Mr. Cook Goes to Washington

I believe that natural places have the power to heal our dis-ease with life and to restore our perspective on what really matters.  Places are why I started this blog.  Recently I found myself in a strange, disorienting place: Washington DC.  And rather than walking a pine-needle path, I was wearing out my shoes on the hard floors of the Philip Hart Senate Office Building and other government buildings. Our Capitol no longer stands in much regard, as many of us are frustrated with the scandals, partisan bickering, and inaction that seems to define the American democracy in the early 21st century.  Is there a cure?  Perhaps place, and a common identification with nature, offers a beneficial treatment to our dysfunction.

My family's 1971 visit to Congressman Charles Chamberlain

This trip to Washington was not my first trip.  When I was a boy, my family took me on the obligatory tour and I still carry with me a youthful, and perhaps naive, view of the seat of our government. Call me romantic, but I am moved by the statues and memorial to our founding fathers, the grand buildings of white marble, and the flags of every state on frequent display.  Like being in nature, I feel ennobled amongst ceremonial architecture and am often awed by the history around me.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund was the cause that took me back to the Capitol, and I was there on behalf of The Nature Conservancy to seek re-authorization of this legislation that has done so much to preserve and protect places across our country, all without costing taxpayers anything.  The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) recycles the proceeds of oil and gas leases on federal offshore lands to fund the purchase of land for public use.  Interior Secretary Sally Jewell recently called it a "brilliant piece of legislation" for the work it has done saving natural places.  Sadly, the legal authority for this 50 year-old law recently lapsed, victim to dysfunction in Congress.

In Michigan, LWCF has provided the majority of funding for our two National Lakeshores, Sleeping Bear and Pictured Rocks, but the funds go well beyond national parks.  The $322 million in LWCF funds directed to the Great Lake State have gone to places as diverse as Huron National Forest, the Brighton State Recreation Area, Lake Lansing Park, River Raisin National Battlefield, and the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge.

The bi-partisan, long-standing support for the LWCF may be because these funds go to develop trails, provide hunting and fishing opportunities, save historical sites, aid the timber industry, provide neighborhood recreation, and preserve some of our most beautiful and ecologically important natural areas.  These are distinct and valued natural places, and many people--of all backgrounds and all political parties--cherish these places.  

The Power of Place should not be underestimated, and I saw it on display in the troubled halls of Congress. Our Senator, Gary Peters, has a room dedicated to Isle Royale, Michigan's oldest National Park, and we conversed over maps and photos. Visitors to Congressman Dan Benishek's office are

greeted by posters of classic "big letter" postcards from the places in his northern Michigan District.  Congressman Dan Kildee spoke passionately about the City of Flint and the necessity of protecting the water upon which all depend.  Every office has some photo of a beautiful place in Michigan. And staffers from all 11 offices (four Democratic, and seven Republican) we visited recounted some affection for their hometown park, favorite hiking place, or family vacation home.  

The love for place transcends party, and it seemed to me that many of those who work in the Capitol were eager to talk about the out-of-doors rather than the election of the next Speaker of the House.  I know that there are significant policy questions about  the role of the federal government, the regulatory machinery operated by bureaucracies to protect our environment, and the cost of all of this, but I was pleasantly surprised to find so much support for protecting places using LWCF.  

Now we just need to help all our members of Congress escape the rules debates, the personality contests, the media moments, and the other boxes that have entrapped them.  Be sure to contact your legislator and ask them to permanently renew the Land and Water Conservation Fund. If we can accomplish this, perhaps our elected representatives can discover anew the affection for place on display in their offices.  Perhaps they will discover that conservation is not a partisan issue.  Perhaps they will discover the benefits of working together.  

Staff from The Nature Conservancy join me in meeting with my Congressman, John Moolenaar, who has signed a letter of support for passage of the Land and Water Conservation Fund

Nature in our Nation's Capitol.  Washington is not such a bad place, despite what you read in the paper.  The people there love nature. And one morning some of use even discovered some nature close by.  Staff and trustees from The Nature Conservancy headed out early from out hotel near the National Mall with binoculars in hand, and as the sun rose we saw mockingbirds and blue-jays in the mature and towering trees around the Capitol, hundreds of chimney swifts agitating the sky overhead, in the reflecting pools there was a ruddy duck along with mallards and ring-billed gulls, and in the bushes outside the National Arboretum, we had a most uncommon sighting of a common yellow-throat.  In all, we identified 24 species of birds, proving that nature can thrive everywhere, even in Congress.

Use your outside voice; go here to have The Nature Conservancy help you take action

Three Things Anyone--including you--Can Do to Help the Environment

David Brower

Somedays I feel like the task is too great, the struggle too demanding. A report about new--or decades old--toxins in the air and water; the count of 180 invasive species in the Great Lakes; the latest disturbing data on a warming planet; or just one more patch of litter along my favorite river; all of it can get me down.  And when I look to our leaders for solutions, I see partisan squabbling, or a newspaper devoid of any story at all about the environment.  "And what can one person do anyway?" I ask myself.  Perhaps I'll just have a beer and turn on the hockey game. Then I thought some more, and my internal optimist reminded me of three things anyone--and everyone--can do.  None of them are difficult.  So, have hope and take action to:  1) Engage locally; 2) Join up (inter)nationally; and 3) Make contact.

1.  Engage Locally.  We all live in a place, and most of us have made some connection to nature there. Celebrate that place, and take steps to get out in it, and care for it. I came of age along the Shiawassee River, and I am fortunate to live again in its watershed.  It's not a trout stream, most of its landscape has been logged, farmed, or otherwise developed, and it's suffered some abuse and neglect.  Still, it harbors an amazing diversity of plant and animal life, it has a special beauty that changes with the seasons, the water is clear and clean most of the time, and it's the natural feature most accessible to where I live.

I feel an affinity for the natural place that defines my home, and I act on this natural connection by belonging to the Friends of the Shiawassee River.  It's like hundreds of other small, place-based conservation groups, and my membership and my volunteer efforts make a difference.  My guess is that giving a little bit of your treasure and time for a group active in your home place would be a big help too.

More than 100 volunteers come out for an annual river clean-up

Conservation change begins with environmental awareness, and this often proceeds from a connection to a specific piece of nature.  If we strengthen place-based organizations, they can help increase the number of earth-minded citizens.  Sometimes this is easier with iconic natural landmarks.  As we travel, we often search out the local non-profit that works to protect the resource, the region, or the park, we have come to appreciate.  Join; they always appreciate the support, and its nice to get a newsletter or email a few months later that reminds you of your outdoor adventure.

