Dear HCN,
I enjoyed reading about
Sid Goodloe (HCN, 4/15/96) – a fellow who applied grit and
intelligence to fix his piece of the West. I didn’t exactly enjoy,
but sure did appreciate, the contrast provided by the “opinions
from experts.”
The “experts’ certainly covered
most of the type. The old forestry professor is impressive when he
notes that “there was not a shred of evidence in 1973, and there is
none now” (that p-j woodland has any adverse watershed
consequences) – so all trees are wonderful and Goodloe didn’t do
that? And the biology professor sounds most knowledgeable in
observing that fire plays little or no role in grass/tree dynamics;
it’s simply a case where “juniper follows overgrazing’ – so cows
are terrible and Goodloe didn’t do that? I thought the truly
classic type is the ecologist who reviewed all the literature and
found that: You really can’t tell what the relations are, but
“juniper may have fewer effects on erosion than livestock’ – so
trees are probably OK but cows are terrible and Goodloe didn’t
actually do that? And I really liked the lady with loooong view:
“Bless his heart. He can probably do that the rest of his life.” –
if he only knew – in just another 5,000 years or so the climate
will swing again and the trees will either be droughted out or the
area will start getting enough rain to grow both grass and trees.
There was so little need for Goodloe to put in 40 years at hard
labor.
Gee, which fount of knowledge should one
choose? Writer Dan Dagget, on observing the “dueling literature
cites’ of opposing camps, put the matter succinctly: “Some things
you just can’t settle with words … the only way to find out who
really knows what’s wrong out there and how to fix it is to see who
can make those lands healthy and growing and diverse again.” The
Dagget test makes this real simple: If, as some of us believe, “the
greatest patriot is he who heals the most gullies,” then Sid
Goodloe is a true-blue, red-blooded, all-American
hero.
Earl McKinney
Carson
City, Nevada
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline He’s true blue.
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