to opinions about the inconvenience caused by excrement and traces, they had to attach the artificial nests in a slightly more distant location.

The rescue team gradually moved the artificial nest further away in steps to allow the parent birds to find their offspring. After a long period of waiting and trial and error, the team finally captured the moment when the parent barn swallows were taking care of their offsprings in the final artificial nest.

According to the rescue team, relocating the nests would have been impossible without the assistance of nearby merchants. Park Jin-a, the rehabilitation manager, mentioned, "There were situations where other rescue operations took precedence and we were falling behind, but the cooperation of nearby merchants allowed us to eventually conduct the delayed rescue." She continued "Although it took a long time, seeing the barn swallows not giving up until the end filled our hearts with a sense of inspiration."

She said "Even the nearby merchants who had been keeping an eye on the barn swallow nests were looking at the situation with satisfaction saying 'It's good' and 'Thank goodness'. She emphasized "While local development is important, we should also search for ways to coexist with the barn swallows that have been living here for a long time."

The barn swallow, a familiar name, is a summer migrants that visit Korea every summer. Up until 30 to 40 years ago, it was a common bird in Korea. However, in recent times its population has drastically declined. According to Choi Chang-yong, a professor in the Department of forest science at Seoul National University, In 1987, there were 2289 barn swallows per 10 hectares in South Korea. However, by 2005, only 22 barn swallows were found per the same unit area. This is a level that has decreased to 1 in 100 in 18 years.