One tip: add a little bit extra to your donation to groups that have programming for children.  As numerous surveys and personal anecdotes reveal, many of the adults working now, as either professionals or volunteers, to save nature were engaged in the out-of-doors as youth.  For me it was Fernwood in southwest Michigan.  So, your contribution to a nature center, summer camp, or other education program might be an investment in a future conservation leader.

2. Join an (inter)national organization.  Local groups help connect people to nature, but it's the "big green" environmental groups that currently are leading the conservation charge.  I was starting my teens when the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act were adopted, so I grew up expecting the federal government to be the leader in protecting the environment.  That is no longer the case, as big government has succumbed to over-reach and a loss of support.  Perhaps just as well, as the solution to many of our environmental challenges cannot be solved by regulations.  Rather, they require innovative solutions that bring together many stakeholders.

Non-governmental organizations (NGO) are much more nimble, purposeful, and creative than federal or even state entities in tackling complex issues like preserving privately-owned open space, reducing water pollution that comes from farms and cities, engaging indigenous populations that live near endangered species, mobilizing citizen scientists to identify pollution sources, or working with large corporations to promote sustainability programs.  They also often provide the policy ideas and political leadership to reform or support the governmental programs that are still necessary to make significant and lasting change.

As independent as they are, the work of any nonprofit is extended by the number of members and the amount of supporters who sign-on to their efforts. I choose to support The Nature Conservancy because they are driven by science, are pragmatic, and work both in my landscape as well as around the globe.  But the wonderful thing about green NGOs is that they come from many diverse perspectives and take a variety of approaches to solving environmental challenges.  Some work quietly to protect hunting and fishing habitat; others are confrontational and bring our attention to new or severe problems; some care about beautiful animals in exotic locations; or they work hard to protect the health of disenfranchised people at home or abroad.  Put your name behind the one that appeals to your values, your politics, or your model of change.

One tip:  Join more than one organization. In the early 1980s, I had the chance to hear David Brower speak.  He had been the controversial head of the Sierra Club in the 1960s and then had gone on to start the Friends of the Earth and the League of Conservation Voters.  A questioner tried to entice him to name the "best" environmental group by asking him which group to join.  I still remember his answer.  "Join as many as you can" he said, noting that the more supporters each group had, the more powerful they would be as an advocacy group.  I took his advice, and last year when receiving the Oak Leaf Award from The Nature Conservancy, they noted that my involvement had begun in 1983 with a $10 membership.

3.  Make Contact with your legislator, at any level. David Brower was the personification of the environmental activist, and led several efforts to pass environmental protection efforts.  But his work was bi-partisan, and he did not act alone.  Earth Day, first held in 1971, was evidence of the wide-spread, grass-roots conservation efforts of the day.  Yes, there were "radicals" involved, but there were also bird-watchers, scientists, anglers, campers, gardeners, and representatives of all political points of view.  Richard Nixon signed into law the Clean Water Act, and numerous Republican legislators and Governors, starting with Theodore Roosevelt, have been advocates for land preservation and other environmental advances.

President Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir at Yosemite National Park

Sadly, green issues have become too partisan in recent years, both because of politically-correct Democrats and anti-science Republicans.  This is not good for either party, and certainly not good for the cause of conservation.  We need to re-build an advocacy for the environment that is not captive to campaign spending, political commentators, or party organizing.  Perhaps the best way we--as individuals--can do this is to take a non-partisan stand on environmental issue we care about.

Again, it does not matter what moves you:  loss of the rainforest in Indonesia, protection of the Great Lakes from asian carp, additions to a national park, mercury in our air or water, or any number of other issues.  If you join an environmental group, they will likely alert you to important governmental issues, or you can research a topic on the internet.  But send an email, or write, or say something in person.  Too many of our legislators both at the state and federal level don't think voters care about environmental issues; communication from their constituents will convince them otherwise.

One tip:  make your message to an elected representative both personal and relevant to the geography you share.  Hitting "send" on a pre-packaged email can be helpful, but not as powerful as a message that contains your specific experience.  Tell your representative about your kayak trip or fishing success as you ask them to protect clean water.  Recount your meaningful family camping trip as you advocate for more funding for parks.  Nature is central to our lives, and we need our advocacy to come from that deep part of ourselves that connects to place.

Beer and Hockey.  The three steps outlined above are not difficult.  We live in places, our online era makes it easy to find conservation groups, and our legislators really do want to hear from real constituents.  If more of us took these three actions, we could re-awaken an era of environmental activism  that would genuinely reflect where we live, what we do, and what we know.  It really doesn't take much time or effort.  And we don't have to give up beer and hockey.  It turns out the Natural Resources Defense Council (another effective NGO) has partnered with about 50 breweries in a "Clean Water, Great Beer" campaign, and the National Hockey League has launched NHL Green to fight climate change.  Both of these are part of growing corporate sustainability efforts and are symbols of how business is now also among the vanguard of environmental protections efforts.  If we all do our part . . . .

Biking Through Nature, Past and Present: The Natchez Trace

Like plants and animals which adapt to their environment over time, how we travel has also evolved in response to changing circumstances.   I recently learned this first-hand on a spring bike trip in Mississippi.

The Natchez Trace is an ancient route that angles northeast from the lower Mississippi River to the rich farmlands of central Tennessee.  Historically, native Americans followed the paths, or traces, created by bison who wandered from the plains to salt licks in the Appalachians.  With European exploration and settlement, these footpaths consolidated into an important transportation route.  In the early 19th century, before the development of steamboats, Kentuckians and others would float farm goods down the Ohio and Mississippi River for sale, along with the wood used to make their flatboats.  They would return home, with their proceeds, on foot along the Natchez Trace.

The use of the Trace diversified with the War of 1812, as some of Andrew Jackson's troops travelled overland on foot to face the British in New Orleans.  Through its early history the trail served traders and innkeepers, preachers and proselytizers, and highwaymen and criminals.  By the end of the 19th century, the trail fell into disuse as first steamboats and then railroads became the preferred transportation system of the region.

The National Park Service helped revive the Natchez Trace as a Parkway in the 1930s, after a long campaign by history advocates, road boosters, and local congressmen.  The road was a Civilian Conservation Corps project to help move the South out of the depression, but World War II, limits on federal appropriations, and the rise of the interstate highway system delayed its completion, with the final segments not built until 2005

Today, the Natchez Trace Parkway runs for 444 miles from Natchez, Mississippi to just outside Nashville, Tennessee. The National Park Service maintains a number of historic sites, campgrounds, and visitor centers along its route.  Designed for leisurely driving, the speed limit is set at 50 miles per hour, access points are limited, and commercial truck traffic is prohibited.  It makes for one of the nicest bicycle trips I have ever taken on a road designed for automobile transportation.  And on the one occasion of an equipment failure beyond our abilities to repair, a Park Service ranger soon arrived to lend assistance.

