Wilderness and Ice Hockey

While waiting in the stands watching my son play ice hockey I began some idle chatter with a fellow hockey dad. As our exchange wore on I became more and more engaged, especially when the conversation shifted to a favorite topic of mine, the great outdoors. Being a wildlife biologist, the wonder and beauty of the natural world has always been a deeply rooted passion of mine. The weekends here in Northern New Mexico often see me on yet another adventure deep in the heart of one of our national forests or other public land treasures.

The beauty and grandeur of the Santa Fe National Forest.

As our conversation continued I was grateful my talking partner shared a similar interest though undoubtedly not as enthusiastic as mine. I spoke highly of the many wonderful destinations I had visited on the Santa Fe National Forest. However, upon my mentioning of the "national forest", the conversation really got interesting. Soon after the utterance of those two simple words the fellow dad's expression darkened. It was as if a cloud was cast over the stands in which we sat and things suddenly felt cold, yet it had nothing to do with our venue. His expression revealed that he wanted to tell me a deep dark hidden secret. His eyes furrowed and a slight grimace formed as he leaned in closer. There was a noticeable whisper in his voice. "Did you hear what the Forest Service is gonna do?"

His question intrigued me. 

I imagine my eyes furrowed as well but more so in wonder than anything else. I desperately wanted to find out especially since I was employed by the U.S. Forest Service and was unaware of any clandestine actions. I leaned in to hear the dirty little secret.

"No...what're they gonna do?" was my secretive response.

"The Forest Service is turning the entire forest into wilderness so no one can go there anymore."

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. I was stunned! ...completely taken off guard. For I had no idea we were doing such as thing. So many people use and live the forest...this simply was not acceptable!

It also was completely untrue.

Ever since stepping foot in New Mexico I have been a U.S. Forest Service employee. I quickly fell in love with the area and have been intrigued and overwhelmed by the rich cultural ties New Mexicans share with the lands they have been bestowed. I have learned so much in my short time here and there is so much I have yet to learn but more importantly, based on my brief hockey-practice conversation, there is much I need to teach as well. So I figured I would start with a man sitting next to me.

I gathered my thoughts for a second, smiled, then politely said, "That’s not exactly true."

He looked shocked initially. "You know about this?" he questioned, as if few people were 'in the know' regarding the government’s secret plans.

"Of course I do," I replied. "I work for the Forest Service. I am one of the guys that was hired to revise the Santa Fe Forest Plan,” I explained. “Looking at areas for potential wilderness is simply part of the process."

"What do you mean part of the process? This isn't just something the forest is trying to do on its own?" He was now beginning to look intrigued as the foreboding look in his face began to disappear.

"Heck no. We are required to do this whenever we revise the Forest plan," I chimed in response to his question.

"That's not what I was told," he began to shake his head as if he'd realized he'd been duped. "Tell me more so I know what's really going on," he said with a smile. "You wouldn't believe some of the things I've heard."

"Trust me...I would," I smiled.

For the next forty-five minutes I did my best to explain the already complicated process of Forest Planning. I described how each national forest in the country is required to revise their plan every ten to fifteen years and yet there sits the Santa Fe National Forest with a plan almost thirty years old. A few years ago, they were instructed to revise their forest plan as per directive.

As part of that process, each forest is required to evaluate lands which may be suitable for recommendation as wilderness. I also advised him that the Forest Service staff cannot designate wilderness, only Congress can. And it’s not even a guarantee that they will even if lands are found to be suitable. He was shocked to learn that two areas on the Santa Fe were recommended in 1987 yet Congress never took action to designate them as wilderness. I then continued explaining the current process.

I threw him for a loop when I told him that every square inch of the forest that is not already in wilderness initially starts under consideration. I could almost see the "Aha...I got you!" moment coming out of him, but then I explained the process we are required to go through and how it involves weeding out the areas that don't have wilderness character.

The Forest Service seeking input on wilderness from one of
the many rural communities surrounding the forest. 

I started by informing him of how we are required to use roads and other manmade features to create boundary lines and how the minimum 5,000 acre size-requirement removes a lot of potential areas. By this time, my fellow hockey dad was thoroughly engrossed in the conversation. This was all new to him and contrary to what he had been told. I continued to explain how each area was evaluated for wilderness character and that we held numerous public meetings in small towns all over the forest seeking input. This too was enlightening to him for he had not heard and he believed most of these decisions were made behind closed doors.

By the end of the conversation there was a new man sitting next to me, one that had a completely different outlook on the wilderness process. A man who was no longer believing there was a clandestine movement to declare more wilderness. A man who was enlightened and finally understood that the Forest Service was working for the people and not for themselves.

His mind may not have been changed as far as being for or against wilderness but his eyes were opened to the process and that comforted him.

"Hey, would you be willing to come speak to my business group about all of this?" he asked. "They’ve been getting all sorts of misinformation and they're pretty scared as what this is going to do to them. This is good stuff and I would love it if you could allay their fears."

I barely had to think about it.

"You know what...I would be more than happy to," I smiled.

And in some way I felt glad I could give back to my new New Mexico home. Now if only I could get more people to love and appreciate ice hockey I would feel thoroughly accomplished!