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| Spindle Tree - Eastern Wahoo |
Friday, March 29, 2024
Friday, May 6, 2022
Tom Wessels and Wayne King, noted environmentalists, speak out for “Scenic” Protection of Lake Tarleton Watershed
Tom Wessels and Wayne King, noted environmentalists, speak out for “Scenic” Protection of Lake Tarleton Watershed
Tom and I invite anyone to sign on to the letter (just add your name) or send your own to protect this precious Gem of the White Mountains.
News Release
For Immediate Release
For more information: 603-530-4460
In Mid-2000, after years of fundraising work, a gathering of political leaders, community leaders, environmental activists, and citizens came together to celebrate what they believed was the final step in protecting Lake Tarleton and its surrounding watershed from threatened development and logging. Together they had raised more than 7.5 million dollars to protect more than 5000 acres in perpetuity. Today they find themselves fighting to protect that public investment once again.
Lake Tarleton is the largest and purest lake in the White Mountain National Forest. It is one of a very few lakes that local activists have succeeded in protecting from the scourge of aquatic invasive species such as Eurasian Milfoil. Its largely-forested watershed is also a rich cultural resource containing an early colonial settlement, Charleston, and two other unnamed settlement areas as well as evidence of active and regular Abenaki presence dating back thousands of years - most of which still remains shrouded in mystery because it has yet to undergo any serious study.
Tom Wessels, an internationally celebrated environmental educator, terrestrial ecologist and author of 6 ecology books, whose ability to read the natural landscape is legendary, has joined together with former White Mountain guide, State Senator and Gubernatorial nominee, author and columnist, Wayne King who represented the area that includes Tarleton in the Senate.
Wessels is a long-time professor, now emeritus, at Antioch University New England in the Department of Environmental Studies, where he founded their Master's program in conservation biology. He is often compared with such national environmental leaders as John Muir, and Edward Abbey. King, who has Abenaki and Iroquois roots, has written extensively on environmental issues and is considered a leader in the Climate Emergency movement.
Both concur that the Lake Tarleton watershed deserves special status as a Scenic Area, providing it with additional protective measures that recognize the early colonial and indigenous cultural history as well as the particularly pristine natural environment of Tarleton and its sister lakes in the area.
Wessels and King urge interested citizens to make their voices heard by contacting Pemigewasset District Brooke Brown at the address below before the May 11 deadline of adding their names to the letter and sending it to Ms Brooke Brown Pemigewasset District Ranger before a May 11 deadline..
More information can be found at the website of the Lake Tarleton Coalition:
https://www.laketarletoncoalition.org/
Brooke M. Brown
Pemigewasset District Ranger
71 White Mountain Drive Campton, NH 03223
brooke.brown@usda.gov
RE: Tarleton Integrated Resource Project
56394
Tom Wessels is an acclaimed American terrestrial ecologist, now emeritus professor at Antioch University New England in the Department of Environmental Studies. He founded the Master's program in conservation biology. He is the author of five books and is an active environmentalist.
Wayne King was District 2 Senator in NH which includes the Lake Tarleton area. He was the 1994 Democratic nominee for Governor of New Hampshire. King was a guide in the White Mountains as a young man and today is an author, columnist, podcaster, artist, and active environmentalist.
Professor Emeritus Tom Wessels
The Honorable Wayne D. King
Brooke M. Brown
Pemigewasset District Ranger
71 White Mountain Drive Campton, NH 03223
brooke.brown@usda.gov
RE: Tarleton Integrated Resource Project
56394
Dear Ms. Brown:
We write this letter to express our concern over the Pemigewasset District’s recommendations for the Lake Tarleton region.
We fully understand the general multi-use mission of the White Mountain National Forest and the National Forest generally. Furthermore, while we are in agreement with the recent Presidential Executive order calling for a more accurate inventory of “Old Growth” forests to help address the Climate Emergency, we are not opposed to responsible and carefully managed logging within the national forest generally.
However, there is a well-established tradition within the National Forest of identifying certain areas that have significant cultural and environmental value and protecting them with a higher level “Scenic Area” status. We believe that the area around Lakes Tarleton, Armington, Katherine stretching along the Appalachian Trail corridor north to Webster Slide, and Wachipauka Pond warrant such treatment. Furthermore, any logging in this region may pose a threat to important, and still unexamined, cultural resources including Abenaki hunting villages and the early colonial settlement of the now-extinct town of Charleston, as well as the unspoiled and pristine nature of its lakes.
