Barry Lopez is a keen observer and a passionate writer
of natural history. Crossing Open Ground is a collection of fourteen thought-
provoking essays. First copyrighted
in 1978, his views are still appropriate and relevant today.
I will highlight just a few of the essays.
I have read “The Stone Horse” many times.
Because of Lopez’s careful descriptions, I felt as though I was there in
the heat of the
SonoranDesertin southern
California
, and viewed with my own eyes the intaglio of the stone horse on the desert floor. The intaglio was created by an artist
among the Quechan people over three hundred years ago.
While observing the changing shadows on the horse as the sun rose
higher and higher in the sky, Lopez contemplated what the
life of the unknown artist may have been like and his unknown
purpose for creating the stone horse.. He wonders how many of the archaeological
records in the desert have been destroyed. What will we never know about the ancient
cultures that existed there because of the careless destruction of artifacts?
“A Reflection on White Geese” was written after Lopez
spent time at Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge in northern
California
observing the snow geese that winter there.
Tule
Lake
National Wildlife Refuge lies in the
Klamath
Basin
which is the greatest concentration point for migratory waterfowl in
North America
. See:
http://www.fws.gov/klamathbasinrefuges/tulelake/tulelake.html
Providing safety for wildlife by establishing and maintaining
wildlife refuges is a complex solution to balancing the needs of humans and the
needs of wildlife. As Lopez did at
Lake Tule
, most of us have at some time or other stared out at a lake whose surface was filled
with noisy geese and other water birds and wondered how they take off and land without
colliding or even disturbing each other.
Most of us have seen a ribbon of wild geese flying against the blue sky and felt
a sense of wonder at the distance they instinctively travel.
We share the planet with many fascinating creatures. Unlimited hunting, the
draining of too many marshlands to sustain economic growth and constantly putting
the needs of humans first has a devastating effect on wildlife that ultimately reaches
back to us.
“A Presentation of Whales” details the behavior of people
when 41 sperm whales strand themselves on a beach in
Oregon
. More than two thousand people came to view the whales. The behavior of people
ranged from as base as viewing the incident of the whales as mere entertainment
to those who broke down and cried in sorrow for these magnificent animals. No one
knows why whales strand themselves.
When they do the community nearby must deal with the crowd of people it attracts;
the tourists, media personnel and scientists.
They must make sure that the whales are dealt with respectfully and decently. Ultimately, there is a monetary cost
that must be paid.
The Aztec culture that existed in
Tenochtitlan
(Mexico City) in the days of Montezuma was elegant and beautiful.
In “The Passing Wisdom of Birds” Lopez notes that Cortes and
his men were astonished and marveled at the arboretums, gardens and aviaries in
this city. Montezuma, however, grew
tired of the arrogance and greed of the Spanish military force and drove them out. Cortes and his men returned later and
destroyed the city in a destructive madness, even setting fire to the aviaries.
This image of human behavior is shameful and disconcerting. With this destruction
of
Tenochtitlan
we lost more than a city. The insights
of early cultures are of inestimable value in forming and keeping our own relationships
with the natural world.
Read “Children in the Woods” if you love children, have
children, and or teach children. Just
learning the names of things conveys very little.
Children are open and respond to the majesty of nature in its wild variety
and are nurtured by the fact that it all fits together and conveys a sense of permanence.
Crossing Open Ground is an excellent book to
read and contemplate our stewardship of the planet Earth.
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