Thursday, April 26, 2018

Our Diminishing Wild Places

From the time I was a young boy, I always felt at home exploring, canoeing, and hiking in the forests, mountains, and wilder places less traveled by other people throughout the Pacific Northwest.  There was always something about these untamed places that seemed to restore my sense of wonder and awe in the world.  There was always something about the sheer magnificence and unparalleled beauty of God’s creation that inevitably stirred my soul and indeed restored it. 

It is hard to imagine a more peaceful setting than the myriad times that I found myself lying back in my trail hammock at the edge of a verdant mountain meadow listening to the babbling of the nearby creek as the gentle wind made the tops of the tall pines sway and dance above me as I looked up at a trillion brilliant stars twinkling in the inky black blanket of the night sky.  I remember countless times watching the fire of brilliant reds, oranges, and pinks of the sunset as the sun slowly sank into the Pacific Ocean while I watched from the tree-lined Oregon coast as the powerful breakers continually crashed over the rocky crags below.  It makes one feel small in such lonely beautiful places, but intimately connected to God’s creation in the universe just the same.

As I grew, I joined the Boy Scouts and wandered even farther afield with them as we hiked nearly the entire Washington and Oregon sections of the Pacific Crest Trail, albeit not in one outing.  The memories of seeing the sun rise over Mt. Jefferson or the coming down off the trail to the little town of Stehekin on the northern tip of Lake Chelan as we passed a small orchard of apple trees nestled between the forest and the town where two black bear cubs were trying to get as many apples as they could reach are some of those most memorable moments that I still recall some four decades later.

In all of my adventures into the backwoods, mountains, and secluded river-ways, I was always struck by the friendliness of the few occasional travelers that we would happen to meet in those remote places.  They always seemed to share that same sense of reverence and belonging to the wild.  Because of this, we and all of our fellow outdoorsmen and women knew that it was incumbent upon us to care for these wild places.  We would always burn our trash in our campfire or carry out what could not be burned.  We were always very careful to leave no trace that we were ever there.  We certainly never were careless with our campfires.

Nowadays, as the coarseness and self-centeredness of our culture has only increased, I am seeing the signs of this being reflected in the neglect, abuse, and even desecration of our wild natural places, and it saddens and angers me greatly. 

Earlier this month I noted a story where a man named Ryan Anderson, with his wife and two children present, carved his and his wife’s initials into the beautiful sandstone Corona Arch near Moab, Utah.  He was caught though and consequently issued an apology as his business received the fallout from his thoughtless desecration of this magnificent arch.  What a poor example he set for his children in the stewardship of our natural treasures.

 I have seen other cases of vandalism and desecration too in recent years.  I saw idiots carve their initials and other such nonsense alongside the Native American petroglyphs that adorn the canyon walls throughout the stretch of Nine Mile Canyon in central Utah.  Many of these petroglyphs date back over a thousand years and now sit side by side with the handiwork of some contemporary of ours named “Kirk”.  Sadly, "Kirk" is only one of may such vandals that have desecrated these millenia old petroglyphs.



One of the incidents that truly upset me was when a group of Boy Scouts pulled up slabs of rock along a track way of 190 million year old dinosaur tracks in a Utah state park and threw them into the river below.  Three of the boys were charged with the crime in juvenile court for their short-sightedness.  This was especially egregious, as these boys should absolutely have been taught respect for their natural environment and known better, since they were scouts.

Sadly, this type of foolishness is not just limited to the inanimate objects of God’s creation, but also is sometimes seen in the treatment of wild animals by the ignorant, foolish, and selfish.  It has long been a problem in many of our national parks, particularly in Yellowstone and Glacier, where people feed the local bears.  This only causes the bears to associate people with food so instead of staying in the back country, the bears come into camps and populated areas of the parks looking for trash and unsecured backpacks or coolers for something to eat.  While the park service tries to capture these bears and return them to the back country, almost invariably they eventually return to the camps and in dangerous proximity to people.  Because of this, the rangers are sadly required to destroy these bears to protect stupid people.

I had the disturbing experience two years ago of seeing a black bear in Glacier National Park having to be shot by a ranger as it prowled through the parking lot near the Apgar visitor center along the southern shore of Lake McDonald.  According to the ranger, the bear was becoming aggressive towards people and had already been captured and relocated once before only to return to where people were, which the bear now associated with as a source of food.

Back in 2014, my wife and I while traveling through Yosemite National Park witnessed a very stupid young man in khaki slacks running up the hill with his girlfriend to get a better picture of a mother black bear and her two cubs.  We yelled for the idiot to get back down to his car as he approached within ten yards of the mama bear.  We immediately called the ranger and reported the jackwagon.  He was indignant at us and didn’t understand the danger he was putting himself and his girlfriend in with his foolish escapades to get a better picture for his Facebook page.  He is damned lucky that the bear did not turn on him and injure or kill him.  Of course, if the bear did defend a perceived threat to her cubs and attacked him, the bear would have had to been killed and thereby also jeopardizing the likelihood of her two cubs surviving.  All this for some arrogant and ignorant snot to get a “cool” picture.

