COLUMN: Ramblings: This land is our land

One of my favorite songs is Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.” He wrote those words in 1940 as the Great Depression ended. The original name was “God Blessed America for Me.” Some of the original lines have been replaced with softer less critical words. Now we sing a softer version. My Dad was a big fan of Woody Guthrie and other singers from the 1930s, like Jimmy Rogers, Burl Ives and Lead Belly. Dad had a great voice and loved to sing. He was a young rambling man himself during the 1930s, ’til he met my Mom and got married in 1938. I grew up listening to them sing the ‘old’ songs. My parents were hippies long before the 1960s came along.

This column is not about my parents. It is about “YOUR lands.” Abe Lincoln set aside land in Yosemite Valley in 1864 to hold it in public trust and protect it. President Grant created the first National Park, Yellowstone in 1872. On August 25, 1916, President Wilson signed an act that established the National Park Service to support the conservation and preservation of lands for future generations.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources was established in 1965. Who was responsible for the state forests and state parks and other state lands before that? I will need to dig deeper. McCormick’s Creek State Park, established in 1916, was the first state park. In 1903 Clark State Forest, the first state forest was established with 2,000 acres. The purpose was forest research, tree nursery and scientific forestry experimentation. The Division of Forestry now manages 15 state forests with 160,250 acres. Purposes now include watershed protection, recreation, wildlife habitat, scenic beauty, and timber.

Unfortunately, the current political situation has put our public land, nationally and locally, in jeopardy. Nationally, several federally held lands are in danger. In Utah, land sacred to native people, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase National Monument, was reduced in size by over a million acres. They have been opened to coal, mineral and energy exploration. Your lands have been given to the highest bidder.

The same thing happens to our state forest. Timber buyers look at a stand of mature trees and see board feet, not a natural environment for the creatures that inhabit the forest. Recently, the Rattlesnake Campground area was logged. Go visit and see the results for yourself. Logging does not bring a huge amount of funds to the DNR. Logging does destroy habitat for birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, pollinators, and other insects. Logging causes erosion of topsoil. It also causes soil compaction and injures younger trees. Trees are the lungs of this planet. They cleanse the very air we breathe. I want my great-grandchildren to walk through a forest of huge trees with awe in their eyes.

The responsibility for protecting our public land falls on our shoulders. Our descendants deserve wild places to roam. The politicians will bend to a man with dollar signs in his eyes every time, unless their power is in jeopardy. Visit a state forest. There is a wonderful one right here in Owen County. Let the politicians know how you feel. Call them, email them, join a protest, VOTE!

’til next time,

Annie