Category: Nature and the Environment

Imagine being locked down in a tiny space your entire life, chained, 24 – 7, to a post. Your entire world is a tiny patch of hard ground. Standing, lying, pacing, always lugging the relentless weight of the chain.

The very image is appalling, yet sadly, countless dogs live their entire lives in those very lonely and unnatural conditions.

My heart always aches when I see these social, active creatures chained and alone. This past spring I decided to do something about it and signed up to volunteer with Fences For Fido, an all volunteer organization that raises money and supplies to build fences for dogs who are living on chains.

My first fence build was in March in LaPine. The goal was to free two Blue Heeler types and a young black lab mix. I dressed in fleece and layers as it was cold that day. The welcome, however, was warm.  Central Oregon Director, La Donna Sullivan, flashed her bright sunshine smile and guided me to Sue Wente, dark-haired, hard working and quiet, but with a delightful dry sense of humor.

A team of ten or so men and women pitched in, some pounding metal fence posts into the ground; some bending and stapling wire, others building gates and dog houses. Sue, in addition to training volunteers, also functions as the DJ providing an assortment of upbeat music. Many of us boogied down as we pounded stakes and fastened wire.

We built the fence right around the trees the dogs were chained to. Snow began to fall, heavily, covering everything in white. When the powdery flakes turned to driving hail someone shouted, “Well, we are having a hail of a good time with Fences for Fido!” We laughed and kept working.

Soon, the fence was complete and it was time for unchaining. The dogs raced around the yard, sniffing, rolling in the snow, and chasing tennis balls. They were joyous as they moved freely, burned off pent up energy and interacted with one another free of chains for the first time in their lives. The family members thanked us again and again.

I was hooked. I knew I had played a part in making lives better that day – both for dogs and their humans.

Fences For Fido started in 2009 in Portland, when a small group of volunteers decided to do something to help a neighborhood dog in a desperate chained situation. Since then FFF has freed over 1,150 dogs and spread into southwest Washington and central and coastal Oregon.

Martha Nordbusch of Prineville and La Donna Sullivan of Bend founded the Central Oregon FFF crew. Both women have day jobs, sometimes more than one, and full and busy lives, and yet they devote significant time and talent to the Fences For Fido cause. La Donna explained why:

Because I believe dogs should have a yard, a safe place to run and play. I do it because I want the dogs to be able to stay with their families and dogs on the end of a chain are fearful sometimes causing them to get aggressive and jump up and make it hard for people to get really close to them. When a dog has more freedom it can better learn how to interact and be more part of the family. This way they receive the love they crave and the family gets to more fully experience the love from their dog.

The second build I volunteered for was even more gratifying. The crew met at a modest mobile home in Warm Springs. Two pitbull-type dogs and one chow mix were staked to posts by heavy, thick chains. All three were friendly, though the young black and white male was very shy. The red, shaggy-furred chow mix was overjoyed by our attention but could only move a few feet in any direction because his chain was twisted and knotted.

Over several hours we completed three contiguous fences, one for each dog. Within moments of being unchained the timid young dog was more confident and animated, approaching us through the fence for a sniff and a treat. When we released the big red dog, for the first minute or so, he moved like a gaited horse, lifting his front legs high into the air, in an exaggerated prance, as he adjusted to being free from the terrible weight of the chain he had dragged for years. Once his stride normalized, he settled into his new digs and tore around tossing his new rope toy high into the air. His joyous transformation brought tears to my eyes.

As co-founder, Martha Nordbusch explained, the benefits go far beyond the dogs and owners:

What we have found is that freeing a dog from a chain creates a ripple of positivism that expands well beyond that one dog. We received a letter from a member of the community who put it this way, ‘Those two dogs have been chained for a long time and have been breaking my heart every day. Their eyes seemed to be begging for my help. This afternoon we drove by and both dogs had new fences and they were both running and jumping around!! This makes me so happy!!!!! My eyes have been crying ever since because I am just so happy to see those dogs free from their chains. Thank you so much for helping our neighbor dogs. You have helped me too because my heart won’t have to break every day when I drive by those dogs.’

