Fantasy & Dark Depression!
- nwriversphotograph
- Jun 3
- 5 min read
“Defenders of the short-sighted men who in their greed and selfishness will, if permitted, rob our country of half its charm by their reckless extermination of all useful and beautiful wild things sometimes seek to champion them by saying the ‘the game belongs to the people.’ So it does; and not merely to the people now alive, but to the unborn people.”
As you may have already surmised, this posting will be a bit darker than most… as both the emotions of fantasy and depression war in my mind, rooted in the experiences of our just completed journey down the Pacific Coast, across the Southwest, and eventually back to Bellingham Washington via Colorado and Idaho. Just under three months of travel, roughly eight thousand and fifty miles, eight states, six National Parks, eight National Monuments, and a vast and unlimited number of wildlife preserves, state parks, and recreation areas. Eighty + days of exploring some of our nation’s most incredible and beautiful landscapes.
This was, absolutely, a life-long fantasy to spend that much time on the road – free and untethered. No bills, appointments, deadlines, or work. Just me, my wife Stephanie, our dog Willow, and Elwood, the van named for Jake and Elwood from the Blues Brothers (if you have not been following the past few articles, good friends lent us their sprinter van for this amazing journey). With twinkling dragon-fly lights on the ceiling, soft music, a warm and cozy bed, and unobstructed 360-degree views of everywhere we visited, I seriously considered tying on a headband and sticking flower decals on Elwood as we crisscrossed the west.
Each morning, we woke up to experience a real-life fantasy as we drove along the back roads, seeing so many beautiful places, and so much incredible open space. We were channeling other wanderers who came before -- such as Jack Kerouac (On the Road 1957), John Steinbeck (Travels with Charley 1962), and Charles Kuralt ("On the Road" 1967 to 1980).
And so many eldritch, wonderful, and fantastical places! Alabama Hills in California, Death Valley, Valley of Fire State Park, Lake Powell. Almost as if you woke up in another world!
Deep depression, as I am unsure if I will ever get this chance again? If others will get to see these great places (even later this summer)? Hard to see the things you love and value, and much of the conservation work you spent your life on, being systematically and ruthlessly destroyed. There is at work, today, an insidious plan to have our wild lands, special places, and outdoor experiences (our heritage!) disappear – to die of neglect and resource extraction – unloved, unappreciated, and (I suspect) completely unknown by those making new rules and cutting funding.
At each place we stopped, we talked with those remaining. Employees, volunteers, and locals who depend on tourism. All of them talked quietly about being on “life support” already, of jobs lost, cuts for seasonal help, and worries about what will happen as the tourist season approaches full stride. They talked quietly because they were still there – but were not sure they would be in the future.
And it is far worse than just losing our parks and wild places (which, for me, is catastrophic on its own). Each day we lose more about what makes America special and our lives worthwhile.
And these decisions affect every level of our lives. The recent announcement by the AmeriCorps agency was especially hard to understand as it put people to work taking care of wild places (including restoration and maintenance) that the government had ignored for decades. This is funded annually by Congress and has now been gutted (losing 85% of its workforce and nearly $400 million in grant program funding -- $21.6 million in Washington State). This hits everyone at the local community level regarding quality-of-life issues such as wildfire prevention, food banks, children’s programs, and environmental work. For years, city, county and local nonprofits depended on Washington’s Conservation Corps (part of AmeriCorps) for much of their stewardship work. They (and I when working) considered this the best program ever! A smaller, more local rendition of the national Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established during the Great Depression.
National Parks -- "the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst."
Writer and historian Wallace Stegner
As we drove down the west coast and across the Southwest, it was impossible not to wonder how the Interior Department’s expected $3.8 billion budget reduction would impact these special places ($1.2 billion for the National Park Service (NPS), $724 million from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, $564 million from the U.S. Geological Service, and $207 million from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)?
What is the future for our public lands as we lay off an estimated 5,000 staff working for the NPS, US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, with another 700 employees taking early retirement? How will cancelling internship and environmental service opportunities change these areas and how people connect and enjoy them (as a friend said, he had zero interest in now working to undo his work over the past decade and a half)? How scaling back six national monuments in the West (twenty-seven of our national parks started as monuments), suspending air-quality monitoring at all national parks, and managing national forests “for their intended purpose of producing timber,” and potentially closing more than 300 national parks (proposed current national budget) will affect America’s “best idea”?
Anticipate a different park experience in the coming months if you can even get it? Depression indeed!
“We have fallen heirs to the most glorious heritage a people ever received, and each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune.”
Endnotes: What you can do!
· Love this land! Appreciate, support, and protect your national heritage of public lands.
· Read and follow outdoor issues, know what is at stake and what will be lost.
· Get outdoors often -- and tell people about it.
· Minimize your impact on public lands, understand that the future health and beauty of these areas now rests with you.
· Volunteer.
· Call, write and visit the people who represent you on the federal, state, and local levels. Let them know where you stand!
· Support recreation, environmental and park related nonprofits. Some of my favorites: Whatcom Land Trust, Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, American Whitewater, Conservation Northwest and the Raincoast Conservation Foundation (because our actions affect more than just here at home).
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