July - from the 'Year at Robie Creek' series

Originally published in the:

So Dude’s working for the Forest Service now, and it’s put us in mind of what they do to preserve and protect the resources we so enjoy living amongst here on the Creek. As government organizations go, their mission, “[c]aring for the land and serving people”, is one we can get behind, and one that, if the FS office here in Idaho is any indication, its agents take seriously.

Restoring and maintaining natural resources in such a way as to allow for the people who want to use them in the many ways we all need and want to is a daunting task. Many of Idaho’s waterways and their denizens, for instance, not only still suffer the effects of mining operations from the Boise Basin gold rush but are under continuing duress from phosphate mining and energy production operations among other things. People also want to use them recreationally, for boating, swimming, fishing, and panning. Our grasslands, used by farmers, ranchers, hunters, campers, hikers, and many others, are also forage grounds and migration habitats for wild horses and elk among other types of wildlife, who are in turn prey for wolves, and are also rich in mineral, gas, and oil resources. Our forest biome is home to deer, elk, bears, and small animals of many sorts, and is used by hunters, campers, ATVers, and mineral hunters among others. The Forest Service plays a part in managing all these resources, restoring what’s been broken by past human intervention and maintaining them while trying to balance the needs of everyone who wants a part of them, and working to prevent and abate wildfires where necessary, or to manage them where they serve a useful purpose, among other things.

Another major part of the Service’s duty is to serve the public. They do this by not only offering programs that get citizens involved in stewardship of the land, but by helping to identify the plants and animals that inhabit them. Now, I’m an avid hunter… of information of that sort. In the course of our time here I’ve managed to pretty well identify most of what grows on our property and suss out various uses thereof, but I’ve had three plants that for nine years I haven’t been able to find. None of them is particularly rare or difficult now that I know what they are, but even with all the resources out there it’s just been challenging to find these three. The botanist in the local USFS office identified the plants – two of which are useful, one of which I’m glad to know is not – the day I sent her samples. The botanist in your local office will be happy to do the same, and there are also geologists, urban forest specialists, species specialists, and a variety of other people all interested in assisting the public to learn about and understand the natural world we all share and how we can use it responsibly and contribute to its well-being.

There’s always the argument that, “We don’t need the government to tell us how to live on our land.” Even if we as individuals were all invested in land stewardship, and many are not, industry must be regulated. We want solar panels, computers, even our wood stoves? Many of the materials with which they’re made are mined, and the industries that extract those materials for use are interested in their bottom line (even if the people in those industries, as individuals, see beyond the almighty dollar). Oversight is necessary, and someone has to see that the interests of everyone involved, including the end consumer, can be met.

Wolves were once driven almost to extinction by humans, causing ripples up and down the food chain, not just among other animals, but even spreading through the plant life, which affects the waterways and their ecosystem. There’s an argument that hunters can manage the deer and elk populations, we’re fine without the wolves. But hunters won’t take the weak, sick, and damaged like wolves will, they’ll take the healthiest, largest specimens they can find, thus skewing those populations to be overall weaker, sicker, and smaller. On the other hand, the wolf population has been successfully reintroduced to the point of infringement on the interests of ranchers, many of whom would be more than happy to take matters into their own hands and reduce the population right back to near zero.

These are just two areas in which we need an organization dedicated to mediating the matters, and what we’re finding with the Forest Service is that they take a pro-education rather than an oppressive stance on the issues. These are the kinds of governing bodies that deserve our support and to which resources should be directed, which doesn’t happen unless citizens take advantage of what they offer and work to see they’re adequately supported. The government, whether it always remembers this or not, remains in place at the pleasure of its constituents after all, and only if we’re involved in its workings can we ensure that it works in our favor.

I mentioned briefly earlier but didn’t elaborate upon the many citizen-involvement opportunities available through the FS. Check them out when you get a chance, and see how you can get involved in helping to steward our country’s many natural resources. As ever, thanks for sharing your time with us here at the OCG. We’ll see ya next month, and from Robie Creek to Owl Creek, take care, be safe, have fun!

With much love,

Peace & the Dudes Jaway

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