Bicycling in Nature is a special way to experience the out-of-doors.  One travels faster than by walking, but still the environment is fully present in sight, sound, and smell (read more here about my thoughts on the environmental joys and spiritual benefits of biking).  The Natchez Trace in April was warm, the trees were leafing out, and the dogwood were in bloom.  Reptiles came out of hibernation, and snakes and turtles were on the move; we helped some, but sadly not all, cross the pavement.


Because of its development as a Parkway, the amount of structures on the route is quite limited and we enjoyed peaceful pedals through mature hardwood forests, took in park-like open spaces, and enjoyed a short walk through a flooded cypress and tupelo forest.  The regulated traffic and considerate drivers made it a pleasant trip, except for the morning we rode in a heavy rain.  There are quiet pull-offs with historical and natural interpretative signs, but being initially designed for motor traffic, the length between water and bathroom facilities is a bit longer than ideal for this two-wheeled traveller.

The Towns and History of Mississippi are linked by the Trace, and we enjoyed staying in bed & breakfast facilities in Natchez (where we started), Port Gibson, Kosciusko, and Houston (just south of Tupelo).  These evening stops gave us a first hand look at the beautiful mansions of the past, as well as the economic struggles of the present, neither of which are visible on the Parkway.  In suburban Jackson, we stayed the night in new town Ridgeland, where recently developed bike trails made negotiating modern traffic a bit easier (except for a scary traffic circle where the designated bike lane disappeared).  A shuttle service facilitated the trip, and we only had to carry a few clothes, some snacks for lunch, and water.  All in all, the trip was just the right combination of natural attractions and human comforts.

Parkways are a short branch on the evolutionary tree of transportation.  The first parkway, a term which now applies to any landscaped thoroughfare, predates automobiles.  Frederick Law Olmstead, the designer of Central Park, developed a parkway in the late 19th century in Brooklyn to segregate pedestrians, bicyclists, and horse carriages from one another as well as create a tree-lined linkage between public parks.  In 1908, William K. Vanderbilt, an early automobile enthusiast, constructed a limited access parkway with overpasses on Long Island that was conducive both to pleasure trips and auto races (until they were banned following several fatal accidents).  Portions of both of these early parkways still exist, and have in places now been converted to bicycle trails.

Parkways enjoyed their greatest popularity in the 1920s and 1930s as an urban planning tool and as a forced marriage between cars and parks.  However, after World War II, the increased speed and popularity of automobiles, the rise in commercial traffic, and the development of the freeway ended the segregation of cars and trucks.  Pedestrians and bicycle were either banished or forgotten as a transportation mode for several decades.

Fortunately, bicycling has enjoyed a resurgence in the last few years as Americans become more conscious of their own health and the health of the environment.  The use of bikes for both recreation and utilitarian transportation has been aided by the repaving of old railroad right-of-ways and by the creation of bike lanes on urban streets.  We were pleased to discover a rails-to-trails conversion on our trip:  The 44-mile Tanglefoot Trail with a terminus in Houston, Mississsippi.  These segregated bikeways are now the safest and most enjoyable ways to experience nature on a bicycle, but the Natchez Parkway offers a wonderful trip through history and a wonderful experience in the evolution of transportation.

If you go:  
Start your planning with the help of the National Park Service and the Natchez Trace Compact

We are able to book bed & breakfast lodging, and get helpful tips from NatchezTraceTravel.com

The entertaining and helpful Karla Brown provided our shuttle service

Great bike repair is available in Ridgeland, Mississippi at The Bike Crossing (thank you!)

If you are looking for good Rails-to-Trails for biking throughout the US, go to TrailLink

A word on safety: the traffic was light and drivers considerate on our trip, but there is always the danger of drivers who are inattentive due to sleepiness, substance abuse, or in-car distractions.  We wore highly visible colors, had reflective equipment and outfitted our bikes with bright flashing lights in front and back.

Thank you to the kind people of Mississippi for their hospitality, the staff of the National Park Service for their help, and Anna for the photos

The Sandhill Cranes of Nebraska

Some places have a signature animal species that defines a particular natural environment.  For me, they include the alligators of the Okefenokee, the wolves of Isle Royale, and the Kirtland's Warbler of the Au Sable Plains.  Ever since youthful trips across the Great Plains in the spring, I have also associated the Sandhill Cranes with the Platte River of Nebraska.  Recently, I had the chance to learn more about this remarkable bird and its relationship to this open sky place.

The Migration of Sandhill Cranes is one of the great animal spectaculars of North America, rivaling the annual movement of caribou.  While some sandhill cranes winter in Florida and Cuba, most spend the winter in Texas and Mexico and travel north to the Canadian taiga, the arctic tundra, and even across the Bering Strait into Siberia. But as the sandhill cranes fly northward, they funnel through an 80 mile stretch of the Platte River in Nebraska where they rest and refuel in the cornfields and early spring wetlands along this iconic stream.

"A mile wide and an inch deep" is the classic description of the Platte River, which carries sediment from the eastern slope of the Rockies, drops it in a braided stream on the plains, and then slowly flows into the Missouri River.  It was a source of sustenance for the Souix and the pathway west for the pioneers.  It now supports a vigorous, irrigated agricultural landscape.  The sandhill cranes have been there all along.

The productive soil of the prairie has provided food, and the river has provided protection.  During the day, the cranes glean corn from last year's fields, and add protein from insects, reptiles, and even small mammals in the wetlands and preserved grasslands.  Each night, the cranes return to the Platte to rest on sandbars or stand in the shallow waters, relatively safe from predators. The mass movement of thousands of birds at dusk, and again at dawn, is an awe-producing sight for which I--and many other birders--are willing to huddle in cold blinds to witness.

An Ancient Bird is the sandhill crane.  Fossil records show that the direct ancestor of this tall creature was present in Nebraska nine million years ago, back when the continent rested much closer to the equator.  Over time, as the continent moved and climates and habitats changed, the sandhill crane adapted and evolved.  We tend to think of a large, flocking species as the embodiment of a particular ecosystem, and of course it is, but the fact that the sandhill crane has persisted through millions of years powerfully reminds me of the resilience of nature.

Today, the sandhill crane has adapted to the presence of humans and industrialized agriculture.  The presence of cornfields along the Platte River has provided an important food source for the migrating cranes, probably supplanting tubers and other plants that used to be found in the now-diminished wetlands along the Platte.  The Sioux hunted sandhill cranes, as do Texans today, and the bird must now contend with the noise of the omni-present trucks of I-80,  power lines, and other human interferences.  Even though we snuck into blinds, and kept our distance as we stopped along country roads, the cranes have also adapted to the thousands of bird-watchers who travel to Nebraska each spring.

