TREE HUGGER

In the summers of 2009 & ’10 I was an ‘In Park Volunteer’ at Kenai Fjords National Park. My job was Interpretation; I was one of the folks who led guided hikes, presented educational programs and reminded visitors of park rules. The only difference between my job and the Smokey Bear Rangers was the color of our uniforms and the pay. One day on a trail near the visitor’s center a man with a foreign accent motioned to me. His English was rough but his message was clear. He did not like the United States or Americans particularly but he loved our National Parks. He said they were the one thing that we got right, that the rest of the world looks to us to see how National Parks should be done. I agreed with him on the parks and thanked him for his input. Our National Parks rock. 

A century back, when the idea was just beginning to manifest itself at Yosemite and Grand Canyon, corporations coveted them. The Santa Fe Railroad built a rail connection and a 5 star hotel on the south rim of Grand Canyon. They envisioned it as their private, prototype theme park. Thank goodness it didn’t play out that way. The mission of National Park Service is abbreviated to the three P’s; Preserve and Protect our national treasures and only then, facilitate the public’s Pleasure. At about the same time, Congressman William Kent, from California, purchased 600 acres north of San Francisco. His intent was to protect old growth redwoods from loggers saws and from development. Developers threatened to use laws of ‘Eminent Domain’ to gain control over the valley but Kent sidestepped their scheme by donating the land to the government, making it a federal possession rather than private. President Teddy Roosevelt declared the land a National Monument, insuring its protection. They named the patch of redwoods for John Muir, the leading environmental activist of his time. In this case Kent and Roosevelt got it right. Today, you can walk the boardwalk under those giants or hike hillside trails that let you look through the canopy. All you have to do is go, do it. 

I love trees in the first place; you don’t have to sell me on the idea. I am a ‘Tree Hugger’ of the 1st degree, literally. As a biology teacher, one of my favorite lessons was leaf collection and identification. At some point you have to hug them if you intend to climb very high and I been climbing from an early age. Then again, the name implies a smug if not condescending slur against anyone who favors balance and preservation in natural habitats as opposed to their profitable exploitation. I am predisposed to that view as well. Concern for the Spotted Owl and Rainbow Darters blocked logging operations and hydroelectric development a few decades back. Those who stood to profit from development were outraged and thus coined the insult. I am not insulted. Not that those creatures are all that important in and of themselves but they do act as the ‘Canary in the mine. . .’ to signal dangerous, undetected changes in the system. The health and well being of coal mine canaries was certainly high on their list of priorities but that wasn't about the bird; it was about coal miners and ultimately, profit. 

I’ve been to Muir Woods before and I was there recently with people I care deeply about. Just to be present with trees who were alive, casting their own huge shadows when Genghis Kahn was plundering Persia and England's King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta at Runnymede; it gives me pause. We walked the valley floor then hiked the hillsides. We ate lunch in the shade of giant redwoods and watched people of many nationalities, speaking their own languages, all wide eyed and smiling. Money mongers can flourish in a vacuum, wherever there are other addicts playing their game, but they can do it without destroying our irreplaceable, natural treasures. I’m hugging trees, everywhere I go and it gives me great pleasure.