1 50 12 https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/bd92e4fbc33066336189ab94cb2cebd3.pdf faafa5c5af75e827adb96e85cb965890 PDF Text Text ������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records Description An account of the resource <em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal</em>,&nbsp;was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. <br /><br /><span>The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name,&nbsp;</span><em>Katúah</em><span>, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant.&nbsp;</span><br /><span><br />The <em>Katúah Journal</em> was co-founded by Marnie Muller, David Wheeler, Thomas Rain Crowe, Martha Tree and others who served as co-publishers and co-editors. Other key team members included Chip Smith, David Reed, Jay Mackey, Rob Messick and many others.</span><br /><br />This digital collection is only a portion of the <em>Katúah</em>-related materials in the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection in Special Collections at Appalachian State University. The items in AC.870 Katúah Journal records cover the production history of the <em>Katúah Journal</em>. Contained within the records are correspondence, publication information, article submissions, and financial information. The editorial layouts for issues 12 through 39 are included as are a full run of the Journal spanning nearly a decade. Also included are photographs of events related to the Journal and a film on the publication. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived This resource is part of the&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal Records </em>collection. For a description of the entire collection, see <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Katúah Journal Records (AC. 870)</a>. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The images and information in this collection are protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. C.) and are intended only for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes, provided proper citation is used – i.e., Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records, 1980-2013 (AC.870), W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. Researchers are responsible for securing permissions from the copyright holder for any reproduction, publication, or commercial use of these materials. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1983-1993 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource journals (periodicals) Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Katúah Journal Index, 1983-1993</em> Description An account of the resource This document is a topical index to all 38 issues of&nbsp;<em><a href="https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/items/browse?collection=79" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</a>.&nbsp;</em> &nbsp;<em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians,&nbsp;</em> later simplified to &nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal,&nbsp;</em>was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name, Katúah, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant.</em></p> Subject The topic of the resource Bioregionalism--Periodicals--Indexes Sustainable living--Periodicals--Indexes North Carolina, Western Appalachian Region, Southern North Carolina--Periodicals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rob Messick Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993 Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource periodical indexes PDF Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937"> AC.870 Katúah Journal records</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a title="In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted" href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/?language=en 8" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted </a> Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. <a title="Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians" href="https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/collections/show/79" target="_blank"> Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians </a> Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1990s Acid Deposition Agriculture Alternative Energy Appalachian History Appalachian Mountains Appalachian Studies Bioregional Congress Bioregional Definitions Black Bears Book Reviews Cherokees Children's Page Community Death and Dying Earth Energies Ecological Peril Economic Alternatives Education Electric Power Companies European Immigration Fire Folklore and Ceremony Forest History Forest Issues Forest Practice Geography Glossaries Good Medicine Habitat Hazardous Chemicals Health Hunting Katúah Katúah Organization Permaculture Pigeon River Plants and Herbs Poems Politics Radioactive Waste Reading Resources Recycling Sacred Sites Shelter South PAW (Preserve Appalachian Wilderness) Stories Transportation Issues Turtle Island Villages Water Quality Western North Carolina Alliance Wilderness Women's Issues https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/39d9d512c1f257fe72c22bdc7c6a515e.pdf 6dc3d7ae52ba2691f94e33c1cdd16861 PDF Text Text ---4 AT.U AR PUBLISHED QUARTERLY ISSUE X WINTER 1985 -86 Healing/ Earthplace �MEDICINE TRADITIONS NEAR HOME . ... ... . .. . ... 1 KATE ROGERS AND HER MOUNTAIN MEDICALS . .. . 3 !"') N CIRCLES OF STONE . ... . .... .. . . . ... .. .. ... .. .. .. 4 ...... 00 N INTERNAL MYTHMAKING: AN INTERVIEW WITH MARLENE MOUNTAIN . . 6 (.) z ' ~ ~ Q :i:: " THIS IS HERESY!" HOLISTIC HEALING ON TRIAL. .. 9 TWO POEMS by STEVE KNAUTH . .. . .. .. .. ....... 10 CHEROKEE MYTH IC PLACES ..... .. . . ............ 11 THE UKTENA'S TALE . .. .. .. . . ....... .. .. .. . . . . .. 15 CRYSTAL MAGIC ...... . .. .. . ....... .. .. ..... .. . 19 GOOD MEDICINE: "WHAT MAKES A PLACE SACRED?" 20 REVIEW: DEEP ECOLOGY ...... .. .. ........ .. ... . . 21 NATURAL WORLD NEWS . . ...... . ... .. ... ... .. ... 22 "DREAMSPEAKING" ......... . . ... . .. .. ... .. ... ... 24 ., FALL KATUAH GATHERING . ........ . ..... .. ...... 27 f4 f4 ~ = ~ = 0 M M ::::> (.) !"') ...... 00 >< 0 al . 0 . p.. Ul . ~ 8} 0 ~ ... t; a u 0 U> Ul ti Q ~ �ISSUE X WINTER 1985 - 86 MEDICINE TRADITIONS NEAR HOME eaU.ng ..iA an Olf.ganic., e.ve1tp11.uent p11.oeu6--- :w..i~~not jU-6t 06 the. human body bu;t 06 ail .U6e. 60~ '°' 011 OWL plana . WouncUi, qu.i..te. m)JuJ.cu1.oU-6ly, he.al-- e.ve.n wouncUi in.6Uc.ted on OWL e.aJl:thplacu . The. Jt.oo.t 06 'he.al' and 'he.ali:h' ..iA 'whole.'. To he.al lite.ILD.ll.y me.an.\ '.to ~ke. whole. 011. Liound' . Whole.null comu not jU-6t 611.0m phyLi.i..cal well-bung bu.t 611.0m the. w.i..de.11. Li.ta.te. 06 one' ll be.in.g---one. '" Liell6e. 06 .tlw.e, .i..Me.11. LipiJr.,Uu.a.1. balance. an~ 06 Motednuli. lloote.dnMli comu 6AOm a Lie.Me. 06 conne.ctlon- -.to place. and to corrrnun,.Uy. So the. w.i..de.11. c..bt.cle. 11.ee.cUi to be. gJt.Ow.lng .tollXIJl.<U whole.nuli a.6 well a.6 the. in.d.i..v.i..dutd.. Wlwle.nuli o 6 'place.' ..iA v.Ual .to .in.d.i..v.i..dutd. he.ali:h. Th~ q~y 06 a..i.11., the qua!Uy 06 tOO.te.11., .the. quatuy 06 Lio.i..l ~IJ e.66e.ct the. weU-be.in.g 06 ail the. in.habaan.th 06 tha.t place. Whole.nuli alho comu 6Jt.Om a Lie.Me 06 licale.---a Lie.Me. 06 JU.ght 1te.la.t.i.on to the. 'ou.t.6.i.de.' 6am.i..l1J 611..i.e.ncUi, ~ce, all owr. 11.e.la.t.i.ollh. Not llo laJt.ge. tha.t one. ' cannot phyl>A..Callyr0 e.e.l' .the. conne.c.t.i.on, a b.i011.e.g.i..on ..iA ~he. '~ght Li.ize.' t~ 11.e.la.te. .to • •. be.in.g 91te.a.teill"hanone. '" ,(J)l!71e.d.i..a.te. llUM.owtd.i..ngli bu..t not a.6 oveltWhe..fm.lng a.6 a con.t.ine.n.t Olt the. e.n.t.iJte. planet. Whole.null 06 'communUy' ..iA alho vUal .to .i.nd.i..v.icfu.al he.al.th. 1n olde.11. cul..twr.u, a C!Oll'lllun.i.ty 'Li Jt.Oo.te.dn.uli ""1.l> ce.lelJJta..te.d .thltough M,tual. and U:.6 un.i.ve.Jt.6al conne.ct.i..on IAl'U .11.eme.mbe.1ted ~ugh myth. My~a.IU.ng hah o.1.wayli be.e.n a g.i6.t 06 .the. .6peuu--a way 06 1-0e.av-<.ng owr. de.e.p-Lie.a.te.d inn.ell. con.6c.i..oU-6ne.6ll w.i..th that wh.lc.h ..iA 'ou.t.6.i.de.' o 6 OWl.6 e.lvu. Commun.il.y Jr1.;tu..ah, alho encompa.Med the dll.e.amwolli.d .the. n.i.ght .the. ~null, -0e. 6e.aM. Thue Mpe.c.U 06 :the ~ye.he. we.1te. ~~ -<.ncluded ,(.11 .the ~u ' heali.ng p11.ac.t.<.cu. V11.e.am6 , v-<-6.Wn.6 would o6te.n b1Ung he.ali:hy hOlu.t.i..on.\ 60.ll. .i..nd.i..v.icfu.al a.6 well ah C!Ornmu.n.i.tlj a.i..lmen.th. The g1te.a.t :te.mple. a.t Ep.i.da.wr.U-6 in liouthe.11.11 Gft.eece. ~ a place whe.11.e people came .to 4f.eep, dll.e.am v..iA.i..on.\, and be cUJLe.d. He.al.th alho a.t t.Unu 1te.Uu on ' me.d.i..c.ine' and aga.in 'place.' ..iA .impoJt.:tan.t. •'Place' hah p11.0v.i.ded plan.th 'c.l.ay.6 ' ~~ 601t .me.cl<;c.in.al 11.emed.i..u 60.11. .thoU-6and6 06 . P.fo.ce. hah ,(.rthP<)l.ed .60ngli. 06.te.n U-6ed .i.n anc.ie.n.t t.Unu ah 'me.d.i..c.i..ne '•• ._.and hah p11.ov.i.de.d .image.Jty 6011. .the 'li.tu66' 06 dll.e.am med.i..C,,(.rte. In .tli.i..6 ..iAllue 06 Ka;t{Ul}i---owr. w.i..n.te.Jt. .i.hllue.-- -we. .take the. t.Une. .to colth.ide.11. the .i.mpoJt.:tance. 06 .the. heali.ng pll.OC!Uli and owr. 911.a.t.i...tude 6011. U. We hope. U w.i..U move. U-6 de.epe.Jt .into OWL cormiltme.n.t .to pll.Ue.Ji.ve. the. whole.null 06 .the. 'place' we. call Ka.:tdah . ---The. Ed.i...toM 1 ye.aM . ' People have always doctored themselves. Archaelogists find traces of plants that people used for medicine forty thousand years ago. Animals doctored themselves with plants too. Everyone has seen cats and dogs eat grass to clean out their stomachs and horses will graze through comf rey once in a while for a tonic ... Most people in the world today use plants for medicine. And the 'wonder drugs' of our westeTn world have saved many lives in the last fifty years. But these drugs are unavailable or impractical for many people, because of the high cost of pharmaceuticals and because of the technology needed to administer them (doctors living in remote regions , or the technology necessary to store them such as refrigerators for penicillin in Africa.) Communities have always had medical specialists--someone who could deliver babies; someone who could set a bone, pull a tooth; someone who could straighten out a bent back, or doctor the animals; someone who could talk to the troubled--yet always , in our history as humans, we have looked to the world of the spirit for healing. Monks in the Middle Ages said a prayer for each plant they picked for medicine. Native American medicine people pray to the spirit of the plant. People in hospitals pray for improved health, and even have healing visions on the operating table! So what is 'folk medicine?' I believe that whatever people do to doctor themselves and others is 'medicine. • M.D. 's rely heavily on books, studies, and statistics for information but they also rely on oral traditi~ns learned from the professors and from other physicians. Illiterate mountain herbalists expand on their knowledge-passed down through several generations ~by doing experiments on plants and then analyzing the results. As different as these approaches might seem, it ' s all a part of the same cont:inuum--using books and oral tradit . ions in varying proportions; using plants in their distilled, synthesized, or whole forms; or calling on physical (con.t.il'ILl.e.d on p. 3I �~-· 'J\..ATUAH) a IMClifiliJ#MMiflllillMie!M'llMtlllllti!lfl dPP1!i d'#"j1&'hnz EDITORIAL STAFF THIS ISSUE: Scott Bird David Reed Richard Ciccarelli Barbara Reimensnyder Th011as Rain Crowe Chip Smith Judith Hallock Brad Stanback J. Linn Mackey Martha Tree Marnie Muller David Wheeler Michael Red Fox EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE: Cathy Danna Jeff Fobes Kathleen McLaughlin Bill Melanson Sally Roark Sarah Jane Thomas Mark Yancey FIREKEEPER: Joe Roberts EDITORIAL OFFICE THIS ISSUE: 309 Kenilworth Asheville, NC PRINTED BY: Sylva Herald Publishing Co. Sylva, NC WRITE US AT: Katuah TELEPHONE: (704) 252-9167 'ii0i'8'73 Cullowhee, NC 28723 Spe.c..i.a.l .tlw.ntu. to Va /wt Ma.I> 4 ~ 6°"- .the. il.lLL4tlrJJ.ti.o n6 on p:tg u 14 and 20 COVER: "The Blues Pass through" by Marlene Mountain , painted in acrylics on 2' x 2' masonite (Healing Series 15, 1983). Adapted by Martha Tree. r-r .' ~ JRV0CllT:10H RAISE THE FRUIT " ~ ~,I· ! I ./~ . In the. w.i.nte11. 4ol.4.t,lc.e. .the. 11.e-twi.n.btg 4t.ln 81Wtg4 .the. e.no1UT10U4 and pe.1t.pe.:tual. haltvut In hunge.11. and dMkne.44 We. dM.nk .the. ccrmiu.na.l Ught IU.4.ing w.Uh all. e11.e.a.twt.u , .into .the. peJt.pe.:tual. ILU.ing .sun. IU.4.ing .in ancu.tJta.t dU4t 611.om 6UMO'~ 06 rh.tfl9 and blood. Out o6 @4 enc e. TU.4.ing .in poUe.n we. rum.it each o.the.11.. Ea/I.th 1t.OCL4ed wlU bll..Utg IL4 home. .in 4e.etf and pollen. Va.nee. .the. ceJU!mon.<al toge..the.11. .in .the. e.n.ti.11.e. 4oltvt. Ug ht. Swt 4 h.in.ing on all. 6Jt,.le.nd4 • 0 me.et me. .in the. unbombe.d vil.lagu 06 the. Wtth. In cob4 06 coll.n In the. du6t 6luh In .the. 11.UUM.e.cted idiea.t Fo11g.ive. the. Jt.Oot and ..\4.i4 e. .the. f1r.ui.,t ! ,.- KA'[\;AH - -Meridel LeSeur page 2 HeJLe. .in the. .sou.the.11.11-mo.st he.a.11.tt.o.nd 06 .the. Appab.cMP.n moun.t.aW, the. oldu.t moun.t4.in Jtange. on OILll. con.t.inui.t, Tws.t/.e. l.sla.nd, a. .sma.U bu.t 911.0w.ing gMup ha.4 be.gun to .ta.he. on a .se.n..se. o~ Jte.4 po n 4.ib.