The Great Bear Rainforest, located in British Columbia, Canada, is home to the white spirit bear, ancient forests and rich marine biodiversity.   The iLCP team of photographers, videographers and all-around communications gurus will be in the field from now until 14 September to document this unique region.  Their work will support opposition to expansion of tar-sand mining and an accompanying oil pipeline.  In a recent interview, iLCP Founder and photographer Cristina Mittermeier commented on the ultimate desired outcome of this RAVE:

“We would like to see the government of Canada rethink it’s strategies surrounding oil development in particular in the tar sands and perhaps look at the fate of other petrol states such as Venezuela and Iraq. By bringing international photographers we are trying to help Canada realize the way the rest of the world is looking at this situation.”

The RAVE is one of many projects opposing the pipeline and lifting of the moratorium on oil tankers.  Frank Wolf, an adventurer and filmmaker, and Todd McGowan, a high school teacher and outdoor educator, are biking and hiking their way along the potential oil route between Fort McMurray and Kitimat, and will then follow proposed tanker routes by kayak.

“I wanted to get a perspective that was more honest,” said Wolf. “I mean, Enbridge has millions of dollars invested in saying whatever they can to get this thing put through, but you don’t get the real story until you talk to people who work in the oil and gas industry, and people in the farmlands and people out here . . . who live in this beautiful zone.”

You can follow the RAVE blog to stay up-to-date on the photographer’s journey.

On 31 August, through an official Presidential Proclamation, US President Obama declared September official “Wilderness Month!”  A brief excerpt from his proclamation: “This month, we renew our pledge to build upon the legacy of our forebears. Together, we must ensure that future generations can experience the tranquility and grandeur of America’s natural places. As we resolve to meet this responsibility, let us also reflect on the ways in which our lives have been enriched by the gift of the American wilderness.“

In just a few short day (Sept. 3rd to be exact), it will be the 46th anniversary of the US Wilderness Act and also the launch of a fantastic new initiative: the Society for Wilderness Stewardship, a national, professional society for wilderness managers, scientists, rangers, educators and stewards. The Society for Wilderness Stewardship is the first and only national membership organization dedicated to informing, uniting, and supporting the extensive institutions, organizations and individuals actively engaged in stewardship of America’s National Wilderness Preservation System.

All of this great news came from Ralph Swain, Wilderness Program Manager with the USDA Forest Service.  Ralph, who was an integral part in the WILD9 Wilderness Management Training, is headed to Europe on an international exchange to share wilderness best-practices with managers and leaders in Europe.  Looking forward to hearing about the many adventures and connections made during the international training sessions!

“We are really looking forward to meeting Simon and learning from his work,” commented Katie Doyle Myers, Philanthropiece Director of Programs. “The participants in Philanthropiece’s Youth Global Leadership Program are working on projects locally and internationally, with a focus on environment and community. This is a great opportunity for us,” she said.

Simon has a busy visit to Boulder! He will meet with the WILD team, helping to facilitate WILD’s commitment to inter-generational planning and programs.

On Saturday, 18 September, he will lead a focused youth training workshop. Drawing from his experiences, Jackson will present his tool kit for action while providing perspective around what works and what doesn’t work when building a campaign. Philanthropiece, WILD’s primary partner for this training, will host the event at their location in Longmont. Participants are expected from several youth programs throughout Boulder County, including the Philanthropiece Youth Global Leadership Program, the Youth Opportunities Advisory Board and the Earth Task Force of the Cottonwood Institute. Youth interested in participating should contact Emily (Emily at wild.org) with The WILD Foundation.

On Sunday, 19 September, The WILD Foundation with Friends of Boulder Open Space is hosting a celebration of Nature in Boulder’s Open Space at Martin Park in South Boulder. Community members are encouraged to attend, meet Simon and learn about WILD’s work in Boulder and abroad. If interested in attending, please contact Emily (Emily at wild.org).

On Monday, 20 September, Jackson will meet with students enrolled in the University of Colorado (Boulder) INVST Community Studies program. Students will engage Simon on the topics of community program development, media interaction, messaging and collaboration, specifically focused on their INVST projects and continued leadership development.

“It’s an honor to have the opportunity to visit Boulder and interact with leaders of all ages who are actively working to better our world – especially those at the groundbreaking WILD Foundation,” commented Simon Jackson. “I have no doubt that we will be able to learn from each other and find new, exciting opportunities to collaborate on our respective passions in order to enhance our work.”

