I wrote on Monday about a primary race here in Washington State for the Commissioner of Public Lands and the citizen effort to place Dave Upthegrove on the ballot.
Thanks for sharing this positive story. When I'm in many of our National Forests, I definitely feel disenchanted because I can see and feel that the forests are being manipulated or managed in ways that stunts their drive towards diversity. A huge blunder was made when the management of our National Forests was placed under the control of the Department of Agriculture.
Thanks, Ron. My understanding is that the National Forests were originally intended as conservation measures, which the timber industry eventually turned into "working forests."
Rob, I would agree with that. Gifford Pinchot as the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service was interested in the long term health of the forests, conservation, and recreational uses. His family background and wealth was in forestry and logging, but his approach was sustainable resource management.
Aldo Leopold, who spent twenty years employed by the USFS, originally as a range manager in the southwest in the 1910’s and 20’s, took a more whole ecological approach and was also concerned about overgrazing in the national forests and protecting roadless public lands. Leopold pushed for protection of roadless lands for hunting, fishing, camping and less developed uses.
Unfortunately, at some point the timber industry got the upper hand.
There are little pockets of forest like this in my foothills area of Alberta, i like to hunt them for big game for which they are a magnet during the day. Old growth spruce and mixedwood stands down in narrow flat-bottomed gullies and high hilltops and sides uneconomical to log. You can see them easily on google earth, indeed, by the texture as in the pics here. Disenchantment with the land isn't what's resulted in the landscape patterns we see today, by the way. It's grotesque human overshoot all chasing massive entitlements that must be mined out of our natural endowments that's resulted in them. It's the hockey-stick population graphs of the latter 20th you're seeing expressed in those aerial photos. We want our 'quality of life' in North America, that's what our forests are going to look like. And our fish stocks and etc. etc. etc., and at the root it's all a function of our impossible scale, now. It isn't going to last, the cracks in the model are turning into fissures right now.
The primary goal of our western capitalist system is its 'wrong goal' — it is the goal of profit at any cost and as in any system the primary goal informs the actions that are allowed within the System; everything will cascade from a need to fulfil the goal (corporations even have the goal of profit written into their charters). This 'wrong goal' gives justification to destroy the next piece of wilderness in order to 'develop it' for yet more profit... and why it is so hard to for The System (government) to resist it.
It is what causes all the destruction and slavery (the overshoot) that we see around us: The System (and those in it (us)) wants more and more and more profit... so we can live 'the good life', whatever that means.
How do we rewrite the goal? by ensuring there is magic enough (the legacy forests, the grove of turpentines on my land) that might slow the profit hunger long enough, long enough, long enough... so when the fissures break open there is another way of thinking already in place to fill the void. A tall order! but is it beginning? the re-enchantment with the Land Rob is hoping he is witnessing...
Oh yes, our world is a world of machines and the model itself is a colossal and very efficient death machine. Mind you, 8 billion people all turning to simple subsistence lifestyles would probably be an equal disaster. We are not going to find a way to make 8 billion large primates - entirely an accident of oil - work here on this ball i'm afraid.
Scientifically, objectively speaking, we ourselves won't be rewriting any goals, our model is cemented-in, there is no flexibility. This is typical of this stage of the trajectory of any human model. The longer it goes on, the more is invested, the more utterly you become that one thing, and that is where we are now. But it scarcely matters, entropy and physics and resource scarcity and climate change and all the rest of the wages of overshoot will be rewriting our goals, which soon enough will be merely to survive what's upon us to live the full lifespan we were hoping for. With the majority of us failing at this, necessarily. I wholeheartedly believe this is our future, for the simple reason that this is how things work here on earth with life. And for the fact that in the face of this reality, we are just another critter. None of basic rules that apply to us are partial to us.
I heard a very interesting theory lately. That one of the reasons life appeared on earth and is so tenacious is because the universe, matter, ‘desires’ so to speak a state of statis, tends to gravitate to such a result. Life being one way of maintaining this, on this particular planet, all the feedback loops that life results in bringing about a more settled planetary regime. Anything resulting in a marked chaos being punted by a host of factors to the curb.
I completely agree with that... Last year I wrote a long narrative poem that speaks of that idea and it's entwinement with grief... It is on my web site (still have not got a substack going properly) here: https://greertaylor.net/remembering/
I enjoyed the poem, a nice perspective viewed through a human lens. I think viewed through a planetary lens you would find no joy nor grief, just ambiguity. It's we and we alone who tie ourselves in knots over this stuff. I think one of the keys to true contentment is learning to let go of attachment to an outcome.
Thank you Rob... I look froward to hearing the next installment of this re-enchantment... can it penetrate politics?