<.Uty 6011. .the. .i.mpl.i.ctJ.Uonlt 06 tha..t ge.og11JJ.ph.U:.a.l a.nd cu.ltuJLa1. heJL.ita.g e.. Th.<.4 4 e.rt4 e. o6 11.U po nlii..bil.Uy ce.MeA.6 on the. conce.pt 06 Uv.ing wlthi.n the. lla.twt.a.l. 4ca.le. a.nd balance. 06 u.A.lve.Jt.4a.l 4q4tem4 a.nd la.W6. We. beg.in by .invo/Ung .tlte. CheJtOlle.e. name. "Ka..W.a.h" 44 .th£. old/nw na.me. 6011. .tlt.i4 a.11.e.a. 06 .the. moun.t.a..i.n4 and ~ 011. it4 j olJllJltl.l. 44 wen. The. e.d.U.o!WJ.t. p!ti.oll.Ulu 6011. IL4 a.11.e. to coUe.ct and .i.tt6OJtma.t.ioR and e.rt'-/tgy wh..i.ch pe/lW.n4 4pe.c...i.6~ to tJi.i4 Melt, a.nd to 604.te.Jt .the. 1114W1.e.llU4 tha..t the. la.nd .<A 4 Uv.ing be..ing du eJLv.ing o6 olLlt. ltJve. and 11.upe.&. L.i.v.ing .in th.i4 ma.nne.11. .<A the. only '41!/ to e.1141Llt.e. .the. 41L4.to.i.nabil..ltl( 0 ~ OILll. b.io.Sphe.11.e. a.rid a. la.4.t.ing place. 6011. ot411.4e.lvu .in U4 con.ti.ntWtg evocLi.64 em.i.na.tt luli.oMJt.y p'WCe.44. We. 6e.e.m to ha.ve. 11.eo.c.he.d the. 6uWwm po.int 06 a "do 011. d.ie." 4Uua.t.lon .in .tVUll6 06 a. cont.inue.d quo..li.ty 4ta.nda.Jt.d 06 U6e. on .th.U. pl.a.net. It .i4 .the. a..i.m 06 th.i4 jolLlt.nal. to do it4 pall.t .in the. 11.e.-.inha.b.<..t:a.Uon a.nd 11.e.-cultwi.a.U..on 06 the. Ka..tW:ih pitav.ince. 06 .the. Sou..the.Jtn Appab.cMP.114 . ThM pitav.irtce. .<A .irtdlc.ttte.d by U4 na.twr.a.t. bou.nd.alt...i.u : .the. Ne.w IU.veJL v.ic.in.i.tv to the. nolt.th; the. ~oothil..t.4 o~ .the. ple.dmon.t a.11.e.a. to .the. eJUt; Yona Mowita..ln a.nd .the. Ge.o11.g.i.o. hil..t.4 to .the. .sou.th; a.nd .the. Te.rtnuHe IU.veJL Va.U~ to the. wut. Hwnbl!f, 44 4e.l6-a.ppo.inted .ste.cm.Jt.d,t. IAlUh. 4a.J!Jl.e.d .into piwte.c.t and pllU'-11.ve. it4 4a.J!Jl.e.dnU4, we. a.dvoca..te. a. cuite.11.e.d a.pp!tOa.ch to .the. con.cE.pt 06 dtte.ntlla.l..i.za:t.ion a.hd hope. to becomE. a. .suppolt..t 4!f4te.m 6011. .tho4e. a.cce.pt.ing the c.ha.lt.e.nge. 06 ~IL4ta..i.na.bil.Uy and .the. e11.e.a...t.ion 06 ha.Jt.mony and bo.la.nce. .in a. to.ta.l Hll4e., heJLe. .in th.i4 pta.cE.. 4.tJt.ILc..t,ion1t 44 "nw na..t.i.vu'' We. wdcome. aJ.1. COMUponde.nce., CJLi..tic.i.4111, peJl.t.i.nVl.t .in6o.\ma.Uon, OJt.t.<du, llJl.t.woltk, E..tc. wlth hopu .tha.t Ka.Oia.h wlU 911.0w to .se.11.ve .the. but .inte.Jtt.4t4 o6 / th.i4 ~ a.nd a.U .lt4 Uv.ing, blt.e.a.thi.ng 6"1fl.i.t.!/ me.mbelt.4. - The EcLltolt.4 The Internal Revenue Service has declared a non-profit organization under section 50l(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. All contributions to Kat uah ar e deductible from personal income tax-.-- Kat~ah Winter 1985-86 �•• • NEAR HOME ( cont.i.llued 611.Dm p. 11 remedies and spiritual powers. The Native American people say that medicine is everything: religion, psychology, politics, ecology, philosophy, plants, ceremonies, community--all things that we seem to need separate words for, in English. Here in the mountains, the Cherokee have evolved and still practice a complex system of medicine. In their practice , they use the plants--which include over 75% of all the medicinal plants in America~from tropical passiflora vines in the river bottoms to tundra lichens on the high peaks. Cherokee medicine also uses a sophisticated understanding of human nature, and of our 'place in the world.' Ceremonies address our relationship with 'the whole '. The white people--English, Scots, Irish, and Cerman--wbo established communities in the mountains about 150 years ago learned about medicinal plants from the Cherokee. They brought their knowledge of European plants and beliefs as well--everything from ustng seeds and root cuttings, to formulas for removing warts, taking the fire out of burns, and even putting a knife under the bed to ease the pain of childbirth. Today mountain communities have hospitals, M.D.'s, chiropractors, ministers, psychologists, and other healing practitioners. And yet another wave of newcomers in the mountains of Katuah have been working to establish healing centers, holistic health farms, and centers for psychic research. In the 1960's , throughout the country, people began to take back responsibility for their own health care. In the eighties it seems that perhaps our greatest challenge is to take responsibility for the health of the earth! Our mountains are threatened by acid rain (what government agencies mildly call "atmospheric deposition") , threatened by the deposit of nuclear wastes , by clear-cutting and poisoning of the forests, by development that erodes land and silts streams and places burdens on water and sewage treatment in those communities. All of us who have felt the healing power of the mountains, of the earth-if only the 'peacefulness' that comes from sitting by the side of a mountain stream--need to respond now to the mountains' need for Health. We must open up and expand our definitions of ' medicine ' to include the earth and all peoples as a Whole so that we cannot only survive, but BE WELL. Barbara Reimensnyder, PhD BaJtbaM Re.<me.nMtydeJL, a. 11.e.gulalt. contM.bu.to.11. .to Ka.ttra.h, ,(A 4 6ol.Jtt.OIW..t who ti.vu .in"1iaCon Coun.ty, NC. 1n .tJi.i..6 nut <Vt.ti.c.le., 4 he. 4 ha.11.u c.ui..th U4 4ome. 06 he.A .ti.me. 4pe.nt c.ui..th Ka.te. RogeJt.b, one. 06 .the. ol.dut plUlC.uti.oneJt.b o6 6o.tk me.cLi.c.i.ne. he11.e. .in .thue. moun.ta..in4 . , N\TrAH - page 3 KATE ROGERS and her mountain medicals The following exerpts come from a book that Kate Rogers and I have been working on for several years , Kate was born in 1905 in the Ellijay co111111unity outside of Franklin, North carolina, where she grew up and where she now lives, near her large family. In addition to knowing and using over two hundred plants for medicine, Kate also sings old ballads and shape-note hymns and takes an active part in her church. She and her husband celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last year. When I first made a tape with Kate, she started out, "Hy name is Kate Minervy Rogers. I was named after both my grandmothers, Kate Henry and Minervy Moses--tbat was Dr. Athan Hoses' wife. Hy grandfather was a herb doctor, Dr. Athan Hoses. And Mama used herbs; she knowed everything we ought to do when one was sick--just go and git this and go and git that." I asked Kate how she first began to learn about plants. She said , "I started in quite young. We bad big fields, about twenty acres, and I carried the water from a little spring way over in the woods at the aide of the field. I was the waterjack, I guess you'd call it. I carried water to where they was hoeing corn." "See , on new ground , you can't plow it and do too good. They laid off a little first with oxen , but part of the way was so rough they had to dig boles to plant the corn. So they'd dig up all the bloodroot and may apples as they was agoing." "And I would put them on top of a stump, and then I'd run and carry them, every bit , to the house. I would run as fast as I could. It was over half a mile to walk from the field, and a lot of it was uphill ss ye come back. If I didn't get to wash the roots then and put them out to dry , why I would that evening." Kate's uncle , John Henry, had a store where he sold general goods to the co-unity , and in turn bought or traded for beeswax, roots, herbs, corn, chestnuts, and other natural products. Kate said , "I could take a pound of bloodroot, and Uncle John, he sold five cent calico , so I would get a yard of calico for a pound of bloodroot and Mama could make me a lc.ont.inue.d on nut page.) W inter 1985-86 �continued from page 3 dress out of it." Kate was five years old at that ti.me. "And then I learned about herbs from Mama. She was Dr. Athan Hoses' daughter, and she knowed a lot about them. She knowed that poplar bark, the root bark, was good to kill worms, and she'd give it to us. One'd cry with his stomach hurting, and Mama would say, 'Go and get some poplar bark, Kate.' (She always sent me, I don't know why ). But I'd dig in by them big roots that went down in the bank of the road. And I'd get the poplar bark and take it to the house. And usually when I got in with it I'd wash it and fix the tea for the children." "Kate digs plants to make her own garden of medicinal plants - 'medicals'." Kate grew up collecting roots to sell from the woods and newly cleared ground of her family and gathering roots and herbs as needed to doctor her family. She has continued these two kinds of activities ever since--she finds and grows herbs to doctor herself and her husband and others as needed. She also regards medicinal plants as a source of income, digging them to sell at the flea market and through the mail, which she bas done for years. Her grandfather too did a substantial mail order business in herbs in the late 1800's. In addition Kate digs plants from the woods and gets seed to make her own garden of medicinal plants- "medicals". Throughout the years she bas worked as postmistress, in factories, bas run ruby mines, taken in boarders, and done a variety of jobs while raising three children, caring for her extended family, making gardens, sewing, quilting, taking an active part in her church , and doctoring anyone lolho needs help. Although she has always helped to support her family, Kate says, "Every ti.me I pick something for somebody, I just give it to them. Wben I tell people what to use for medicine,it's just free, gratis. One person the other day, they didn't give me nothing, and I didn't expect nothing, but I know they'll be good to me." Kate continually adds to her knowledge of plants by reading books, experi.menting--mostly on herselfKAWAI:! - page 4 and growing new plants or bringing them in from the woods. She said, "They ' re a lot of herbs in these mountains, but I ain't never found out what they're all good for. I know two hundred and fifty, but I don't know where they're all at. Two hundred and fifty that I've used then around here close." "I grow some, and I find some in the woods, all along the roads and so on. And some I bring back and set out to where they'll grow, it's like they're alive to me. Well, they ate alive! But it's like they're a pet. I love them, each one." "One day, when I was a child, Mama done a good deed for me and the plants too. I pulled the flowers. I'd come in with everyone that I could hold in my hands, the pretty little flowers. And Kam.a said, 'I want to tell you something.' She said, 'Every one of them pretty little flowers would have raised seed if you'd a left them.' She said, 'If everybody done like you're doing, everybody could pull up every flower, and when they got the flowers pulled, there wouldn't be no seed to fall back and come up. That's just a-robbing everything. ' Well, now I'm so particular about pulling things I want to make seed-I won't pu11 them just because they're pretty. Because I want them to keep coming, because they're so many good plants. And the more I learn about them, the more I want to learn." Kate's great granddaughter already makes tea for her brothers and sisters using some of the plants her great grandmother bas shown her. In the last several years Kate bas spoken to garden clubs and 4-H groups and participated in local festivals like Mountain Heritage Day and the Macon County Folk Artists in Schools Program. One day Kate said, "Hy tea, I think that helped my arthritis, but I'll tell ye: try to stay happy. That's one of the best remedies ye can find. One day there was a girl come to me, and she was wanting to know bow to stay young. And I said, 'Why are you asking me? You sure get old, you can't do a thing about that. And she said they had told her to ask me. So I said , 'Well, just try and be a happy person. Never do anything you know is wrong. If you know it's wrong, just avoid it. You don' t have to do wrong. ' You know there's always things that will happen --none of us ain't perfect. I've been sad, and I've had trouble that made me mad a few times, but it's all in life. You just I.ave to let the worst go and live for the better." "I'm trying to live a natural life, use the natural things. We're just learning more about nature all the ti.me. The Lord put it all here, and put it here to work, and that's nature." Kate Rogers and Barbara Reimensnyder , PhD. © 1985 I.t .i.6 .the. moJuthtg o 6 .the. win.tVL 4 olJ..ti.ce: New G.ltange., lite.land - A COll.e.6u.lty du-4Jne.d wtde119.it.ound Ji.tone 6.tli.uetwr.e Jiil.I. 6.il.e.nilq in .the. daJtk.ne.t.6, ~­ .i.ng, 116 ..it luu. done. 6011. .thoiu.and6 o 6 60Jt. thM moJUl,(ng '6 6ttMMe.. I.t ha.6 be.en Cillle.d a ".tomb", 6011. bod.i.u 06 .the de.ad weA.e C411..e.6u.ltq .i.nljllOJl.6, .te.Me.d .the11.e., bu..t .the me.an.<.ng and pwi. po6 e. o6 .tlilt. dolmen, 116 .thu e. 4.tJr.uc .twi.u a11.e. Cillle.d, Me. 6M mO-'le .than .tha.t, 116 .the. 6.i.Ju>.t 1t.O..IJ6 o 6 .the JL.i..6.i.ng 6wt 11.eveal. They b!JIL6t .th.lt.Ough .the open en.tltancema.y and Uhun.i.na.te. .the. .twe.n.ty6oot-h.igh back c.u:tU 06 .the. 6.tone.Une.d pit, whi.c.h .i.6 COVVl.e.d with de.6'4Jrl6 and pe.t.Jt.Oglyph6 to.bo!Lloiu.ty callve.d by Ji.tone-age 1111160116 .to ce.leblta.te. tlUI. VeJUf moment:, 601t .the. .light .touchu .them 601t onl..tj a 6e.w hoWl.6 a !le.all p.'l.e.c.iJ. e.ly a.t .the. time. o6 .the win.tVL 4 oU.t.i.ce.. Wha-t .the. 6ymbol6 mean 6pe.c..i.6.i.Cillly .i.6 .the C4U.6e. 06 much conje.ctwr.e. and debate, but .tJW. 6.Ue.nt ceJt.emony, 6011. whlch .the 6.t4ge &a1.6 4 e.t 4. 