Matt Liere: Don’t Worry, Be Happy

I tend to worry a lot, but not about typical things most folks are concerned with – things like tax deadlines and the kids’ college education, or whether the wife is still mad for forgetting to give her flowers on Valentine’s Day.

To be fair, my wife could care less about the many Hallmark holidays, which relieves me from a burden under which so many other men suffer, but the IRS always gets their money, and community colleges will take just about anyone with a pulse and a check.

I tend to view our place in the outdoors the same way, with a hands-off approach, confident things will be better the less we intrude. This is not a natural view, however, for it is human instinct to analyze, acquire and control things that we have no business doing so. We’ve been at it for so long, though, it’s hard to view it any differently.

It has become natural and expected for us to shape the world around us as we see fit. We buy land, knock down forests, redirect waterways, flatten mountains – the list is endless. We live in a world of gotta-haves, and if we don’t have it, we create it, or adjust the natural laws so that we can. Unfortunately, I’m a part of that, too, so I worry even more.

I worry we try to manipulate too much, that we are attempting to adjust our natural surroundings to fit what we desire, rather than adapt to what already is.

This is especially evident to Northwest-area sportsmen and women as debate rages over the status of everything – from fish, to wolves, to birds. We hear arguments for and against native and non-native fish populations, launch discovery studies and create labels to gain favor with one species considered “natural,” over another designated “invasive.”

We’ve reintroduced wolves to areas where they haven’t been in years – but work to trap or kill those that wander across invisible borders to places they are not desired.

Growing up here, I never saw a wild turkey in my first 20 years, but a day-trip to the South Hill now has them parading across residents’ manicured flower beds daily, an occurrence that has resulted in a ridiculous turkey relocation program (the identities of those captured will be protected).

These examples are the actions and results of ideas created by humans, to fix problems created by humans, at any time we so choose. We’re essentially daytrading our outdoor management practices when we should be looking at moderate investment plans for the long haul, with little need for restructuring. So I worry.

I fear my point, here, will be taken out of context, deemed political, labeled as right wing or left. But the way I see it, both belong to the same bird. With only one or the other, we can only move in a circle, dooming us to the status quo. And until that changes, I’ll continue to worry.