War Is A False Premise

We wage war as an enemy, no different from the threats to our security.  This is an illogical, impossible task.  We are willing to go beyond all boundaries in defense of our boundaries.  We yell democracy, and are unwilling to listen to voices of differing opinion within democracy.  We are afraid of terror and project terror unrelenting in its cloak of justice.  The enemy is us as war can only be waged by threat.  Defense is another word for being afraid to listen to our inner voice.  We shall not kill, except when it suits our defense of the right to be an enemy to all those who oppose us.  

Who came up with these aggressive actions?  It has been going on much too long and it is time to trust; in family, friends, neighbors, and humanity.  There will always be a cause to fear.  Peace comes from a confidence that is in the heart.  Disarm the heart and peace will spread.  War is only the darkness that fear makes in the heart.  Turn on the light of open mind and fear will dissolve in the mirror of enemy face that we project to all our enemies. 

Posted by michael

Wheels And Essence

Thirty Spokes share one hub.  Adapt the space therein to the purpose in hand, and you will have the use of the cart.  Knead clay in order to make a vessel.  Adapt the space therein to the purpose in hand, and you will have the use of the vessel.  Cut open doors and windows in order to make a room.  Adapt the space therein to the purpose in hand, and you will have the use of the room.  Thus what we gain is Something, yet it is by virtue of Nothing that this can be put to use.     

Chapter 11, Tao Te Ching, translated by D.C. Lau.  

Have you ever looked around and seen that everything moves around its own central hub, or point and axis of origin?  We could call this point the center of gravity for an object.  This point and axis of origin is composed of space, otherwise looked upon and defined as Nothing.  We can not define space, yet it contains everything and is singular.  Space can be divided up by objects into inner space and outer space.  Still there is only one space, undefined, omniscient, and connecting all objects.  Space is the mother of all objects and cradles them in a warm and compassionate embrace.

The interconnection of space and movement is called emptiness and forms all objects and thoughts contained therein.  Objects and perceptions do not have intrinsic, unchanging existence.  Since the objects and their perceptions exist only by virtue of their emptiness, they are illusory, like the image formed by a whirling firebrand or a reflection in a mirror.  Cause and effect arise from interconnections.  The problem of existence is not the connections.  The problem is the clinging to the connections.  Gently watch the turning of objects around their space and you will see their joy at play.  This joy is an unbounded expression of the limitless freedom for life.

Posted by michael

Black Swan Events And Paradigm Shifts

The negative black swan events have come to roost and humans are not very happy about it.  They manifest as economic market crashes, human tragedy emanating from Sumatra and Japan earthquakes and tsunamis, climate change in an ever-shifting planetary swirl of the moisture-heat-cloud-rain engine.  Floods of great magnitude rearrange the land, ocean, and sky and carve new river beds and marshes.  We did not notice at first, until more people became involved and compassion swelled in our hearts for those trapped by events of great consequence.  

Black swan events are surprising, rare, and unexpected events of large magnitude and consequence, with dominant roles in history events that occur on the tail ends of evidence probability curves.  They can be positive or negative, depending on our interpretation of the consequences that result from them and they can change the course of civilization.  As such, black swan events cannot be predicted and will not be accounted for in the mechanistic conceptualization of rational scientific thinking.  Science depends on the repeatable and predictable patterns of sequential events that have frequent occurrence.  For rare events of great magnitude, we say they are black swan events, and then feel smug to have identified the unidentifiable, without seeing or understanding that we live in a world punctuated by rare major events with undefinable risk or benefit.   

Paradigms are conceptual frameworks that encapsulate the current assumptions about how systems work.  As we work out the details of a system to improve understanding and predictability, we maintain our initial assumptions until evidence shows that they are incorrect.  Then we replace these assumptions with ones that more correctly reflect our evidence.  With this assumption replacement, the paradigm shifts and we have a new conceptual view of the system.  Sometimes the shifts are so large that the system becomes unrecognized; Newtonian mechanics to quantum physics, magic to modern medicine, alchemy to chemistry. 

Black swan events can produce paradigm shifts when we are overwhelmed by our inability to explain the events and consequences of surprising, rare events.  If our world view (model and assumptions) is flexible and we are not attached to outcomes of events, then our thinking and perceptions can shift and we can adapt to the new arrangement of evidence, through systems of food, clothing, shelter, work, play, sleep, families, economies, and science.  

Expect the unexpected in the open space of free thinking.  When assumptions are dissolved and our experience becomes assumption-free, then we can begin to live in the actual world, rather than in a world of assumption and probability.  Black swan events can remind us that our world is risky and composed of changes, beyond the predictability of science and rational thought.  How to think without thought?  Experience, without interpretation.  It takes great patience and courage to be free.  Can we suspend our disbelief?  In wildness is the strength of life. 