This is not to say that humans can be oblivious to their impact on wildlife.  Just witness the near demise of whooping cranes, the similar, bigger, all-white representative of North American cranes.  The loss of their winter coastal wetlands and vigorous hunting almost led to their extinction.  There are only a few hundred of these magnificent birds now living in the wild.  Only through the intervention of governmental entities like the US Fish and Wildlife Service and groups like the International Crane Foundation, have the whooping cranes survived.

A Middle Ground needs to be found between ignorance, or antipathy, to nature and the segregation of humanity and the wild.  Standing among the tall cottonwoods on the banks of the Platte, it easy to imagine a pre-civilization wilderness riparian forest.  However, our imagination would be wrong, as the trees have only grown up after the suppression of fires and the regulation of the floods of the river.  Of course it is technically feasible to restore the Platte River ecosystem by returning more water flow to the stream, pushing agriculture out of the valley, and reinvigorating the prairie and marshes.  Practically, this is not likely, given the political demands on water in the west, the economic prowess of American farming, and the two centuries of modern civilization in Nebraska.

So to preserve the habitat of migrating cranes and the other species that depend on the Platte, we have applied human ingenuity and societal resources.  The Nature Conservancy has used its traditional land protection skills to strategically acquire farms and restore prairies adjacent to the River, the Audobon Society has protected important migratory sites, and state and federal governmental agencies adopt and enforce wildlife regulations.  These actions have helped the whooping cranes survive, and the sandhill cranes to thrive.

Whole System Conservation is the term now applied to much of the work of The Nature Conservancy, and its goal is to understand and then manage the large scale functioning of the environment.  It is underway in the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River, and throughout the globe. This work requires not only land preservation, but also important attention to the policies that govern human economy and society.  We are not separate from nature, and we must be stewards of our natural systems so that they benefit both the natural inhabitants as well the human ones.  We all depend on nature.

In the Platte River ecosystem, not only do sandhill cranes and other species depend on a healthy environment, but so too does agriculture.  A first step is to acquire easements on agriculture land that compensate farmers for leaving some of their land out of production some of the time.  Thus, more habitat can be protected.  But the key issue in the West (and perhaps everywhere) is water.  Three states and many agencies and organizations have come together to manage water flows and use in the Platte River system.  The goals are many, the compromises not always easy, and the potential for success great.  Science provides new solutions, and The Nature Conservancy has teamed up agribusiness to use technology to allow for pinpoint irrigation management; this helps save energy costs for farmers and water for the environment.

Too often we choose to ignore nature, filled with hubris in thinking that we can pursue our own needs without regard to the places which we inhabit.  Or we are unwise in the exercise of our abilities and we use our knowledge without a value system that includes nature.  But the Platte River and sandhill cranes are showing us that putting nature foremost is not only possible, but beneficial to both animals and humans.  Not only have we achieved a balance between humans and the environment, but sandhill cranes benefit from agriculture, depending on leftover corn to fuel their migration.  And the local economy benefits from the $10 million impact from the many humans who come to Nebraska to view the cranes.

Throughout the world there are 15 species of cranes, and most are held in special esteem by the various cultures which have evolved along with these most special creatures.  Sandhill cranes have long been celebrated by Native American residents of the Great Plains, and now we are building a tourism, economic, and environmental culture that values both the cranes and the Platte River ecosystem upon which they depend.


 To visit:  Sandhill cranes migrate through the Platte River Valley between late February and early April, thought the time of peak migration can vary by many days.  The Nature Conservancy, Audubon Society, and others run tours.
Kearney, Nebraska offers an annual festival and support for viewing the cranes.

To learn more about the work of The Nature Conservancy in Nebraska and elsewhere visit www.nature.org/nebraska

The best book I have ever read about cranes is Peter Matthiessen's Birds of Heaven: Travels with Cranes which documents his worldwide journey to learn more about the importance of these very special animals.

Thank you to Anna Owens for the photographs, and the company.

Five Truths Found in Nature

On September 11 this year, I got up early, walked to the beach and watched a great black-backed gull in the surf. After breakfast, I got on a bicycle and rode off into a fog so wet that I needed raingear. Later, the sun prevailed and I spent a glorious day immersed in nature, fully aware of wind, and smell, and ever-changing visions of a living landscape.

I was on Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, on a five-day bike trip around the Cabot Trail, but establishing a connection with nature can occur in lots of places. The Shiawassee River that runs through my home-town provides my most accessible environmental source, but the opportunities are many, if we choose to make them. Why do we go to nature?  For me, I reaffirm five fundamental values when I spend time outside: Life, Beauty, Transcendence, Relationship, and Inspiration.

1. Nature is life.  Being in nature connects me to the elemental: water flowing, air felt, plants growing, animals observed, and the music of bird sounds. When I encounter nature, even in a streetside planter, I am aware of life, both in its tenacity, as a flower takes root in a cement crack, and in its fragility, as an insect dies with the swat of a hand. 

I like to walk in nature, because it allows me to stop, and stoop, and examine life in its most minute and delicate.  But on a bicycle I can take in more of the diversity of life in less time.  On a day’s ride through Cape Breton Highlands National Park, a long climb took me from the seacoast with whales offshore, along a stream through a stand of Canada’s trademark maple trees, up through a spruce forest, and finally to the stunted growth of a taiga and a near-tundra environment atop a windswept plateau 550 meters above sea level.

When out in nature on a bike, wind and temperature changes are keenly experienced. Weather is not an abstract symbol on my smartphone. I am immersed in the environment, and sights and smells constantly change. The use of my legs, the testing of my physical self, reminds me that I too am a creature defined by my biology.  I am a part of nature.

2. Beauty expresses the universal.  Emerson, in his essay “Nature” wrote that “the world exists to the soul to satisfy the desire of beauty.” Beauty is an elusive, perhaps discredited, philosophical term, but I know my life is enriched when I encounter a perfect dahlia bloom in the Halifax Public Garden, or take in the grand view of the Cape Breton coast after a long bike climb. Nature delights us with its creativity in its expressions of beauty.

But beauty is more than the perfect combination of design, and color, and light. There is some inherent quality in certain natural objects or experiences that exceeds identification or classification.  We stood on the top of a cliff just north of Ingonish and watched a bald eagle, perfect in his white and black coloration, glide up to eye level and look at us sideways from 20 feet away. There was much more in this moment than an ornithological achievement. “Every natural action is graceful,” wrote Emerson. “Beauty, in its largest and profoundest sense, is one expression for the universe.”