In keeping with the intent of the original land acquisition, the White Mountain National Forest should remove this and all future threats to Lake Tarleton’s surrounding forest by amending the 2005 White Mountain National Forest Plan and designating a Scenic Area in the landscape surrounding Lake Tarleton, Lake Katherine, Lake Armington, and stretching along the Appalachian Trail corridor north to Webster Slide, and Wachipauka Pond. This contiguous landscape is among the most scenic in the Granite State. And yet, despite designating nine (9) unique Scenic Areas in the eastern portion of the WMNF, the White Mountain National Forest has not designated any Scenic Areas west of I-93. For the benefit of the local tourism and recreation economy, and for the integrity of this treasured landscape, including Abenaki and early colonial historical resources, it would be both environmentally and culturally short-sighted to allow logging in these areas - which only constitute a very small portion of the western WMNF and less than ¼ of the land protected through the millions of dollars invested in the Tarleton watershed area in 2000. We respectfully request that you amend the White Mountain National Forest management plan and designate this area a Scenic Area to permanently remove the threat of logging and development.
This designation would satisfy the concerns of the donors who helped purchase the land and those who have been advocating for its protection and avoid the need for a costly Environmental Impact Assessment that, arguably, should be engaged if the current plan is to move forward.
Given the environmental and cultural uniqueness of the Lake Tarleton watershed, issuing a DRAFT “Finding of No Significant Impact“ (FONSI) may avoid the need to do a full EIS but leaves the communities who contributed more than 7.5 million dollars to preserve the land feeling that their investment expectations have been ignored. It may also open the WMNF to litigation over the DRAFT FONSI finding in favor of a full-blown Environmental Impact Analysis.
All this could be avoided with a Scenic Designation allowing for better protection of the cultural resources and conservative management of the apple orchards and areas where invasive species require control without logging and clearcutting in the immediate Lake Tarleton Watershed. We urge you to take this route.
Sincerely,
Tom Wessels
Wayne King
CC
Derek Ibarguen
Forest Supervisor
Pemigewasset District Ranger Station
71 White Mountain Drive Campton, NH 03223
Derek.Ibarguen@usda.gov
Honorable Jeanne Shaheen
506 Hart Senate Office Bldg, Washington, DC 20510
Honorable Maggie Hassan- United States Senator
330 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC
Honorable Ann McLane Kuster - United States Congresswoman
320 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-5206
Honorable Chris Pappas
319 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-5456
Chief of the Forest Service: Randy Moore
1400 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, D.C.
20250-0003 (202) 205-8439
Honorable Thomas Vilsack
Secretary of Agriculture
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Lakota Prayer Fine Art Poster
Lakota Prayer Fine Art Poster
Created from the original image "Indian Summer" with a prayer by the Lakota leader Yellow Lark.
Oh, Great Spirit Whose voice I hear in the winds, And whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me, I am small and weak, I need your strength and wisdom. Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock. I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy - myself. Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes. So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my Spirit may come to you without shame.
Shop this product here: http://spreesy.com/waynedking/232
Shop all of our products at http://spreesy.com/waynedking
Lakota, Prayer, Yellow Lark, Great Spirit,
Monday, November 19, 2018
Holiday Gifts - Images and products
Holiday Gifts - Images and products created with my images available here:
https://sites.google.com/site/mindscapeimages/
https://sites.google.com/site/mindscapeimages/
“The Distant Sound of a Different Drum”
Monday, May 14, 2018
Bar the Door! We're Here!
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| A Marine's Pride |
As most of you know by now, my ancestors on my father's side were members of the Iroquois nation. To them we are all illegals. John Kelly's remarks on NPR made me wonder what the story was behind his own family history.
Here's a useful tidbit of information. File it under: "Bar the door! I'm here!" (General) John Kelly's ancestors, who arrived in America before we began classifying immigrants as documented and undocumented, included his Great Grandfather Giuseppe Pedalino and Pedalino's second wife Concetta. (Kelly's great-grandma died in 1898.)
