Hunting

Nowadays, here in Oregon, hunting is considered to be a sport, and by extension, hunters are called sportsmen (or sportswomen). It wasn’t always that way. Before the arrival of the British fur trappers, the real native Oregonians hunted for food and for hides to make clothing. The hunters of today may still eat what they kill, but their lives don’t depend on their hunting success, as was true for the native people a couple of hundred years ago. 

Human hunters have always served as top predators. They tend to eliminate the natural top predators in an area and take over that role. That’s why there are very few mountain lions or grizzly bears in areas where there are a significant number of humans.  As long as the amount of hunting has been consistent with the rate of replacement of the prey species, the ecology of an area has remained in balance. Whenever overhunting has severely depleted prey species, the balance has been lost.

The passenger pigeon went extinct a century ago due to massive overhunting, far beyond anything justifiable in the name of food. The American bison almost went the same way before an effort was made to save the few that were left and allow them to reproduce in peace. 

Today, Nature’s balance is once again threatened. This time it’s not hunting that is to blame. Hunters have learned to work with Nature rather than fight it. Organizations of hunters and fishermen have formed coalitions with Nature conservation groups in an effort to preserve the wild places for future generations.  The threat to Nature today is humanity’s inexorable encroachment upon wild places. 

* Logging roads fragment forest habitat and provide a ready route for invasive non-native species of plants and animals to enter and squeeze out native plants and animals. 

* Farming right up to the banks of rivers and streams pollutes and warms the water, making it unsuitable for salmon and other valuable fish. 

* Agricultural fertilizer runoff pollutes rivers, causing algae blooms that rob the water of the oxygen that fish need to survive. 

* Industrial discharge into rivers puts all manner of noxious chemicals into the water, which accumulates in the fish and ends up on our dinner plates. 

What should hunters do? If they would like to preserve hunting and fishing as an option both for themselves and for future generations, they should become activists in the fight to preserve the natural environment, both here in Oregon and around the world.  

* This means supporting legislation that preserves critical habitat for all the animals and plants that are native to Oregon. 

* It means conducting their own personal lives in such a way that they do not contribute to habitat degradation. 

* It means helping to make sure that hunting laws are obeyed. Just this past week a bighorn sheep here in Oregon was shot out of season. The person who found the carcass blew the whistle on the perpetrator. This is the kind of citizen involvement we need to make sure that laws are obeyed and our precious natural resources are protected. There aren’t enough Fish and Wildlife officers to enforce the laws by themselves. 

We may not need wild animals for food any more, but we need them nonetheless. We don’t live in isolation. We are a part of a vast network of life. We must preserve the strength of that network by saving as many parts of it as we can. Our own lives may well depend on how well we preserve the rest of the network. 

If you are a hunter or a fisherman, do one thing today to help preserve the wild heritage that has been handed down to you. Even if you are not a hunter or fisherman, take action anyway. 

* Make a contribution to an organization, such as The Nature Conservancy, that is dedicated to the protection of our natural treasures.

* Write to your Congresspeople and state legislators to express you support for the protection of old growth forests and clean, pollution-free rivers and streams.

* Join some friends in removing human-generated trash from a natural area.You’ll feel a lot better for having done so.

Connecting with what’s Important

by Allen G. Taylor 

Most of us spend the bulk of our waking hours on the job. Unless you’re self-employed, that means working to accomplish somebody else’s objectives rather than your own. You may say you enjoy your work, but really, would you still be doing it if you weren’t being paid? If not, it may be time for you to re-examine your priorities. What is truly important to you? Here are some possibilities: 

·        Doing work that you find enjoyable and meaningful

·        Earning enough money to live the lifestyle that you would like to become accustomed to

·        Making a meaningful contribution to your community, your country, or the world

·        Helping those who are less fortunate than you are

·        Spending quality time with your family

·        Enjoying life in beautiful surroundings

·        Bringing about world peace 

Pick one, or find one that fits you better than those listed. If what you’re doing right now is not at least moving you closer to doing what’s important to you, what should you do? 

I’ll give you a four step process: 

1.     Decide, perhaps for the first time in a long time, what your top priority is. Really think about it.  Most of us just continue to coast along on whatever path we happen to be on, unless something happens to shake us up, such as getting fired or losing a loved one. 

Let us say for the sake of argument that your top priority is to spend more quality time with your family. 

2.     Determine ways that you can change your life to be more consistent with your top priority. Possibly you need to change jobs, to one that does not take you away from home as often. Perhaps there are leisure time activities that you engage in that you could forego in favor of spending more time with your family. You could take trips with your family. Maybe you could just stay home and spend an evening playing Monopoly® or Scrabble®. Possibly you could come home from the office sooner, before the kids are in bed. Is the overtime you put in really worth it?

3.     Commit yourself to following through with what you have determined you should do. Take that trip. Establish a regular family night. Scale back your commitment to your job.

4.     Honor your commitment. Take action. This is the tough one. Actually changing the way you conduct your life is difficult, but the rewards in terms of happiness can be great. 
 

Once you have made the move to conduct your life more in line with what is truly important to you, you should experience a big reduction in stress. You will not only be happier, you will be healthier too. When your mind knows that what you are doing is truly important, your body responds with better health, since you need to be able to operate at top efficiency. After all, you are focusing on the most important thing that you could be doing. When there is close agreement between what you are doing and what you should be doing, your body takes notice. You’ll feel better, and you will actually be better.

Tonight, or at the first opportunity, when you can be sure you won’t be interrupted, take that first step. Decide what is the most important thing that you should be doing.

Then follow through on it–and change your life.