Since our last discussion, we presented a seminar as part of the Hanover Seminar Series at Michigan State University School of Forestry. It was a unique opportunity to present our ideas for future management of our remaining forests to several staff and students. Questions following the presentation were challenging and demonstrated a detailed understanding of forest diversity. One week following, we gave an evening program at the local library and found a great deal of interest, on the part of the public, in trees, forests and management of our remaining forested lands. One of the thoughts that came out at this meeting was the importance of helping our younger students develop a greater appreciation for the complexity of nature. As our society progresses or ages, we seem to loose more and more of our linkage to nature. As an example, for many of our urban youngsters, the food chain starts and stops at the local grocery store. Most parents in the Native American society are working hard to pass on the traditional wisdom,developed by their ancestors, about nature. I once heard an author define nature as life! Certainly nature includes the elements required of the human environment in order to sustain life. Even among our Native American youth we are slowly loosing our connection to earth, nature. Although the electronic age offers easy access to massive amounts of knowledge, the smart phones, i pads and computers are discouraging our every day linkage to the land. There is no substitute for direct observation if one wants to understand the complexity of creation, NATURE. I suggested to the students at Michigan State, that one of the best examples I could give, was the thousands of person hours that are being invested in preparing detailed environmental impact statements on proposed projects, utilizing the scientists education and knowledge with little, if any, site specific observation and data from the site they are responsible for managing. Sound scientific knowledge is being used, but limited observation of the project site is being evaluated. I am not questioning the scientific knowledge that has been amassed, but strongly believe a melting together of the wisdom of the land with the current scientific knowledge will lead to improved management of our remaining forested lands. Simply put, the scientist needs to be in the forests not bound to a desk in the office!
