Last Saturday Iris and I attended a gathering of several folks from the Native American culture in Newaygo, Michigan. Several Tribes were represented and individuals were sharing traditional knowledge and art from their heritage. We met and talked with several persons with interesting backgrounds. The museum had many displays of Native artifacts and had some folks constructing a native style hut made of branches and covered in cedar bark. There were artists displaying their work, ethno-botanists explaining traditional use of plants for medicinal purposes and individuals sharing information about their heritage and past traditional ways of life. The first person Iris met was a member of the Cherokee Nation. While they were talking, the woman pointed to the sky at an unbelievable site! Six eagles were circling above and were on occasion preforming their ritual of locking talons together while free falling. This activity is a symbol of togetherness, as they mate for life. This was an amazing sign for everyone present!
The Eagle represents wisdom through observation to our indigenous people. It best symbolizes immense wisdom the Eagle learns through all it sees. It is the eyes of the all-seeing Great Spirit, God, the entity that created all things. Our Native people believe that when we see Nature as the Eagle does, we are observing the precision as our Creator designed it, for all actions and reactions of Nature are deliberate. Yes, our natural world is very complex and detailed! The more we observe our surroundings the greater the reward will be!
This experience explains the concept of managing our valuable forested lands, which I have been concentrating on in explaining my concerns with current management. Our forests are not just large areas covered with trees! They are a complex mosaic of communities with very different relationships and characteristics within each community. Until we stop and observe these differences, we will continue on our path of exploiting the forests to provide for our wants and desires. We will continue to take what we want at the neglect of creation! We are so focused on the needs of the individual human, we are failing to properly manage our remaining valuable forested lands. Our species along with 70% of all living organisms on our planet can not survive without our forests. Read about the people of Easter Island or the early settlement of the Norse in Greenland, the Mayan and Aztec cultures, and you will learn how deforestation played a key roll in their demise. Advanced science and technology will NOT provide a path to the future, as history has demonstrated that as technology improves the
destruction of our natural world accelerates. Learning to live in BALANCE with our planet is the only way of extending life on Earth! The science of forestry must a new responsibility for the management of our remaining forest lands
Forestry and Foresters must choose the path of detailed observation and develop the wisdom required to manage for health and diversity, rather than continuing to follow the path of materialism.
The Eagle represents wisdom through observation to our indigenous people. It best symbolizes immense wisdom the Eagle learns through all it sees. It is the eyes of the all-seeing Great Spirit, God, the entity that created all things. Our Native people believe that when we see Nature as the Eagle does, we are observing the precision as our Creator designed it, for all actions and reactions of Nature are deliberate. Yes, our natural world is very complex and detailed! The more we observe our surroundings the greater the reward will be!
This experience explains the concept of managing our valuable forested lands, which I have been concentrating on in explaining my concerns with current management. Our forests are not just large areas covered with trees! They are a complex mosaic of communities with very different relationships and characteristics within each community. Until we stop and observe these differences, we will continue on our path of exploiting the forests to provide for our wants and desires. We will continue to take what we want at the neglect of creation! We are so focused on the needs of the individual human, we are failing to properly manage our remaining valuable forested lands. Our species along with 70% of all living organisms on our planet can not survive without our forests. Read about the people of Easter Island or the early settlement of the Norse in Greenland, the Mayan and Aztec cultures, and you will learn how deforestation played a key roll in their demise. Advanced science and technology will NOT provide a path to the future, as history has demonstrated that as technology improves the
destruction of our natural world accelerates. Learning to live in BALANCE with our planet is the only way of extending life on Earth! The science of forestry must a new responsibility for the management of our remaining forest lands
Forestry and Foresters must choose the path of detailed observation and develop the wisdom required to manage for health and diversity, rather than continuing to follow the path of materialism.