About Simon Jackson: At the age of 13, Simon founded the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition which is now the largest, and one of the first, youth-led environmental organizations in the world with a network of more than 6 million in every province in Canada, every state in the United States and in 74 countries worldwide. Jackson’s work exemplifies youth leadership, environmental advocacy and action and youth organizing.

Jackson is also engaged with many other leadership, environmental and advocacy orientated groups. He is the Executive Producer and Spokesperson for forthcoming Hollywood CGI-animated, 3-D movie, The Spirit Bear. Additionally, Jackson sits on the board of directors for ten organizations and social ventures, including the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada, Dream Now, Global Youth Fund, and the International Institute for Child Rights and Development.

Based in Vancouver, Jackson consults under the umbrella of Jackson Strategies, is a public affairs commentator for CBC.ca, CBC Newsworld, and the Huffington Post, as well as an accomplished motivational speaker with the agency Speakers’ Spotlight.

Please join us for an evening of give-aways, games and good conversation to celebrate nature in Boulder!  We’ll provide hamburgers and hotdogs (veggie and meat) and non-alcoholic beverages.

Please feel free to BYOB and/or a dish to share.

Date: 19 September 2010

Time: 4:30pm to 7:30pm

Location: Martin Park, 36 & Eastman, Boulder, CO (near Broadway and Table Mesa)

RSVP: By 15 September to Jenna (a) wild.org.

Co-hosted by: The WILD Foundation and Friends of Boulder Open Space

As someone who lives largely in the digital world, I notice how technology influences my brain and body everyday.  I now think in 140 character phrases, which are typically disjointed from one-and-other and, more often that not, refer to something else that I read/saw/did on the internet.

In Outdoors and Out of Reach, Studying the Brain/Your brain on computers (NY Times), a group of scientists head out on a rafting trip to see how time in nature can reverse the impact that technology increasingly has on how we think and act.  Even the skeptics among the group ended the trip with a bit less of a “crackberry” addiction.  Can a Stroll in the Park Replace the Psychiatrist’s Couch? A new generation of psychologists and therapists focus on the relationship between nature and mental health (Scienceline) describes the increasing popularity of “ecotherapy” and its increasing popularity with practitioners and patients.

While empirical studies about the effects of nature/wilderness experiences on our behavior, happiness and brain function are still developing, WILD, our partners and many others around the world have seen the ‘field results’ of nature as a healer.

Going back into our history, WILD and our sister organizations were founded in the wilderness.  Dr. Ian Player and his Zulu mentor Magqubu Ntombela, who during the troubled years of apartheid, lead multi-racial wilderness trails.  They new that in the wilderness, we could truly know ourselves and therefore better understand one-and-other.  These founding footsteps still permeate our work today.  The peace and reconciliation work done by our sister organization in the UK and the Umzi Wethu AIDS orphans program both use wilderness trails to foster leadership, environmental stewardship and personal growth.

One might also think of WILD’s symbol, the Erythrina leaf, which is so closely associated with this quote from Grey Owl, which rings true today as we turn to nature to restore our brain and body: “You are tired with years of civilisation. I come and offer you what? …a single green leaf.”

Reading these two articles and thinking about the importance of time in nature has prompted me to plan a hike in the Colorado mountains tomorrow.  No phone, no computer (no twitter, no facebook)….just me and the trail.

17 August, Lessons from Lake Erie: Traveling the Anacostia river by kayak through the mist of a summer dawn, it becomes suddenly apparent what we are working for on this RAVE. Why I got up at 4:30am to meet Lee Cain of the Anacostia Watershed Society….

11 August, Middle-aged Tarzan: Remember when every kid had a swimming hole and every river a rope swing?….

27 July, Chesapeake Bay RAVE Video Blog: The video blog, created by Jenny Nichols at the iLCP, details a morning out of the Chesapeake Bay RAVE….

23 July, Rediscovering the Anacostia: “I’ve lived in the Chesapeake Bay watershed for more than 10 years. I’ve hiked many of the mountains, hills and fields that drain into the Bay, and paddled some of its tributaries…….

The Kayapo territories span 10.5 million hectares in the Xingu region of southeastern Amazon of Brazil and form possibly the largest single protected tract of tropical forest in the world. The protection of these traditional lands can be traced to an historically warrior culture of the Kayapo, strong leaders and well-developed communal society predicated upon ceremony and symbolism.  Protecting this land is a constant struggle in this lawless region.  The Kayapo constantly need to defend their borders from encroaching ranching, logging, gold-mining and land fraud.  The now have another major battle to face – the construction of a hydroelectric dam.