000 !fe,a.Jtl, be.601te. modeJl.n c..i.v.i..Uza.t.i.on, 6.i.ng6 06 11.UUM.tct.i.on and 11.e.b.iA.th. ••••• i ~ ~ i 4ii\ ~ <:9' flw 'f ~ ~ • : ~ ~ .., ~ G i S\IV ~ ~ ~ ;:F< Ancient societies all across the face of the Earth, but particularly in the British Isles and the northwestern coast of Europe, have left enduring remnants of their presence 1n the form of earthen mounds and barrows, stone structures, and great boulders raised on end in patterns or standing alone. The great stone circles in particular, such as the familiar Avebury and Stonehenge circles, have caught the modern imagination and are tantalizing clues to the minds of the old ones, the "megalithic peoples," as these societies of builders are called. Living in the period from 5,000 to 2,000 B.C. before the Celtic tribes overran Europe, the megalithic peoples based their life on a subsistence agriculture largely dependent on domestic animals. Apparently the lands were sparsely populated at that ti.me, and there was plenty to eat, but their living conditions would have seemed rough and crude to us, with little to indicate the extraordinary capabilities required to transport and raise the great boulders in precise patterns and aligments. Time bas shrouded the monuments 1n mystery , and there are many guesses--some academic, some psychic, and some purely inventive--as to their original nature and purpose. Since Professor Gerald Hawkins of Boston University discovered in 1963 that the Stonehenge circle was used as a huge astronomical obser- ~,0,j@>~@ljOeJ~~~~ Winter 1985-86 �~~<@'~~~~,i@~~,~~S~@ijfbeJ@~~~~B~".W-~@~G(@W~' vatory, it has become coaunon knowl edge that solar , l unar , and stell a r sightings are a pa rt of th e f unction of many of the megalith ic ston e figures . Yet as mor e is revealed about this function of t he stones , astronomers marvel at t he knowl edge these a ncien t people had of our universe, and are amazed at t he a ccur a cy of the observation s that are poasibl e with the g rea t s tones , wh:Lch a t fi r s t look seem so clumsy . Enginee r s wo nd e r how t he bouldere were moved over long distances, a nd how t hey wer e raised with the tools these stone-age people had at hand. Professor Alexander Thom, Emeritus Professor of Engineering at Oxford University, has demonstrated that a common unit of measure, the "megalithic yard" as he calls it, was the basis of the stone figures throughout the British Isles. He has spoken of the sophisticated geometry evident in the design of the stone figures, and the mathematical precision with which they were laid out and put into place - by a people of a rustic and illiterate culture! But while academics can point out the astonishing accomplish·. ments of this ancient people, the attraction of the stones, particularly to peo! · ple of Eur o pean descent, is a pers onal one, for the stones represent a part of ourselves. They are a · .; part of our ancestral peo-~ between t hem. The s uns ets are emphas ized because the smal.l val.ley sight s west, giving a long view of the western horizon. Lylich i s descend ed from peo ple who lived in Scotland and northwes tern Europ e . He fel t that bu ilding a circle and experiencing the mind of the builder s wa s t he best way to understand their f eelings and motives. "My primary reason for building a stone circle, besides wanting to see what it was all about, was to make a ceremonial area, just as I believe my ancestors did . It's a place to go and be serious, a place set aside as sacred ground. ''Some people might think it rash of me to meddle with megalithic .·:: · • '· •· ... ··. · .:{::_. . • American t r i bes , even the Chinese pl e ha ve stone monuments in their c ul·i tu ral his to r y . It is a t r adition that i s found among ancient peoples all over the world . " I n this wa y i t i s a bridge be- ~ t ween us whit e peo ple and the na t ive (@)) Indians that we f ound l iving here :ii when we came. It is clear t hat among 'G th eir oth er functions, the pre-Celtic ~ stone circles in Europe were calendare~ measuring the moon cycles and the ~ yearly solar cycles. The medicine wheels discovered in this country werf ~ the same. We can trace the solstices ~ and equino.xes through them, so we know th;lt they were calendar3 for the fl, native peopl e of this continent. '8 "The fire-pit at the center of & our circle i s one element that we , ~ borrowed from the Native American medicine wheels. It's a funny thing, but none of the pre-Celtic circles has a fire-pit. All the alignments pass through the center of the circles, but they left it un~ marked. I figure they left it I~ clear for their ceremonies or for sacred contests · ··· and games. "It is natural that the old European . l . ·; • tribespeople com(@ · -_.. · bined the functions ~ ..:·. .. of sacred sites if) and sacred calen~ dars in their ··· circles. The peo··. · · ple obviously had to know when a celebration was coming. They ~ sometimes had to ~ tTavel miles to get there, and they '4i> li- I ~~;:~~E~~~i:~:;~h~~ '·:-:~:~:\\?:~;<~Y}'~~~!r;~<'\~·~ '::~-;~.-:: ·.-.·:=:I.;·; ::~~~=~· -~-s:·?:}:~~ .:}!"~~:~:: :~~%:;~):fil.~C1. -~~~Ft!~:::~t~~:;~ ~::!,'!:·~~! :.."!: something we once · '' · . <:~(? c1.-.n·cLeS were - something we have lost. If we ~could only unravel the mystery of the ·. standing stones, we know we would be face to face with ourselves at the other end, looking into our own eyes with new understanding. One person living today in Katuah, who wishes only to be known by his Celtic name, Lylich Crabawr, decided to do some experiential research to try to fathom the true meanings of the old megaliths. In bis small valley, close to the center of his five-acre property, he has erected a circle of stones. The four largest ones mark the four cardinal points of the compass and are ins cribed with carved pictures of the plant and animal kingdoms c orresponding to the powers of each of the four directi.o ns. Beyond the circle, outlying s tones mark the positions of the sols t i c e s unrises, and the sunsets f or the sols tices, the equinoxes, and the ''\:~~;~;t, a~ ' ''>i('?F sro ·· stone circles, but I feel that I have an ancestral right to follow this path . The bloodlines and the cultural roots of the white people living on this continent lie back in the tribal homelands of Europe. White people have only been a presence in the "New World" for 400 years, whereas our ancestors have inhabited Europe since antiquity and developed a long his- · tory and strong cultural traditions there. "I don't always feel comfortable adopting some other people's ceremony. It would be clearly out of place for me to take up the Sun Dance. I couldn 't build one or run one of thos e . But I feel that I have some authority to do some thing in this area. We all do. European people , Nat i v e Ameri can 1 thore •:.;•:,:::."!~of ; They had to know ~~ ~ in advance. Y'"'\~ when the sunSo was ~ I~~ almost in the ~ right place, • they would know ~ that there was about a week until ~ the solstice, and they'd go over there and gather. "It was also impor tant for an agricultural people to have a calendar. ~ They needed to know when to plant, when to breed their livestock, etc. It was a simple matter to set some stakes or a few rocks in the ground, sighting ~ on some prominent feature of the landscape, and nove them every few days until one day they didn ' t have to move them again. With rocks 200 feet apart, one can measure to within a few days of the solstice. With sights five miles apart, it can be done precisely. "We used that method to l ay out our alignments. Once we had a megalithic stone c ircle, it was easy to (@J s e t up outlying stones. Sighting over ~ the fire -pit at the center of the cir- if1J 'li- I I ¥< jj' ~:;;~;;~;;:_a(G~j;~~~~;~*:;;;'®~~~~};~;(O:~ ~ KATL<hl>' - •pa[i.<e > Wint~ L'9&5-8'6. �111 (j,rcleJ 7owarJ f-/e.a/1n9: mtwlene m~~ ~ wnttui "''/U.#t of h~ ~ f'r#wtl""J fh17Ct44 /Alfu°Vh- IJ,(.f,IJ#fa;n,lf4 hey f/Xkitn't . ''4W --~ r "Jw,.t a l..lttle. a6.teJr. he.U.o, he. 6a.IJ6 I 've. got 6ome.th.Utg " - -t®Lte.veJr. .U .U, .U hUILtl> Wl.e. 6.ilr.e.. Tlvte.e. thoMa.nd dothvi.6 woJLth 06 tu.a. 6atJ a tu .ion on .the. mtje.li.n 4he.a.th 06 mtJ 6p.i.na.l c.oll.d.. MS 6U6pe.c..t. (It taku .two lu.i..on.6 .to name. .U comple.te.ltj. J Mo.11.e. pa.ht, e.x.CJW.Wlling, hantU. a.ll.m6, ba.nd a..11.~und c.hu.t. We.aknU6, c.an'.t d!Uve., l(l16h mlj ha.ur., pa.ht.t, no.11. hold .th.Utg6 ve..11.tj we.U.. Bad 6e.e.li.ng .ln my leg6. Oh no. Con6U6.i..on. Fe.a..11.. D.11.e.o.d. One. e.ve.n.lng a 6.!Ue.nd v.U.li.6. She. .U a m.i.di.ul6e. a.nd I a.Ilk hell abou.t me.dUa..t.lon. She. 6li.6 on the. bed, pu.tll he.11. hand on mlj 6011.e.he.ad, 6ay6 a 600.th.lng woll.d. 011. .two. I n6tantly mlJ m.lnd e.xpandl. a.nd theJr.e. i6 a. 4.tllange. 6e.n6a..t.i..on I a.m ou.tll.lde. 06 my6 e.f.6. Some.th.lng ma.g.lca.l .U happe.n.lng, 40me.th.lng handed down 611.0m .the. old day4 o 6 owr. 4.U..te.11.6 , .the. w.ltc.hu/he.a.le.11.6. She. a.6/l.6 me. .to v.UuaUz.e. the. demon (li. i6 an UfJly glob, a "b.ig e.a..te.11.," I a.m la.tell. .to wtde.ll.6tandl , .to MU the. pa.ht bi.to a ba.ll (wh.ic.h be.c.omu 40 l.tvige. a.nd he.o.vy I'm una.ble. .to U6.t .U 611.0m my c.hu.t, bu.t can 6Uc.k au:n.y pa.JLt6 o 6 .U I and .to 6.lnd a 4a6e. ptac.e. (Hve..11.a.f. appe.a..11. bu.t a..11.e. nl,,t .!Ugh.ti • By now I a.m .la.ugh.Utg, e.11.y.lng, talking, c.wr.6.lng. Eve.ntu.aU.y the. 6a.6e. pto.ce. be.c.omu the. loweA pa.JLt o 6 a .t.11.e.e.. F loa.t.&tg ne.a..11. me, li.6 11.0ot.6 a11.e. e.xpo6 e.d and li.6 dangl.lng 11.0ot ha.cA6 a.tta.ch .to mtJ a.ll.m6 • I .t appe.o..11.6 they a..11.e. .t.11.y.lng .to dJuwJ ou.t the. pa.ht. Get ou:t .the. rne.o.n-6hli. 4.tu.6 6, I ca.ll ou:t. Ove.11. a.nd ove.11., get out, go aJAXJ.y I The. v.U..i..on 6adu and I a.m 6W1. m.iAe..11.0.ble.. Some.th<.ng, howe.ve.11., i..6 cU.6 6Vte.n.t. The. 11.e.leiu.e. 06 a.nge.11., the. mowr.n.lng 06 lo66 , the. nam.lng 06 e.vil., have. le.6t empty 6pac.u in.to wh.lch c.an c.om po6.Ue. .ive. 60Jt.cu. A. .twuWlg po.ln.t. The. .t.11.e.e., tho1J9h, t®Lt dou .U m e.an, Jte..11.e. dou .U come. 611.0m'I She. po.lnt.6 .to my .ta.6.t pa.in.t.lng, 611.0m a. 4 e.M.u o6 women' 4 anc.le.nt 6ymbol4, a .t.11.e.e.. A. 6.tyUz.e.d du.ign 6JLOm old Ca.naan 06 the. 6acAe.d .t.11.e.e.: the. body 06 the. goddU4. ( La..te.11. I l1lft .to 11.e.a.Uze. I had be.en a.6Jt.a..id 06 #wJtU.ng the. .t.11.e..e., 06 luiv.ing my ptLi.rt go in.to .U--how Wfte. did I unde.ll.6tand. J The. n.ighl: i6 long and halt.6h, moll.rl.ing I 41Qlke. and the. e.xCJWc..Ut.tin.g pa.ht .U gone.. Gone.! V.ld the. .t.11.e.e. take. .U'! You know .U d.id. The. pa.ht .t"4.t .U le.6.t .U be.o.Jta.ble., not we.lc.ome., bu.t be.a.11.11ble.. One. a.6.te..11.noon I a.m able. .to M.t.a.x dee.ply (.to 6.lnk .ln.to the. be.di, a.nd the.11.e. i6 anothe.11. v.U.i..on. Fo.!t. 6ome. Jte.a.60n I unn.t .to be. .in my Uttle. gall.d.e.n. I .t.11.y a.nd .t.11.y bu:t I c.an' .t get the.Ile.. I qu.i.t .t.11.y.lng a.nd 6udde.nly I a.m the11.e.. That i6 , mlj leg4 , wh.i.c.h luive. be.en hwr..t.ing, a11.e. the.11.e., ly.ing among the. we.e.d6 and with the. we.e.d6 glWwing out 06 the.m. W.ith .inv.U.i.ble. hand6 I beg.in to weed the. ga.11.d.e.n, and oddly e.no1J9h, my l.e.g6. Iv:. e.o.ch we.e.d comu ou:t, 60 dou 6ome. 06 the. pa.in, 6ome. 06 the. 6e.a.ll.. 1 weed 6011. a long t.ime.. It .U anothe.11. ba.d dD..y. I 6 e.e. my4 e.f.6 ly.lng .in be.d, 6ull 06 bad 4.tu.66. I unn.t .U ou.t. The11.e. if, a co1r.k .in the. 6ma.U 06 my ba.c.k. I pull .U out and the. ba.d 4.tu.66 be.g.in.6 .to dfia..Ot. A ho6e. a..ttac.he.d .to a (c.on.t.inue.d on next page.I Winter 1985-86 �v151onJ · Jownfur,e-5 aff1rmatton5 ·;ournf!tj5 .tUllJ moon appe411.6 on mlJ bel.ly. The. moon ,(,/, 6ult. 06 good 1>tLL66 land ,(,!, dJuuuUtg Lt 611.0m a moon 1>1J111bol .i.n one. 06 mlJ pa.i.nti.ng1> l . The. ho1>e. weMI> .it.6e.l6 .i.nto mlJ Mvel and 6.ill.h me wlth good 1>.tu66. I am bet.tell.. Some. 1>ay MS doun 't h.ulLt, othe/Lb 1>a1J U dou. MIJ le.g1> (though .the. tu.ion ,(,!, ne.M. mlJ ne.cld, ho.ve. pa.i.n. 1 1>e.e. .i.M.lde. .th e.m. TheJte. ,(,!, a caJuiboM.d 1>.tM.p .i.n e.ach. Slowl.IJ one. o 6 the. 4.tlUP" be.g.i.nl> to /LOU .i.n.to a .tube.. A6 U 11.oli.4, U catchu up pa.in .i.'1.41..d.e. U. In ano.theJt v,(,/,.i.on I 1>e.e. mlJ back, .the.n a wooden table., and on U a ti.nlJ papeJt m.i.nt cup. A 4poon appe.M.b. Some.how U 4COOpl> bad gunk 6/tOm mlJ 4p.i.ne. and 6.il.lb .the. cup. Ano.the.IL cup appe.M.b, and 6.i.Ub. Ano:tlteJt, ano.the.11., ano.theJt. 81J now rruch 06 mlJ 4.tll.e.ng.th, coolLCLina;Uon ,(,/, back. A pa.i.ntell 611..i.end 4uggutl> 1 pa.i.nt .the. v,(,/,.i.onl>. Tho1>e. we.iAd :tki.Jtg4? lmpo1>1>.i.ble. 1 1>ay, IJU, almo1>.t a4 .i.6 to .i.nl>,(,t,.t, .the. tlte.e. 11.e.appe.a11.1>--U ,(,!, 1uhole. th,(,t, ti.me.. Then U 1Le.p1t.odu.cu .U:.6 e.l.6 .i.n.to llldnlJ .tll.e.u • They tll.an1> 60M1 .i.nto a clwnp, a g11.ove., and look "~ .to one. 1 pa.i.nte.d ove.11. .twe.ntlj IJe.M.b ago. Ago..i.n, ha.i.11.li hang down and a11.e. like. pe.a v.i.ne. te.nclllil.b. The.If be.g.i.n attac.h.i.ng to my bodtj. 1 am not a6Jta..Ui 06 hull..tU1g .the. .tll.e.u. MIJ mind pu.tb .the. ha.i.lll> .i.nto pl.a.cu that hUll.t, two 011. tlvte.e. .i.n 4ome. pl.acu. Even .i.r. pl.a.cu that jUL>.t Uch. I talk, olwy, now 1 am go.i.ng a4le.e.p, .i.6 1 move. oJt .tull.n ovell .the. ho..i.11.4 will. 1>.tay .i.n place.. 