Giuseppe Pedalino was a wagon driver. It is unlikely that he had more than a few years of schooling but we don't know this (yet) His wife was illiterate and could not speak English 10 years after arrival.
John Kelly's maternal grandmother Teresa is shown below as a child in the 1900 census. Her father, a day laborer named John DeMarco had been here for 18 years.
He had not become a citizen.
He could not read, write, or speak English.
The 1930 census shows his great-grandparents living with their daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren, one of whom was Kelly's mother.
John DeMarco had been here for 47 years and was STILL not an American citizen ("AL"). His wife Crescenza had been here for 37 years and STILL spoke no English.
pic.twitter.com/N9AfuLNvb1
These facts tell us a number of things:
1. In only 3 generations this immigrant family went from "the great unwashed" to the ancestors of the Chief of Staff to the President of the United States of America. That is nothing short of a true American success story.
2. General John Kelly is either completely ignorant of his own family's history or a hypocrite - I'm guessing the latter. This is less of a disappointment than his behavior in not having the courage to speak out against the treatment of John McCain at the hands of his own Whitehouse Staff but it's right up there.
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Friday, April 27, 2018
The Value of Native American Indian Investment in America
In the last few months I have been thinking a lot about the values and obligations that we Americans share with one another.
If you know of better sources for the information on the back of my "envelope" I'd love to find out about them so that I can update this information. If you disagree with my points, I'd like to hear you, especially if you have a well thought out response and not just a snarky or snide remark. Lets have an honest dialog and we'll all benefit from it. wdk
In December I wrote a column that asked the question of whether GDP (also called GNP or Gross National Product) was the best way to measure American success and happiness. (InDepthNH.org - http://bit.ly/2I38p1q );
In February, I wrote a column titled "Restoring the American Voice" (InDepthNH.org http://bit.ly/2Kfuvyn) advocating the need for us all to moderate our differences by remembering and respecting those values that we all share. . . Singing the American Song together as we find our way through the sea of changes ahead.
In my March 3, 2018 column "A National American Social Dividend and a New American Paradigm" (InDepthNH.org http://bit.ly/2r1HYRB ) I suggested that we recognize an American Social Dividend. Essentially making the case that beyond the inheritance of private wealth that we have long recognized in America, that there should be a recognition of an inheritance of public wealth. A recognition of those contributions made over the centuries to the nation's wealth by those who are not in the 1%., including both the collective personal investments made (willingly or unwillingly) and the collective investments created by laws and institutions that have provided the legal and economic framework for a successful economy and a robust democracy. Those investments have played a role in the long term success of the American economy and our way of life that is every bit as important as the Plutocrat, who is able to pass along to his or her children the wealth generated during their lifetime. In fact, it could be argued that, without the robust institutions of Democracy, Capitalism - which is more of an "Operating System" than it is an ideology - could not have produced the rewards it has produced for those Plutocrats.
Now don't get me wrong. . . I am a "Capitalist" and there is nothing , in my opinion wrong with being wealthy; frankly, I wish I were. The sooner we stop denigrating people for being wealthy, or poor, the faster we will rediscover our American Voice. But the myth of the "self-made man" is just that, a myth. Behind every self-made man is an education financed by taxpayers, or a patent protected by a law and perhaps financed through a government research grant; a government infrastructure and a physical infrastructure, paid for by taxpayers at every level; or, a government guaranteed loan for a business . . . do I need to go on?
In the Column I cite just some of the ways in which, over more than two centuries, we have padded the GNP at the expense of one group or another concluding, finally that "in some way or another we are all aggrieved, we are all due reparations; we are mutually responsible for our successes and our failures and mutually entitled to an American Social Dividend paid for with the blood, sweat and tears of every American. . ."
Naturally in thinking about all this I began to wonder if there were not a way to show that both the political and economic success of our nation is grounded in the contributions and sacrifices of all Americans, even those who have been marginalized historically.
So I began to construct a series of questions that I wanted to try answering to help me better explain all this and to defend the proposition.
Here is the first question I asked myself (hey give me a break I'm Iroquois!) How does the value of the land taken from Native American people in the conquest of the US relate to GNP today?