For indigenous groups, the drying out of the Xingu would change life as they know it. The Kayapo and other indigenous groups rely on natural resources, and use these resources in a sustainable manner.   The drastic changes to the entire Xingu basin likely to result from the dam will have profound effects on daily life.  The latest news reports that any planned protest by the indigenous groups may not happen:

“Last week, regional indigenous leaders met here to plan a dramatic occupation of the dam’s construction site, but after four days of discussion failed to produce a consensus, the protest was called off. Members of nongovernmental groups trying to stop the dam are starting to sound resigned.

” ‘The groups are still divided,” said Christian Poirier, the Brazil campaign leader for Amazon Watch, who attended the meeting. ‘There are a lot of political considerations right now for the indigenous leaders. Some have been neutralized by handouts or threats.’ ”

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Protecting the integrity and quality of our world’s wilderness and natural plant and animal habitats is a guaranteed way of ensuring that seed diversity and biodiversity remains high and thriving. Large and small areas of protected wilderness are teeming with all sorts of plant and animal species not found in every part of the world. And even in these segmented and isolated areas of protected wilderness, a larger number of plant species and high level of seed diversity equates to an increased variety of crops. And in these areas, the more species of plants and animals that are able to thrive without interference from human destruction and disturbance, the more likely these species are able to sustain and remain healthy, which allows these ecosystems to withstand and survive through all sorts of natural or human caused disasters and devastation.

The biodiversity of plant life in the wilderness also plays a significant role in the quality of our gradually dying atmosphere. These areas of protected wilderness help keep the planet’s atmosphere balanced and alive and we slowly depreciate its quality through our ever increasing levels of carbon emissions. This relationship between wilderness seed diversity and the quality of the atmosphere is a symbiotic one, for as the atmosphere depreciates as does the quality and survival rate of plant and animal diversity. And in times like these in our human history, when people around the world are suffering from impoverished economic circumstances, lack of access to clean water, and the inability to feed themselves and their families, the drive to protect the sanctity of our world’s wilderness has never been more felt.

The wealth of plant life that the wilderness has to offer is far greater than what any farm could produce and harvest. And ensuring the protection and survival of the world’s wilderness and plant life guarantees the survival of domesticated and farmed plants and crops. Thus, although not every species of plant found in the wilderness is capable of being consumed by humans and is seemingly perceived as useless, these plants maintain the balance of the ecosystems they are found in and are necessary to sustain high levels of seed and plant diversity. Whether deemed useful or useless to the average human, every plant plays its part in the functioning of a healthy, wild ecosystem. And the seed diversity found in the wilderness is integral to the sustaining of the global food supply.

Dana Livingston is a writer for a culinary institute website where you can browse schools and the latest trends in the culinary arena.

News reports today verify that public, governmental, and financial markets are beginning to react against Coal of Africa’s mining operations that are damaging the Maqpungubwe National Park and World Heritage area. As we mentioned yesterday on TalkingWILD, the damage from this existing, open-cast, coal strip-mine is already mounting, has been called ‘irreversible”, yet the company’s application to expand operations has been approved by provincial government.

However, iafrica online today reported that the company CoAL is under pressure from South Africa’s national government through their “Green Scorpions” (environmental investigations force). In addition, since the legal interdict was filed by our colleagues in South Africa, CoAL’s share price has dropped 31%. We need to keep the pressure up so this is halted now, and CoAL will not expand its operations, AND it will be held responsible for the damage it has already caused to this wild and cultural area of great international importance. Add your voice>

A priceless World Heritage Site in South Africa is highly endangered by an open-cast, coal, strip-mine operating recklessly right on its boundary – and that is now set to expand! Mapungubwe National Park – a World Heritage Site and critically important transfrontier conservation area straddling South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Botswana — honors and protects the wild, natural area that is the site of “one of the most complex kingdoms that ever existed in Africa”, some 1000 years ago.

The Australian mining company CoAL has submitted plans to expand the already damaging operations. Our South African sister organization in our Wilderness Network, the Wilderness Foundation, and Peace Parks Foundation (which WILD represents in the United States) have joined forces with three other conservation organizations in South Africa (Birdlife, WWF, and Endangered Wildlife Trust). Backed by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at University of the Witwatersrand, they have filed a legal challenge, citing: improper and deficient Environmental Management Plan; unlawful conduct of operations; poor evaluation capacity; and more.

