Faith and Nature

Posts Tagged ‘nature’

My trip to the AGO meeting in Davis turned out to be an all day affair if you take into account the bike and train commute. I hopped on my bike at 7:20 am and pedaled to the Berkeley Amtrak station. The day started cold, foggy and breezy waiting for the train. I used to know my way around Davis like the back of my hand, having spent four years there as an undergrad. But my memory failed me, and the campus has expanded, and I ended up a bit disoriented, but fortunately found a sign and a fellow attendee to point me in the right direction. I arrived at the meeting location, the Mondavi Center at 9:50, with a little more than an hour to spare. I took the liberty of introducing myself to a few other early arrivals, including the Executive Director of the Stewardship Council, the Associate Dean of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, a former dorm mate from my undergrad years at UCD, and the California Wilderness Coalition.

The session went from 11:00 until about 12:15, with most of that time taken up with the audience listening. If you are interested you can download the agenda. Of the various presenters the presentation that left the most impact with me was Andy Beckstoffer, from Beckstoffer Winery talking on the benefits of private conservation easements in California. With the pressure to expand development up and down the Central Valley, easements may play a key role in protecting land and sustaining agriculture. Phil Martainelli talked about reintroducing Elk into California, including two areas that I’ve visited while taking photos for The Nature Conservancy, The Carrizo Plain and San Antionio Ranch.

But the real focus of the meeting was to give the people attending the event the opportunity to tell their stories. The stories continued for an additional 45 minutes beyond the 45 minutes allotted, and they could have gone on for another two hours. There were, in my estimate, about 200 people attending. We heard from fly fishers, mountain bikers, off road vihicle enthusiasts, rock hounds, hikers, land trusts, cattlemen, farmers, ranchers, environmental educators, including Natures Theater just to name a few. Some of the issues that came up included the Berryessa Snow Mountain proposed national conservation area, with stories both for and against the proposal, the wilderness status of Drakes Estero (the photo above is from Drakes Estero), invasive species such as the Zebra Mussel, and restrictive nature of the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

I left the event with a new awareness of the opportunities that exist to connect people with nature by helping them share their stories.

Earth Day found me on the Carrizo Plain looking for wildflowers. It was an overcast and cold with an occassional rain shower. Watching the clouds move in on the Carrizo Plain is dramatic. I’ll be posting photos shortly. In the meantime here’s  photo I captured a couple of hours ago in the Antelope Valley, east of Los Angeles.

The Amen of Nature is always a flower – Oliver Wendell Holmes

The day after Thanksgiving found us hiking on Angel Island. It was a blustery day, with the threat of rain showers as dark clouds drifted by the island. We felt a few drops but were spared the rain. We hiked the North Ridge trail to the top of the Island, Mount Livermore, which gives one a 360 degree panoramic view of the Bay Area. Angel Island is an island of peace and solitude surrounded by cities, San Francisco to the Southwest, Oakland and Berkeley to the East, Sausalito and Tiburon to the Northwest. We hiked through ferns and mossy oak woodlands on the Ridge Trail, returning through chaparral and the recent burn on the Sunset Trail. It was a good way to work of some of the extra calories from Thursday’s feast. It was also good to be reminded that one doesn’t have to travel far to find peace and solitude in the busy Bay Area. You can view more photos here.

The Nature Conservancy turns 58 today, having incorporated on this day in 1951. I’ve been involved with TNC for over 20 years, helping organize and lead tours of some of the preserves, and then providing photographs to help with fund raising and promotion of some of the projects. One of my favorite TNC projects is The Carrizo Plain. This is a broad expanse of land on a plateau between the Caliente and Temblor ranges.  It’s notable because it comes close to representing what the Central Valley looked like before irrigation and farming. In the spring time it becomes a carpet of wildflowers, and a sense of exapansive open space. When I first visited the Carrizo in 1987 or so, it was the domain of barb wire, Peruvian sheepherders, and a few staunch coservationists and researchers. It is now a National Monument with hiking trails, an interpretive center, the Guy Goodwin Center.

I slide my paddle into the calm water, rotate my torso and the boat moves forward, gliding silently.  Not a sound. The fog is starting to clear. Or is it? There are four of us in three boats. We’ll paddle down the Estero to Drake’s beach where’s well have lunch and watch the wildlife. You can view more photos on Photoshelter or Flickr.

I equate kayaking with hiking. It’s like taking a hike on the water, except your legs don’t move much. In a sense, you wear a kayak, it becomes an extension of your body, or at least that’s the case in a single kayak, the two companions in the double have a different experience, but in either case we cover the distance to the beach with ease.  We keep looking for the beach to appear through the fog. The fog lifts a bit and I think I see the beach, or is it just the next bluff? And there, those birds must be on the beach, but no that’s just a sandbar.  Like much in life, we have to be diligent about maintaining our sense of direction, and proceed with patience and diligence. And I ran across this quote recently that I thought was appropriate.

And so in time the rowboat and I became one and the same–like the archer and his bow or the artist and his paint. What I learned wasn’t mastery over the elements; it was mastery over myself; which is what conquest is ultimately all about.

by Richard Bode

I find it encouraging when leaders of faith such as the Rev. James Jones, a prominent leader in the Church of England, make statements that will help map our future in terms of environmental stewardship.  Jim Wallis in Soujourner’s Magazine has the following quote from the Rev. Jones:

Just as we look back on previous times with incredulity and wonder how people, especially believers, could have not only condoned but succored the slave trade and slavery, so in later years I think subsequent generations, who will live consciously with the reality that the earth is not a limitless larder, will find it difficult to understand how we could have described ourselves so uncritically as: “consumers.”

I just finished reading the book Under Bright Wings by Peter Harris. This is a book that recounts the story of a family that take up a mission to start a nature preserve based on Christian principles.  As Peter states in the last few sentences of the book:

My only intention in recounting our experience is to encourage other Christians to take up the challenge, not least because they can see how partial and limited have been our own efforts. By virtue of God’s infinite creativity and compassion, is should not be difficult to discover ways to begin.

The book recounts some amazing experiences, as they share their faith and commitment with the community in which they that transplant themselves. From their start on an Estuary in Portugal, the program, known as A Rocha has expanded to a number of facilities throughout the world.