I have not heard the term 'legacy forest' but it makes sense — I have them on my land here in Australia, logged for turpentine to build wharfs in Sydney... (as it does not rot in water) We also have the ruins of a huge steam driven saw mill on our land too, a brutal reminder of the cutting time... Curiously though, not too far from the saw mill is a stand of old untouched turpentines... when we visit we think it must have been because it is so magic — yes the place fairies live — even the the loggers, hungry for profit, left it alone... Around the site of the saw mill though, in action +/-100 years ago, the undergrowth is still absent, but farther afield the forest is restoring its magic...
"We see that just as the land contains a will and memory that presses through no matter what we do to it, there is within us an ancient longing for that magic that also persists."
Yes and yes... this is the sacredness of interconnection in my book!
Oh how lovely to read some potentially good news. And here in Brittany the enchantment of our local small but very magical forest is clearly appreciated by many people, despite storm damage over the last 20 years.
It's nice to think that we can hope for such a re-enchantment on a broad scale, and that a critical mass of people can make a difference by pushing back and placing new boundaries on the corporate exploitation of our Earth ecosystems.
Reflecting on your words, I can't help but think of Robin Wall Kimmerer's quote “Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”
While these forests aren't truly old growth, they're still spaces of wonder - even if they're not the wonder that once was. I am hopeful too - the younger generations sees these lands for their true gifts - life-givers, creators of oxygen, carbon sequesters, habitats etc. They don't see the forest exclusively through the lens of profitable board feet. A change of perspective is the first step to living differently.
What a fantastic story. Trees are magic, indeed. Do you know of the work of the Old Growth Forest Network, started by my fellow Marylander, Jean Maloof? She's a wonderful writer, as well. https://www.oldgrowthforest.net/
Thanks for sharing this positive story. When I'm in many of our National Forests, I definitely feel disenchanted because I can see and feel that the forests are being manipulated or managed in ways that stunts their drive towards diversity. A huge blunder was made when the management of our National Forests was placed under the control of the Department of Agriculture.
Thanks, Ron. My understanding is that the National Forests were originally intended as conservation measures, which the timber industry eventually turned into "working forests."
Rob, I would agree with that. Gifford Pinchot as the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service was interested in the long term health of the forests, conservation, and recreational uses. His family background and wealth was in forestry and logging, but his approach was sustainable resource management.
Aldo Leopold, who spent twenty years employed by the USFS, originally as a range manager in the southwest in the 1910’s and 20’s, took a more whole ecological approach and was also concerned about overgrazing in the national forests and protecting roadless public lands. Leopold pushed for protection of roadless lands for hunting, fishing, camping and less developed uses.
Unfortunately, at some point the timber industry got the upper hand.
Let the tree magic begin. A Canadian Grandma.
Beautifully captures the magic of these Legacy Forest, the urgency of taking action to protect them. Because we need a place to feel me enchantment...
Indeed.
There are little pockets of forest like this in my foothills area of Alberta, i like to hunt them for big game for which they are a magnet during the day. Old growth spruce and mixedwood stands down in narrow flat-bottomed gullies and high hilltops and sides uneconomical to log. You can see them easily on google earth, indeed, by the texture as in the pics here. Disenchantment with the land isn't what's resulted in the landscape patterns we see today, by the way. It's grotesque human overshoot all chasing massive entitlements that must be mined out of our natural endowments that's resulted in them. It's the hockey-stick population graphs of the latter 20th you're seeing expressed in those aerial photos. We want our 'quality of life' in North America, that's what our forests are going to look like. And our fish stocks and etc. etc. etc., and at the root it's all a function of our impossible scale, now. It isn't going to last, the cracks in the model are turning into fissures right now.
The primary goal of our western capitalist system is its 'wrong goal' — it is the goal of profit at any cost and as in any system the primary goal informs the actions that are allowed within the System; everything will cascade from a need to fulfil the goal (corporations even have the goal of profit written into their charters). This 'wrong goal' gives justification to destroy the next piece of wilderness in order to 'develop it' for yet more profit... and why it is so hard to for The System (government) to resist it.
It is what causes all the destruction and slavery (the overshoot) that we see around us: The System (and those in it (us)) wants more and more and more profit... so we can live 'the good life', whatever that means.
How do we rewrite the goal? by ensuring there is magic enough (the legacy forests, the grove of turpentines on my land) that might slow the profit hunger long enough, long enough, long enough... so when the fissures break open there is another way of thinking already in place to fill the void. A tall order! but is it beginning? the re-enchantment with the Land Rob is hoping he is witnessing...