The WILD Foundation supports this action, asking you to actively solicit the South African government and CoAL to cease and desist, in order to save this priceless wilderness and cultural legacy.

Sign the petition >

More information >

Mapungubwa Hill

“On 8 April 1933, a remarkable discovery was made in the Transvaal, South Africa — a grave of unknown origin, filled with gold-work, was found on the summit of a natural rock stronghold in a wild region. This site was Mapungubwe Hill, which serves as the capital of the ancient Mapangubwe Kingdom, situated on the international borders between South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana. Since the site was discovered, the same story of Mapungubwe has been told. It’s a story of a flourishing Iron Age metropolis on the Limpopo ruled by an African king almost a thousand years ago.

The Kingdom comprised a sophisticated state system, with highly developed agriculture, mining, and metallurgy industries and traded with countries as far afield as China. According to the Archaeology Department at the University of the Witwatersrand, Mapungubwe represented ‘the most complex society in Southern Africa’.

In July 2003, the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape became South Africa’s fifth World Heritage site and was officially announced as Mapungubwe National Park in May 2004”

This September, I’ll be racing to support wilderness, worldwide.  On 11 September, I’ll suit up for the Boulder Sunset Triathlon, an Olympic distance race (1500m swim, 23 mi bike, 10k run).  In the meantime, I’m raising money and awareness for Nature Needs Half™ – WILD’s global vision to protect at least half of the planet, land and water, in an interconnected way.  It’s a big, bold goal.  It’s backed by the best science.  It’s what we need to do as stewards of the planet earth.  And, I’m ‘wildly’ excited about it!

I’ll post some updates as we get closer to race day and will definitely post the results.  Kicked off my late summer training with a sunrise bike-ride this morning – beautiful!  Help me meet my goal of $1000 for Nature Needs Half™ >

Editor’s Note: This “Farewell” essay was written by George Duffy to fellow wilderness stewards after he learned he had a rare and fatal cancer. This letter reflects how George lived his life: full of verve and passion for wilderness, and always striving to improve wilderness stewardship. George was the steward for several wildernesses in California, pioneering new education programs that reached the hearts and minds of thousands of young people, helping them understand and appreciate their wilderness legacy. George was known for always speaking up for the right decision for wilderness. For his effort and commitment, George received two U.S. national awards: the Bob Marshall Wilderness Award and the Trapper Lake Wilderness Award. Out of respect for such a distinguished career, the chief of the U.S. Forest Service, on learning of George’s illness, took the extraordinary step of writing a personal letter praising him, saying, “You are a leader in every sense of the word, and your ‘Farewell’ essay will be a guiding light to everyone who works for wilderness in the future. I will personally see that it is shared widely across the agency.” Many people will mourn the loss of George, who died July 8, 2010, but he would want us to think of him with his boots on the ground, walking faster than most of us are capable, head held high, and loving every minute of a life dedicated to wilderness! It is tragic to lose George’s passionate reminders to always do the right thing for wilderness, and through this essay George’s memory and his urging to keep our feet close to the wilderness fire will live on in the soul of the wilderness. Editorial note by Peter Landres, Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, Missoula, Montana.

As my life comes to a close, I feel compelled to express my gratitude to those of you who have journeyed together with me in wilderness and contributed to my understanding of wilderness and subsequently of myself. I hope you will indulge me a few moments while I try to share with you what I have learned on our journey together.

The Wilderness Act of 1964 marked a turning point in America’s attitude toward wild places. It was an acknowledgment that wild places were not only coming under the plow and the paving machines, but that their loss by such means was accelerating and would soon lead to a society impoverished by the loss of the fundamental relationship between humans and the lands which defined them. As Roderick Nash said, “It was time for restraint—restraint in our exploitation of natural resources, and restraint in our attitudes about the place of other creatures and natural forces in our lives.”

The language of the act is like few other laws we have enacted. It reads more like poetry than law and evokes an emotional response that invites introspection and envisioning of a future expressive of our concern for restraint and accommodation of other life-forms. This, in contrast to a precise formulaic law, was the genius of the act’s principle author, Howard Zahnizer. He fixed the concept of wilderness in our minds rather than just in law or on a piece of real estate— and compelled us to look for and understand the characteristics of wilderness in our lives as well as in our landscapes.