1 wilt 6e.e.l. be.tte.11. cdt e.n 1 <U1n ke.. Much o 6 .the. po..i.n and 6e.aJt go u thllough .the. Motl>, .i.nto .the. .tll.unk, and out .thllough .the. le.a.vu- -11.e.clJcle.d. Somet.i.mu .the. bluu get to me.. 1n one. po..i.nt.i.ng I am undellg1tound--.i.n 6ac.t, dcwn de.e.p .i.n a g.11.0und hog de.n--unde.Jt mlJ hoUL>e./moun.ta..i.n la 1>ymbol .i.n p11.e.v.i.0U1> pa.i.nt.i.ngl> J . Thelle. 1 1>.tay 6011. 1>e.veMl da1J1> and t«tU out :t.he. mood. One. da1J my Jtoom Hentl> .to 6.i.U w<..th 6loa.ti.ng whe.e.lcha.i.11.li and 1 am 4Ull.Jtounde.d. Sca11.e.d. Haunted. Ske..tch .the. .&nage., du<.gn U, pa.i.nt U. Name. .the. 6e.a.1t. 1 am lu1> 1>CaJte.d. 1 look at my po..i.nti.ngl>. 1n mo1>.t 1 am llj.i.ng down. What ,(,!, th,(,!,? 1 can w:tlk, ca"' .t I? I get m1J1>e.l6 up, embJtace. the. moon, 1>he. pu.tb out hell aJIJl14 and g.i.vu me. a b.i.g hug. I be.g.i.n a 1>e.Jt.i.e.1> 06 joUJr.11e.y1>, dJtawn .in.to .the. pa.6.t, back to uiome.n '" anc.i.e.nt 1>ymboU. (The. p!t.e.v.i.oUI> 1>e.Jt.i.u ha4 be.e.n 11.uume.d and «n.& 6.i.n,(,t,he.d, Oil 1>0 1 ltad thought:. l Now 1 am llteMlllJ w<..th .the. "1>ymbol6," bu.ld.e. .the.m, tallU.ttg w.i.th them, l,(,t,.te.n.ing .to them. 1 come. upon the. temple. 06 A6talt.te.; 1>U at the. 6e.d 06 goddu1>u .i.n .the. Salto.Jta; 4tand at the. al.taJt o 6 Mothe.11. Goddu1> .i.n C11.ete. and call. to lte.Jt along w<..th one. 06 hell p!Uu.tu1>u; dance. and 1>.i.ng w.Uh o.the.11. women o 6 the. woll.l.d. Back home. 1 6.i.nd goddU4U. have. taken up 11.u<.de.nce. to watch ove.Jt me.. One. n.i.gh.t I am 1>Uti.ng on .the. poJr.Ch, Nut, .the. EglJp.t.i.an 1>k1J godd.u1> 4Ull.Jtound.i.ng . p11.ote.cti.ng. 1 be.come. <Ulnlte. .that the. j 0U11.ne.1J1> .i.nto .the. pa.6.t have. g.i.ve.K me. COUii.age. 6011. .the. p.\Ue.nt, 6011. the. 6utUJte.. Me.h·Ull.t, a ve.Jtlj anc.i.e.nt cow/4 kif godd.u1>, W'.lnde/Lb .i.n to v.i.l>U. All.Ound he.11. ne.ck lb the. Me.na.t, a 1>ymbol c6 1>.tll.e.ngth, 1>e.xual. ple.abUJte., and ph1J4.i.cal we.U-be..i.ng. - Mall.l.e.ne. Mounta.i.n :. ~ c .. ..- ~ U NE DllAWINO$ ADAl'TW aY MARTHA TllQ 'J ' r1'1 f s MOON FILL f,(i9ht~ of~ "I don't even know what r&ade me sic.It," related Marlene to us , "I think it was the stress and not talking to people, being bottled up with pressures and it came out ( in MS symptoms ) and I went through a bad period. But maybe that was to be. I'm still not able to settle down. I'm on fire. But I've had a warning .•• and the healing. I didn't have anything to do with it--it just happened and it was a major healing process that I don't know how to explain." We as~d Marlene to describe, as best she could, her healing experience--"! don't even meditate and that evening I said, 'Let's meditate tonight, Cindy (midwife/friend) ' not even knowing really what it was--it was a weird experience and it happened several times afterward. And it basn 't happened since (the healing) but it got me through a period. I guess you could call it a miracle but not in the old-fashioned sense. I'd love for it to happen again but I don't know if it would be the same form." Marlene continued, "What happened to me ... I know it was from women's past--ancient Goddess energy. I certainly wouldn't have known anything like that would have happened or was going to happen. I don't have fantasies , I don't have rituals, I don't have anything li~ that .. • and then all of a sudden something absolutely abnormal happened to me . The midwife, Cindy, says I did it myself. I don't think I could have ever done it. But it was at the po:lnt that something had to happen." From these visions, Marlene felt compelled to paint the images in a series of healing paintings.( see 'In Circles', opposite page) Throughout our visit, Marlene spoke of releasing her anger and her fears. In speaking of her wheelchair painting, Marlene conJ:ided, "By the time I was finished painting , I didn't have that fear anymore and it has not come back. Maybe I just had to deal with that fear and my being visual, it came out visually. ~y fear and painting it through and putting myself in the midst of it was empowering." In conversing with Harlene, there is a strong sense that the expression of rage in s creative way and a positive vision of healing can co-exist. Some of her 'outrageous' expressions include her series lcon.t.i.nue.d on ne.x.t page.I ~<(] KATUAH - page 7 Winter 1985-86 �WEEDING PAIN & FEAR \:ifiiJ \I of paintings entitled: "a woman's non- commemorative stamp collection". "They are 'stamps' which will never be real stamps , " said Marlene. The 'stamps' speak to the annihilation of native peoples , the environment, rape, incest, war and nuclear extinction. One simply reads 'women and minorities'. "It's incredible," continued Marlene, "that in America in the 80' s that phrase should even exist . " Besides creatively expressing through the visual art of painting, Marlene is also a recognized poet of haiku. Conventionally, haiku is viewed as an apolitical, pure/objective art form. Marlene though differs with this view and creatively allows her 'grumblings' to come through this mediUlll as well. She feels that haiku offers a great deal to women in particular as an art form. In terms of her paintings, Marlene ' s most recent series is called "Cross Words". The paintings , all 13 of them, are of crossword puzzles filled in with words of what women are called ..• the animals women are called .. . the food ... the slang body parts, and so on. "I 'd say that most of my paintings are for women, but I want men to be involved too. I think they're called things that they don't want to be called. If they could see what women are called and start thinking about what they are called and what they are supposed to be doing in life, it helps. We all have to be in it together." Cross Words" allows us to see the disturbing words in a "playful" and dynamically contained way, effectively taking away their 'power'. One of Marlene's older series of paintings called "the Other" portrays ancient women symbols , which she spent a great deal of time researching. Another series is a "female alphabet" which she herself 'made up'. She felt the need for this kind of alphabet and one night the images started coming to her, all except the 'y' and the 'n' which came the next day. "For a while I would write letters in 'female ' and translate poems into 'female'. The alphabet just c ame out of nowhere ... or rather it came out of somewhere, I just wasn't aware of it. I had to paint them." IDher early days of being an artist , Marlene was not aware that there was any avenue in art other than what she, for convenience, would refer to as the 'male art of New York'. "I bad become dissatisfied with those attitudes." Harlene painted ten years, got her degree, quit for ten years , then started again . I n renewing her art again, there was a period during which she painted a painting every day for one month based on the theme of the mountain and the moon. The mountain wasn't a specific landform--it was from within. "I just identified with i t somehow. A f riend said, 'what 's the name of ~~ ~••<ain' and I didn'< know. I g•••• i< <•~•• out that it's me ... It was something that took a long time. I wanted to change my name to that and that's partly what the piece is about. ~hat's my art name and poetry name. That's my real name (Mountain)'' Marlene is not interested in selling any of her work. Seldom does sbe paint a ' single ' painting. Mostly, her paintings are in a series of 20 to 40 pictures which need to be displayed together. In asking Marlene how a ' series' develops, she offered, "For the "stamp" series, I did a sketch in my sketchbook of a little perforated thing •.• ! don't know where the image was ••• and then all of a S1.1dden i t was a series. And t he alphabet just 'popped' out so I don't know if there is a process. You have to 'go' with it, you know." Marlene's work and scope extend far beyond her own personal realm. She in particular speaks to women and their sense of wellbeing . "Women need," she insists, "to develop a collection of positive images with which to enrich their art as well as their psyche. For me, reference to the mountain and the moon as female is a necessary element in building an aesthetic vocabulary as well as personal identification . Women have a tremendous amount of underlying texture from which to draw, but due to distortion, inversion and removal of archetypes, we haves long journey of rediscovery and reclamation." ' :;; .! . .. . " i.. ~ ~ " BENEATH THE SACRED GROVE Harlene envisions a return of the Mother Goddess qualities , both on a personal and a social scale . This return which she feels is happening ("I feel I'm in the revolution, even out here") is more a process of "searching for rather than giv!!!s .!!.P.· No doubt, though , there-must be a certiiTn amount of sifting and sorting, declining and accepting, and balancing. There are many more concepts to discover and to embrace than there are to negate." "I feel", Marlene continues,"it 's quite valid to call specific attention to what women create ..• I'd say it' s very necessary until there is a truer under s tanding of female sensibilities and her offerings--and, beyond that, of individuality. Today's woman has much to offer and, I feel, has an obliga tion to give voice. Adrienne Rich aptly says, ' Women have often felt insane when cleaving to the truth of our experience. Our future depends on the sanity of each of us, and we have a profound stake, beyond the personal, in the project of describing our reality as candidly and fully as we can to each other'." Marlene ' s journey of personal inner healing s uggests an approach towards a wider community healing where visions, dreams and sensations prompt us towards health. Her organic imagery of mountain, moon , roots , rock, s leep, sac red grove ..... and of heslinQ , entering , passing throu gh .. . remind us that , we a r e all roo t ed deepl y i n t he natural proce~ '\fiN-; -- M.M. S J. H. _'\L_ © ~v " 0 KATUAH : ~ eg~,e 8 ii ~ ex c<JW Winter 1985-86 - HA ~ �"This is Heresy! HOLISTIC HEALING ON TRIAL "The Constitution of this Republic should make special provision for Medical Freedom as well as Religious Freedom . . . To restrict the art of healing to one class of men (people), and deny equal privileges to others will constitute the Bast1lle of medical science. All such laws are unAmerican Md despotic." -Be.n.jamht RU6h, M.V., SW!fJe.on Geneltlll 06 the. U.S. AlurilJ 6 a 6.lgneJL 06 the. Vec.ftvta,Uon 06 1nde.pe.n.de.nc.e. [7745-1813) "Backed by vast sums of money and the intellectual prestige of great universities, decked in all the trappings of modern laboratory science, and supported by an impressive record of clinical success, allopathic medicine exerts an influence on our lives and thinking equal to that of law and religion. So dominant is it that many of its adherents are surprised to learn that other systems of treatment even exist." -AndJtew WeU, M. V., .&t h.l6 boola He..alih 6 ~: UndeJr..6.tancWtg ~o ~ Mecac:Lne. - AU.e11.na.:ti.ve In a scene more reminiscent of the Salem witch trials or the Spanish Inquisition than the informed and enlightened l980' s, Dr. George Guess of Asheville appeared Dec. 2 for a hearing before the N.C. Medical Licensing Review Board on a charge that his practice of homeopathic medicine conflicted with his orthodox practice of family medicine . Three other physicians-Dr. John Laird MD of Leicester, NC; Dr. Logan Pobertson, MD of Canton and Asheville; and Dr. Ted Rozema, MD of Landrum, SChave also been threatened with loss of their medical licenses for practicing chelation therapy with their standard orthodox techniques. The unfortunate result of this investigation may be the loss of valuable health services to our communities and the loss of our right to choose medical treatment that meets our needs. These four men are sincere, canpetent practioners devoted to the ideal of healing others the most effective way they can. But even being called before the Medical Licensing Review Board brings their intentions and abilities into question. The four physicians have already been pressured by their medical insurance ~ompanies into dropping their malpractice insurance. George Guess, M.n., D.Ht . received his medical training at the Medical College of Virginia and Southern Illinois University. He was licensed as an M.D. in 1978. Soon after entering family practice, he realized KArUAH - page 9 the shortcomings of allopathic medicine. Be discovered that attaining broad knowledge, experience, and sensitivity to choose the appropriate technique for treatment offered the most benefit to the sick. Following these ideals he studied at the International Foundation for Homeopathy, completing their postgraduate course in 1980. Since then he has studied intensively with the renowned George Vithoullu!s of the Athenian Center of Homeopathic Medicine in Athens, Greece. In addition to his private practice in Katuah, Dr. Guess has also served on the board of directors of the National Center for Homeopatt.y and as convener for the National Council for Homeopathic Education. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Bomeotherapeutics and a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy, as well. "Homeopathy," be says, "is a 200year-old science of healing that utilizes the healing properties inherent in naturally-derived products to stimulate the body's defensive mechanisms to overcome disease symptoms. "The homeopathic physician utilizes non-toxic, gentle substances adminiscered according to the 'law of similars', which states that 'like is cured by like' (or that bodily symptoms are cured by natural substances which produce similar effects). "A focal point for the homeopathic physician is the uniqueness of the individual patient. Typically, before focussing on local symptoms, such as ulcers or arthritis, the homeopath concerns him/herself with the total psycho-physical (mental, emotional, and physical) state of the patient. "It is hoped as an end result of homeopathic treatment that health is restored gently, speedily, and permanently." At the recent hearing, Dr. Guess spent a grueling 8 hours defending his practice . The hearing evolved into a basic introduction to the principles of homeopatlrl.c medicine. At one point a board member, impatient with Dr. Guess's car eful and complete descriptions of how he treated his patients, lamented, "You ' re losing me, I really must go on to something else. I know you understand what you are saying, but I don't." Throughout the hearing the Medical Review Board displayed a total ignorance of the basis and the techniques of homeopathic medicine, raising the question that perhaps the Medical Board is not qualified to judge a method they know nothing about. CHELATION THERAPY Dr. John Laird, founder and director of the Great Smokies Medical Center in Leicester, NC , is another holistic healer threatened by the II Tho cadu.c~1.1•. the phr•icbft'• abln1 n .. •111bot of .flnak._ cc.e• fta. • pr•Hd lanlc 1n1ke cult and oracle of ancient Ct•..C•. hur taken ov•t by the cult of M.c Jeplo1 1 vho h conaide:red the patTon of at'dlclne. Medical Review Board for his practice of chelation therapy. Laird describes this technique as "an intravenous therapy of prescription medicines and nutritional supplements that is known to inhibit degenerative symptoms in the body, such as hardening of the arteries, arthritis, and such." Dr. Laird graduated with honors from Dartmouth College in 1969 and Dartmouth Medical School in 1976. He ·worked in the MAHEC Family Medicine Residency Program in Asheville before starting the Great Smokies Clinic. He now specializes in nutritional and preventative medicine. Be has directed a variety of national and international symposia on holistic approaches to health care. In addition, be lectures to both health professionals an.d the non-medical public. He is a founder and the executive director of the Raphaelite Institute, as well as a member of the Amer ican Holistic Medical Association and the American Academy of Medical Preventics. In assessing the dis-ease of the orthodox medical establishment, Dr. Laird looks first within himself. "I ask what I ' ve done to draw them into my life. Part of my response is to understand inwardly what is going on, and the other part is to try to figure out a way to reconcile the situation, because we are all One. " In the course of all this, I've learned a lot about arrogance. We must express forgiveness without resentment so that we can be more free ourselves. The need of this age is tolerance and that is a function of the heart." intinued page 10) Winter 1985-86 �(continued from p. 9) Dr. Laird believes that there must be a recognition that both sides of this question have contributions to make . The quacks and the unscrupulous charlatans will always be with us, and Laird maintains that there is a place for an impartial panel of experts to defend medical ethics and to set minimum standards to protect the public from imposters who would take advantage of people's debilities for personal gain. But these hear ings, with George Guess ' s careful and patient presentation on the one hand, and board members ' professed ignorance on the other, calls into question the competency of the Medical Boar:! of Re· view more than the abilities of the physicians called before it. At present, the Board is composed solely of licensed physicians who are nominated by the North Carolina Medical Society, except for one lay member who is appointed by the governor. "The Board should be protective, but not exclusive", says Dr. Laird. The scope and techniques of medical practice are expanding at an everaccelerating rate. The breakthroughs in healing will come from those who dare to pioneer new approaches and new techniques. It would be a positive step to have the Medical Licensing Reiew Board be composed of vell-educated, unbiased physicians familiar with lternative techniques of healing as ell as allopathic medicine. The oard ' s composition could be balanced to include practitioners of alternative medicine to better evaluate the merits of different methods of nonconventional healing. Ever since medical licensing was initiated in England in the 17th century, the procedure has been used to maintain the hegemony of the practititioners of allopathic medicine. That system has such a str ong hold on the JOHN LAIRD, MO minds and belief of the people of today, that medical associations have taken on the nature and trappings of a priesthood that will brook no challenge to its authority. But it apparently is time for a change. 88 people attended a meeting at the Unity Church in Arden, NC cal.led to discuss "Medical Freedom of Choice". Chad O'Shea, church minister, sai that he plans to convene a larger meeting at UNC-Asheville somettme during the winter to present a panel of speakers representing both sides of the alternative medicine issue. "Our basic attitude," said O'Shea, "is: 'Let's get together and share some understanding. Let's look at the facts' . "I think that some people's preoccupation with money and material things has blinded them to some wonderful medical methods that they perhaps should be not only supporting, but maybe practicing as well! "For instance, in the view of the A.M.A., heart by-pass surgery is seen as an acceptable risk, even though it is known that 2 out of 100 patients die on the operating table. It is estimated that there will be 200,000 to 300,000 heart by-pass operations next year. That means that there will be 4,000 - 6,000 fatalities outright as a consequence of this technique. "That is not necessarily bad in itsel f. Yet chelation therapy, which bas not been known to harm anyone, and which bas done a lot of good for a lot of people, is not acceptable to the A.M.A .. ~ is that? "We need to explore hard questions like this one and bring them into the light of day." �A QUEST FOR CHEROKEE MYTHIC PLACES· By Douglas A. Rossman Many European-Americans, long separated both physically and spiritually from their own mythological roots, may find it difficult to comprehend how mythically alive the American landscape has been--<>nd, to some extent, still is--to Native Americans. When the famous ethnologist James Mooney made his collection of Ea.s tern Cherokee myths and legends just before the turn of the century, more than fifty of the stories were associated with specific locations in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. Mooney's classic publication, Myths of The Cherokee (1900) , provided detailed descriptions of these locations but included a photograph of only one of them, Nikwasi Mound, in Franklin, North Carolina. I first read Mooney's book in the late 60's, was fascinated by the stories, and longed to see the settings in which they had come into existence. The lack of time, finances, and adequate camera equipment prevented me from pursuing my personal quest in other than a sporadic and incidental fashion until 1983 , by which time it had occurred to me that other people in the region-both residents and visitors--might enjoy seeing and benefiting from learning about the significance of those mythic sites that could still be visited. Thus was born the idea for Where Legends Live : A Pictorial Guide to Cherokee Mythic Places. Subsequently the project acquired a principal photographer, William E. Sanderson, and an illustrator, Nancy-Lou Patterson. Bill, a former graduate student of mine, shared my interest in Cherokee culture, and Nancy-Lou, herself the author of a book on Canadian native art, had previously illustrated my dictionary of Norse mythology, The Nine Worlds (1983). How to present the Cherokee Names for the sites and the mythical beings associated with them posed a real problem. Cherokee was not a written language until the early 1800's when the brilliant mind of Sequoyah devised an alphabet of 85 letters to rep- FORT MOUNTAIN STATE PARK, GA. . WH ITESIDE MOUNTAIN, N.C. i 0 resent the sounds of spoken Cherokee. This system is, unfortunately, unintelligible to readers of English, for whom Cherokee names have inevitably been rendered phonetically . Over the years a number of phonetic systems have been used (same without explanation) , but no standard usage has been established . I decided to go straight to the source, so to speak, and was extremely fortunate to obtain the generous cooperation of Cherokee linguist Robert Bushyhead. He converted the names given by Mooney into the phonetic system devised by Bushyhead and Bill Cook, veri£ied or modified the translations of the names given by Mooney, and provided translations for the "ames not translated by Mooney. Ris patience, enthusiasm , and good humor were a delight and an inspiration, and the results of his efforts adtt inuneasurably to the usefulness of the book. It is a measure of Mooney's thoroughness a.nd preciseness that I was able to approximate the locations of the sites on detailed topographic maps and subsequently go to these places and find something that fit the appropriate description. In several instances involving sites in or near Cherokee, North Carolina, I was able to verify the locations with either Robert Bushyhead or Tom Onderwood, a lifelong resident of the area and a student of Cherokee culture. For Bill Sanderson and myself, the quest for mythic sites did not prove to be a routine, dispassionate cataloguing of spots on a map. Like all true quests,ours had internal as well as external dimensions, and the places we experienced and the people we met in our search for the sites contributed to our own spiritual growth. Despite the disappearances of many sites beneath TVA lakes and the alteration of some by still other manifestations of "progress", several of the places we visited still possess the ability to arouse in a receptive visitor the sense of (continued next page) Winter 1985-,86 �CHEROKEE MYTHIC PLACES being in the presence of sooething outside the ordinary. 1 most vividly recall the visits to Fort Mountain --home of the great Uktena-in the path of an approaching thunderstorm; T!!llSsee Bald- -home of the slant-eyed giant Tsulkala-in early spring with the golden leaves crunching underfoot; and Pilot Mountain--home of K.anati and Selu, the thunder and corn spirits, respectively--with a golden eagle soaring past the summit in the crisp October wind to help (continued from previous page) celebrate "Creation Day." It seems almost inevitable that such places would have myths connected with them. Cherokee mythology has its share of monsters and none is associated with more places than the Uktena, the giant horned (antlered?) serpent that bears a magical crystal-the Uluhsati -- on its head. There seem to have been many different individual uktenas, but the greatest of them lived in the Cohutta mountains of north-central Georgia, apparently at the site of ULUHTU, THE SPEARFINGER present-day Fort Mountain State Park. One of the longest and most complex of the Cherokee myths concerns a "search and destroy" mission directed toward this particular serpent. The ensuing events are briefly swmnarized in~ Legends Live: "Only one man is known to have succeeeded in killing an Uktena and securing the magic crystal. He was a war captive of the Cherokee, a great Shawnee conjurer named Oganunitsi. The Cherokee were going to kill him, but they released him when be pledged to seek out and secure the Uluhsati. He searched the entire length of the Great Smokies and beyond, encountering a series of giant reptileR, amphibians, and fishes along the way, but it wasn' t until he reached Cohutta Mountain . • • that he finally found the Uktena be had been seeking. Oganunitsi built a circular trench in the mountainside, set fire to the pine cones encircling the trench, and then shot an arrow into the seventh spot on the body pattern of the Uktena, which had been sleeping on the mountaintop. He evaded the rush of the mortally wounded serpent and leaping beyond the fire and trench, was protected from the stream of venom spewed out by the Oktena in its death throes. After seven days had passed, the birds of the forest had stripped the carcass so completely that only the Oluhsati remained. Oganunitsi carried the magic crystal back to the Cherokee, who were said by Mooney to still have it in their possession as recently as 1890. " The 855 foot-long rock wall that meanders across the southern face of Fort Mountain does not fit the description of the circular trench within which Oganunitsi took refuge, but some of the larger "gunpits" along the wall might. Although the surviving version of the myth relates that the birds consumed the dead Uktena's bones as well as its flesh, this seems unlikely and one wonders if, in an earlier version, the wall might not have represented the giant snake's skeleton. The serpentine wall does remind one somewhat of the Great Serpent mound in Ohio. No sampling of Cherokee mythical monsters is adequate that fails to mention the infamous Utluhtu, or Spearfinger; a shape changer who usually appeared in the form of an old woman. Utluhtu had a long, bony forefinger on her right hand with which she would stab and extract the liver from her unsuspecting victim, often a child who saw her only as a kindly old grand- --- - - Wint_!?r )..98!)