The one that really amazes me though is the story from 2016 of some foreign tourists in Yellowstone that came across a baby buffalo and out of well-intentioned but foolish ignorance were worried about the calf being lost or cold.  They, therefore, decided to pick up the calf, load it into their SUV, and take it to the ranger station accordingly.  The rangers tried to reunite the calf with the herd, but to no avail and therefore had to destroy it.

As human populations grow and our towns and cities expand, we inevitably encroach even more into those few remaining wild places we have left.  We need to be aware that we are not the only inhabitants on this earth and govern ourselves accordingly.  God’s creation is meant for us to enjoy and to be great stewards thereof.  Instead in our selfish, foolish, and arrogant me-first culture, we are rapidly defacing, desecrating, and destroying some of our natural wonders and the wild creatures that live there.  This truly breaks my heart to see this, as my grandkids already will likely never see and experience some of the wild places I treasured as a boy and young man.

The great naturalist John Muir once wrote that “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.”  Indeed he is absolutely right, and I wonder what humanity will do when we have destroyed the last of the wild places on our earth.

16 comments:

woodenman said...

I too have enjoyed the great outdoors for decades on camping and hiking trips all through New England and Canada. But Mr.Paine is totally on the wrong track with this posting. He is upset over someone carving their name in a hillside when Trump just destroyed two national monuments out west.

Two and a half million acres of public land was given to loggers, frackers or miners to develop as they see fit and 24 more monuments are on the chopping block. We are talking about some of the most pristine land in the US here.

The EPA under Scott Pruitt has turned into a pro pollution agency that undermines 100 years of work to protect the environment. We have 1500 Superfund sites in the US, Pruitt wants to get that number up to 3000 or more.

The Trump admin is the most destructive to the environment in US history.



woodenman said...

Here is Trumps plan for the environment,


http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/43558-fourteen-environmental-programs-eliminated-in-trump-s-budget-proposal#15247909490121&action=collapse_widget&id=0&data=

woodenman said...

Mr.Paine, did you copy this picture for your post and leave out the story in the article? That would be very partisan, tell me you did not.


http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/43828-countless-archaeological-sites-at-risk-in-trump-oil-and-gas-auction#15247924458401&action=collapse_widget&id=0&data=

Dave Dubya said...

We need to be aware that we are not the only inhabitants on this earth and govern ourselves accordingly. God’s creation is meant for us to enjoy and to be great stewards thereof. Instead in our selfish, foolish, and arrogant me-first culture, we are rapidly defacing, desecrating, and destroying some of our natural wonders and the wild creatures that live there.

A sentiment we share to the core. I also share Woodenman's take on who are the worst of the "selfish, foolish, and arrogant me-first culture".

Rain Trueax said...

Wonderful post. It has always been a battle to get lands protected as some only see them in terms of dollars. I remember the story of the Golden Gate Park in SF. Definitely not totally wilderness but a place for city dwellers to experience the park. The rich of that time wanted it to be a private woods surrounded by a development of estates. Every single park out there needed those to fight for its existence and still fight to keep them as some just don't realize what you do-- the value of nature in healing and restoration as well as for the planet. More pieces like yours need to be seen.

Darrell Michaels said...

Woodenman, I would love to see some of the territory in New England and particularly up in the Maine area. Acadia National Park is on my bucket list. I have hiked some in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada though. The Canadian Rockies are truly magnificent.

As for the main point of my article, I am bothered by the change in mindset I see with the average person on the trail, as it were, and their lack of concern about taking care of our national parks and wild places. It is a different issue than the government's poor management of our environment.

Further, I agree with you that Trump's involvement with the Grand Staircase Escalante is foolish and stupid as it allows exploitation of a beautiful area that should not be disturbed in such a way. As for the Bear's Ears National Monument that Obama created, I honestly think he over-reached with the initial boundaries he established. In this regard, I think Trump got it right by reducing the size of the protected boundaries and subsequently creating two separate regions of the Bear's Ear National Monument, sir.

While I think it is vitally necessary for loggers, miners, and oil explorers to be able to access and harvest on some federal lands in an environmentally sustainable way, I agree that the potential cutting of more monuments is very disturbing and should cause a huge public outcry from our disengaged citizenry.

As for the EPA under Pruitt, I have mixed feelings. Some of the regulations rescinded were over-bearing, costly, un-enforceable, and just plain unnecessary. That said, I fear that he is being too over-zealous in slashing rules to the other extreme. We need to protect our natural resources and treasures, even when the EPA is guilty of polluting Colorado rivers with their incompetence. A proper balance must be reached.