The Wilderness Act will challenge and enrich scholars, legal experts, wilderness managers, and wilderness advocates for as long as there is wilderness. We can only hope that the spirit that created this awareness of our place in the natural order prevails in our thinking. For, as Joseph Wood Krutch said, “Wilderness is the permanent home of the human spirit.”

Wilderness Policy Evolves

Although the Forest Service had been administratively managing wild and primitive areas within the national forests since 1924, the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964 created a National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) within the national forests, and assigned responsibility to the Forest Service for managing 9 million acres of wilderness in accordance with this new law. The Forest Service quickly pulled together a team of staff and line officers who had some experience in managing wild areas, and charged them with writing management policy and direction to administer this new NWPS—Forest Service Manual Section 2320. It consisted of 34 pages. Today it is 55 pages and in the process of being revised.

When you hold that Forest Service Manual Section 2320 in your hands, you hold a precious symbol of the Forest Service’s commitment to America’s wilderness—one which is being challenged by all manner of argument.

Within the agency, there are those who are impatient with the idea of the minimum tool and craft arguments to justify the use of chain saws, trail machines, jackhammers, helicopters, and other expedients for the sake of convenience or economy.

There are those who are wedded to the idea of mitigating the challenges of wilderness by constructing improvements, identifying and removing hazards, writing detailed guidebooks, and publishing detailed maps. There are those who feel that the existing definition of wilderness may be inappropriate to an evolving social conscience rooted in technology, urbanization, and speed, and that management must be modified to reflect those changing social values. There are those who feel that human intervention in natural processes within wilderness is necessary when those processes don’t fit their perceptions of what is natural. There are those who hold an anthropocentric rather than biocentric view of wilderness— and accordingly suggest that accommodation for human use, rather than preserving an untrammeled wilderness resource, be the paramount consideration when shaping wilderness policy.

Outside the agencies, there are those who, in their eagerness to see more public lands gain the protection of wilderness, have agreed to legislative provisions which compromise the wilderness quality of the very lands they wish to preserve as wilderness.

There are those who think of wilderness as beautiful landscapes or wildlife sanctuaries or recreation areas rather than as places that integrate the enduring physical, biological, and spiritual dynamics of an untrammeled part of the Earth.

The authors of the Wilderness Act held no such views. They were keenly aware that there were but few remnants of the landscapes that had shaped the American character, and they wanted to ensure that these were preserved in the condition of wildness which confronted and influenced our early pioneers. They knew that wilderness had to remain a point of reference in both our natural and cultural histories, an enduring benchmark for our journey through time and space, unchanged by human intervention and subject only to natural forces. They knew that wilderness was an indispensable part of our humanness and was critical to our understanding
our place in the universe.

Today, the American public can be grateful that you have been vigilant and stood shoulder to shoulder with the dedicated group of wilderness advocates within the public land management agencies to assure that these challenges to wilderness are being resolved in favor of the constructionist philosophy so well articulated in the manual direction.

Wilderness Stewardship

You are the stewards of America’s wilderness and I want to speak to you of stewardship. Webster’s Dictionary defines a steward as: “One called to exercise responsible care over the possessions entrusted to him [her]; One who manages another’s property.”

I am extremely grateful to you for having chosen to be stewards of these lands. You have assumed a sacred trust, to be executed with reverence, humility, and a profound sense of responsibility. You are not engaged in a business or delivering a product or providing a service or producing a commodity. You are engaged in no less than preserving the nation’s precious remaining repositories of wildness and guarding the permanent home of our human spirit.

Over the years, I have watched as the growth and complexity of the NWPS has presented you with new stewardship challenges. You have met those challenges with care and deliberation and resolved them with uncanny respect for the language and intent of the Wilderness Act.

Today, you can be proud that since the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964, which designated 9 million acres (3.6 million ha) of Forest Service
land as wilderness, the people of the United States have respected your stewardship and repeatedly petitioned the Congress to entrust to you the care of more wilderness areas. Their efforts have placed more than 109 million acres (44.3 million ha) in your care.

You can be proud that the federal land management agencies have created the Arthur Carhart Wilderness Training Center to provide training in wilderness philosophy and wilderness stewardship for federal employees. You can be proud that the federal land management agencies have created the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute to conduct social and biological research to support and improve wilderness stewardship, and you can be proud of your role in preserving that “enduring resource of wilderness” envisioned by the authors of the Wilderness Act.

