Changing Lifestyles
A subtle threat to our forests is that most people don’t need to think about forests these days, so they don’t. Most people don’t know, or care, how boards are grown; most of us don’t think about the wild critters very much; we’re not too concerned about where water for cities and crops comes from as long as it’s there when we turn on the faucet and natural beauty isn’t experienced on a daily basis. We know all these things are important, but we are so darn busy with our daily lives: a wife, a husband, kids, parents, that whole work thing, our health, having enough money, keeping up appearances, all these and more just pile-up against the time and energy a person has. And, most of us live in cities, far removed from the land and forests, forests are simply not a part of our thinking.
The problem with ignoring forest needs is, people have impacted the forests for many centuries, not given back what is necessary to make a healthy environment for trees and their associates, now many of our forests are sick. Sick with too many trees killed by bugs, sick with too much fuel on the ground, sick because trees are too crowded. Most of us can relate to these troubles even if we don’t go near a forest. If forests don’t get the help they need we people will be the big losers. We need healthy forests to provide clean water, wood for building, habitat for animals, outdoor recreation, and natural beauty that lifts our spirit. Sick forests bring bigger fires, more bug-killed-trees, dirtier streams and reservoirs, more barren land with eroded soil, impact on wild animals and a less natural beauty. Natural beauty is important in ways we can’t value in dollars, but it is necessary - to all of us. Some of the poets understand this, we need to listen to them.
So, human history has not been favorable to forests, but education, understanding and awareness can change what we think and value. Every one of us can pay more attention to the natural world, you can learn the kinds of trees that are nearby and a little about them. Each of us can notice natural beauty and point it out to someone. Mary Oliver, a poet, wrote, “To pay attention is our everyday and proper work,” she makes a good point. In the long-run, paying attention to the natural world is important to each of us, our body’s health, our spiritual health, and our economic health.
“What we have loved, others will love and we will teach them how,” William Wordsworth. “We” need to teach about forests and how to care for them.
*Intermission*
My Top Ten Trees, #7
Spirit Tree
Economic trees, yeoman trees, aesthetic trees,
Ancient trees, nuisance trees,
Corral Creek is a city of trees.
One is a Spirit Tree.
Whitebark pine, Spirit Tree.
Standing alone
At a place too steep, too rocky
for its economic or aesthetic fellows.
I know it is a Spirit Tree.
Its beauty is beyond the artist.
Brush and talent cannot capture
The color, detail and scale.
Four trunks, one root, anchored in rock.
Three trunks with narrow strips of living cambium;
Their soul exposed by fire, wind and sun.
One trunk living all around, supporting the whole.
Years; hardships; quiet, small triumphs;
There for the looking.
Power and Truth exposed,
Beyond the poet’s words to capture.
In this remote, stoic place
It is safe from economic people.
But, with effort and seeking, spiritual people
Can find and ponder its stories and Truths.
Hike the trail, crossing pleasant streams,
On, to ridges. Up, under the ancient guards.
Through flowered meadows. Passing broom-like
pines, sweeping, in the ridge-top winds.
Then down; north slope thick with small trees,
Cross avalanche paths, drop into the sharp “V”
Stream ~ a place too steep to be in!
And, there it is, beside the trail, Spirit Tree.
There are other Spirit Trees,
I’ve seen one on Pole Mountain. Wyoming.
Go to Corral Creek or seek your own.
See its beauty, decipher its stories, learn its Truths.
Jerry Covault
September 7, 2003
Ketchum, Idaho
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