3. Transcendence through nature.  Being in nature reminds us that we are part of something much larger than ourselves in current time.  Looking across the expanse of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, clouds and sun and distant rain make apparent the cycle of water upon which we depend.  The exposed geology of the shifting earth and the discontinuity of multi-colored rocks reveal that much has happened to create the cape upon which we were now standing.  Life is fully present in the form of a black bear feeding upon blueberries, but the reminders of death—rotting fish on the shore, the barren trees of a burnt-over hillside—are also constant.  Our time here will be short, but nature will persist.

4. We exist in relationship.  We are in relationship with nature, and with one another.  A trip into the out-of-doors not only affirms our dependence upon nature, it also highlights the importance of our relationships with one another. While I have had many a quiet moment alone in nature birdwatching or reflecting, my most significant encounters with nature have been with a group of people. Heading off to a wild place often requires some journey of time, distance, and effort, and it is both easier and more satisfying to make that trip with others. This bike trip was similar, with both a support team to help me through the tough moments and fellow pedalers to share with me the discoveries.

Both our human relationships and our interactions with the natural world are two-way. We depend on one another, and our actions have an impact, either positive or negative.  On the toughest day of our trip, we were thankful for the bright sun and the cool breeze off the ocean. Our guide recounted days lost on other trips to violent Nor’easters that brought waves up over the road in places.

We were very aware of the more profound ways in which nature has sustained, and challenged, the residents of Cape Breton. The ocean provides an active fishery in several small towns we rode through. While lobsters abound, over-fishing and environmental changes have greatly diminished several fish populations. This was perhaps most evident in the Salmon Museum along the Margaree River, which contains haunting photographs and fascinating gear—legal and illegal---from the bountiful history of the Atlantic Salmon fishery. Fortunately, the majestic fish has survived, and with help is now recovering.

5. Nature is a source of inspiration.  Spending long days on a bike, often in single file, gives one time to think.  I considered both the grand scenery flashing by, but also about the piece of technology that carried me along.  The bicycle may be one of the most simple, yet profound, human inventions. It translates the power of our legs, which by animal standards are slow, into a relatively speedy and efficient means of transportation. And it provides mechanical locomotion without the use of fossil fuels or noxious emissions.  For me, I appreciate the connection it provides with the immediate environment, whether pleasant or not.

The relationship between humanity, technology, and nature has been complex, and not one that has always benefitted humanity or nature.  Often, without thought, we have employed a technology that has offered to save us time or increase wealth, but we have not fully considered the costs.  Still, the best of our technology has extended human capacity and done so in ways that impose small costs or even provided a benefit.  The bicycle has proven to be one such technology, and it's basic form has been with us now for close to two centuries.  After a week on a bike, I came away more enamored with this technology as a symbol of how we can use our intellect to take advantage of what nature has to offer, but without doing major damage to the resource we seek to enjoy.

The Peace of Wild Things.  Nature offers us so much, both in terms of sustenance and the opportunity for spiritual growth.  But death is part of nature as well, and one day we took a break from biking to hike out lonely White Point, where violent water batters exposed rock.  There you will find a simple memorial to the those who have died in an unfortunate encounter with the powerful ocean.  The people of Cape Breton have a close relationship with the sea, and while it supports life, sometimes it claims a life as well.

The line between what is good and lovely and what is evil and dark is thin. Biking provides this reminder as well.  The exhilaration of the downhill run is tempered by the thought of loose gravel on a sharp switchback. And while the drivers of Nova Scotia were as considerate as any I have shared a road with, we were still sometimes shaken by a truck cutting too close as they passed us by on the narrow shoulder of the road.  Life is good, but we cannot measure its length.

This year, I spent September 11 biking from fog to sunshine, along a beautiful edge of nature.  I was invigorated.  On the dark days after September 11, 2001, life was not so joyous.  As I struggled to make sense of that human tragedy, I turned to one of my favorite Wendell Berry poems:

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

How to get there:
Cape Breton is rich in both culture and nature, and the Cabot Trail provides a biking route around some of its most scenic areas. Here is a link to the Cabot Trail with maps and information.  Find more about visiting the area at www.novascotia.com

As always, thanks Anna

Several options are available for biking on your own or with a guided tour.  We travelled with Pedal & Sea Adventures, and had a fantastic trip.

Cape Breton Highlands National Park is a natural area of special significance and worth visiting on a camping trip; hiking opportunities abound.

If you go, be sure to spend some time inland as well, along the Margaree River, and learn more about the recovery efforts associated with the Atlantic Salmon.  Be sure to visit the Salmon Museum.

Paying it Forward with the Kirtland's Warbler

When it comes to nature, how can we pay it forward? You know the concept: someone does a good deed for you, or pays off your debt, and you reciprocate by extending your generosity and good will to the next person in line. But hasn't nature also done us many a good deed? And don't we all have a debt to the environment, for at least clean air and water, and a whole lot more?  If you are looking to pay any of that forward, you might help out a small yellow bird in the middle of Michigan, like I did in early June.

The Kirtland's Warbler appreciates a very particular ecosystem favored by few: small scrubby areas with sandy or rocky soils. It spends the winter in dense shrubbery on a few underdeveloped islands in the Bahamas, and in the spring it migrates to the mostly flat jack pine forests between Grayling and Mio in central Michigan. The song bird likes to breed only in stands of young jack pines mixed with oak and cherry. This niche behavior was almost the undoing of this yellow-breasted bird with the bright song.

Historically, before loggers and settlers pushed into the northern Great Lakes, the Kirtland's Warbler had plenty of new growth areas to choose from for its summer home.  Fires regularly burned across the sandy outwash plains left from the glaciers. Jack pine, whose cones only release their seeds after being exposed to the high heat of a fire, is the pioneer species of these ravaged areas. The Kirtland's would skip around Michigan, Wisconsin and Ontario to build their nest on the sand amongst the new growth forests.

However, following the clear-cut logging of the north woods, settlers moved in, roads and towns were built, and forest fires became a scourge on the human inhabited land.  Smokey the Bear moved in too, and fire suppression and a quick response to any blaze became the celebrated norm. Especially in areas not well suited to farming, like the plains and low hills stretching back from the Au Sable River, a mature forest grew up to offer sites for the "up north" cabin. While good news for vacationers, hunters and anglers, the Kirtland's Warbler was out of a home.

The Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973, part of the great awakening of environmental policy, and it came just in time for the Kirtland's Warbler.  In 1971, the third census of the rare bird had found only 201 singing male birds, a 60 percent drop in 10 years. The new federal legislation gave formal recognition to the Kirtland's Warbler Recovery Team--a group of government, scientific, and environmental organizations--and gave them the legal authority and financial resources to work to prevent the loss of the species. Decades of research and effort have paid off, and the species has recovered. The censuses in both 2012 and 2013 have counted more than 2,000 singing males.

People -- scientists, birdwatchers, government wildlife workers, donors, and other enthusiasts of nature--have saved the Kirtland's Warbler, at least for the time being. Two intensive efforts have made the difference. First, the US Forest Service and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) actively manages public lands to create appropriate breeding habitat.  Research, trial and error, and careful observation led scientists to understand that the Warbler needs large areas of young jack pine forests, mixed with other small trees and including hidden openings. Foresters have logged, cleared, or burned--and then re-planted-- sandy soil areas in both the lower and upper peninsulas of Michigan to replicate the natural landscape that existed before fires were prevented.

Secondly, cowbirds have been controlled in the breeding area. Brown-headed cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, a strategy that evolved as the birds followed bison herds in the Great Plains.  However, plowed fields and animal agriculture brought the cowbirds to the Great Lakes and in northern Michigan they found the Kirtland's Warblers' nests an easy target. Now, the invasive cowbirds are trapped and warbler eggs can hatch and the young grow up without the competition of the larger cowbirds.

A mutually beneficial relationship exists between people and the Kirtland's Warbler, or KW as many call it. The bird now depends on people to maintain its summer home.  And people are eager to see this bird that nests in a very particular place in the Great Lakes ecosystem. They come from throughout Michigan, the United States, and the world in the early summer to discover for themselves this bird with the yellow breast and the lyrical song.  And a passionate number return year after year to see, to hear, to count, to study, and to save this bird.  Why?

I have had the chance three times to go into the field with these people whose connection to nature comes through a rare and beautiful bird. Some appreciate the scientific challenge of learning all about one unique species; others find through the bird a special connection to a Michigan place of pine trees and cold-water rivers; and many are serious birders, and they travel to north central Michigan in hopes of adding a KW to their life list of birds observed. I take any excuse to get out.

A "Big" Day.  Most recently I ventured up a sandy road east of Grayling with the accomplished birder Greg Miller and several other friends--new and old--of the Kirtland's Warber.  Greg was one of the subjects of the book and movie "The Big Year" about a quest to see more than 700 species of birds in the US in one year. He is one of the premier birders in the world, and has a long list of birds to choose as favorites, but the Kirtland's holds a special place for him.  His father brought him to the Grayling area when he was an eleven year-old boy, and the experience of finding the rare KW set him on the passionate pursuit that now defines his life.

Several decades later, the day was cool and breezy as Greg Miller accompanied a small group of experienced and novice birders scouting through jack pines not much taller than we were.  We could hear, but not see, several males staking out their territory.  The small, closely spaced pine trees gave our outing the feel of a Christmas tree hunt, though without the snow, and we could not see far into the dense growth. We stayed on the two-track, as we did not want to disturb the Kirtland's Warbler, nor inadvertently step on its nest, on the ground amidst the vegetation.

It was tantalizing. We alternately kneeled and stood on tip-toe, leaning from left to right, all in an attempt to get a clear view of the small bird flitting and singing among the young pine trees. Nothing,  and then not even a song.  We moved on, stopping and searching several times without a successful sighting.  Finally, we got a view of the bright yellow breast of a singing male amongst the shrubbery, and fellow bird-watchers almost elbowed in for a view. Then, one of the proud birds popped up to a dead tree branch, perched, and tilted up his head to warble. Cameras clicked, birders old and new sighed appreciatively, and we were transformed.

A Conservation-Reliant Species. The experience of seeing a bird for the first time in the wild is always special, but this achievement came from more than just our skill, the guidance of an expert birder, or luck. The landscape of the breeding Kirtland's Warbler exists only because of the concentrated, sustained, and scientifically-informed efforts of many people and agencies. Its winter home, in the Bahamas, has only recently been pinpointed, thanks to the efforts of The Nature Conservancy.  In both places, locals have been engaged and educated to appreciate the rarity of this bird.

The Kirtland's Warbler story is one of success, and now the scientists who have carefully studied, and the conservationists who have tended, the species are turning their attention to create natural conditions that will favor the sustained livelihood of the bird.  They also are working on building the organization and financial stability to ensure the KW will not have to rely on annual appropriations from Washington and elsewhere. The future certainly looks better than the past, but ongoing stewardship will be required.

The fate of the Kirtland's Warbler depends on humans to maintain a proper habitat, and to control competitive cowbirds. If these efforts ceased today, the population would likely again decline.  It is now what the experts call a "conservation-reliant" species.  Humans were responsible for the demise of the Kirtland's Warbler; now we are responsible to be stewards of the places the bird calls home.

The Passenger Pigeon.  The history of our relationship with nature can be measured in how we treat birds. As the Great Lakes were settled, humans observed flocks of passenger pigeons that numbered in the tens of millions. These social birds nested in the nut-rich hardwood forests that covered much of Michigan and surrounding areas; they were tasty to eat and easy to hunt, and they were no match for the technological prowess of humanity. In the 19th century, the passenger pigeon went from symbol of the abundance of nature to the victim of unchecked human consumption. In 1914, the last passenger pigeon died in a zoo in Ohio.

Sadly, the relationship between humans and birds has too often followed the path of ignorance and greed. However, in the hundred years since the demise of the passenger pigeon, Americans have redefined their relationship with birds and nature. The death of Martha, the last passenger pigeon, may have sparked the first widespread recognition that the actions of people could lead to the extinction of a species and the collapse of natural systems. It came as the work of early naturalists like John James Audubon was translated into the active conservation movement that Teddy Roosevelt had championed.  In 1918, the Migratory Bird Act was passed, and in subsequent years, wildlife management became the scientific task of federal and state governments; land was set aside and hunting was regulated. The Endangered Species Act, passed in 1973, was the policy culmination of this conservation ethic.

The story of the Kirtland's Warbler reminds us that human interaction with nature does not always result in extinction and loss. Rather, the resurgence of this small yellow bird demonstrates what we can achieve with the knowledge gained from science and the conservation efforts of both public agencies and private actors. Human actions have resulted in changed landscapes in most of the world; in one area of northern Michigan, we have cared for the landscape in a way to not only benefit us, but to also to preserve a home for one of our natural neighbors. 

 To Learn More visit these sites
The Kirtland's Warbler Initiative - the effort to build ongoing support for the species
The Kirtland's Warbler Breeding Range Conservation Plan - a recently released draft from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Winter Habitat (video) in the Bahamas has been the subject of study by The Nature Conservancy
Greg Miller's thoughts on the Kirtland's Warbler
To visit and see the Kirtland's Warbler, you can go on an Audobon Society Tour.