Darrell Michaels said...

Woodenman, as for Trump's cutting of some programs from the budget, I think they are wise choices. Some are worrisome. (I think every government agency should be looking to see what programs and departments can be revamped to run more efficiently or cut out-right though, considering our national debt.) Some of these things are not constitutionally in the government's purview, in my opinion. Others are pseudo science.

As for the picture I used for Nine Mile Canyon, I simply googled for images of the area. There was not a story associated with it under images. I seem to have lost my own pictures of the area, some of which I posted on an older story on my blog. That said, the link of the story of potential oil & gas exploration in the area is also very upsetting.

Darrell Michaels said...

Rain, thank you for your kind words. I am flattered.

Thanks for sharing a little bit of Golden Gate Park's history too. I was not aware of that. I had the opportunity to walk through it last Autumn. It is indeed a beautiful area. I am glad that it never became "private woods" for only a select few to enjoy.

Burr Deming said...

You write beautifully about the wonders you have experienced in nature and alarmingly about the dangers to that wonderment. Thank you.

Jim Marquis said...

T.Paine, you have to see how shortsighted Zinke, Pruitt, Trump and the rest of them are. They're selling off natural gifts we've been given that can't be replaced.

Majormajor said...

Jim,

Like our uranium? No wait that wasn't Trump, my bad.

In other news Al Gore plays the race card..things must be getting tough in the land of the Unicorn..

Al Gore, the former US vice-president turned climate change advocate, has warned that the deepening crisis of global temperature and sea level rise – and the consequent spate of natural disasters in America – will increasingly affect black and poor people more than others. Speaking at the opening of a new national memorial and museum chronicling America’s history of lynching and racial violence in Montgomery, Alabama, Gore said that the US could expect to see many more major disasters of the ilk of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria last summer.

Jefferson's Guardian said...

"In other news Al Gore plays the race card..." ~~ Majormajor (aka, Just the Facts!, ArchieBunkerUSA, Michael Stivic and "Chuck Morre")

As predictable, off-topic.

Jim Marquis ... assuming you didn't just happen by, you're probably already very familiar with this troll's tactics. Apparently, however, our esteemed host is okay with it -- well, only when it's Chuck, that is. Otherwise, you're labeled anti-constitutional or, even worse, "ungentlemanly". ;-)

Anyway, it's a known fact that the Republican Party has always been the greatest enemy of public spaces and the commons. After decades of playing the subservient partner in the current corporate state, the GOP no longer hides its privileged favors toward the wealthy elites.

The Democratic Party has been downsized to a fraction of its previous platform of being the voice for the poor, the working-class and the now hollowed-out middle class. It's now just one party ruling us all -- the Corporate Party -- and eventually they'll together rape and plunder what's left in their collective effort to remake all commons into privatized holdings for basically the one-percent.

May I suggest you read "We Only Protect What We Love", an interview by Leath Domino of Michael Soule on our vanishing wilderness, in April's issue of The Sun.

Jim Marquis said...

Thanks, JG. I will check it out.

Darrell Michaels said...

Mr. Deming, thank you for your kind words, my friend. That is indeed fine and generous praise when it comes from a supremely talented writer of your caliber.


Mr. Marquis, in some regards I absolutely agree with your points about Trump and his subordinates as they are indeed selling off our natural gifts. Sadly, this is what happens when the pendulum swings back from the constant over-reach of the Department of the Interior and the EPA in years past, particularly under Obama. There needs to be a balance where we are protecting and preserving our natural treasures and resources in sustainable ways. Under Obama, there was grotesque over-reach. Under Trump, there is far too little concern in certain areas.

That said, I was pleased to see Pruitt demand that the science be made public for any regulations or policies developed based on that "secret" science. I also find it interesting how many good folks on the left who proclaimed that the public has a right to know about our environmental issues are all up in arms about this policy change towards greater transparency. It is as if some of these folks know that there is indeed something to hide with past policies. :)

Jefferson's Guardian said...

"Thanks, JG. I will check it out." ~~ Jim Marquis

Sorry, Jim, but the last name of the interviewer is Tonino (not "Domino"). Damn auto-correcting...

Some quotations from Michael Soule from the interview:

"It's human nature to be concerned mostly with short-term threats. We don't change our behavior to avoid future disasters. Instead we wait around for something to force us to change. It's part of our genetic makeup."

And...

"Few fields in science deal with these widespread, long-term issues. People in politics and business and the media don't look at these phenomena. Our life spans are so short we just can't deal psychologically with long-term changes in the environment. We're not equipped."

Majormajor said...

Golly that auto-correcting had me looking for Fats "Domino" for hours. "Blueberry Hill" aside, thanks for the correction jG.