Happy May and Welcome To The Dirt!

Last week the world was treated to a miracle. The largest woodpecker in North America, thought extinct for 60 years, was recently scientifically documented to be alive in the Big Woods of Arkansas. A coalition of~50+ field biologists and other experts, working together~in the Big Woods Conservation Partnership and representing private, nonprofit, and governmental organizations has formed as a result of the discovery of one male ivory-bill woodpecker.

A May 3, 2005, Oregonian editorial speaks of the similarities between conservation battles in our own Pacific Northwest old-growth forests and the swampy bottomland of Arkansas' Big Woods forest. It speaks of the hope this re-discovery gives all wild creatures. I am reflecting as well on the hope it gives those among who spend our limited personal resources of time, energy, and dollars working for the environment, hoping it is not too late, praying for a miracle.

In 2001, the Marshall Institute estimated there are between 10 million and 80 million species on earth, of which just over 1.5 million have been identified. When we hug a tree, we just may be hugging one of those undiscovered species, and in the web of life each strand - every single species - plays its part, usually in ways beyond the ken of human knowing. The Global Issues website states that extinctions in the 20th century happened at a rate 1,000 times greater than the average rate over the past 65 million years. If the trend continues, one-third to two-thirds of all species now known (and we can deduce the same for those we do not yet know) will be extinct by the second half of this century. It is very sobering to think that many of us, and certainly our children and grandchildren, will be alive to witness this decimation.

The rediscovery of a live member of an "extinct"species is cause for celebration in the face of such grim statistics. What we do does make a difference! Each day we can step as lightly as possible on our mother planet, leaving as much space and freedom and safe haven as possible for the millions of species who share her with us. And once in a while a miracle will fly down from above and renew our hope and steadfastness.

Nancy Wolf and all of us at The Dirt!
a publication of
Spreading Roots, Spring Forth