| Whither
goest the ENTS documentation mission? |
Robert
Leverett |
|
Aug
16, 2005 13:12 PDT |
ENTS:
The October edition of Yankee Magazine will
feature an article on
protectors of New England's forests. One of those covered in the
article
is yours truly. That's nice for me, but had the magazine been a
Pennsylvania publication, Dale Luthringer could have just as
easily been
the subject or Will Blozan if in North Carolina or Tom Diggins
if in
Ohio, and so on. ENTS is flush with protectors of the forest.
The questions asked of me by the interviewer
of Yankee Magazine set
me to thinking. What does it take, or at least should it take to
be seen
by others as a protector of the forest? I'm flattered to be seen
in that
light, any number of Ents qualify. Dave Stahle, Bob Van Pelt,
Lee
Frelich, and Will Blozan are super qualifiers. They are in a
class all
by themselves. Other ENTS academics/professionals are well on
their way
to joining Dave, Bob, and Lee. Tom Diggins, Dale Luthringer,
Jess
Riddle, and Don Bragg come to mind. Scott Wade, John Eichholz,
and
others are not far behind and not to forget our wonderful friend
Colby
Rucker.
How will future forest historians and forest
activists look upon ENTS
as an organization? Will our efforts be seen as having broken
new
ground? What do we do that no one else is doing, or at least
almost no
one? After all, there is no shortage of
academic-governmental-professional expertise. Our emphasis on
documenting the tall/large trees of a site and the different
ways we
statistically report the results goes well beyond any other
effort that
I have seen so far as the East is concerned. The champion tree
lists and
the superficial site descriptions that are often provided in
brochures
by state and federal agencies just don't hack it. But are we
doing
enough to achieve sufficiant historical documentation of the
great
sites? I have my opinions on that subject, but am curious as to
what
others think?
Bob
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