Central Oregon Fences For Fido recently celebrated their 100^th build, and the release from chains of over 250 dogs.  As awareness of the organization grows so does demand for services. This presents a great opportunity but also a tremendous challenge gathering the woman/man power to make it happen.

If you’d like to help please sign up for a fence build. You do not need to be a skilled construction worker to fill an important niche. Each build requires simple tasks such as clipping wire fencing, twisting fasteners, loading and unloading supplies. Tools and gloves are provided.

And even if you are absolutely not the fence-building type, you can still fill an important role. Some of the most-needed volunteer jobs include:

Veterinary transport for spay/neuter and other health needs,

• Community outreach, marketing and tabling at events,
• Dog house delivery and/or assembly,
• Making a financial donation.

Also, Fences For Fido asks you to let us know where help may be needed. If you see a dog living on a chain all you need do is visit the FFF website or call in and provide the address. A volunteer will confidentially and respectfully check to see if help can be provided.

We may never get to all the dogs that need help but the lives of each one we touch improves beyond measure. I have seen this in the dogs loosed from chains and the grateful families who loved them but were unable, without a little help, to provide the best for them. I have felt it in myself — each time the chain comes off and the dog’s world expands I am flooded with the warm feeling of giving, of making a life-transforming difference, for someone who needed a little help.

One fence. One family. One dog at a time.

For more information:

http://www.fencesforfido.org

503.621.9225 or 503.314.7105

info@fencesforfido.org

For this issue of Issue I was going to cover the militia take-over and stand off at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. However after talking to some of the traumatized and frustrated locals there I decided I didn’t want to be part of the media feeding frenzy that was playing right into the occupiers’ hands. So, instead of southeast Oregon, I headed to the far northeast to check on developments in the magnificent Wallowa Mountains.

The Wallowas are truly one of the Northwest’s most beautiful places. Rugged mountain peaks and the remote Eagle Cap wilderness surround a spectacular glacial lake.   The quaint little town of Joseph boasts a nationally acclaimed community of bronze sculptors and artists.

My main interest was the innovative work being done by the Wallowa Land Trust to establish a uniquely collaborative approach to protecting this magnificent landscape. In full disclosure, the Trust’s Executive Director, Kathleen Ackley, is a dear friend of mine.

The brazen takeover of public lands by the Malheur occupiers was just the latest in the ongoing controversy about public lands and whether or not private ranchers, logging and mining companies ought to be able to use those lands. With that backdrop playing out at the other end of the state I was interested in learning more about a different way of protecting important landscapes especially in regions containing a lot of public land.

In Wallowa County over 50 percent of the land base is owned by the federal or state government. During the logging boom of last century these lands generated jobs and revenues. But logging and mill jobs have been sharply curtailed due to environmental regulations and replacement of manual jobs with machination. This has taken a heavy economic toll on formerly timber-dependent communities in which vast tracts of public lands are excluded from the property tax base. One could reasonably expect the people of Wallowa County to have no interest in tying up any more land but something extraordinary is taking place in this remote community.

The Wallowa Land Trust is working to permanently protect one of the most unique and iconic landscapes in Oregon: the Moraines of Wallowa Lake.  A moraine is a mass of rock, soil and gravel carried down and deposited by glaciers.   The glacial moraines cradling Wallowa Lake are not only visually stunning, but also of great ecological and cultural significance.  They are among the most classic and complete examples of Pleistocene moraines found in North America, offering unparalleled education on glacial history and climate change.

