A book by Alston Chase, published by Boston Houghton Mifflin, 1995
Ecosystem Management
Chase dismisses "ecosystem" as a "pseudoscience" concept in ecology. He dismisses "ecosystem" as vague, as unproven, and as a manifestation of the philosophy of holism which he equates with fascism.
Ed Grumbine, by contrast provides a systematic, thorough, comprehensive analysis of the evolution of the concept of ecosystem and ecosystem management in his article "What is Ecosystem Management?" (Journal of Conservation Biology 8,1 27-38) He finds five general goals of ecosystem management under the overall goal of sustaining ecological integrity - 1. Maintain viable populations of all native species in situ. 2. Represent, within protected areas, all native ecosystem types across their natural range of variation. 3. Maintain evolutionary and ecological processes (i.e. disturbance regimes, hydrological processes, nutrient cycles, etc.) 4. Manage over periods of time long enough to maintain the evolutionary potential of species and ecosystems. 5. Accommodate human use and occupancy within these constraints.
Ecosystem management, then, is a counter-balance to the hubris of modernity, the hubris that philosopher Stephen Toulmin calls "empire resourcism" (in his book Cosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda of Modernity.)
This hubris had led to the current biodiversity crisis. Chase discounts the opinion of scientists who argue that there is a crisis as a result of human caused extinction. However, the Global Biodiversity Assessment, published by the U.N. Environment Program is a comprehensive peer reviewed report on Earth's biodiversity. The report concludes that species have become extinct, due to human activities, at 50 to 100 times the average expected natural rate (published in 1995).
There are values, deep in the woods. These values bear on the question do corporations or individuals following their own narrow self-interest have the right to willfully cause the extinction of another species?
Having dismissed ecosystem and ecology, Chase refuses to address that question or to tell the stories of social reconstruction currently underway in Oregon and northwestern California.
The translation of theory of ecosystem management into practice in northwestern California has been through a process called "watershed analysis." Several watersheds, including Pilot Creek administered mostly by Six Rivers National Forest, were selected as pilot projects. Not only natural history but social history was included in the research conducted in the process of developing a watershed analysis.
Values of the watershed include fisheries, wildlife habitat, recreation, and potential forest products including lumber. Logging does not drive the practice of ecosystem management as it has driven national forest management over the past three decades. Instead, logging may occur in a specific watershed at a specific time based on comprehensive assessment of the state of the forest system.
My own research on the evolving art of "ecosystem management" in northwestern California reveals that Six Rivers National Forest and a wide variety of citizen groups have been engaged in a learning process revealing gaps in scientific assessment and variation in values that different groups have concerning the forest. Social assessment by researchers at Six Rivers National Forest, on the Pilot Creek watershed analysis, revealed wide consensus among various groups of citizens on the value of maintaining the integrity of the watershed.
Chase would provide a better service to his readers had he bothered to explain how ecocentric supporters of the deep, long-range ecology movement, such as myself, have participated in many, many field trips, public meetings, and private discussions with representatives of the Forest Service and other government agencies, citizen groups including loggers and members of the fishing industry, and scientists in an open and democratic process over the practice of "ecosystem management." As a case study on this process, I recommend reading the Watershed Analysis document on Pilot Creek published by Six Rivers National Forest, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement written on Pilot Creek by Six Rivers National Forest and citizen comments on these documents.
The participants in The Wildlands Project constantly ask "what is the human part of the forests, grasslands, mountains, deserts?" This is the alternative to Disneyland, Marineworld USA, and the Shopping Mall. Regardless of Chase's assertions to the contrary, humans will continue to depend on wild nature for air, water, and life.
How Shall We Live?
We always live with contradictions in our personal lives. I love trees, and I love burning wood in my fireplace. Moderate use of firewood, drawn from local sources in the bioregion is appropriate in terms of energy sources, economy, and ethics.
As bioregional poet and philosopher, Gary Snyder, points out, we eat each other. We consume in order to live, but our mindful attention is most important. Respect for our food and energy is a part of mindfulness in Buddhism. The "middle way" is advocated in my book, Living Richly in an Age of Limits.
What is the Human Part of the Deep Woods?
