By: Dare Euler, RNJCC Strategic Advisor
Imagine being the first ecologist in a perfect environment. Everything created specifically for you. Placed right there with the directive to be the steward, the caretaker. There lived Adam in Eden-biologist, botanist, zoologist, arborist (that didn’t go as planned!), environmentalist.
Creatures wandering before his observant, assessing eyes to be named befitting their characteristics. Were plants considered weeds? Were there dead branches to be trimmed in a perfect place? Was the perfection of symmetry, symbiosis, growth etched into Adam’s mind and stored to be used when cast out of paradise.
Is there that seed of desire for Eden with us? Does that ignite our desire to improve, rewild our personal habitat? A dormant urge to return to symmetry and harmony? Enhancing the ordinary, restoring the ravaged, rediscovering the discarded?
I’ve lived and observed this small forest patch around my home for two years, eighteen months of it as a part timer. Prior to moving in, the property was empty for years and before that a vacation rental. I’ve wandered every foot, discovering the presence of bear by their scat, watching the deer and turkeys in daily excursions, identifying the exciting presence of pink lady slippers yet to bloom and trailing arbutus entwined with mosses.
As natural as this all sounds, I realize my home was built which required an intrusion, a marring of the original. I also know the entire area was clear cut early in the last century. I experience my own dilemma of stewardship of this place. What should I do? How to best manage it and my desire to add my own touch? I declared war against Japanese stiltgrass, gaining partial victory, although the battle never ends. Barberry sneaks in quickly yanked out. Native asters, mountain mint, monarda, milkweed and native azaleas are planted to provide nectar sources and native accents. Dead trees remain, enabling nuthatches, screech owls, and pileated woodpeckers to have food sources and nesting spots.
It’s not Eden, but I pray my humble and clumsy attempts to create a wilder place soothes the longing and restore a little Eden as I rewild the land and my soul.
Let’s get WILD New Jersey!
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