Posted by michael 

Herbal Remedies In A Coastal Garden

An inventory of plant remedies in our coastal gardens at Beaver Creek shows over 90 species.  It is clear that we have a variety of plants with a wide range of medicinal properties.  When we began making gardens on our land, we decided to save indigenous and naturalized plant remedies, as well as cultivate other species that we have used for medicine when living in other places.  We set out to make gardens in which we could learn and show others about these special plants.  Plant remedies in the Niemi-Davis gardens include red Alder, Angelica, Bee-balm, Cleavers, paper Birch, wild Blackberry, evergreen Blackberry, himalayan Blackberry, Black-eyed susan, Bleeding-heart, Borage, Calendula, German Camomile, Cascara, broad-leafed Cattail, western red Cedar, Chive, red Clover, Comfrey, English Daisy, Ox-eye Daisy, Dandelion, Dill, red Elderberry, Elecampane, Evening primrose, False lily-of-the-valley, False solomon’s seal, bracken Fern, deer Fern, licorice Fern, maidenhair Fern, sword Fern, Feverfew, douglas Fir, Fireweed, Foxglove, Hawthorn, Hedge nettle, western Hemlock, Hops, Horehound, Horseradish, blue Huckleberry, evergreen Huckleberry, red Huckleberry, Juniper, Kinnikinnick, Lavender, Lemon balm, Miner’s lettuce, Peppermint, Spearmint, Monkshood, Mullein, stinging Nettle, Nasturtium, Ninebark, Oceanspray, Oregano, Oregon grape, Pacific wax myrtle, Johnny-jump-up, Pearly everlasting, shore Pine, broad leaf Plantain, narrow leaf Plantain, Queen Anne’s lace, Quince, red Raspberry, Rhubarb, wild Rose, Rosemary, Sage, Salal, Salmonberry, Self-heal, Sheep sorrel, Skunk cabbage, sitka Spruce, St. John’s wort, coast Strawberry, Thimbleberry, Thyme, Twinberry, Usnea, Valerian, Wintergreen, Witch hazel, Willow, Yarrow.

Why so many herbal plants?  To treat patients effectively, an herbalist really only needs a dozen species or so, with a range of properties for the diseases encountered.  Our interests go beyond remedies, as we enjoy the presence and company of medicinal herbs in their natural habitats, prior to harvesting, and have great respect for their contributions to health throughout human history.  We are concerned that species diversity of plant remedies is conserved and this is our small effort toward that conservation.  We carefully note what plant remedies will grow in coastal gardens and what conditions they prefer.  Studying these herbal remedies in the wild brings us knowledge of their properties and interactions with humans and other animals and plants.  

Sometimes there is confusion in the marketplace of ideas about when to use plant remedies for health.  The herbalist Michael Moore writes a summary to this question, in Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West.  Consult his books and website for additional information about plant remedies and their history and uses. 

“The proper use of herbs in most cases is for the subclinical stage of a disease, for a person in normal health, and they are not going to be of value if the imbalance progresses to a full overt disease response.  Conversely, most existing drugs, with toxicity at therapeutic levels, work poorly for subclinical problems that have not “ripened” yet; the side effects are greater than the benefits.  If you figure on getting better, use herbs to help; if you think you are really getting sick, it doesn’t help to take a lot more of the same herbs until they make you sick as well.  The therapeutic window for herbs will always be below their adverse effects.  Excessive quantities of an herb sufficient to cause a toxic reaction simply compromise basic health without supplying the synthetic defenses offered by proper drug therapies.

Put it this way: most herbs are used to strengthen the innate defenses, and attempt to stimulate natural healing; if they make you sick, this weakens you, and it is harder to get well on your own.  If you get really sick, and can no longer be expected to recover unaided, or without organ damage, drugs can intervene and turn the decline around.  They may sicken you, but you are not relying on your defenses at that point; your sickness is draining you, and the drug shield is far more positive than its side effects are negative.  When you turn the corner, then you will heal by yourself.”

Using herbal remedies is not simply a matter of going into the store and buying a bottle of pills off the shelf.  To use herbal remedies, you must know the plants, their properties, their preparations, how they work in your body, and what the purities of commercial sources are.  You can study these topics to gain confidence or go to a competent herbalist for information.  Stop to consider that herbal remedies sold in stores are often not what they claim to be.  Wholesale harvesting of plant remedies, either from wild or cultivated sources, should document the ability to conserve these plant species and their habitats.  Loss of species diversity in the future will probably impair our ability to discover new medicines and their actions on human health.  We have depended on plants for medicine since the beginning of human history.  Gardens can contribute towards conservation and help to demonstrate relationships between plant remedies and humans.  Given the increased interest in plant remedies, it is important to understand their role in subclinical medicine and their interface with clinical medical practices.  