As you enter another year of wilderness stewardship, please be as caring of yourselves as you are for wilderness. Take the time to open yourselves fully to the dynamics of wild landscapes and their effects on your mind, body, and spirit. Share your passion with your colleagues and the Earth—become fully alive.

Wilderness Experiences

These days you share with wildness are gifts you will treasure forever.

My fondest memories are of those times when nature’s influences were at the end of my nose: being picked up by a gusty ridgetop wind and pitched through the air like a rag doll; huddled on the lee of a rocky summit during a storm and feeling hypothermia trying to rob me of my abilities; being carried along in the tumbling whiteness of an avalanche; walking out of the snow and ice of high mountains and again smelling the green of the earth; lying in a sunny meadow and sensing that all the spirits there were filling my being with strengths unknown and unknowable; sensing the unseen presence of the others in the landscape; and feeling a timeless wisdom trying to order my thoughts to wholeness.

For most of us, our connection with wilderness is commonly understood to be rooted in the cultural and aesthetic responses that evolved from
the experiences of early explorers and settlers on the new landscapes of America. We have recently discovered, however, that the underlying basis for our responses to wilderness goes deeper—much deeper—going to the wilderness is going home.

Anthropologists and others have been suggesting for a long time that we are still the wild creatures we were in the Pleistocene. We haven’t changed. Only our circumstances have changed. Paul Shepard, perhaps the most insightful scholar of the history and evolution of human ecology wrote: “The discovery of the DNA by Watson and Crick was hailed for its implications for human health and well being. Soon it is expected we will be able to create the perfect banana or the perfect cow and clone it forever. We may soon be able to change the order of genes in our chromosomes to make us taller, thinner, stronger—maybe even less maladapted to our current circumstances.” But more importantly, the mapping of the human genome confirmed that, genetically, we are still wild, Pleistocene creatures. Finally, an answer as to why we feel so at home in wilderness.

Shepard declared: “The home of our wildness is both etymologically and biologically wilderness. Although we may define ourselves in terms of
culture and language and so on, it is evident that the context of our being now, as in the past, is wilderness—an environment lacking domestic plants and animals entirely, and to which, one might say, our genes look expectantly for those circumstances which are their optimal ambience.” “The time is coming,” he said, “to understand the wilderness in its significance, not as adjunct to the affluent traveler, to an educated, esthetic, appreciative class, or to thinking of nature as a Noah’s ark in all of its forms, but as the social and ecological mold of humanity itself, which is fundamental to our species.” To understand the significance of wilderness, we must take the time to separate culture from biology, learning from instinct and to search deep within for those ancient gifts that truly inform our humanness.

I have but one request of you: Go—find yourself in the wilderness— be at home.

Let your genes once again find expression in the world that defined them. Rejoice in your humanness. You are a genetic library of gifts informed
by centuries of life in wilderness, gifts from the experiences of antecedent creatures—ichthyic, reptilian, and mammalian—that lie still in your brain stem. Gifts from the struggles of the naked ape with neither fang nor claw who was able, not only to survive, but to adapt and flourish—simply and elegantly—in wild landscapes.

When we first walk into wilderness, we feel like alien creatures, intruding into the unknown—but if we stay a while, usually about a week, and pay attention to ourselves, those gifts become apparent. We become aware that our eyes see better—we can pick things out in the landscape more keenly; we can measure distance more accurately; and shape, color, and contrast are vividly apparent. Our noses discriminate and identify the odors on the wind, the smell of a bighorn is a lot different than that of a bear, there is a marsh upwind. The sounds we heard on our first day came from a general direction, but now our binaural senses are so keen we can almost pinpoint the source and distance of a sound—and identify it. The awkwardness we first felt when moving over broken ground has been replaced by a fluid economical rhythm of movement that seems almost
effortless. Our spine flexes, gathering and releasing energy; our pelvis tilts, our center of gravity is keenly felt, and we are again those confident primal animals on the landscape.

We sense our relationships with the other creatures with whom we share these landscapes—relationships which reaffirm our humble role as members of the vast community of life. These are not new skills learned, they are ancient abilities— pulled from the shelves of that genetic library deep within our being. As we peer into campfire flames, the comfort of thousands of fires, in thousands of caves, over thousands of years, warm us from the inside as well from the outside.

