This is OUR Backyard
by Robert Russo
Last month the National Audubon Society released a study that twenty once-common backyard birds of Virginia have diminished by more than 50% in the past forty years.* Separately the Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries reports that they believe our native box turtles found throughout the state are actually "ghost populations" of older individuals no longer reproducing.** To find the cause of this they are placing tracking devices on turtles' backs to track their movements, but it doesn't take a biologist to figure out why both of these declines are occurring and that they are the same issue. Surely a field technician has a county map in his office and when releasing a turtle can draw a straight line to the nearest highway or gated community, if it doesn't occur to him on the drive back to his own house.
Wherever there was once pristine land is now being parceled for systematic destruction. Hanover, Goochland, Powhatan, the once-rural west Chesterfield. When old relatives call from their rural homestead or cabin that was once in the boonies they say things are changing, and no one gives a damn. People enjoy seeing birds on the back porch as much as ever, but do they wonder where those birds come from when the yard is blocked off on all sides? Most real habitats people used to ignore, because it was too dense to clear out by hand or the land wouldn't perk, or it was just too great a distance from human interests. Every neighborhood had such a place. Now there is no such thing as distance, no type of ground that can't be worked, and no disinterest.
Several items I've posted this year stem from "camp philosophy", realization that comes while camping. In a natural environment where the way things are supposed to be is clearly visible, politics stands out like a sore thumb (much like hunting fuels insight for many libertarians). Outdoor facilities that pride in keeping things rustic are under heavy fire almost to extinction, much like a community or individual that lives a self-reliant lifestyle. Recently I observed old-growth forest where science classes had been taught for decades was cleared to install plumbing for the network of modern toilet facilities the law requires (as if a tree isn't sufficient). This is the first year I have seen no snakes on the ground at that reservation although my ability to spot them only increases.
An Audubon spokesman said in a news conference "Today you can't find a bobwhite in Pennsylvania, and hearing a whippoorwill is a red letter day.".* That is quite a statement considering the size of PA. I still hear bobwhites every day and whippoorwills at night, but the acreage where I hear them is already on the market.
Someone said to me the other day how statistics are compiled for months in an effort to draw broad-based conclusions about the world, when all people need to do is confront the symptoms that are right on their doorstep. Environmentalism is being directed toward the globe which has no ears and no voice (basically it is shouted into space), when individual projects and agendas are devoted to the bottom line because that is what people care about in their daily grind. Stewardship is disappearing. It is a responsibility passed on to someone else, so what other responsibilities will we forget about? I'm reminded of the hymn…
I sing because I'm free,
for His eye is on the sparrow,
and I know He watches me."
If we are not mindful of the little things that have a right to live in this state what rights will we forfeit next? There are articles on the decline of Virginia's native species at http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/06/14/bird.decline/index.html and http://www.timesdispatch.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-06-27-0153.html.
*http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/06/14/bird.decline/index.html
**http://www.timesdispatch.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-06-27-0153.html
Question of the Week: Almost everyone respects the environment in words, do you do your part in practice? Is a portion of your yard left alone or do you give some of your time to educating people, picking up trash, voting green etc.? Send your responses to henrico@richmondliberty.org.
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