As far as I know, no one has done extensive academic research on this topic and for good reason. It would be almost impossible - without Big Data and a powerful computer - to figure out, given differing land values and differing time tables, to say nothing of the fact that knowing when a land transaction was actually voluntary (not very often). On the other hand there is enough data out there to do a "back of the envelope" calculation generally, so here goes:
Using very rough estimates and not including the land taken from Native American people prior to 1776 and also not including improvements on the land such as the towns established in Georgia and the Carolinas by tribes like the Cherokee. It is generally understood that since 1776 Native Americans have been moved from lands totaling 1.5 Billion acres to a small set of reservations dotted around the country. If you simply use the general value of an acre of land prior to the Gold Rush ($1.25) the 1.5 Billion acres had a rough value back then of 1.9 Billion dollars. Using another rough calculation, real dollar values, we can estimate that $1.00 in the early 1800s is roughly (very roughly as we have no data related to inflation before 1913) equivalent to about $49.00 today. Since we know that no land in California today sells for $49.00 per acre (Average 2012 California farm real estate values set an all-time record - $7200 per acre) we can be sure that this is a conservative number, the value of the theft of native lands is, at a minimum $87 Billion dollars. If we use the $7,200/acre value, the value - still conservative - is 10.1 Trillion dollars. A glance at an estimate of the total value of US land is $14.48 Trillion dollars. The numbers show a surprising correlation. While about 80% of the lands of America were taken from native people after 1776, the value of that land today represents 70% of the total value of "unimproved" real estate (land only) in the US.
OK but the way we measure the wealth of our nation is not by real estate value, its by GDP. So how do we figure out what portion of the nation's wealth has been generated from lands taken from Native American people?
Well, let's try this: 18% of GDP is generated by real estate activity. 70% of 18% is 12.6%. GDP in 2016 was 18.57 Trillion. 12.6% of 18.57T is 2.32 Trillion dollars or 12.5% of 2016 US GDP generated from the 1.5 Billion acres of land taken from Native Americans since 1776.
While this is a seat of the pants calculation - I suspect the actual numbers would be higher - and certainly subject to legitimate criticism as there are many variables in the cost and value of land across the USA, the point made is the same. A large portion of national wealth has grown from the lands that we expropriated from Native American Indians.
Native people have not sought reparations. The loss of culture and marginalization for them has been far more important and can never be remunerated. It would be a step in the right direction to at least recognize that a substantial portion of our bounty today can be attributed to the land their ancestors called home.
In February, I wrote a column titled "Restoring the American Voice" (InDepthNH.org http://bit.ly/2Kfuvyn) advocating the need for us all to moderate our differences by remembering and respecting those values that we all share. . . Singing the American Song together as we find our way through the sea of changes ahead.
In my March 3, 2018 column "A National American Social Dividend and a New American Paradigm" (InDepthNH.org http://bit.ly/2r1HYRB ) I suggested that we recognize an American Social Dividend. Essentially making the case that beyond the inheritance of private wealth that we have long recognized in America, that there should be a recognition of an inheritance of public wealth. A recognition of those contributions made over the centuries to the nation's wealth by those who are not in the 1%., including both the collective personal investments made (willingly or unwillingly) and the collective investments created by laws and institutions that have provided the legal and economic framework for a successful economy and a robust democracy. Those investments have played a role in the long term success of the American economy and our way of life that is every bit as important as the Plutocrat, who is able to pass along to his or her children the wealth generated during their lifetime. In fact, it could be argued that, without the robust institutions of Democracy, Capitalism - which is more of an "Operating System" than it is an ideology - could not have produced the rewards it has produced for those Plutocrats.
Now don't get me wrong. . . I am a "Capitalist" and there is nothing , in my opinion wrong with being wealthy; frankly, I wish I were. The sooner we stop denigrating people for being wealthy, or poor, the faster we will rediscover our American Voice. But the myth of the "self-made man" is just that, a myth. Behind every self-made man is an education financed by taxpayers, or a patent protected by a law and perhaps financed through a government research grant; a government infrastructure and a physical infrastructure, paid for by taxpayers at every level; or, a government guaranteed loan for a business . . . do I need to go on?
In the Column I cite just some of the ways in which, over more than two centuries, we have padded the GNP at the expense of one group or another concluding, finally that "in some way or another we are all aggrieved, we are all due reparations; we are mutually responsible for our successes and our failures and mutually entitled to an American Social Dividend paid for with the blood, sweat and tears of every American. . ."