The diminuendo of the canyon wren and the raucous scolding of the Steller’s jay invite our hearts to sing. The warmth of the sun and the snap of
the cold affirm that we are alive, and vulnerable. The mountains, the deserts, the storms, and the rivers challenge our cunning and demand our respect. The vastness of the landscape humbles and fixes us in scale. As we lie on the Earth in the evening, the march of Orion across the heavens fixes us in time. We are still those Pleistocene creatures, at home and full of the wonder of being. This is the wildness in our genes, found manifest in a simple, bipedal hominid— surrounded by a peace that transcends time, and in a place we shall
always need: Wilderness.

Thanks for the ride.

References
Krutch, J. W. 1958. Grand Canyon: Today and All Its Yesterdays. New York: William Sloane Associates.

Nash, R. 2001. Wilderness and the American Mind, 4th ed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Shepard, P. 1993. Wilderness is where my genome lives. Presentation at the 5th World Wilderness Congress, Tromso, Norway.

WILD will be at TEDx, along with a select few other cool, local nonprofits and social businesses.  We’ll have a table right outside of Chautauqua auditorium, so if you plan to be at TEDx please stop by and say hi!  WILD’s President Vance Martin and I will be there to talk with participants about why wild-nature is vitally important and why we need to protect at least half of the planet.  TED is all about ideas worth spreading, and we think Nature Needs Half is one….so stop by to learn more and help us spread this vision.

A bit more about TED:
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani,Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

An article the 8 Oct 2006 New York Times Magazine discusses elephant mourning in greater detail, “When an elephant dies, its family members engage in intense mourning and burial rituals, conducting weeklong vigils over the body, carefully covering it with earth and brush, revisiting the bones for years afterward, caressing the bones with their trunks, often taking turns rubbing their trunks along the teeth of a skull’s lower jaw, the way living elephants do in greeting.”

There are many fun events planned in Bozeman once Nom-koo arrives.  So, if you’re in the area, you can attend a great concert, chalk-up a message in-front of the library and celebrate Nom-koo’s arrival!

Developing a long-term conservation plan for The Water Forest (Bosque de Agua) is extremely important for Mexico — the forested region provides water and other vital environmental services to a fifth of Mexico’s total population. Currently, the region is threatened by urban sprawl, land-use changes and illegal logging.  A concerted conservation effort is needed to ensure that the water is clean and usable by the people of Mexico City and Mexico at-large. 

The Water Forest is also home to many unique plant and animal species and is internationally recognized.  Its 237,000 hectares harbor 1.98% of the world’s biodiversity of flora and fauna species, 10% of its species are endemic; and it supplies 100% of the water of two RAMSAR sites: Cienegas de Lerma and the World Heritage Site of Xochimilco.

Participants reviewed the work compiled by the core-organizing group, the Document for the Conservation of the Water Forest, which compiles information on the Water Forest and the urgent need for integrated, long-term, strategic planning for its protection.  The document calls for the region to be managed under a Regional Strategic Plan as one protected areas, instead of how it is currently managed and regarded as a ‘mosaic of protected areas.’

As a result of the meeting, participants were better information about the conservation needs of the Water Forest – many made commitments for continued work.  The core-working group was strengthened by hearing the participants perspectives and adding two additional members to the core-working group.

This forum and continued effort in Mexico follows on the priorities set by WILD9 Resolution #12: Central Mexico’s Water Forest: Wilderness area of maximum national priority given the ecological services it renders to over 20 million people / El “Bosque de Agua” del Centro de Mexico: Area Silvestre de Maxima Prioridad Nacional dados los servicios ecologicos que les prove a mas de 20 millones de personas.

The Chesapeake Bay watershed covers approximately64,000 square miles (164,000 km2) and comprises one of the most important estuaries in the North Atlantic. With rapid development along its shores destroying vast swaths of wetlands and buffering forest, and polluted with a steady increase in agrochemical runoff from the 1950s on, this once thriving estuarine ecosystem was headed toward collapse.

As with each RAVE (Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition), the Chesapeake Bay RAVE will produce a full media assessment of the threats to the Bay and the entire watershed in a short amount of time.  The resulting media will be used to bring attention to and support the conservation efforts of partner organizations working to protect the RAVE region.