Posted by michael   

Soundscapes And Increased Anthropogenic Disturbance Effects

As we gaze over wild landscapes and seascapes, it is easy to see examples of anthropogenic disturbances.  These include building roads and structures, harvesting natural resources, and recreation forays by walking, boating, vehicular traffic, and other means to transport.  Our presence and disturbance in these wild areas clearly has effects on wildlife.  As we become aware of our footprints in these areas, we can mitigate effects by learning how to make our presence softer and less frequent.  Our increased adulation and presence in wild areas may often “love them to death”.  We must balance the pervasive need for healthy wild areas, our need to interact and recreate with these areas, and the often overwhelming need to conceptualize and manage wild areas.  If we do not pay attention to the unique qualities of wild areas, we may “manage them to death” in our own image.  Sometimes the best management is to manage humans, while leaving wild areas alone to intrinsic natural processes.  

The effects of increased anthropogenic sound can be even more widespread than the visual effects of disturbance.  Increased sound is perceived by animals as predation risk.  Disturbances evoke antipredator behavior  and interfere with foraging, parental care, and mating.  Increased sound can also mask animal communication and hearing, fundamentally altering animal interactions.  Some animals can adjust their vocalization to compensate for reduced hearing and communication, but this ability varies widely among species.  Animals change their distributions in response to anthropogenic sound.  Bird nesting density is reduced in noisy areas.  Other species avoid areas of increased sound, thereby reducing their available habitat.  

When planning parks and open wild lands, whether terrestrial or aquatic, it is essential to evaluate all aspects of the space.  We can consider physical setting (land, water, sky, and climate), visual stimuli (open, cover, transition areas, edge effects), soundscape (sound levels and information, including anthropogenic sounds), available resources for feeding and reproduction, and all of the living inhabitants.  Human interactions through conservation of wild areas are summarized in the mission statement for the US National Park System to “conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations” (NPS Organic Act, 1916).  Fulfillment of this conservation mission includes evaluation of all the resources available, understanding the possible enjoyment of these resources, and conservation management for the resources into the future.  We are part of the landscape and soundscape.  As such we need to integrate our activities in a way that does not threaten our neighbors, human and other animals.  We can all get along together if we respect each other and continue communicating beyond the din of civilization.

Posted by michael

Beaver Creek State Natural Area Planning Newsletter

Received this newsletter from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.  If you are interested or concerned about the Natural Area, contact OPRD and get involved in the planning process, as they describe it.

Master Planning Beaver Creek State Natural Area 

and Ona Beach State Park 

February 2011 Newsletter 

Beginning a Master Planning Process 

The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) is beginning a master planning process for Beaver Creek State Natural Area and Ona Beach State Park located south of Newport in Lincoln County.  Beaver Creek State Natural Area (SNA) was recently acquired and opened with initial improvements as Park of the Year for 2010.  Ona Beach State Park was recently expanded with the acquisition of a large parcel on the east side of Highway 101. A master plan is needed to fully address future recreational use and resource management in both parks. In the planning process OPRD will take a comprehensive look at current information on natural and cultural resource conditions and management needs related to both parks, outdoor recreation trends in the region, areas within the parks that are suitable for recreational development and use, possible affects of park uses on local public facilities services and neighboring land uses, and related ideas and concerns identified through public input. 

Assessments of the parks’ natural and cultural resources are scheduled for completion by late summer 2011. Some of this work was previously completed in preparing a site development plan for the limited development needed for the opening of Beaver Creek SNA. Once these assessments are completed for the rest of the park property, OPRD will take the next step in mapping opportunity areas, identifying areas that are suited for potential recreational development and resource management activities. The map of opportunity areas, supported by the resource assessments, will provide a basis for discussing options for future development and management of the parks in upcoming public meetings. 

Opportunities to Participate 

At key times during the planning process, OPRD holds public meetings followed by written comment opportunities to ask for input on planning issues, goals, use and development concepts, and management strategies. Concurrently, OPRD also holds meetings with a Stakeholder Committee made up of representatives of key interest groups and agencies. The first round of public and stakeholder meetings usually occurs when OPRD has information to share on the park resource conditions and opportunity areas, based on the resource assessments. Accordingly, this first full set of meetings is expected to occur in early fall 2011. (However, OPRD may hold one or more early meetings of Stakeholder Committee members, before completion of the resource assessments, as appropriate to share information emerging from the assessment process and to take full advantage of information and expertise offered by Committee members regarding the assessments in progress.) The next round of public and stakeholder meetings normally occurs when OPRD releases a draft master plan for public review and comments. Optimistically, the draft plan should be ready for public review in late winter 2012. Later in the process, formal meetings on the draft master plan provide additional opportunities for public comments. Comments can be made at a meeting of the State Parks Commission where OPRD asks the Commission for their concurrence on the draft plan. Following, OPRD will hold a public hearing when the draft plan is proposed for adoption as a state rule, and Lincoln County will hold a hearing when the draft plan is presented for land use approval. OPRD’s anticipated master planning schedule will be posted at the master plan web site currently under construction. (See web site address on the reverse side of this newsletter.)

When Will The Stakeholder Committee Be Formed, and Who Will Be On It? 

OPRD is now in the process of identifying key interest groups and agencies that should be represented on the Stakeholder Committee. Persons or groups who wish to participate on the Committee should make their request to OPRD through the contact listed on the reverse side of this newsletter. Final selections will be decided by agreement between the OPRD Coastal Region Manager and Planning Manager. The roster of selected Committee members and the groups they represent will be posted at the master plan web site currently under construction. In general, the criteria used to select Committee members are: 1) The represented group has a significant stake in the outcome, or the representative has professional expertise of particular value to the planning process; 2) The group representative will represent his/her group’s interests ahead of personal interests, and coordinate comments with and convey information to his/her group; 3) The representative is willing to work toward consensus and seek solutions that address multiple interests; 4) The representative is available to attend the meetings; 5) Duplication of membership is generally avoided in representation of an interest, agency or expertise (although members may identify a backup representative to participate in their absence).  

Is OPRD Trying To Add More Land To The Parks? 

OPRD is continuing to negotiate with interested land owners for possible expansion of the park properties. A map of OPRD’s current ownership will be posted at the master plan web site currently under construction. 

Will Any More Development Occur In The Parks Before The Master Plan Is Completed? 

Prior to the official opening of Beaver Creek SNA, limited improvements were needed ahead of the master planning process to provide for basic management of the visitation that was already occurring. Property acquisitions for Beaver Creek included a dwelling that was well suited as a base for visitor contact and orientation with the addition of some parking, signage, a host site, and minor modifications to the dwelling. Because the improvements were limited, they were allowed through a standard land use permit. Before the master plan is completed, additional changes in the parks will be limited to management activities such as control of weeds, control of unauthorized vehicular access on existing forest roads, and vegetation management for forest health and fire protection.  

What Is a State Park Master Plan? 

State park master plans are defined and adopted in state rule. A park master plan guides the development and use of park facilities and the protection and management of important natural, cultural and scenic resources within the park boundaries. The plan is a written and illustrated reference that describes the planning purpose and process, existing park facilities, expected future recreation demand, the suitability of the land for resource protection or recreational development, issues related to public use and management, park goals and objectives, development concepts for future uses and development in the parks, and guidelines for managing the park resources. The useful life of a park master plan is generally no longer than 20 years before it needs to be updated, and the projects described in a master plan may take as long as 10 to 20 years to be fully implemented. 

Where Can I Review The Draft Plan? 

Master plan web site (currently under construction).  As materials produced during the planning process become available, including the draft plan, any addendums to the draft, the final plan, newsletters, etc., they may be reviewed at the master plan website at http://egov.oregon.gov/OPRD/PLANS/planning_ona&beaver.shtml.

OPRD offices. When available, the plan can also be viewed at the OPRD headquarters office in Salem (see address below), and at the South Beach State Park office near Newport, at 5580 South Coast Highway. 

Questions or Comments? 

Please direct questions or comments to: 

Ron Campbell, Master Planning Coordinator  (503) 986-0743 

Oregon Parks and Recreation Department 

725 Summer Street, Suite C    ron.campbell@state.or.us  

Salem, Oregon 97301-1271 

Posted by michael

Nineteenth Century Medicine And Herbal Remedies On The Oregon Coast

During the later half of the 1800’s, settlers began to move out to the Oregon coast for homesteading.  The coast experienced a time of transition from Aboriginal People’s culture to European-American and Asian culture (settlers).  Aboriginal medicine relied upon shamanistic removal of disease objects and the application of herbal remedies using indigenous plants.  Settler medicine in the late 1800’s relied upon doctors, who were often poorly trained and not licensed, and herbal and chemical remedies compounded according to the Remington and Wood Dispensatory.  When doctors were not available or were not trusted, books such as Gunn’s Domestic Medicine were consulted, or local herbalists who used plant remedies were visited.  

As culture transitioned from aboriginal to settler, herbal remedies remained a mainstay of medicine.  However, the source of herbal remedies changed from indigenous to a combination of local plants and a greater reliance on imported formulas and medicinal species found in the eastern U.S. and in Europe.  The settler medicine formulas often incorporated chemical medicines in addition to plant sources.  A primary focus of the medicines was to relieve pain and act in general ways to rebalance the patient, through digestive, purgative, and emetic means.  Common medicine found on the Oregon trail included purgative pills, castor oil, rum, and peppermint oil.  Laudanum and mercury were used extensively.  The germ theory of modern medicine had not been developed yet.  Instead, 1800’s medicine relied on the ancient Greek theory of the four humors: yellow bile; black bile; blood; and phlegm, corresponding to fire, earth, air, and water.  Bleeding and cupping were common.  Surgery was conducted without disinfection or anesthesia and often resulted in death from infection.

Pharmacists were important sources of medicine for settlers.  They formulated medicines for a wide variety of doctors and they gave advice to customers about using medicine.   Melancthon M. Davis, born in Lane County in 1851, was one of the best know pharmacists in Oregon during the late 1800’s.  He assisted in framing and enacting the initial medical and pharmaceutical laws of the state and was instrumental in establishing the pharmacy program at the Oregon Agricultural College.  In 1874 Mr. Davis married Mary Bushnell and in 1881, they moved with an infant daughter to Newport, where they started a drug store.  In 1884, when a railroad was built between Corvallis and Yaquina City, the Davis family moved to Yaquina City and started a drug store there, where they lived and practiced medicine until 1893.  They would probably have been an important source of medicine for the settlers in the area.  Residents in the Beaver Creek valley, just south of Yaquina City, brought produce and milk to Yaquina City and probably traded with the Davis family.  M.M. Davis owned land near Beaver Creek marsh and the ocean, so he would have been familiar with Beaver Creek settlers and their farms.  He also had tracts of land in the Yaquina estuary and in 1909, built the first dredge to be used on that bay for diking and reclaiming tidelands.  His land became one of the finest dairy farms in the state.

Posted by michael

Place-Based Learning On Beaver Creek Marsh

The importance of place in culture became clear to me as I attempted to outline the early aboriginal inhabitants and their culture near Beaver Creek marsh from sources of ethnography and archaeology for the area.  Few sources of information are available on the Alsea people that lived here before European and Asian settlement.  I listened to the stories that the marsh tells every day living here.  The living Alsea people and their culture have been lost in the passing of time.  Their stories live in nature.  Their possible ancestors may live among the Siletz Confederated Tribe.  

A new book “The People Are Dancing Again” by Charles Wilkinson (2010) documents the history of the Siletz Confederated Tribe of western Oregon.  The Siletz Tribe was originally composed of people from numerous village cultures in western Oregon and northern California that were forced onto the Siletz reservation in 1856.  In aboriginal times, each individual village had political authority and was autonomous.  The ethnographic concept of tribes was not supported.  The villages were exogamous, with men taking brides from other villages and the women becoming citizens of their new places.  In the beginning chapter on aboriginal village societies, Wilkinson gives a clear explanation of the importance of place in culture:

“The village as a place carries powerful emotional content.  The multidimensional Athapaskan word duh-neh means “the people of the place” and also encompasses “the blood line”.  It is “the place where your family has always been buried.”  There is no comparable concept in the English language, and I have seen Siletz people strain to articulate the intensity and specificity of the term.  The village is at once concrete and dynamic.  While it is a fixed place on the land and the people are tied to it, the population changes because of births, deaths, and the law of intermarriage, causing some people (women) to move from one village to another.  Yet for both men and women the tie to the village is immutable.  Duh-neh: This is the one place where a person is from, where the ancestors are buried.  This is the only place, the heart place.  There can be no other place.”

This heart place is the singular place where we learn from our elders, teach our children, and return to in our death.  It gives us the connection to living that sustains our breath and life, sparks our imagination and gives us the stories that support our narrative to explain existence and give meaning.  We all come from the one place, which can be different for each of us.  This one in the many and many in the one is an important recognition of how to get along with each other and the world.  Place-based learning is an effort to bring the resources of place to education and learning.  In this way culture can be made stronger by linking with wildness and the wisdom of nature that is heart place.

Posted by michael

Water Everywhere

Thinking about water can make your mind expand into many directions.  Clean water is necessary for healthy life.  The human body is 55-60% water.  Water can even be viewed as a basic right, like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; although many nations and companies do not agree with this proposition.  If water is a right in life, then why do people own water and force others to pay for it?  Rights are required, but not free.  Water is a valuable common “free” resource that can be hoarded and defended, making it easy to sell.  The ownership of water has been a critical question for several centuries, as human populations have grown and experienced water shortages.  Wars have been waged over water, as suggested by the saying “Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over.”  When ownership is asserted, then marketplaces can be established and prices and profits set and extracted.  This question of ownership of a basic right in life is not easily thought about or answered.

Water is freely available in its natural forms as it falls from the sky as rain, as it flows in creeks and rivers, and collects in ponds, lakes, and underground reservoirs.  No one can own these forms of water, except indirectly by land ownership and restriction to access.  Water rights and ownership of water arise when infrastructure for water collection, treatment, and distribution is created and maintained.  Water ownership and rights are also exerted when water is used for disposal of waste and heat for sanitation and industrial processes.  Water rights are a complicated and ever-developing area of legal study and enforcement.  

So we all need clean water every day and it is not always available to us.  Poverty in the world is often dependent on the lack of clean water.  Often people cannot pay for water that is available, or pay for building infrastructure that supplies clean water.  Lack of water forces people to spend long hours in back-breaking work to obtain water; hours that could otherwise be used in other life-sustaining activities.  Without water, crops cannot be grown, sanitation is difficult, and health and life are impaired and destroyed.

How do we reconcile the right to clean water with the supply of water for a fee?  Local, state, and national governments have been responsible for supplying clean water and sanitation.  These services have been funded by grants, taxes, and fees to users on a non-profit basis.  A new trend in recent decades has been the transfer of water infrastructure and supply functions to international companies, which supply water for a price, on a for-profit basis.  In either case, water is not considered a right, but rather a product that is obtained for a fee.  Every time you walk into a store and buy a bottle of water, you are supporting the notion that water is expensive and profit-making.  At $4.00 or more per gallon, water in a bottle is more expensive than gasoline.  Bottled water companies have a great profit margin on this product.   