-86 �mother. Frequently the victim was unaware his liver had been stolen until he began to weaken for no apparent reason, and by then his death was inevitable. Spearfinger wande.ed far and wide through Cherokee country, but her favorite haunts seem to be the Nantahala Gorge and near the Little Tennessee River, where it passes around tbe foot of Chilowee Mountain. On one occasion, to make her travels easier, she started to build a bridge of rocks up through the sky from Tree Rock on the Hiwassee River to Whiteside Mountain. She bad the job well underway when lightning shattered the bridge, breaking off it's foundation on the western end of Whiteside Mountain. Apparently, the thunders had taken offense at Spearfinger's bridge, or her behavior in general, or both. The Cherokee eventually trapped and killed Spearfinger, but the mythwise traveler still glances uneasily over his shoulder when passing through the Nantahala Gorge on a misty morning. Or perhaps what he senses is the shadowy presence of the inchworm-like Uwtsuhta serpent as it stretches from one rim of the gorge to the other. Not all mythic creatures that threaten mankind are earthbound. The Tlanuwa is a giant falcon capable of carrying off a man, a deer, or even a bear. In Chattanooga and on the Little Tennessee River below Tallasee are cliffs where these huge birds were said to nest . These cliff faces are still marked with vertical white streaks that resemble nothing so much as bird droppings. Most of the other beings associated with the surviving mythic sites are more favorably disposed toward the Cherokee; for example: Tsulkala, the slant-eyed giant; Kanati and the other thunders; and the Nuhnehi, the usually invisible '"those who have always been here", who have a number of underground dwelling places throughout Cherokee country -- Blood Mountain, Shining Rock, and Pilot Mountain are the best known mountains that contain lodges of the Nuhnehi. Nikwasi Mound also contains one of their lodges and on one occasion, when the Cherokee were hard pressed by their enemies, the Nuhnehi emerged from the mound to rescue the Cherokee from their attackers. Nikwasi Mound is one of only three Cherokee mythic places to have been protected and identified with a marker. Kituhwa Mound* between Cherokee and Bryson City has not been KA'rfae - page 13 @ DOUGLAS A ROSSMAN so fortunate. Although it probably was once the principal ceremonial center of the Cherokee (the "People of Kituhwa" as they sometimes called themselves), repeated cultivation has eroded it very badly. Unless 16 lJOU. all.e. .i..nt:eJLU.te.d .(.n he.lp.i.ng steps are taken iDDDediately to pro.to .lde.n:ti.6y a.nd p11.o.te.c.t CheJLoke.e. 1ncii.an ha.Cl!.ed hilU .in t<a..tU.o.h , c.onto.c.t: tect what is left, the mound will Thoma.h Ra..ln Cltowe., c./o Ka..tUa.h , P.O.Box disappear altogether. I hope that 873, Cui.towhee., NC 28723 one of the things Where Legends Live might accomplish is to arouse sufficient local interest and concern that the "endangered" mythic sites/ . such as Ki tuhwa Mound can be saved . _,, * Kituhwa is another spelling of Katu~. THE UKTENA �\U' "' ..._ ,.,. --- .. �Esta'sai (pronounced es-TAB-say) was a beautiful young woman of the ancient Cherokee Indian people. She ~was a cheerful light among the people of her village , and many of the young men of her village , and from towns far away desired her, but she had thus far remained unmarried . ~ That was what was bothering her this day, and was why ~ she had come to a forbidden place to pick the berries to add to her dried pemmican. She wanted to be alone, and so she had come to the / ~ cliffs high above the Nantahala, the "river of the midday 1 o/ sun , " called thus because _the gorge was so deep and the cliffs so straight that the sun did not shine on the waters of the river until noon of the day. Somewhere, deep in that gorge, it was said, dwelled a fearsome creature, the uktena, a great snake with a horned head; massive jaws--;;ncasing huge , murderous fangs; • a great body covered with scales that glittered like fire ./.~ --impenetrable to spear or arrow, except for one small area on its seventh ring where its heart lay below a soft spot, the one flaw in its armor. The beast's breath was noisome and poisonous, and its eyesight was legendary. 1 / It was from its keen sight that the monster derived its name, uktena,"it examines closely ". OntiieC°reature's head was a huge, transparent quartz crystal, the Ulunsu'ti, the greatest of its kind, of which it was said it would bring wisdom, foresight, and great power to whomever possessed it. The crystal had such power that no human's mind could stand before , it, and whomever beheld the stone was drawn to it, wheth&j er by desire or enchantment, like a moth to a flame. The bottom of the river gorge was littered with the bones of hunters and conjurers who had attempted to kill the uktena to win the Ulunsu'ti talisman for themselves. k{j All this Esta' sai knew, but she had never met anyone r who had actually seen the uktena,and , in truth, she only half believed the stories herself, although she had heard them many times from old ones around the winter fires. ~ The stories did not trouble her that day, for she ~ was young, the sun was bright , and her heart was disturbed by thoughts of romance. "I am as silly as a ten- year-old girl , " she thought , aimlessly flipping a few berries into her bark basket. "Alitak 'wa , (pronounced ah-lee-TAK-wah) the strongest, ,- most handsome, and bravest young warrior of our village, seeks me out, and I turn away from him with foolish /11. words of dreams and visions that I have seen in my sleep" She remembered him I panting hot and amorously into her ear as he spoke, and she bad pulled her fur wrap more closely about her and turned demurely away. ~ "No," she had said. "In a dream I saw myself married · to a white-headed man, not to you." '1: "You mock me!" he had shouted, recoiling as if he had been struck. Although be had said nothing more, she knew, /}1. as he whirled and stalked away, that he had almost lost ~control of the passion and anger within him. "Why did I say that?" her mind wondered . "The words were out before I could think. They were a great insult ft: to a young brave. ~:fr "t would have had much prestige as the wife of such a warrior, one who maybe would later be a war chief in the village." ~ But in her heart, Esta'sai knew she did not desire ~ ! ,, --- A, •r "r 4.~ the warrior Alitak'wa. Re tolas overbearing and haughty, and it seemed that all he could talk about were his own grandiose exploits. "But , " argued her mind , "the nice things be would bring you ... " Suddenly she was oppressed by the sun's brightness , the heat of the day , and the war going on in her own body . She stamped her foot and gave a snort of disgust. Over her shoulder she heard a chuckle , and from behind a rock glided the lit he figure of Alitak'wa , Esta'sai spun around to face him . The sun gleamed on his body. Re was beautiful , to be sure, but the smile on his face u, was twisted and ugly . ~~ "So the young doe begins to feel some passion for her buck," he said insinuatingly, as he slowly came closer. "No!" she said firmly. Her fear gave strength to her words. "I told you last night, and I tell you again: there is nothing between us . " "In a moment," he said , "there will be nothing between us, for one way or another, I am going to have you. I came to you honorably, and you have tarnished my honor and my reputation. Now I am going to have my way." "No," she repeated, stepping away . "Someone will find out. Someone will know. You will be punished," "There is no one here to know." Ris body was trem'f bling as he stepped toward her again. "No, no." Tears came to her eyes as she shrank away· from him. Her foot felt nothingness. To her horror she realized she was at the brink of the cliff. The world went white and swam before her eyes . "No-o-ol" she shrieked, and threw herself backwards, away from his clutching hands. Esta'sai braced herself for the crushing pain of impact, but strangely enough , it did not come, The cliff walls grew darker and darker around her , until she could see nothing, and it seemed like she was falling through ~ a dream. Time slowed. Her body felt weightless. I t seemed 1-fj that she would fall eternally. Ber reverie was jarred by a sudden splash! into chill ing water. But instead of the hard stones of a shallow ;f j river bottom that she expected, Esta' sai felt herself go- ~ ing deeper and deeper into the waters of a seemingly bottomless pool. Her mind rebelled. It was impossible for such a deep pool to be in the shallow river bed. But by lft instinct her body kicked and struggled upwards until she ~ bA �reached of air. t~ surface, panting, faint from shock and lack now, withholding nothing. "I am out of my time. I am the last of my line, and I know my doom is near, so I am going to tell you of my She looked about her. It seemed as if she had fallen kind that it may serve to guide your species, which has into a different time, mournful and darkened by the shadcome to be dominant upon the Earth in this age." J~ ows of a gloomy past. She looked upwards. Framed in the In her mind Esta'sai felt a comnand to remain silent. ~narrow slit between the sheer walls, she could see the She listened. light of her own world. It was unreachable to her now , ''1 am but a shadow of the greatness of my kind. Long , but it was still a comfort to see. Somehow, inexplicably, long ago, before 'time' was, even, my ancestors, the deep in the bright blue sky of full day, a single star dragons, the greatest and most glorious creatures ever to 71 shown brightly. live in this realm of being, swam and played in the eleThe sight gave Esta'sai hope. The slow current carments. At that time the elements were three: air, fire, ried her against huge rocks, and she clung to one and and water~and the dragons were the center. ~i lay across it gasping. Weakened and exhausted, she slept. "The world was unformed then. There were no tides or 'f' In her sleep the single star still hung before her vision. directions by which to order the world. The dragons were She was awakened by a low rumbling like thunder. She themselves, but they kept the sense of everything within thought she could still see the star before her eyes , themselves. It was through them that the world continued ~ but then it began to wobble and sway as if it were movto exist. The world was theirs, and they were free to fly ~ ing slowly, ponderously , toward her. The cavern walls through the swirling winds, dive into boomed, and Esta'sai realized that she was in the presence fettered oceans, and bathe and play in the surging, unfree-burning of the ~· Her eyes were riveted by the shining crysfire." tal in the monster's forehead. She could not take her gaze off of it. The creature's presence filled her mind. She had The uktena's gaze withdrew behind its heavy-lidded eyes. Its voice grew distant. ~~o~::~ses. Her own mind was laid bare to its probing "They were magnificent to behold. Their every moveA ment and their very being was an expression of freedom. ~ She could smell the uktena's foul breath. She could They were greater, indescribably greater, and brighter, o/ feel its strange, alien nature and the blood of the many humans it had devoured. Yet, through all the loathing she indescribably brighter, than I. It is impossible to tell how they were, for they could change their aspect as need instinctively felt, Esta'sai was drawn to the creature, or desire arose. In the fires they would blaze brilliant ~ not only by the power of the Ulunsu'ti stone, but also by ed !fa sense of aloneness so deep i t had become a part of the r and orange, rising up huge over the flames. They ~· 9 very being. Esta'sai, born and reared in the prowould become long and slender, shimmering blue and green tective circle of the tribe , always among her friends and in their scales as they knifed through the waters. They _a kin, felt a pang of sadness in her heart for the solitude could disappear into the skies in the lightest and pur~ the uktena had endured . est of blues, or they could stand out sharply as a rain, 'fiie"iiiOnster dragged itself near her. Its great head bow of bold colors arcing through the realm of the winds. ~ loomed over her, blocking out the surface world. The Ulun''I can imagine it: the sheer delight of my ancestors, & au 'ti sparkled in the darkness of the chasm. The colors dancing among elements that were completely wild and un~ Ofthe uktena 's thoughts swam hypnotically in the intertamed except for their unifying presence. They breathed ior of the great stone , binding Esta'sai's attention. the living dragon-fire, the breath of life for all of She stood slack-jawed, staring at the jewel, not even creation. noticing the uktena 's breath, hot and rank, curling about "In each of the dragons, the elemental knowledge of her body like smoke. The great serpent slithered nearer the world was joined, and therefore they knew everything to her until its bead was quite close , and it scrutinized in its purest form. Thus, I am able to know everything in her closely with one baleful red eye--an eye that was this world, even as you do now, because everything is but cold, calculating, and completely amoral. The uktena a combination and a transmutation of these basic elements. hung its massive head over a huge boulder and iitiir';;(i at "That is why the dragons were aware that they were the maiden for a long time, as if looking into her bringing about the downfall of their race even as they thoughts. Then , almost casually, it lifted one of its wer~ accomplishing it. scales with one of the four long and deadly claws on its "Their life-principle was the dragon-fire. It burned .