Naturally in thinking about all this I began to wonder if there were not a way to show that both the political and economic success of our nation is grounded in the contributions and sacrifices of all Americans, even those who have been marginalized historically.
So I began to construct a series of questions that I wanted to try answering to help me better explain all this and to defend the proposition.
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| Our Time Comes |
Here is the first question I asked myself (hey give me a break I'm Iroquois!) How does the value of the land taken from Native American people in the conquest of the US relate to GNP today?
As far as I know, no one has done extensive academic research on this topic and for good reason. It would be almost impossible - without Big Data and a powerful computer - to figure out, given differing land values and differing time tables, to say nothing of the fact that knowing when a land transaction was actually voluntary (not very often). On the other hand there is enough data out there to do a "back of the envelope" calculation generally, so here goes:
Using very rough estimates and not including the land taken from Native American people prior to 1776 and also not including improvements on the land such as the towns established in Georgia and the Carolinas by tribes like the Cherokee. It is generally understood that since 1776 Native Americans have been moved from lands totaling 1.5 Billion acres to a small set of reservations dotted around the country. If you simply use the general value of an acre of land prior to the Gold Rush ($1.25) the 1.5 Billion acres had a rough value back then of 1.9 Billion dollars. Using another rough calculation, real dollar values, we can estimate that $1.00 in the early 1800s is roughly (very roughly as we have no data related to inflation before 1913) equivalent to about $49.00 today. Since we know that no land in California today sells for $49.00 per acre (Average 2012 California farm real estate values set an all-time record - $7200 per acre) we can be sure that this is a conservative number, the value of the theft of native lands is, at a minimum $87 Billion dollars. If we use the $7,200/acre value, the value - still conservative - is 10.1 Trillion dollars. A glance at an estimate of the total value of US land is $14.48 Trillion dollars. The numbers show a surprising correlation. While about 80% of the lands of America were taken from native people after 1776, the value of that land today represents 70% of the total value of "unimproved" real estate (land only) in the US.
OK but the way we measure the wealth of our nation is not by real estate value, its by GDP. So how do we figure out what portion of the nation's wealth has been generated from lands taken from Native American people?
Well, let's try this: 18% of GDP is generated by real estate activity. 70% of 18% is 12.6%. GDP in 2016 was 18.57 Trillion. 12.6% of 18.57T is 2.32 Trillion dollars or 12.5% of 2016 US GDP generated from the 1.5 Billion acres of land taken from Native Americans since 1776.
While this is a seat of the pants calculation - I suspect the actual numbers would be higher - and certainly subject to legitimate criticism as there are many variables in the cost and value of land across the USA, the point made is the same. A large portion of national wealth has grown from the lands that we expropriated from Native American Indians.
Native people have not sought reparations. The loss of culture and marginalization for them has been far more important and can never be remunerated. It would be a step in the right direction to at least recognize that a substantial portion of our bounty today can be attributed to the land their ancestors called home.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
If you know of better sources for the information on the back of my "envelope" I'd love to find out about them so that I can update this information. If you disagree with my points, I'd like to hear you, especially if you have a well thought out response and not just a snarky or snide remark. Lets have an honest dialog and we'll all benefit from it. wdk
Friday, April 13, 2018
Adopt an Image and Raise Money for Your Non Profit or Small Business
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| Alton Washday Expressions |
Produced by special request in an affordable limited edition of 100 signed and numbered originals for the good folks at the Rumney Village Store - that would be George & Sheila - a beautiful 8" x 20" signed image with a certificate of authenticity. You can purchase this original art for just $95.00 at the Rumney Village Store on Main Street in Rumney, New Hampshire. If it's too far to travel and you'd still like an original signed print, you can order it right here and we'll see to it that the Rumney Village Store gets credited - but you can save the cost of shipping by stopping by RVS and buying it directly and maybe purchasing one of their great deli offerings! or grab a copy of Sacred Trust 😉 . http://bit.ly/AltonEXP
As a way to support local businesses and nonprofits I have created this Adopt-an-Image program. If you or your nonprofit have an interest in adopting your favorite image its easy, just click here: http://bit.ly/AdoptImage
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