Wildlife Management

[Ken Medlin <dev-plan@moscow.com>]

With the hope of putting a different perspective on the "debate" over how 
our political institutions should be structured for making decisions, I 
offer a couple of brief remarks that could steer our energies in some 
other direction, to be then followed by examining what kinds of political 
instrumentation would best serve both  our and nature's iuterests. 
    1) Humanoids do not stand alone, supreme in the universe, although 
their egos want them to believe otherwise. We are ultimately dependent, 
on this earth and, to a degree, in space, on the natural and inanimate 
environments which have sustained all forms of life down to this day. We 
have long lost sight, in our inexorable thirst for material 
gratifications, of our natural linkages with the ecological forms around 
us. We now think that technology can solve all our problems, from fossil 
depletions to urban congestions. Knowledge of and respect for Nature no 
longer guide the major decision makers on earth, as "civilization" 
marches steadily on down the road to extinguishing one life form after 
another. The prices we are already paying in terms of disease, hunger, 
crime, insanity, degradation and the like will pale, a century or so from 
now, before ultimate costs, to both human and non-human life forms, of 
destroying ecologies that we even now do not understand. What did it cost 
to recover fisheries in Lake Erie? Bundles! But the way we think and act, 
we'll have to do it again -- and Great Lake fish eaters can safely ingest 
only a few ounces per week as it is now. What does even one example tell 
us? What role do the bear and the wolf play in those few wilderness 
ecosystems that still remain? What will happen eventually if all 
predators are removed, all "bad" insects, all pooping birds, etc.? What 
if the only predators left are all humans? Will we be lonesome one day? 
Dare we wait?

    2) If voters are now uninformed about knowledge that would instruct 
them about the alternatives we face, what will make them any wiser by 
adopting even more limited access to the political process?  What do our 
media now do to help educate, inform, document, and enlighten? What has 
Congress accomplished this year? Is that how democracy is supposed to 
work? Where is our intelligence, our sense of purpose and direction for 
the next generation? The political system stands pretty naked and 
ineffective, shorn of over one-half the electorate no longer 
participating. But we have our constitutional rights, and every community 
ought to take stock of its own situation, resources, hopes, problems, 
options, and dreams. Every community has the legal framework for 
directing the uses of its resources to create sustainable life systems in 
the coming decades. Just planning and zoning harbors tremendous power to 
direct the common well-being of a community. How do we use it?  Whose 
interests are represented, whose are absent? Do our children's interests 
get voiced? If so, by whom and how? Do natural life forms get 
represented, and should they? If not, why not?  We're all in this 
together. Is a pheasant in my backyard a threat to me, and does its 
presence mean it lacks food in its natural habitat --maybe it has lost 
it--?  To what extent are our community members aware of and or 
interested in these relationshhips?  If not, then the future will return 
to haunt us. Have you ever thought how many civilizations, from time 
immemorial, lie in the dust, succeeded by others which have also decayed 
-- because of, what? Their supidity, greed, lack of resources?? Are we to 
be any different in light of our present problems and failures to resolve 
even simple challenges, such as urban crime? Is there a solution? How 
about trying to promote a human community that is largely self-directed, 
multilateral and inclusive of all members and their environments? I'm not 
talking about "utopias", but simply an effort to muster the goodwill and 
resources that are available to make a difference in how we go about 
using goodwill and resources -- that's all we have. Is it enough to chart 
the future? Do we at local level dare to say, I have a dream?

------------------------
William K. Medlin
dev-plan associates
930 Kenneth Street
Moscow ID 83843
208/892-0148