The Chesapeake Bay RAVE is timed particularly well to assist the forty-year campaign of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and other stakeholders who are actively lobbying for long-term restoration and protection of the Bay.  Two Federal bills introduced last year seek to amend the Federal Clean Water Act (Section 117) to ensure that the six states of the Bay watershed, plus the District of Columbia, develop and implement detailed plans to reduce pollution sufficiently to achieve Bay-wide pollution reduction targets for nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment by 2025.   The RAVE furthers advocacy and awareness efforts supporting these important bills.

Read more about the RAVE on the iLCP blog >

Chris Palmer talks specifically about Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.  He also mentions shows like “Untamed and Uncut,” “Man vs Wild,” and “When Animals Attack.”   While these shows do bring some amount of nature through the TV screen of viewers across America, I tend to agree with Palmer.  These shows appeal to TV viewers’ need for exciting, fast-paced entertainment filled with sex and violence — but they may be doing more harm than good in connecting people with nature and furthering conservation efforts.

In following with our support and close partnership with the International League of Conservation Photographers, the following excerpt from Palmer’s piece seems to nudge at the need for something similar for filmmakers…

“One of the least expensive ways to create content is to send someone…to grab at animals and make them seem menacing and dangerous. These programs not only misrepresent the animals, but also involve the harassment and abuse of animals and suggest that such behavior is acceptable. Responsible filmmakers invest the time and money it takes to film animals over long periods of time without disturbing them. They take pains to keep their distance, to avoid disrupting the environment, and to present a balanced, accurate view of the animals.”

Here’s a bit more info about World Ranger Day and the International Ranger Federation (from the IRF website):

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

IRF is calling on its member associations, protected area agencies, individual rangers, sponsors, and the world public to initiate or join in an event or activity that recognises world conservation areas, and the professional staff – the Rangers – that form the Thin Green Line around these most valuable resources.

Ways in which you can recognise World Ranger Day:

• Invite the public to join your park in paying a moment’s respect to rangers who have lost their lives in the course of duty.
• Host a ranger seminar – collaborate with different Protected Area agencies in your geographic area.
• Mention the role of the world’s Rangers in a scheduled guided walk or talk with park visitors and partners.
• Host a special public event in or near your park dedicated to the work of Rangers in your particular area.
• Meet with your local communities, partners, and supporting groups to talk about the role of Rangers, the work of the IRF, and how they can help support Rangers and protected areas.
• Visit a school – engage the youth in the future of world parks, biodiversity, and conservation.
• Invite a Ranger from another country or park to join you and your co-workers for a week in your park, to include July 31.
• If you are a Ranger, meet with your colleagues to discuss World Ranger Day and the role of Rangers, including the work of IRF.
• Using World Ranger Day events, seek partners and donors interested in supporting and sustaining the work in your protected area, and the IRF.
• Have fun! Celebrate your role in protecting the world’s natural and cultural treasures.

A LITTLE HISTORY

World Parks

In 1872, Yellowstone National Park in the United States became the world’s first federally designated national park. Since then, according to the IUCN, over 100,000 protected areas, representing more than 10% of the earth’s landmass, have been established around the world.

World Rangers

The English word “ranger” reflects the guardians of the Royal Forests in 14th century England, protecting the King’s lands from poachers. Today, Rangers in protected areas throughout the world continue this role for the public, not just for the royal families. Rangers are the key force protecting these resources from impairment. They do this through law enforcement, environmental education, community relations, fighting fires, conducting search and rescues, and in many many other ways.

So, one thing I found out is that most candles are made of paraffin, which is basically refined and processed crude oil.  The pretty smelling candle on my desk just got less pretty when I put in perspective of oil rigs, refineries and the devastated ecosystems along the gulf coast.  The alternatives to paraffin are basically beeswax and soy wax.  Beeswax is a by-product of honey collection – and there is therefore collected in relatively small quantities.  Beeswax candles can be pretty expensive.

While I know there are some major concerns with the large-scale soybean harvest market, specifically related to biofuels, I think that confronted with the choice I’d prefer to by beeswax or soy based candles, especially if I know where the bees live or the soy is grown.  Read labels carefully, check for non-GMO products and all the rest.

Soy has a few other perks too – it burns at a lower temperature than paraffin so less chance of a wax burn and doesn’t stain if it gets on clothing or furniture.  Since I’m kind of clumsy, these things help.  As my family can attest to, I spent many Christmas-eve services with burned fingers from the candle-lite “Silent Night” portion of the evening!

As with most things on the market today, it’s important to think before you buy, understand your options and know that you can influence the market with your purchases — buy smart!