For local residents the undeveloped crest of the East Moraine is the iconic visual image of present day Wallowa County and an underpinning of the vastly important economic engine of tourism. The entire permanent population of Wallowa County is just under 7,000 but as many as 700,000 tourists visit the region each year. The moraines also have special significance to the Nez Perce Tribe.  Located on the terminal moraine is Old Chief Joseph’s gravesite, part of the Nez Perce National Historical Park. This is the starting place for the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) National Historic Trail. Finally, there are the non-human residents to consider. The Oregon Conservation Strategy ranks the moraine’s pine woodlands as one of 11 highest priority wildlife habitats in the state.

When faced with the breathtaking vistas surrounding Wallowa Lake, most visitors and many locals assume that Wallowa Lake and the moraines are protected.  However, despite being adjacent to protected areas including Wallowa Lake State Park, the moraines themselves are almost entirely privately owned.

In 2011, one of those landowners voiced their desire to sell or develop their 1,790-acre property which encompasses almost 60% of the East Moraine. As many as 26 homes could be built on the moraine, including three on the iconic crest above the lake.

Due to concern about the future of the East Moraine, the Wallowa Lake Moraines Partnership was formed in 2011 and includes Wallowa Land Trust, Wallowa Resources, Wallowa County, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department and The Trust for Public Land. Wallowa Land Trust plays a lead role in the Partnership.

From a conservation perspective, a land trust is typically a non-profit entity that works with private landowners to protect conservation values on private land. The landowner voluntarily commits to permanently limiting the uses of their land (such as agreeing not to build a housing development) for the benefit of the environment, the community and future generations.  Sometimes the landowner donates those rights. Other times the landowner sells those rights to the land trust. The land trust assumes responsibility of ensuring that the agreed upon restrictions are upheld. The landowner continues to own the land and there are often tax benefits from transferring land to a trust agreement. The landowner can even pass the land on to heirs or sell it. However, the conservation agreements stay in place even if the land changes ownership.

The Moraines Partnership is now in conversation with all nine East Moraine landowners, all of whom have expressed interest and desire to work to protect this landscape.  Owner Jacob Hasslacher has put 40 of his 100 acres into a conservation agreement. He says, “The moraine is a sacred place to me and I’m fortunate to have property on it. I wanted it to remain open and undeveloped in perpetuity. I thought it was a good thing to do for the community and wildlife.”

Remarkably, in addition to placing private land into conservation agreements most Wallowa residents also support putting another chunk of East Moraine land under governmental ownership!  The Partnership has been awarded a $3 million grant from the USDA Forest Legacy program to acquire a portion of the largest East Moraine parcel.  However, the grant requires that the land pass to a state or local governmental entity.  Wallowa County has agreed to take ownership, with management of the land falling to Wallowa Resources.  As Ackley explains, “Generally speaking, more land in government ownership is frowned upon here in Wallowa County.  But this is a unique project in that not only is it going to keep one of the state’s most spectacular landscapes undeveloped, it is going to create a community forest that generates revenue for the county, supports local jobs and protects sensitive habitat.  It’s a win-win for our community, both ecologically and economically.”

This collaborative, community-based approach to conservation is remarkable in providing a way for landowners to exercise their property rights and maintain local ownership in a way that benefits the community and protects one of the Pacific Northwest’s natural treasures.

We focus a lot on relationships — relationships with our lovers, our brothers, ourselves, our gods. This article is about another, often overlooked relationship — our relationship with our home. I don’t mean our house, where we store our things and hang our pictures. I mean our home in the big sense, as in Earth, this planet that supports us.

Most articles on taking care of the environment include things like turning off the lights when you leave the room and recycling your pop cans and beer bottles. These are good things and everyone should do them but the bigger bang for the buck actions are less politically correct.

They may make you uncomfortable but, surprisingly, many of the actions we can take to stop trashing the environment may also bring pleasure and peace into our lives.

• Stop buying crap you don’t need. It is very difficult in this culture not to base our sense of self worth on how much stuff we have. But all that stuff comes out of the Earth one way or another. It is mined, logged, mixed up in toxic chemical plants, etc.

