Yesterday afternoon one of my sisters and her husband-to-be visited my wife and I. The husband to be is a fine fellow, retired now, but a fellow of varied experience (he was at one time in his life a truck driver, english teacher, and High School Principle) and a real pleasure to talk with.
The deck on the back of our house overlooks a steep and deep valley that has some of the oldest and largest trees in this county in it. I own the land and I have never allowed anyone to hunt in it and I also spared it from the strip miners and loggers that have eaten up most of the rest of this area over the years. We were sitting there and Richard, the Husband-to-be, noticed that the treetops were alive with squirrels.
I told him that when I bought this place, about 40 years ago, there were no squirrels here. We have always had bird feeders out but about 10 years ago we got serious about feeding them, keeping feed constantly available year-round, and that after a couple of years of that the first of the squirrels showed up and that in the time since they seem to have repopulated the immediate area. Richard commented that keeping the hunters out probably helped a good bit too. Of course he was right about that too.
I also mentioned to him that I alternate between planting two cleared fields (one is about 3 acres and the other about 5) we have with corn that I leave for whatever creatures come to eat it. We have lots of deer and a nearly unbelievable number of Turkeys because of it, or at least I like to think its because of the little bit we've done. When we cut our firewood we also stack the limbs and such in large piles on the edges of the fields to provide some shelter for the smaller animals.
And all of that is good and fine but its not a structured wildlife plan and in fact is no substitute for one. But there is something I believe, and believe with all my heart, that is the thing that you and I would probably be able to really get into. I believe that in order for a place to be whole and healthy it required the interaction of all the creatures that live there. There can not be a hole in the eco-system, every animal is needed from the predators to the prey. You can not have a Hawk if you do not have a squirrel, you can not have the smaller song birds unless you have the bugs and the grain; in my mind a mole burrowing in the garden is as valuable as a bear (Black Bears are the largest animal hereabouts*). Once again, at least to my mind, you can not have a hole in the eco-system. We are all both prey and predator, that is the way of the world, and we are fools to think otherwise. Every animal has value, as does every plant. That is why I wholeheartedly agree with what you said, and to tell you that you aren't the only one who still appreciates one is able to move others to value animal life.
* I am in West Virginia, two hours by car south of Pittsburgh and two hours west-north-west from Washington, DC)
= new reply since forum marked as read