~right foreleg and scratched its own leathery skin, prowithin them, and was also their breath--shooting out in ducing a drop of blood so red it was almost luminous in magnificent streams of flame. Instinctively the dragons the shadowy pit. The uktena reached forward and touched knew that their fire and the water should not mix, but if the reddened claw to her lips. they flew low over the waters and shot down a burst of Instantly Esta'sai's head was alive with visions , fire like a lightning bolt from the sky, they would feel strange sights, sounds, and sensations that flitted by a shock of intense, ecstatic energy that coursed through so rapidly they made her head swim: great winged creatheir bodies as the connection was made. It was sheer tures of beautiful, shining colors cavorting in the pleasure, satisfying and fulfilling. Every part of their skies; the rush of wind, the touch of cloud; red volbeing was renewed , and they would scream and moan with canoes; pain, violence, and the stench of burning delight. They knew that this was the beginning of their flesh; and strangest of all, she could hear all the own decline, but that was not a time for limits, for that voices of her own world, distant yet iamediate, all at was no 'time' at all, and limits were unknown. once and yet each distinctly--rabbits thumping in their "So it had to be. 'The seed that brings to birth burrows ; the hawk calling to its mate; grass stretching contains its own destruction,' it is said. Yet, if things upwards in the sunlight; tree roots penetrating ever had not been exactly so, the dragons might have continued deeper into the earth; and the quiet, even song of the to evolve in harmony with the world, and maybe the dominriver flowing through its bed~all these and everything ant species now would have been beautiful, enormous dragelse she heard and knew. She was not surprised in looking on-creatures ... " into the serpent's red eye that she knew it as well. The uktena's eyes glowed like embers for an instant, "Yes-s-s," the creature's sibilant votce spoke in the Ulunsu'ti flashed a defiant red and then faded. her mind, although its mouth did not move, "the uktena"But it could not be so. For the stars are different sense is yours now. You are connected to us who are--th'e now, and the dragons have been bound like the other ele4:1 very roots of the Earth, and through us to everything ments of the world. of the Earth." The voice was even and unsentimental. If For when the living fire of the dragons touched the there was any pain in its loneliness, the creature had waters, it created a new element and new forms of 1 tie mastered it completely . never before seen in the world. A new chain of evolution "They say among those of your race that an uktena was begun. always speaks truly, but it only tells what it ~its "Invisible at first, this new life wave spread. As it istener to know, and there is always a purpose behind spread, it began to coalesce. And as it came together, ~ the telling. This is true, but I speak plainly to you the new element did what had never been done before: it 4.1 ~-"'~~~~ -~ ~~. ~ ~ -~~~' ~--~--~~ ~ �-~>< ~~~- found its own center and began to define a shape. "First, there was a p1ace to stand, aod then there was something standing there. Something huge, dark, and forbidding--doom for the wise, shining dragons. It was the first of the giants. The element earth was present in the world, aod the giants were the embodiment orrt. "There was enmity between the Biants and the dragons immediately. It was unavoidable. The sight of the bri1liant dragons pained and blinded the giants, so recently emerged from the depths of the waters. The dragon-fire touching the water jolted them with a painful shock, so they would strike out in fear and anguish. When one happened to hit a dragon , that creature would scorch him with a blast of hot fire or rake hill with its claws. In this way , struggle against the dragons became a part of the giants' very nature. ''As soon as they could stand upright, the giants would pick up rocks of the new-made earth and throw them at the dragons. At first they were clumsy, and their eyesight was poor, so they could not see where they were aiming. But they acclimated rapidly to their conditions. Their enmity for the dragon race was the impetus for their evloution. "Evolution," the uktena continued, "demands the presence of time, and so the idea of limits came into the world. The limiting factor for the dragons was the giants. Their blind flailing grew more deadly, and in time they picked up the stone clubs that later --carved , fashioned, and even crudely decorated~ became so much a part of them that they were almost extensions of their stony bodies. "They would stand waist-deep in the oceans and knock the glittering dragons from the skies. Eventually, they built themselves continents to stand and move about on. "They could never k:Ul the dragons. The dragon's immortality is too strong for that. Their primordial minds are linked with the basic elements of the world, and if the dragons should die, this world would disintegrate until new elements of life appear in the cosmos. "But the giants did bring down the beautiful flying creatures. They turned the Earth into a prison for the dragons. They put them in deep holes, covered them over with earth, and sealed them with the power of their earth spirit. The mountains of today outline the sinuous dragon forms buried below. But the life-giving dragonfire is inexhaustible. It sti11 burns, even today , in the depths of the Earth, I t turns the plain rock into caverns of beautiful jewels. It flows through the Earth into all things that live, and the dragon's mountain sepulchers are places of special power. "Sometimes water flows to the surface from sources so deep that it is warmed by the dragon-fires and comes from the Earth hot to the touch. This water has special healing and rejuvenating powers, because it has been touched by the vitalizing dragon-fire . 'Other water carries a sulphurous, fiery taste, and in other places the Earth herself is on fire deep underground. "The giants passed on in their time, never knowing why they acted as they did or of their role in the evolution of the world, But they prepared the land for the spirits that inhabit it today, and now it is the time of the humans. "The old ones of your people knew the Earth power that comes from the dragons, and they revered my ancestors. In those times the northern star, the center of the sky, was in the eye of the dragon constellation. Things are different now, different influences are abroad, and the people have forgotten. "I am just a shadow of the great ones who were before me. Centuries of enmity and loathing have turned me into this creature who lives in the dark, shadowy places of the world, resembling some worm more than my own ancestors, the dragons of old, who sailed the free winds." The uktena spoke flatly, without bitterness. 11 0ne of your kind is coming soon to kill 1te. He will rip the Ulunsu'ti from my forehead. It is a11 over. I go now to Gahuti (Cohutta Mountain) to meet him. They will never know how things might have been. We will never meet in council between our races. Never will chosen leaders among the humans tsste the uktena blood, as you have done, and know the secret lives of the things of the world." The monster spat , and its spittle landed on a rock and sizzled as it burned a hole into its core. ''The mind of the human species is a circle, just as the world is a circle, and the combined mind of the human race encompasses the being of the world, just as the mind of an individual dragon encompassed all its world. So you join together and live in tribes to make your prayers stronger and to gain a wider understanding among you , and it is good for you to do this. "There is another change being made which will be evident to you soon, but it is not clearly defined as yet. It is not for you to know �DAVID WHEELER Drawings by ROGER STEPHENS �ocigi.nal drawta.a by lichard Cicc.ar·e.111 Q.WVLtz CJt.yi..tai..6 a11.e. 6owu:C heJte. .in Ka.ta.ah and had an. .i.mpoltto.n..t plac.e. .in tlte. myt.h and i. p.ilt.l;tual .U6e. o6 tlte. na.t.<.ve. pe.ople. heJte.. The. CheJtoke.e. me.d-i.c-i.n.e. pe.ople., who had a t.tlt.ong IWVl.e.ne.u and a clot. e. k.ini. ILi.p wUh ;th. e. poweM and e.n eJtg.lu o 6 .th.l6 a11.e.a., ui. e.d .the.m e.x.te.ni..i.vel.y .ln CeJte.mon.lu 6011. c.le4M.lng, he.a.Ung, and cUv.lna.t.<.on. The. poweJt 06 CJt.yi..tai..6 .l-6 t..tlU ava4.a.ble. .to u.i. .toda.y. Tapp.lng t.h.a..t poweJt dou not 1r.e.qu..iAe. i.pe.ciJLt .tlr.a..ln.lng oJt h.ldde.n, uo.teJl..lc knowte.dge.. It t..i.mply 1r.e.qu..iAu .tu. .lng" - be.com.lng n 6am.iU.alt wUh a CJtqhta.l and ope.n.lng to ,(,U, 11.neJtg.i.U • 11 Quartz crystals are a natural formation resulting from a combination of silicon dioxide and oxygen atoms forming a solid unit of light. Clear quartz has a natural ability to resonate with other crystalline structures that can enhance the function of the human body, restoring natural balance. Quartz is considered the stone of the White Light and the First Ray and can serve better than any other mineral for balance and healing. They remove blocks in energy fields and can be used in areas where negativity has congested the atmosphere. Crystals clear the way with light. Used in meditation and healing, crystals can bring on change by their interaction with the psychi.c centers of our beings. The crystal has an effect on the physical body as its subtle electrical energy vibrates with the electrical pulses of the body structure. CLEANSING A crystal must be cleansed before being used. The simplest method is to place the crystal in an uncontaminated, free-running stream for seven days. Another method is to make a solution of one cup of sea salt, one cup of cider vineg'ar, and one gallon of spring or distilled water. Soak the crystal in this solution for ten . minutes of more. Use only as much solution as needed and reserve the rest for another time. "Charging" a crystal will advance the frequency of the crystal and allow the keeper to achi.eve goals that the mind bas yet to discover. When a planet moves into the area of 26 degrees from any zodiac sign, a galactic activation for the crystal can take place. Check an ephemeris to find when the Sun or other planets are at 26 degrees. Tllis degree marks a frequency centered by cosmic law. The energy of the Sun is used for magnification, so the Sun's midpoint in the sky (noon) is the best time for charging a crystal. Knowing that the entire life force of this planet depends of the energy coming directly from the Sun, one will see the significance of charging crystals during the Sun's midheaven. An hour is a good length of time to leave the crystal to the Sun ' s energy. After the process . is complete, bring the crystal indoors and wrap it in a soft, dark, cotton cloth. sew ENERGY Crystallography is a culmination of a variety of sciences all interwoven. The 26 degree galactic activation point not only relates to the angles of a crystal in its molecular structuring but also to the dynamic point of the galactic center. This in itself displays a triangle effect, and capturing that pattern in the crystal will allow the crystal to emanate a standing columnar wave (SCW) energy. It is believed that the technology of Atlantis was based on the use of SCW energy, as opposed to the technology of today which is based on the Rertzian wave. Wind funnels, elec~rical storms, cyclones, and tornadoes are all examples of SCW energy patterns. Much of the electrical phenomena of the human body, such as brain waves and nerve impulses, are also forms of sew energy. When using crystals for healing, color and sound can be incorporated into the stones to focus energy on a certain area of the body, particularly the spinal chakras. The healing potential of charged crystals can be maximized when color and sound are added to the program. The following is a method used to program a crystal for a specific purpose in the healing arts. Other methods of progr amming will come to one who opens the imagination to the possibilities of crystals. Take a set of seven crystals , and place them one at a time in a pyramidal structure at the verg negatif , the area known as the " king ' s chamber" . This is the point of highest concentration of sew energy . Use seven colored transpar encies in a proj ector or affixed to a desk lamp to power the seven crystals . As each crystal is lit , sound the note that relates to that color. The harmonics of a guitar or the sound of a flute work well . PRIMARY MUSICAL NOTE COLORS CllAKRA red root c orange spleen D yellow solar plexus E green heart F blue throat G indigo brow A violet crown B Each crystal should receive three to five minutes of color and sound programndng. Done daily for seven days, this will insure that total mergence of all the frequencies has taken place. Once a set of seven crystals is completed, wrap them indiVidually in dark cotton cloths, using colored thread to code each wrapped crystal. By attaching a string to each crystal with silicon glue, they can be used as pendulums to heal by opening and closing the energy centers. Use the crystal corresponding to the chakra and hold it over the energy center, allowing it to become filled with the heali.ng frequency from the crystal. PRAYER AND MEDITATION Quartz crystals may also be used to advantage in prayer and meditation. Crystals have a propensity to bend light rays to a bO degree angle, so a triangle of light can be constructed using three quartz crystals, all facing the same direction. Focus can be placed on the triunal formation by establishing a connection between the mind ' s eye, the light center, and a Visualization of the projected thought. The possible uses for quar tz are limitless. It would appear t hat the quart z crystal is an opening door to a new dimension in consciousness . Through it one can see the many facets of exist ence and per haps discover the secr ets frozen in its light . -excerpted from the bookl et Quartz Crystals and Other Gemstones by Diannah Beauregard �;,_ I\ I• I '. WHAT MAKES A PLACE SACRED Thi.6 .i.66ue.' l> "Good Me.cli.c.i.ne." .U. e.xeJtpte.d 6Mm a lUteJt we. Ae.ce..lve.d 6Jtom a .tll.ad.U.iona.l CheJtoke.e. .li.v.lng ht Ka.tifuh to the. U.S. F011.ut SeJtv.i.ce. conc.e.Jmi.ng theht plan6 60Jt c.letlll.