Thanks to Anna Owens for supporting my enthusiasm for birds, and for taking the photos that documented this wonderful outing.

"The Once and Future Great Lakes Country"

Land conservancies rightly seek to protect and preserve undisturbed natural places: the forests, marshes, shorelines, and all those pieces of nature that represent a time before human settlement.  "If only," we say as we look at an old growth stand of white pine and imagine what the North Woods was before logging, or as we peruse an analysis of the loss of coastal wetlands. Reading John L. Riley's "The Once and Future Great Lakes Country: An Ecological History" occasioned such thoughts, but the historical and scientific depth of the book re-aligned my understanding of the relationship between humans and the landscape, both in the past and for the work now before us.  There is much beauty to recall, and loss to lament, as we review the history of the Great Lakes, but mythologizing the past may hamper our ability to assure our future.

A Canadian Perspective is what I first expected, as the author is the Chief Science Officer of The Nature Conservancy in Canada, and as the book is published by McGill-Queen's University Press.  And while the book takes in an enormous historical and geographic scope--from Pre-Cambrian geology to the invasion of quagga mussels, and from the upper Hudson River to the Rainy River--the point of view is from north of the border.  Of course, when considering an ecological geography, political boundaries are not helpful in making a definition; though governments can make a big difference in our ability to protect an eco-region.

For a Michigander like myself, Canada has never been far away or too foreign, but I learned a lot from this book about the natural history of Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.  John Riley starts his book with an engaging account of the history of the area around his home, a former farm in the Niagara Escarpment just northwest of Toronto.  From here, he covers a lot of geology, biology and history, but his account is grounded in a Canadian perspective. It's both beneficial and instructive for us Americans to get out of our parochial attitudes and look at the Great Lakes from another direction.

First-Hand Accounts of Nature from early explorers and settlers, as well as early native voices, are the strength of this book, and Riley organizes these accounts both chronologically (e.g. "The Land Beyond Memory: Before 1500") as well as by environmental topics ("Taking the Wildlife: 1500-1900").  There are some rich details, like Cadillac's 1701 description of the bison seen in the area southwest of Lake Erie, a "boundless prairies (with) mighty oxen which are covered with wool."  Or the late 18th Century account of Lady Simcoe's visit to Niagara Falls in which she encountered hundreds of rattlesnakes in the cliffs.  Riley notes that before hydropower diversions, the water in Niagara River measured 25 feet deep (or high?) as it flowed over the Falls.

Lady Simcoe's sketch of Niagara Falls, 1792 (Archives of Ontario)

I was particularly impressed with the accounts of the fecundity of fish, like the large schools of Atlantic salmon found in Lake Ontario, six foot sturgeons in Lake Michigan, and the native catch of whitefish in Sault Ste. Marie, "easily enough to feed 10,000 men" according to one 1669 eyewitness.  Riley also writes about the Iroquios nation's reliance on the eel, noting that settlement patterns of the tribes around Lake Ontario are defined by the highest upstream migration of eel. The stories of the great productivity of fish as food stock in the pre-historic Great Lakes are wistful background to todays news accounts about the struggles to re-establish lake trout or sturgeon.

The Re-Wilding of the Great Lakes.  On land as well as water, wildlife abounded in the Great Lakes region, and Riley investigates the role they play in the regional ecology.  For instance, the now extinct passenger pigeon, traveling in enormous flocks, helped foster a diverse forest of nut- and fruit-bearing trees which provided foods, as did the pigeons, to other animals. The proliferation of animal life in the Great Lakes region prior to European contact also supported a Native American population that was equally diverse in its culture and complex in its use and impact on the land.  My mental picture of the 16th Century landscape is influenced by the history written by those who subsequently occupied it, so I imagined an unbroken forest primeval. Riley more accurately recounts a pre-settlement landscape that was in many places home to large villages, used for mixed agriculture, and actively burned and cleared to support the hunting of wild game.

A Great Lakes region where humans lived in balance with nature changes after 1500 as disease eliminates most (estimates range from 75 to 95 percent) of the native population, the European demand for fur and resources redefines the use of the land, and war and conflicts directs the movements of both native and white populations.  For instance, by the 17th Century, "the expulsion of Native nations from the Ontario peninsula and around Lake Erie, combined with the relative collapse of Iroquoia as well, changed the ecology of the region. A culture of sophisticated, place-based farming and wildlife harvest was finished, as was its stewardship of the broader landscape for humans and wildlife alike."  The landscape re-wilded, and by the 19th Century the Great Lakes region was a dense forest that was unnaturally devoid of human habitation, probably reduced in wild game, and less diverse in its landscape and life.

A Complex Relationship exists between humans and nature, both in Canada and the United States (and everywhere else!). "The Once and Future Great Lakes Country"details the historical and the current, the negative and the beneficial aspects of our dependence and use of nature.  Perhaps the best part of the book is the final chapter "Restoration"which provides perspective and direction to the many efforts to protect and preserve natural areas, revitalize wildlife and fisheries, and establish greenbelts.  While I wished for more detail on the history of the Nature Conservancy in Canada (a separate legal entity from The Nature Conservancy based in the US, the organization for which I volunteer) there are several accounts of its saving important places in Ontario.  Impressively, a totaling of public and private acres protected in the Great Lakes basin on the Canadian side adds up to 12 percent of the land.  As Riley notes, "this tithing for nature reflects a sea change in civil society."

Reading this book made me rethink my conceptions of the natural and human history of the Great Lakes.  And while the accounts of what is now lost sadden me, I am heartened to find historical affirmation for the positive role humans can play in nature. "The lessons of pre-contact stewardship--polyculture, native species, promoting wildlife--are being relearned and retaught."  The ecosystems of the Great Lakes are not just pretty to look at and play in (though they most certainly can be), they are also vital to our sustenance and health, our economic well-being, and our own sense of identity.  We need to restore nature not only to recreate our history, but to protect our future.

You can learn more about the book and order it from the publisher here (also available at Amazon, and some bookstores).
You can learn more about the Nature Conservancy of Canada here
You can learn more about The Nature Conservancy's work in the Great Lakes here

Next week:  an account of a winter visit to a new preserve in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

The Haunted Forest Preserve

Saving the Great Lakes will require new ways of thinking about, and working on, conservation. We need to think of the largest freshwater ecosystem as whole; we need to overcome geopolitical boundaries; and we need to remember, and apply, the history of the special places we love.  These lessons, and more, were brought home to me by a recent visit to The Nature Conservancy's (TNC) Haunted Forest Preserve.

