Western
states like Idaho, which I now call home, are rich in public lands.
And they’re
a heritage today’s older generation ought to be protecting at all cost – 100
percent – as a legacy for future generations.
Americans
who remember the first Persian Gulf War ought to remember the late Gen. H.
Norman Schwarzkopf. A recent visit to the land/water/nature shop operated in
Boise by our federal land management agencies yielded a copy of a wonderful
poster titled “Wildlife and Wildlands.” It’s focused on quotes and ideas from
the historic Army leader on the safe enjoyment of public land and the wildlife
that lives on it.
The poster
rightly focuses on the Pacific Northwest, but I’ll paraphrase the general, for
his words and thoughts apply equally well to public lands in Pennsylvania and
the rest of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
Our wildlife
in the Northeast – from the Jersey and New York shores across the Delaware and
Hudson rivers and on into and beyond the Allegheny Mountains – is a heritage
for which we are responsible.
As my
Nescopeck-area friend Autumn has reminded me, “wild land is a treasure, not a
‘resource’.”
Schwarzkopf:
“I encourage each and every one of you to practice and share with others the
responsible stewardship techniques listed on this poster to help make your
outdoor activities rewarding and safe for both you and our precious wildlife.”
That
wildlife is not represented by just the always-diminishing population of
grizzle bears in and around Yellowstone National Park. It’s also the woodland
salamanders, wood frogs and American toads and red-eyed vireos of forest
environs protected in places like Nescopeck and Ricketts Glen state parks.
Wildlife,
though, pays no heed to the artificial boundary lines written on the land by
human things like property deeds and the lines of incorporation created by the
formal governmental standing of boroughs, townships and cities.
The slogan
that appears on many states’ wildlife license plates – “Conserving Natural
Resources” – ought to instead read: “Conserving our natural heritage.”
Long-distance
walking and hiking are great times to think and ponder. That’s how it was the
first time I trekked – both to burn calories and get out and explore a bit –
out of Conyngham borough on East County Road.
And it’s the
same notion that spurs me to go for long fitness walks today across local
sections of the Great Basin Desert at Mountain Home, Idaho.
Among the
questions I’ve considered on recent forays is this: What do folks think about
as they carve out a new road, driveway and housing pad in what, until a
bulldozer showed up, was wild land replete with native flora and fauna?
It would
take many an interview and an armful of questionnaires to get anywhere near the
point of answering that question.
But it
remains something that not only borough council members and township
supervisors should consider and think through before blessing more
“development” of land that real estate posters describe as
“available.”
“available.”
"The
things I feel very strongly about are education, the war on drugs, the
environment and conservation and wildlife,” the general once told People magazine.
