November 2009 River Ranch Diary

During the first weekend of this month, I attended the Deadwood Book Festival, a semi- annual affair in Deadwood, SD that features primarily writers from all over but many from South Dakota and other western states. By the time I came away from there, I had acquired three new books: Linda M. Hasselstrom, No Place Like Home; Michael Frosberg, Dan O’Brien, David Wishart, Ted Kooser, America’s Lingering Wild Great Plains; and Rick Bass, The Wild Marsh. I have read the first two titles above cover to cover and am very pleasurably 3/4 through the third. I have also copy-proofed a novel for an old friend and am trying to keep up with the ranch in spite of what the weather throws at us.

By any stretch of the imagination, I am pretty much “old school.” Of course I have and use a computer, and I carry a cell phone. Frankly I am not fond of the phone; but even a technosaur like me can text message, and I use the phone more frequently than I wish, more frequently than I am comfortable with. (Yes, and for you English majors out there, I am perfectly aware of the preposition I ended these sentences with.) But – let’s return to the books.

I have known Linda a long time and have read more than a few of her books. In this latest book Linda speaks directly to the issues that rural people and communities face every day: Land use, development, and easement; waste disposal and conservation; the true cost and value of land, its destruction and its restoration. The reader may be in conflict with some of the writing or views but will continue reading because of the common sense and truth that this narrative voice presents. Linda will not flinch from a difficult issue because it is controversial. She will encourage the reader to review and re-think or just learn about something that may be new to many: land use, grazing, natural disaster, lack of forethought, and greed. It’s a good book, not always easy to read, but deals with the issues that we on this ranch face on a daily basis.

GREAT PLAINS: America’s Lingering Wild Great Plains!!! I have never before seen a “coffee table” book like this one. There is almost no way to pick it up, thumb through the pictures and lay it down. I picked it up and read it cover to cover in three sittings. I have traveled through almost every place in this book, Canada to Mexico, and never had seen the places before the way I understand them now and will see them with new eyes and comprehension when I visit them again. This revealing of the land, the Great Plains, and its inhabitants will very likely encourage anyone who reads it to re-evaluate the life they lead and the places in which they lead it or the places through which they pass on business or vacation.

If the reader is of my generation or close to it, you will remember the movies shown to you in grade school and junior high school depicting the unlimited exploitation of natural resources: the mining of coal and iron ore, the production of steel, the logging of forests, the killing of fur seals, the operations of whaling ships, and the list goes on. The philosophy of that period regarding every manner of natural resource and land use was exploit, exploit, exploit as rapidly and as thoroughly as possible. The end result of this exploitation has been devastation, which has forced us into a re-evaluation and creation of a view and practice of land and resource use that mandates conservation and restoration or, face self-imposed destruction. This book leads gently but surely and subtly into the lingering wild of the Great Plains; it is the proverbial iron hand in the very velvet glove. It is merely a question of life.

I have thus far read only about three-fourths of The Wild Marsh, but I can assure you that Rick Bass understands every word and picture of the previous two books mentioned here whether or not he has actually seen them. After the book festival Dan and I had the chance to do a little bird hunting with Rick and the quiet dignity and enthusiasm of the man is on every page of his book. These three books explore different locations, each with a different focus and different voices; but they all move toward the same end: curtailing or slowing unchecked growth, development, and exploitation, respecting the land and all its inhabitants, finding less intrusive ways to survive and to help insure the survival of this planet.

It is merely a question of life.