The South Side of North is where you will find the Garden Peninsula, home to the 574 acre Haunted Forest Preserve.  The Garden Peninsula is on the north shore of Lake Michigan, extending 22 miles from the south side of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  It matches Wisconsin's Door Peninsula and the two rocky points of land form Green Bay and Big Bay De Noc, which are among the most productive fisheries in the Great Lakes.

Geologically, the 420 million year-old Garden Peninsula is part of the Niagara Escarpment, the hard edge of a tipped bowl underlying the Great Lakes.  The erosion-resistant capstone is dolomitic limestone, also called dolostone, or more popularly, dolomite.  It forms not only Niagara Falls, but also Canada's Bruce Peninsula, the Manitoulin Islands, and Michigan's Drummond Island, home to TNC's Maxton Plains Preserve where a rare biotic community, called an alvar, forms in thin soils above flat limestone pavement. On the Garden Peninsula, the white stone is revealed in high cliffs along the blue water.

The Haunted Forest Preserve gets it name from a larger, mature white cedar forest, inaccessible (fortunately) to loggers over years past and still inaccessible (unfortunately) to most visitors, like me, my wife Anna, and the three college students who were with us on their first trip to the Upper Peninsula.  The 574 acre Preserve consists of several points of land divided by a curving and rocky shoreline, steep cliffs, hardwood forests, and coastal wetlands.  It is the wetlands, and the shallow near-shore areas, that give this place its ecological importance.  This pristine, undisturbed overlap of land and water serves as a rich spawning ground for fish and a valuable habitat for migratory and other birds.  We were stopped several times on our walk by the sight of a pair of bald eagles soaring over the Preserve and neighboring bays.  In all, The Nature Conservancy has protected six miles of Great Lakes coastline on the Garden Peninsula.

The political boundaries of the Great Lakes sometimes get in the way of saving them. Not only does an international border divide four of the five lakes, but eight states exercise different programs and regulations to protect the world's largest freshwater lakes. Fortunately, a number of official bodies coordinate the government efforts, and non-governmental organizations have evolved to look at the Great Lakes from an ecosystem point of view.  The Nature Conservancy's Great Lakes Project takes a whole system perspective and combines the efforts of several state chapters, engages the Governors of the Great Lakes states, and uses science to direct conservation where most needed, regardless of boundaries or bureaucracies.

The Haunted Forest Preserve came to be because people's love for the environment is also not constrained by political boundaries.  The Nature Conservancy used its traditional method of working with landowners and funders, from several states, to acquire land through donation, purchase, and easement protection.  The Preserve lies in Michigan, but it owes its protection to both private and public support from Wisconsin.

Big Bay de Noc, on the western side of the Garden Peninsula, is part of the larger Green Bay ecological region. The natural features have supported a vibrant human economy, from fisheries to logging to agriculture to shipping to tourism.  Unfortunately, overuse has damaged the watershed lands, created some toxic hotspots, and eliminated more than 70 percent of the wetlands in the area.  The Fox River & Green Bay Natural Resource Trustee Council was formed to help restore the ecosystem following some of this despoilment. While most of the attention has been given to the southern, Wisconsin end of Green Bay, The Nature Conservancy recognized that saving the wetlands of the Garden Peninsula, would help the entire Green Bay ecosystem recover from its historical mistreatment.  Thus, funds from Wisconsin came to save part of Michigan; all of it making the Great Lakes healthier.

The limestone in the white cliffs sourced Fayette

Fayette: Learning from History.  While the future of the Great Lakes can be seen on the Garden Peninsula, so too can its history; the lessons from both present and past are valuable.  It surprises many to learn that this quiet, remote part of the Great Lakes was a 19th century center of the iron industry.  Just south of the Haunted Forest Preserve is the former community, now State Historic Park, of Fayette. Natural resources--access to Great Lakes shipping, a great harbor, and proximity to dolomitic limestone and hardwood fuel--led the Jackson Iron Company to build a smelter here in 1867.  Iron ore was shipped here, then refined to pig iron before being sent on to the growing industries of the Midwest.  A booming community took over the shoreline for several decades, and today many of the buildings still exist in a well-preserved and well-presented condition. It is well worth the drive, or the sail, to this historic spot.

note the former stone wall, now overgrown

Walking through the Haunted Forest Preserve we discovered, amidst the tall and strong maple and beech forest, an important lesson from history.  To fuel the smelters of Fayette, the timber was stripped from the entire Garden Peninsula to be fed into charcoal kilns. After the clear-cutting, farmers made a stab at establishing an agricultural economy.  But over time, farming could not use all the available land.  As we explored the Preserve I felt as if we were in Vermont as we came across old stone walls and large piles of the rock pulled out, by hand, from farm fields that have now reverted to mature, second-growth forests.  The end of Fayette as an economic powerhouse came because they ran out of fuel, because they had an unsustainable business model.

Sustainability.  Throughout the Upper Peninsula, one sees frequent reminders of the dangers of building an economy solely on the one-time use of natural resources.  Time and again, unchecked logging, rampant mining, and overfishing have created boom and bust communities that failed to last.  Today, you come across massive white pine stumps, rusting mining equipment, slag piles, empty ports, and even whole abandoned towns that remind us of the dangers of over-exploiting our natural resource.  Fortunately, the times are changing in the Upper Peninsula.  The Nature Conservancy is creating a sustainable logging model and is working with private timber companies to forever protect forest lands both for economic and environmental benefits (read more).  Mining continues as part of the Michigan economy, but the economy has diversified and better policies and practices minimize damage.

On the Garden Peninsula, farming continues as part of the regional economy.  The natural beauty of the area and the historic resource of Fayette now supports a tourism economy, and the healthy waters and wetlands of the Green Bay-Big Bay de Noc aquatic ecosystem encourages both recreational and commercial fishing.  One other sign of a sustainable future is seen in the presence of windmills generating electricity from the non-polluting wind blowing across the Garden Peninsula.  Of course, none of this happens without attention to the impacts of human activity and a commitment to managing both the ecosystem and the economy.  Science-based policies are necessary to ensure that windmills are sited and operated to minimize impacts on birds and bats, logging and mining needs to be sensibly regulated, and the best and important lands and water of the area need to be preserved.  The future, cognizant of the past, shows much promise.

Click here to learn more about the Haunted Forest Preserve
Click here for more on Fayette and visiting the Garden Peninsula
Click here for information on Fayette Historic State Park

     

This trip could not have been possible without Danielle Miller's guidance and local knowledge, the hospitality and commitment of the Thomas and the Wilson families, the photography of Anna Owens, and the company of Beata, Katrina, and Jenny.  Thank you all.