Chase asserts that "civilizations are fragile, nature is resilient." Yes, civilizations that become empires are fragile when they destroy the integrity of their forests. The first written story from civilization, the Epic of Gilgamesh, narrates the destruction of an ancient forest because of the hubris of the warrior king of that ancient civilization. From ancient China to current globalization, forest destruction is conducted in the name of increasing profits and economic growth. Once remote areas of the earth are looted for resources to continue the economic growth of "empire resourcism." Logging corporations have moved into boreal forests of Canada, to the most isolated forested regions of South America, and to Siberia in the pursuit of short-term profit. Destruction of local communities, destruction of cultural diversity, destruction of the integrity of the forests has been documented in numerous studies, reports, and personal accounts of indigenous peoples who's cultures have been impoverished by industrial logging.
The Political Situation
Chase's book will be used by the representatives of the industrial logging industry in their continuing effort to discredit forest activists. Industrial logging corporations and reactionary social movements are mobilizing increasing support for repeal of all conservation laws of the 20th century. Indeed, the 104th Congress has already succeeded in undermining Option 9, the President's Northwest Forest Plan, and attacking all conservation, preservation, and environmental legislation. The "logging without laws" rider is a tragic example of this reactionary politics. This rider, attached to a rescissions appropriation bill in mid-1995, requires that all timber sales in National Forest and BLM lands that had been canceled due to environmental considerations or Option 9 considerations, to proceed without allowing any administrative appeals or court reviews. Many logging corporations see this rider as a chance to pick up valuable ancient trees for a low price. This rider was justified by proponents as a way to improve "forest health." Having confused preservationism and ecocentrism throughout his book, Chase promotes the disinformation campaigns of industrial logging corporations.
Epilogue; New Year's Eve of 1996
Driving home along the Eel River, after attending a men's retreat at Heartwood Institute in the mountains east of Garberville, I stop at Bull Creek, a tributary of the Eel River. Upper Bull Creek was heavily logged during the post-world war II logging boom. In the 1950s and again in the 1960s, the watershed was hit with massive floods. Sediment from clearcuts, roads, denuded hillsides filled Bull Creek, burying once thriving orchards and ranches in the floodplain of upper Bull Creek watershed. The lower sections of the watershed are old-growth redwood forests within Humboldt Redwoods State Park. The State of California with help from Sierra Club, Save the Redwoods League and other groups, developed and implemented a plan to stabilize the streambanks in the lower Bull Creek through riprapping and planting alders and other trees along the banks. Creative human intervention for restoration of the streambanks was necessary after massive human interventions through logging unstable slopes in the upper watershed.
I walk to the Flatiron Tree, a massive old growth redwood that fell during a storm last winter. In the growing darkness of early winter, the moist forest is alive with energy. The fallen giant is not dead. It is alive with new redwood sprouts from its trunk, host to many species of fungi and moss. Standing next to the fallen giant I hug it and begin to cryÑtears of joy. I am a tree hugger. I am proud to be a tree hugger. I stand with the fallen tree and with all forests. I know that trees have standing. I come from a long line of tree huggers, guardians of the forest, in the dark woods. Huwawa, the guardian of the Cedar Forest in The Epic of Gilgamesh, Pan - calling us into the dark woods throughout the tragic, hubris-filled history of Western civilization, the Druid guardians of the forests of Europe, Raven and the great Bear-guardians of the forest in most of the indigenous cultures of the boreal and temperate forest of the northern hemisphere, John Muir, Dave Brower and all the Earth First! protesters.
In the dark woods I am bear becoming human or a human being bear. The sky bear, Ursus Major, is rising above this forest on this winter night. The earth bear is sleeping in her den. In a dark wood I am home, bearing up to the suffering, bearing witness for the integrity of myself as part of the forest, bearing forth in the silence with energy flowing through the forest, the intelligence of the forest.
Deep in the dark woods is the spirit, the breath of life. Rivers flow through my veins and the ocean swells with new storms in my body. Coming to my senses, deep in the dark woods, I know that I am home. I think of Nancy Newhalls's affirmation at the conclusion of This is the American Earth, "tenderly now, let all men turn to the earth."
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1997
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited