-
On Seeing
- Michigan State University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
· · 48 · · On Seeing Theeyesmaytrickusintoasenseofmastery,buttheearsknow better.Sightinsistsonseparation;hearing,liketouchortasteor smellinsistonconnection. SCOTT RUSSELL SANDERS We say, “Open your eyes and see.” It may not be so simple. Here is what I’ve discovered. The National Wilderness Act, although a major tool for protecting pristine natural places, defines wilderness, and so defines places worthy of preservation, as “an area of undeveloped land affected primarily by forces of nature.” The act might have said “land or water.” The aquatic systems within the nation’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness do, of course, receive de facto protection, but explain this: had someone proposed introducing a nonnative flower or shrub species to the wilderness forest because of its gorgeous blooms or exceptional fragrance, wilderness advocates would surely have vigorously opposed the proposition as antithetical to wilderness values, a blight on the native forest. In fact, a program is now under way to uproot and destroy plants not native to the forest that have invaded on their own. Strangely, this ethic did not apply to the waters. Some of the strongest, most effective advocates for preserving the Boundary Waters Wilderness struggled across portages with pails · · 49 · · heavy with smallmouth bass fingerlings to introduce into lakes outside the bass’ natural range, with negative consequences for native lake trout. In the mid-1960s, Minnesota began a farsighted effort to “preserve and perpetuate the ecological diversity of Minnesota’s natural history” by establishing a statewide Scientific and Natural Areas System. Paradoxically for a state famous for lakes, the program was organized exclusively around terrestrial plant communities. By 1999, 130 prairie grassland, deciduous woods, and coniferous forest sites in the state had been designated . There were no other categories. The several small lakes located in a few of the parcels seem incidental inclusions, not part of a systematic efforttoprotectlakes .Yetlakescontainbiologicaldiversity,areanimportant part of the state’s natural heritage, and are as significant for recreational, scientific, and educational purposes as a prairie or woods. Since lakes can neither be cut down nor plowed under, in ordinary circumstances anyway, perhaps they were considered immune from risk, not in need of protection. Even major national environmental organizations dedicated to preserving remnants of diverse ecological communities have focused almost exclusively on terrestrial settings, despite acknowledging that freshwater systems are the most endangered of all. Lake protection has been notably absent from their efforts. Mypuzzlementturnedintounderstandingonedaywhileworkingwith students in the most unexpected of places, a mature maple-basswood forest not far from Diamond Lake. The place is called Taylor’s Woods. I bring my students there to help them learn important ecological ideas. We park cars in a grassy space next to the county road and hike less than a quarter mile on a horse trail to the wood’s south edge. For a width of several yards the edge of the woods is a mass of raspberry brambles, sumac, sedges, and a crowd of pencil-thin saplings of ash, maple, and cherry that tugs at our clothing as we walk through. Past the edge, magnificent maple and basswood pillars hold up a backlit green ceiling high above. After describing a brief history of the woods, I explained to my students the assignment for the day. Once all were busily engaged, I scouted for on seeing landscapes· · 50 · · things to show them once they had finished gathering data. An expanse of wood nettle gave way to a knot of trillium here and a mat of bedstraw there. A brilliant scarlet cup, the fruiting body of the fungus Peziza, peeked through a gap in leaves dropped the previous fall. But none of my students have seen the bright red midge larvae in lake bottom mud. Delicate threadlike fungal strands wove through rotted brown material—no longer wood but not yet soil. Large cavities left by a pileated woodpecker hungry for beetle grubs scarred standing dead trees. Centipedes, mites, beetles, spiders ,millipedes,andotherformsofcrawlersandwigglersscurriedforcover from beneath an overturned rotting log. But vanishingly few have seen the rich assemblage of micro-crustacea beneath a lake’s surface or the tullibee who eat them. Students joined me as they finished their work and we walked on together , drawn into the lives of the woods’ inhabitants. A sea of sugar maple seedlings spread ahead of us, tiny sprouts so dense it was hard to avoid stepping on them. They were uniformly one inch tall. Seed coat remnants still clung to thin, tentative stems emerging through the moist layer of leaves. Why was this the only age class...