In these deliberations, questions of responsibility for the common “free” resource are necessary.  We may not be able to depend on the power of nature to supply what we often overuse and abuse.  Are governments and private corporations that use the common water resource responsible for its replenishment?  Lack of consideration for climate change and overuse of groundwater supplies has resulted in desertification and loss of historic water supplies.  Governments and corporations often neglect conservation of water resources and fail to account for the effects of climate change, industrialization, and human population growth on “free” water resources.  Sooner than later, we will be enslaved by our absolute need for water and the ever-increasing price that must be paid to companies and governments that may not have our best interests in their hearts.  If water is a basic right in life, then special considerations should be given to its conservation, replenishment, and distribution.  

Posted by michael      

Beaver Creek and Ona Beach State Park Planning

Recently there was a public meeting of staff from Oregon State Parks and interested citizens on the early stages of developing master plans for the Beaver Creek and Ona Beach State Parks.  The overall process, vision, and timing for the master plans was presented and comments from citizens were listened to and recorded.  There were many comments about access to the parks, need for careful consideration of resources and possible overuse of the parks, especially Beaver Creek, and the need to engage the public in the planning process.  

State Parks has a well-developed planning process that is used for all state parks.  The public is invited to participate through several channels.  A relatively new initiative is called Centennial Horizon which includes long-term planning for all of Oregon’s state parks.  Further information can be seen in the planning section of the State Parks website.  There will be a Beaver Creek and Ona master plan website in a month or two, and in the meanwhile you can send input and comments to Kathy.Schutt@state.or.us or contact the State Parks office in Newport at 541-265-8179.

I have found the staff at State parks to be receptive and responsive to comments by citizens.  If you have a concern or have some words of praise about their planning and activities, let them know.  A comment was made at the recent planning meeting that suggested that State Parks is not responsive to public input and hides their actions, because they did not have enough widely publicized public meetings and open forums about Beaver Creek and Ona Beach.  State parks can be reached any time during business hours and the staff are easy to talk to.  Get involved and don’t wait for an invitation to a public meeting.  

Some interesting planning considerations were introduced at the recent meeting.  The planning process looks out over the next 100 years, as included in the Centennial Horizon.  Master plans will be developed for the Beaver Creek Park and for Ona Beach Park, which are separate but adjacent state natural area and state park.  The state natural area emphasizes wetland and riparian conservation, trails, and interpretation, with only very limited development.  The state park could provide more typical coastal park uses, including a possible low impact campground near the beach.  There will be a complete assessment of resource sensitivity and quality recreation needs.  Resources include habitats, plant communities, wetlands and riparian habitats, hazards, water features, topography, soils, historic and prehistoric culture, and scenic features.  Any needed development in Ona Beach Park will be placed in low quality areas, with buffers to neighbors and higher quality resources. 

Several citizens expressed concern about the possibility for “loving nature to death” in Beaver Creek Park and there was discussion of how to limit public access.  This topic will continue to be an important consideration for Beaver Creek Park.  Real answers to this concern will come from careful observation of public behavior in the park in coming years and using this data in planning further park actions.  One suggestion was that access and trails to Beaver Creek Park should be limited at first and then slowly opened up through time to conserve its unique qualities from human impact.

What do you think about planning for Beaver Creek and Ona Beach Parks?  Let State Parks know your views.  The process is open and free.

Posted by michael  

The Potency Of The Marsh

The marsh is part of nature, an open space that is controlled by natural forces and laws.  As such, the marsh and all other open spaces are displays of the wisdom of nature.  When we see open spaces, our hearts emerge beyond our minds and we experience well being and wonder.  In other places where nature is not so open and we exert human control, we experience the force of our thoughts and fixations, covering over our links with nature.  We do not manage nature.  We manage humans in nature.  So in our lives there is this dynamic between open nature and human engineering.  We claim control and dominion over nature and call ourselves good stewards of the land.  How can we control nature, that is so much more cohesive and potent than our wandering consciousness?  We are part of nature and our control is only illusory, allowed by open nature.  We are separate from nature only in our self-minds.

So people tell me that you can “love nature to death”.  I see that it is more the case that nature loves us to death.  We are born and die in vast nature.  Nature is not born or dying, only moving like a stream in its bed to the ocean.  In places where we exert our human logic, science, objectification, and machines such as cities, towns, villages, natural resource extractions (farms, fishing, timber, and mining), and wars, we hide nature’s potency and call it human civilization and domination.  During “time off”, we commune with nature in open spaces and enjoy the lasting benefits of “free” air, water, and care-free thoughts and emotions.  Nature is an expression of the vast potency of life that is beyond our abilities to understand and predict.  When we set aside lands and waters as open space, we allow our true nature to exist in harmony with human activity.  

