Tuesday, September 11, 2007

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Throughout history, mankind has been taming wild places. A week ago I visited a good friend who is intentionally bucking the trend and making places more wild.

Awhile back he bought a house on a small river near Kelso Washington. Since then he has spent some of his own money and some grant money provided by the US Government to rehabilitate his stretch of the river. His goal is to stabilize the erosion caused by prior attempts to tame the river. In the process he is creating natural habitats for salmon, frogs, salamanders and such. His efforts are paying off. They are coming back and along with them, the entire food chain above them. While it’s a labor of love, it’s also hard labor!

He’s planted 2,000 trees. He’s brought in something like 500,000 pounds of rock. And he has “planted” dozens of dead and fallen trees (as in the photo above), each weighing several tons, which divert floodwater runoff, and create dark safe habitats. He’s had some help with the heavy stuff, but mostly he’s doing it by hand and with light equipment.

It’s personal.

I admire him for it!

Posted by Digital Quixote in • Out and About
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