PUBLIC PUBLIC VIEWPOINT VIEWPOINT

Increased Conservation A Serious Need

I’ve walked and jogged the magical eastern slope of Mount Sequoyah for more than 50 years. It reminds me how magnificent, mysterious and graceful creation (including us) truly is.

Recently, I noticed a large and growing number of trails being cut through the land, primarily for off-road bikes, it seems. I’m very supportive of recreation and physical health and communion with nature, but past a certain point it becomes disrespect.

When people talk of millions of Americans “loving” Yosemite or Yellowstone to death, that’s a poor choice of words. That is not “love”; it’s much closer to desecration. Far too often we recklessly ravage nature’s balance.

I remember helping fight to preserve this 100-acre wood in the middle of town, with interested individuals, the mayor and council, and by serving on the Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association’s board of directors. We were focused on preservation, not recreation. I don’t remember any talk of large numbers of biking trails being built.

I remember talking with Dr. Thomas DePalma frequently, a wonderful, local “character” who eventually gave 40 of these acres to the city. What a great and lasting offering it was.

We “develop” too much and “preserve” too little.

This hurts our connection to and appreciation for nature.

I’ll never understand how some folks believe strongly in God but care very little for creation. Nature is one of our greatest gifts and teachers.

Treading lightly is our only hope at receiving its full benefits and lessons.

Most citizens would say Gulley Park is one of the diamonds of our city: large, gorgeous, Fayetteville goodness. Not for sports (which I support), but for people and nature to come together, for peace of mind in a stressful, man-made world, for communion with the original essence (when Jesus said go to your closet to pray, I like to think he meant I should go to the woods, and to listen, even more than pray).

So, where is the Gulley Park out Wedington Drive, for the thousands who live there? Where is the Gulley Park east of Arkansas 265 for the thousands who live there? Where’s the additional park lands for the thousands of new apartments being built in our city for students of the expanding University of Arkansas? They are nowhere to be found. We have not cared enough about what was here long before we showed up. We “develop.” We don’t really “save.” Nature should take a page from the Boston patriots and raise a flag of “Don’t Tread on Me.”

We need a better balance.

It is part and parcel of what is necessary to maintain a certain quality of life that helps us achieve our potential. And probably, more importantly, it is a level of humble, grateful, service to the creator of it all.

Call me a hippie. Cool. If I “hug trees,” I’m just giving thanks, paying homage to, learning from the great tree-maker. All the development, asphalt and concrete in the world will never equal the majestic power and sublime divinity of the “natural state.”

TX TRUMBO

Fayetteville

Opinion, Pages 5 on 01/14/2014

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