Jim Beers: To Manage or Not To Manage, That is the Question

To Manage or Not To Manage, That is the Question

WHO BE MOTHER NATURE?

"Vis Medicatrix Naturae" - An expression dating back to at least Hippocrates
(ca. 460-377 BC) meaning "the healing power of nature".

One outgrowth of the environmental "concern" of the past 40 years is a
growing reference to "Nature" as our "Mother" or "Sister". Many
environmentally-concerned citizens have even banded together under a banner
of honor to Gaea or Gaia, the ancient Greek Goddess of the earth and mother
of the Titans in Greek mythology.

Today public lands are increasingly unmanaged by government under the
auspices of laws, regulations and policies that cite "natural" processes as
the goal of public ownership. Public uses like grazing, logging, hunting,
fishing, firewood collection, mining, etc. are increasingly discouraged as
violating some sort of "natural" balance or "natural" ecosystem. Similarly,
government is extending this "natural" processes philosophy to private
property through the use of easements, permit requirements, and
"partnerships" with rich intermediaries like The Nature Conservancy.

Recent attempts to include "Native Species" and "Native Ecosystems" as goals
of expanding federal government jurisdictions are disguised as laudable
efforts to rid the nation of everything from Injurious and Harmful Species
like killer bees, reticulated pythons, and kudzu when in reality they are
authorizing never ending federal actions to cleanse the nation of every
plant and animals not judged to have been here in 1492 AD.

The epitome of these "natural processes" are the designated Wildernesses,
Sanctuaries, Parks, and Roadless Areas wherein no management of and little
or no use of natural resources is allowed. In 21st century America such
practices are seen as necessary by some to offset the management and use of
both renewable and finite natural resources by others. Generally speaking
those that live with and live from the management and use of natural
resources are rural people and those that resent the management and use of
natural resources by others are urban people. This 40 year conflict has
escalated as the mostly urban supporters of "natural processes" have
steadily overwhelmed rural American traditions, culture, economies, and
communities. This phenomenon has had no little responsibility for the
"red/blue" political acrimony that everyone decries today until their own ox
is gored.

All of the foregoing is being perpetrated by questionable "scientific"
conclusions that reinforce the majority or urban beliefs about how "Nature"
is some sort of inviolate virgin that mankind can only violate instead of a
fruitful wife that bears mankind unlimited benefits. The "Mother" modifier,
strangely enough, is an ancient pagan concept of an earth that provides all
we need. That it has come to mean an inviolate entity that provides mankind
NOTHING is an irony of our times.

All of these things - "Mother Nature", Wilderness, "Native Species",
"Invasive Species", "Native Ecosystems", no logging, no grazing, no fishing,
no resource management, unmanaged and deadly predators, no hunting, Marine
Sanctuaries, Roadless Areas, fire fuel accumulation, rural economy
destruction, total federal hegemony over rural areas and natural resources,
private property as government largesse rather than a Constitutional right,
etc. - are all MAN-MADE decisions. They may be dressed up in "scientific"
assertions and ancient pagan "feel-good" beliefs of "pleasing" an imaginary
deity but they are little more than a current state religion being foisted
on the rest of us. It is a further irony that it has become ascendant in
our and other "Western" or "developed" cultures as Church attendance,
marriage, and childbearing have dwindled precipitously.

Whether we log or hunt or close all public lands and dictate all land uses
on private property, WE are doing it. When we say nothing or simply fail to
act: we say volumes and act accordingly. "Mother Nature" and "her healing
power" have always been and always will be the sum of man's actions or
inactions be they aimed at a future goal or repairing a past catastrophe or
inequity. As long as man exists, he will be managing all of nature either
by his action, inaction, or ignorance. We have that responsibility whether
we want it or not and if we choose not to exercise it we are like that
fellow in the bible that buried what his master gave him and was then
punished for having not used it wisely.

So the next time someone asks, "Who be Mother Nature"? Just tell him, "You
be"!

Jim Beers
20 October 2010

Jim Beers is a retired US Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist,
Special Agent, Refuge Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow.
He was stationed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, and
Washington DC. He also served as a US Navy Line Officer in the western
Pacific and on Adak, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. He has worked for the
Utah Fish & Game, Minneapolis Police Department, and as a Security
Supervisor in Washington, DC. He testified three times before Congress;
twice regarding the theft by the US Fish & Wildlife Service of $45 to 60
Million from State fish and wildlife funds and once in opposition to
expanding Federal Invasive Species authority. He resides in Eagan,
Minnesota with his wife of many decades.

Jim Beers is available to speak or for consulting at jimbeers7@comcast.net