Oh yes, our world is a world of machines and the model itself is a colossal and very efficient death machine. Mind you, 8 billion people all turning to simple subsistence lifestyles would probably be an equal disaster. We are not going to find a way to make 8 billion large primates - entirely an accident of oil - work here on this ball i'm afraid.
Scientifically, objectively speaking, we ourselves won't be rewriting any goals, our model is cemented-in, there is no flexibility. This is typical of this stage of the trajectory of any human model. The longer it goes on, the more is invested, the more utterly you become that one thing, and that is where we are now. But it scarcely matters, entropy and physics and resource scarcity and climate change and all the rest of the wages of overshoot will be rewriting our goals, which soon enough will be merely to survive what's upon us to live the full lifespan we were hoping for. With the majority of us failing at this, necessarily. I wholeheartedly believe this is our future, for the simple reason that this is how things work here on earth with life. And for the fact that in the face of this reality, we are just another critter. None of basic rules that apply to us are partial to us.
Thanks, sadly all too true, we are cemented in to the 'wrong goal' and all it brings with it.
And yes as earth's goal is Life, she will ensure that is what ultimately wins out, and we and all creatures will take the hit to allow that to happen.
I heard a very interesting theory lately. That one of the reasons life appeared on earth and is so tenacious is because the universe, matter, ‘desires’ so to speak a state of statis, tends to gravitate to such a result. Life being one way of maintaining this, on this particular planet, all the feedback loops that life results in bringing about a more settled planetary regime. Anything resulting in a marked chaos being punted by a host of factors to the curb.
I completely agree with that... Last year I wrote a long narrative poem that speaks of that idea and it's entwinement with grief... It is on my web site (still have not got a substack going properly) here: https://greertaylor.net/remembering/
I enjoyed the poem, a nice perspective viewed through a human lens. I think viewed through a planetary lens you would find no joy nor grief, just ambiguity. It's we and we alone who tie ourselves in knots over this stuff. I think one of the keys to true contentment is learning to let go of attachment to an outcome.
Agree about the overshoot and hockey sticks. Earth is getting wacked by too many of them.
Thank you Rob... I look froward to hearing the next installment of this re-enchantment... can it penetrate politics?
I have not heard the term 'legacy forest' but it makes sense — I have them on my land here in Australia, logged for turpentine to build wharfs in Sydney... (as it does not rot in water) We also have the ruins of a huge steam driven saw mill on our land too, a brutal reminder of the cutting time... Curiously though, not too far from the saw mill is a stand of old untouched turpentines... when we visit we think it must have been because it is so magic — yes the place fairies live — even the the loggers, hungry for profit, left it alone... Around the site of the saw mill though, in action +/-100 years ago, the undergrowth is still absent, but farther afield the forest is restoring its magic...
"We see that just as the land contains a will and memory that presses through no matter what we do to it, there is within us an ancient longing for that magic that also persists."
Yes and yes... this is the sacredness of interconnection in my book!
Glad to hear you have a little place that got missed by the saws. Isn't amazing the feeling one gets in such places?
Oh how lovely to read some potentially good news. And here in Brittany the enchantment of our local small but very magical forest is clearly appreciated by many people, despite storm damage over the last 20 years.
It's nice to think that we can hope for such a re-enchantment on a broad scale, and that a critical mass of people can make a difference by pushing back and placing new boundaries on the corporate exploitation of our Earth ecosystems.
Inspiring.
A mono-culture is NOT a forest; the impoverished diversity harbors impoverished habit. The only value (some carbon capture) is to the timber industry.
Reflecting on your words, I can't help but think of Robin Wall Kimmerer's quote “Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”
While these forests aren't truly old growth, they're still spaces of wonder - even if they're not the wonder that once was. I am hopeful too - the younger generations sees these lands for their true gifts - life-givers, creators of oxygen, carbon sequesters, habitats etc. They don't see the forest exclusively through the lens of profitable board feet. A change of perspective is the first step to living differently.
I recommend the film "Somehow Hopeful" - it's about sustainable tree harvesting in Appalachia. Here is the link, if you're interested: https://tubitv.com/movies/100005037/somehow-hopeful-the-story-of-a-woodsman
Thanks, Alissa. I'll check it out.
What a fantastic story. Trees are magic, indeed. Do you know of the work of the Old Growth Forest Network, started by my fellow Marylander, Jean Maloof? She's a wonderful writer, as well. https://www.oldgrowthforest.net/
Thanks, Julie. As a matter of fact, I'm currently reading her book, Nature's Temples.
Good one! She's a treasure.
I read this, and then, immediately re-read it. to more closely follow the thread and feel the nuances.
What a wonderful story, beautifully told. Thank you!!!
And thank you for shining a light that points so eloquently toward hopeful solutions.
Thanks, David. I appreciate that!