Walk along a path or road near open space.  There is often trash along the path.  You may have a gut reaction of disgust, asking who would throw away that trash, there?  You separate yourself from the trash and look up to the beauty of open space.  But are you separate?  That person who trashed your beautiful space is your relative, in your human family.  Why do you reject them?  The trash is part of open space too.  We can learn to see how everything is part of us.  We can teach each other the value of accepting what is, caring for each other in ways that support nature, and not fighting like children in the school yard.  Someone threw the trash away on the path because they were in a trash mood, having a trash emotion.  By giving them open space, they can brighten their mood and have the emotions of love and compassion.  By turning our minds to open space, we can guide each other and teach the values of air, water, health, and peace, things that cannot and are not bought and sold in the human market places.  

Posted by michael 

Planning Meeting For Beaver Creek State Natural Area

Members of the public will have the opportunity to comment on the Beaver Creek State Natural Area/Ona Beach State Park master plan during a meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 26, at the Central Lincoln People Utility District meeting room, 2119 N. Coast Highway in Newport.

Posted by michael

Park Opening Day

Opening day at the Beaver Creek State Natural Area.  On a cloudy, coastal day speakers for the dedication included:  Jean Cowen, State Representative;  Davis Moriuchi, Chair, Oregon Parks and Recreation Commission; Ted Kulongoski, Governor of Oregon; Terry Thompson, Lincoln County Commissioner; and Esther Lev, Executive Director, The Wetlands Conservancy.  Friends gathered and shared memories and aspirations.  A ribbon was cut, music from 'Coin of the Realm' enjoyed, and refreshments served.    

A big day for Beaver Creek marsh, where the people gathered and remembered the value of wetlands and wildness.  Looking forward to a bright future for Beaver Creek watershed and the plants, animals, and humans that visit and live in it.  So many people, communities, organizations, and agencies have been involved with this conservation effort, which continues forward with new acquisitions and conservation easements.  There is a heartfelt commitment to bring the legacy of wildness into the future for the benefit of all.  Thank you for this grace.

Posted by michael

The Strange Case Of Missing Wetlands Value

Who stole the value of wetlands and when and where did this event occur?  In mythic time wetlands are regarded as important places for healing and spiritual understanding.  The garden of Eden was in a wetland surrounded by rivers in the desert.  Wetlands supplied water and food for the people through time immemorial.  Animals in wetlands supported the telling of tales, important for understanding nature.  Heron is an important messenger of the gods, bringing the connection between earth and heaven.  Frog is a symbol of birth, death, and rebirth; as she goes through changes in form, associated with wetland ponds and streams.  Many other animals and plants supply food, medicine, and cultural context for the people. 

Then along came science and the objective world; powerful conceptual grasping.  Human consciousness moved out of mythic time and into city time, with the formation of civilizations.  Eventually written language and money were invented and the science of economics developed.  The great human marketplaces grew and the connection between myth and human thought became hidden by the power of objective thought and philosophy.  We came to see every thing and person as objects separated from us as subjects.  This separation of the world between us and them produced a lasting cultural valuation based on richer and poorer.  Endless wars ensued to constantly adjust the balance of payments and power among cultures.  

Now we are in a crisis of understanding.  Great religions developed to act as gateways to the spiritual power of nature and renewal and these only served to reinforce the sense of objectivity for the people; priests separated people from spiritual power.  The objective world simply does not explain everything.  We have experiences of hope and fear that cannot be objectified or given monetary value.  There are vast areas of our consciousness that are subject to change by outside circumstances, but are not explainable by rational thought.  We do not understand the source of consciousness with birth.  We do not understand the disappearance of consciousness with death.  These events are magic, with spontaneous appearance and disappearance; something that is not consistent with rational thought and objectivity.  We are afraid of death and will not talk or think about it.   

Yet we know that when we take a walk or paddle a boat outside with the sky above and the marsh below, that we are happy and carefree.  This experience of wildness is priceless.  In our state of well-being, we cannot defend this value in court when developers argue for draining the marsh and building new value in their banks.

Have we forgotten our heritage?  Do we not see that subject and object cannot exist without each other, inseparable.  We talk about cause and effect, but don’t believe in it when we act without care for consequences.  We are nihilists at heart, mouthing words of empty value to satisfy the objectivity gods.  This separation that we feel and that has supported the polarity of human economic culture is the source of so much suffering.  We can take responsibility for our world by seeing the interface between subject and object and remembering the spiritual connection that we have with every living being and the world we live in.  This is the ultimate value, beyond the objectification of  existence.  We can declare that wetlands have value and that we are willing to conserve them and other wildness that is vital to our well-being.   

Posted by michael

On The Occasion Of The Autumnal Equinox

The season has changed into Autumn and we witness the slow decay and death of summer life as the light angle is lowered and rain approaches.  It is a time of great leveling and return; a remembering of the equanimity of birth and death in nature.  This season is one of reflection and understanding for the power of dissolution and return to the source. 