Not only does it take a toll on the planet, but the constant drive to buy, buy, buy also keeps us in debt and struggling even harder to pay bills and make ends meet. It may surprise you how liberating it is to simplify and reduce the amount of stuff in your life. It may also surprise you to learn the beauty and peace in valuing who we are instead of what we have.

• Get a grip on reality. The reason we are bombarded with messages to buy stuff we don’t really need is because big business, mainstream economists and politicians tell us that the economy has to keep growing all the time to be healthy. This means constantly increasing our consumption of natural resources. But here’s the part of reality they gloss over — we live on a planet of finite natural resources! Right now humans are consuming 1 and ½ Earths-worth of natural resources every year, basically overdrawing our natural resource bank account.

Rascally western novelist Edward Abbey once pointed out, “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” What good is the economy if we don’t have a habitable planet? A colleague of mine has written an important book titled, What’s the Economy For Anyway? The book is great. The question is critical.

There is a burgeoning New Economy movement striving to create muscular healthy economic alternatives. You can learn more at www.3estrategies.org.

• What you do buy, buy local. Products made locally usually require far, far less fossil fuel to reach store shelves, which means they produce far less pollution. This is especially true of locally produced food. Many communities, including Central Oregon, have growing Locavore

In addition to being gentler on the Earth, buying local creates jobs for people right in our communities and provides opportunities to build community as we get to personally know the farmers growing our food, the sewers making our clothes and the brewers crafting our beer.

• Eat less meat. According to some sources, production of meat, especially beef and pork, is contributing to global warming even more than driving cars. For you big-time meat lovers I’m sure this feels like a major sacrifice but cutting meat just one day a week is good for the Earth and for you – reducing the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity.

• Drive less, consume less electricity and purchase renewable energy. Plain and simple we are going to have to commit to moving beyond fossil fuels.   It’s doable and many entrepreneurs are already making lots of money creating and providing post-fossil fuel alternatives. As a side benefit reducing energy consumption will save you money on energy bills and perhaps give you a bit more exercise.

• Have fewer children. I know this rankles some, but the truth is we have both a human population challenge and a resource consumption problem. Each new person adds to both problems. Another uncomfortable truth is that on average each child born in the U.S. does far more environmental damage than a child born in a developing nation because of the huge rate of consumption in the U.S.

• Just think you’ll be doing something great for the planet and you’ll spare yourself immeasurable hassle, heartache and expense! OK, OK, just kidding – I couldn’t help myself!

• Get ‘em outside. For the vast majority who feel children are just to magical to forego, be sure to get them outside early and often immersed in the miracle of Nature so that they can learn to love rivers, and forests and wild creatures. Then they too will want to help protect and restore the richness and beauty of our natural world.

• Kids are naturally enthralled with the wonders and adventures of nature. Making the commitment to give them those opportunities will keep them more active and physically fit, which is a growing challenge in our sedentary, video screen-saturated lives. It will also get parents out moving and exercising.

• Show a little humility. We humans like to think we are the be all and end all. It is startling to consider that all humans could disappear from the face of the planet tomorrow and the planet would go on just fine, probably even better given how we’re treating it. However, if bees or earthworms were to disappear, taking their pollinating and soil conditioning services with them, Earth’s food web would crash and countless species would vanish. We push back against racism and sexism. Why are we so blasé about speciesism.

• Broadening our sense of community to include other species doesn’t diminish us as human beings. Just the opposite. It adds rich new layers of connection and wonder. We see beauty in new places.

• Celebrate our successes. It’s easy to feel that environmental problems are too big for us to do anything about but in fact we’ve had many huge successes when we’ve focused our collective minds and hearts. We came together and put a global ban on chemicals that were eating a hole in the ozone layer and now it is beginning to heal. Due to recovery efforts once-endangered gray wolves, bald eagles, and brown pelicans are now growing in numbers. Just last year the Oregon Chub became the first fish species to have recovered enough to be taken off the endangered species list. Nature heals when we give it a chance.

It’s a lovely planet. It’s our home. Instead of a battle it could be a love affair.