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Environmental
Stewardship Commission
(MEESC) |
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|
Environmental
Stewardship Commission
(MEESC) |
|
Clearing Land
by the Rev Roger Weaver
We've been working down at the river front. There was a dead balsam blown over into an aspen, and during the winter when the river was frozen over, I took down the aspen and the balsam. I was thinking that with those two gone, and the other aspen didn't look too good anyway, and if I had more sun light, maybe I could get some red pine to grow; so why not take out the rest of them and open that small hill? I did. Now I come down to my clear-cut landing, with its high brush pile and grieve the loss of my river front as it I knew it ten years ago. It was wild then, with lots of trees, high bush cranberries, and big ole birch. They're all gone now.
I've lost my enthusiasm for change. Now days it all means grief. Yesterday as I drove to Ely I noticed how we can now see behind the row of trees left to hide the clear-cutting. It's like a Hollywood frontier town; we live in a fa‡ade forest. That also happened the last time I paddled the Little Fork. Take twenty steps back from the tree line along the river and you're into clear-cutting. Like Disneyland, we have our props to keep us entertained in this wonderful world that doesn't really exist.
There are no props along our river front – no trees to look through to see it as it really is. It's there as barren land and rock. Some of the rock does look interesting though, and that dirt may support a couple of red pine in the years ahead. I make no pretense about improving things; I just hope to God, that I haven't ruined them.
| MEESC
Holy Trinity Church Box 65 Elk River, MN 55330-0065 USA |
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