“Whatever appearances manifest are equal as sense objects; simply what is evident to the sense faculties.  Whatever thoughts arise are equal as mental events; simply conscious states that leave no trace.  Both are equal in the moment; simply the bonds of denial or affirmation.  In actuality, they are equal in the final analysis; nothing but appearances that have no basis.  Sense objects are equal in their distinctness; upon examination simply leaving no trace.  Ordinary states of consciousness are equal in essence; upon analysis nothing but space.  Objects and mind are nondual; simply pure open space. Whoever understands things in this way is a descendent of Samantabhadra; a sublime spiritual heir of the victorious ones, a master of awareness in the highest sense."  

Longchenpa wrote these words.

Autumn is a mythical time in which we can see the dying, death, and dissolution of summer life.  We enjoy the bountiful harvest of summer’s growth and we give thanks.  From ancient times through to now, the allegory of alchemy has illustrated this cycle of birth, death, and dissolution through the seasons.  We can see this in the marsh and forest colors.  Stage 1 is Blackening, in which putrefaction occurs with reduction to pure material.  Earth and water are freed.  Stage 2 is Whitening, in which sublimation occurs with discovery of reflected inner light, the moon, water of life.  Stage 3 is Yellowing, which is a return to complete purity with direct light from the sun.  Stage 4 is Reddening, which is coagulation, a return to form.  

The cycle of seasons can be stated as processes;  Calcination-form to ash, Dissolution-ash to water, Separation-water to essence, Conjunction-essence to recombination, Fermentation-recombination to new being, Distillation-new being to increased purity, Coagulation-pure being to precipitation of new body.  These processes can occur through the evident connections of elements and qualities.  Earth is cold and dry. Water is cold and moist.  Fire is hot and dry.  Air is hot and moist.  These elements can change into each other through the qualities they have in common- cold, hot, dry, and moist -based on the primal material and awareness.  We have discounted our perceptions of elements and qualities in favor of scientific views which objectify the worlds and separate us from them.  When we stand before the marsh we see earth, water, fire, air, and space in wildness.  Why not use these metaphorical expressions to explore the inner space of awareness and the consciousness of objects that are clearly apparent; arising, remaining, and dissolving so easily, spontaneously.  Happy autumn and best wishes for an abundant harvest. 

Posted by michael

News From Beaver Creek State Natural Area

A recent article by Lori Tobias, in The Oregonian tells us two important events for the Beaver Creek area.  On October 1, 2010, there will be a grand opening ceremony for the State Natural Area.  The ribbon cutting is at 11 am, with activities running until 1 pm, including refreshments and music at the new Welcome Center.  Parking is at Ona Beach State Park, with shuttles to the Welcome Center.  The second significant milestone is the announcement by State Parks spokesman Chris Havel, of the pending acquisition of 583 acres of timberland, adjacent to Ona Beach State Park, that will be developed over several years into a new coastal campground.  The land was planted 15 years ago as a mixed coastal forest and overlooks the lower Beaver Creek marsh, including marsh owned by Wetlands Conservancy.  This new acquisition by State Parks is an important continuing investment in the conservation of the Beaver Creek watershed.

Neighbors in the Beaver Creek valley have been nervous about all of the attention, increased visitors, and possible disruption to the beloved valley they call home.  Rumors  have confused the purpose of the State Natural Area, suggesting that it will be developed into a campground.  Such development is not a part of the Natural Area plan.  Natural Areas are set aside in a world program that aims to keep wildness available in our common heritage.  These areas are specifically reserved from development and may include trails and signs to educate and guide visitors.  In Beaver Creek, the visitor by boat leaves only footprints of ripples on the water.      

With the new State Parks land acquisition, plans for a campground should begin to emerge and show how increasing visitor traffic to the Beaver Creek area can find a temporary home without impacting the valley and its residents.  This new campground will be near the ocean, marsh, and forests; yet set aside from them in a respectful distance that invites interactions with nature.  Access to the campground will be from Hwy 101 and near Seal Rock.  While we residents value the peace, quiet, and isolation of the Beaver Creek valley, I feel that it is important to entertain visitors from around the world, so that they can experience the magic of this place and take that experience home with them, to light fires of imagination and inspiration in their lives and hearths.  We can trust in the power of nature to sooth the traveler’s spirit and to refresh their senses.  They can emerge from a paddle on the creek or a hike in the fields and forests of Beaver Creek with a renewed sense of their place in wildness and their responsibility to these places.  Wildness gives us the undefinable sense of well-being that is essential for our common survival. 

Posted by michael

Beaver Creek Natural Area Opening Date

The Beaver Creek State Natural Area officially opens on October 1, 2010.  Check in with the State Park sites for further information, Beaver Creek trail guide, and Beaver Creek birding checklist.  Looking forward to much more information from State Parks on the natural history and human history of the area.  This is a fruition of many years of community participation, planning, fundraising, acquisition, and good old fashion fun.  Congratulations to all of the people involved in the superb conservation effort that has maintained an important legacy; Beaver Creek and the marsh that flows into the Pacific Ocean, by way of Ona Beach.  

Posted by michael