-c.utl> and t.i.mbeJr. l>a.le.l> .i.n Me.al> aJLOund Ata.11.ka Fa.U.6 and the. Raven C.li.6 66 ht the. Cowee. c.omrrKJ.ni,ty 06 Mac.on County, N.C. I'd like to say when I look at a tree I see it as one of my own relations, and I se7 it's natural beauty, and I see it giving me the ve:y air that I breati:ie· I see a house in that tree, chairs and tools and firewood for cooking and heating. 'PG we all have many purposes, so does a tree . .And that's what makes things sacred. The Cherokee people traditional~y see the :iver~ and streams as living beings. With it we had life.Without it we had death .. So that entity or energy in that water that gives life we called a 'spirit'. 1\nything that has a spirit is alive.We call it the 'long human being' or the 'long person'. There are m~ny taboos about the river. That's the reason the rivers were clean and fresh when the non-Indians came here. The 'long human being's' head l~es i~ th7se mountains. 'JIB it rushes down the mountains, it gives power and life to all living things. The legs, the torso, the arms of ' the long human being' are diseased, but the head is still alive and reasonably disease free, due to the Forest Service and National Park Service . l\ATIJAH - page 20 What I would like to see, since we can't do much about the rest of the body, is to keep this part of the body healthy and strong. When the head dies, we all die. If all I have said does not explain why the head of the 'long human being' is sacred, then I don't understand the meaning of 'sacred ' , I look at it this way: The Indian people were placed in this land as caretakers . I think that the Indian people understood that and saw that as part of their purpose, or the Europeans would not have found such a bounty when they came here--a bounty based on their value systems. Now the Europeans are caretakers and a lot of our people have forgotten that purpose and only dwell on the wrongs that happen to them. I think that our purpose is quite clear: we are still c aretakers, but another burden has been placed upon us, and that 's to teach you to become caretakers. The area of the Alarka Falls ("Raven Falls" or "Kalanu Falls" ) and the waterfalls i tself are sacred to us; as are the Raven Cliffs ("Raven Place" or "Kalanun'yi"). Those places have been used for years beyond memory. The falls were used as plunging and fasting places . The Raven Cliffs was a place where bad stuff was taken, buried, or was sent there ... What makes these places sacred to us is their personality. 1\nd their personality is made up by physical structure: by the four leggeds, the two leggeds, the wingeds , the roots, the insects and water creatures. The combination of these things gives a place its personality. Ind then these personalities sometimes attract spirits, which have their 'personality.' When people practice medicine and they need a certain personality to use in healing ceremonies, conjuring, or just to help the People, all the things above make this place sacred. /.lnd if you're a person that needs to bring something bad--a disease or the badness taken from someone and buried there--if you need to do the ceremonies that make this stuff stay here, and you go to this place and the personality which you sought is no longer there, because some of the medicine has been removed, where do you go then? There are fewer and fewer of these places for us to go. Our places are narrowing every day ... , Winter 1985-86 �REVIEW: By J. Linn Mackey Deep Ecology or Shallow Moralism? Deep Ecology:Living As If Nature Hattered:Bill Devall and George Sessions (Salt Lake City, Ut; Gibbs M. Smith, Inc.1985)$15.95 The very term Deep Ecology is apt to send shivers of anticipation throuRh the bre.ast of a bioregionalist. It seems to prollise to unite two bases which lie at the heart of the bioregional movement. One basis is the insight emerging from the science of ecology which informs our minds on both the dangers of a growth orientQd industr ial culture and points us toward a practice of how to live in harmony with the structure and process of nature of w hich we are a part. The second basis is a profound spiritual union with nature which deeply touches our intuition and hearts so that we want to act out of awe and reverence to preserve the natural world. Unfortunately, a great title does not a great book make. This review will argue that Deep Ecol~ does not deliver on the promise of its title. This is because the authors both sever our deep intuitive communion with nature from specific religious traditions and reduce the complex and subtle interactions revealed by ecology to a few moral principles. We end up then in this book not with a deep ecology but a shallow moralism. Let me hasten to add that I applaud the authors' radical critique of the antiecological practice and attendant "environmentalist" rationalizations of the dominant culture. I suspect that most bioregionalists would support the authors' radical programs for preserving and expanding wilderness and "letting nature be" in place of resource development. Indeed , the strongest part of Deep Ecology is what the authors have to say in their critique and on these issues. Neither am I questioning the depth and co111Ditment of Devall and Session's personal stance toward nature. What I am questioning is whether the authors have delivered on the promise of their title, i.e. , to unite a deep spiritual union with nature with a sophisticated and subtle science of ecology. Central to the author's conception of deep ecology are the ideas of holism, the interconnectedness of everything, and biocentric equity, by which they mean that "all organisms and .mtities in the ecosphere, as parts of the interrelated whole, are equal in intrinsic worth." Devall and Sessions would have us believe that there is what they call a minority tradition in history that emphasizes these notions. In fact, there is no single minority tradition; there are only minority traditions. It is not honest histography nor does it give an accurate picture of the way the world works to go bunting through the past in search of certain concepts or key words and, when finding such, to claim a significant or causal connection. Scientists (not historians, who know better) have attempted to write a hi~tory of science that way , searching back through the past for any thinker, for example, who used the word "atom", then arranging these chronologically, as if this said something meaningful about the development of the modern concept of the atom. It doesn't! Yet this is akin to what Devall and Sessions have done. They have searched through past and present thinkers and movements looking for advocacy of holiam and/or biocentricism. They find one or both of these notions in a diverse group of past and present thinkers sod movements. But what have we learned by assembling such a collection? I would argue very little indeed. It does not tell us how these notions of holism and biocentrism arise and function within a belief or philosophical system or how the philosophical or belief systems arise and function within a whole cultural matrix. But until we know this, we have only meaningless juxtaposition and vacuous abstraction, not real life. We need more, much more , than this if we are to move to a culture that lives and develops harmoniously with nature. We need to understand the subtle dialectics between a culture's values , practices and the specific natural world in which it is embedded. We need a bioregional analysis. Devall and Sessions seem to believe that they can set up some moral principles and change the world. No doubt a society dominated by a biocentric value system would treat wilderness and resource development radically different than one holding homocentric (human centered) values. The problem before us though, is how to move from a culture totally dominated by homocentric practice and ideology to a society dominated by biocentric values and practice. What do the authors have to off er us toward the solution of this absolutely crucial problem? They propose that we ask "deep questions" and that we cultivate "meditative experience" . The problem here is that these approaches have been standard in the Western tradition since the time of the Greeks. While it is true that they sometimes lead to biocentricism, they more importantly have lead to our current bomocentric and profoundly antiecological society. In the end then, Devall and Sessions are proclaiming an abstracted moral principle of biocentricism in a society in which homocentricism and domination of nature reigns and is procl aimed through every organ, institution and media of society. One suspects that Deep Ecology is not going t o change the world, offer any reali stic hope for such a change, or even make any converts to a biocentric position, At beat it is mo r alizing to the already moral! Deep Ecology suffers from diftuae and disconnected roots and a lack of hard-beaded analysis. It suffers from a double amputation. Religion , philosophy and ideology are first severed from the cultures in which they are intrinsically embedded and then certain principles like biocentricism are further excised from the religious and philosophical systems in which they are intrinsically interwoven (a totally unecological act). In so doing, the heart 1a amputated from the body, the spirit from muscle and sinew . Deep Ecology takes us in the opposite direction from wh:ich we must go to really change society. That direction is to reunite spiritual intuition and values with practice in a specific place. This is the way of bioregionalism. Deep Ecology mentions bioregionalism favorably in several places and would draw bioregionalism into deep ecology. I would argue that bioregionalism has little to learn from this book . Bior egionalism is a movement to reconstruct culture harmoniously within a specific, natural region. As such it is a practical hol1811. Culture means material practice---providing the necessities of food , clothing and shelter as well as politics, customs, law, morality, values and religion. It is human existence and meaning in its fullness and totality, not simply some principles abstracted from religion or philosophy. As such, it is real people in real life embedded in specific place in real day-by-day, nitty-gritty existence. It is only here--in the totality and fullness of practical living in a place, not in some set of doubly abstracted principles, that an evolving and harmonious dialectic with nature can be constructed. ~ Winter 1985-86 - iL' rAA �o~ NATURAL WORLD NEWS PROTECTING SACRED SITES Jla"'ral Vodd lew s....,k• Elders of the Eastern Band of the Cherokees have appealed to the USFS to stop the Little Laurel Timber sale in Macon County, NC as it will "desecrate" two sacred sites adjacent the sale: the Alarka Falls and Raven 'Cliffs. Appeals 1570 asks the USPS not to log or use herbecides near these sites and justifies the request via the Native American Religious Freedom Act. It was also stressed that the USFS needs to realize the importance of sacred sites to all peoples and that the issue here is not how a forest should be managed but rather how the integrity and power of sacred sites should be upheld. The Appeal was turned down by the National Forests Supervisor for NC and is in the hands of Regional Forester John Alcock in Atlanta. While the offical comment per iod is closed, continued support is important . Write: John Alcock Regional Forester, USFS 1720 Peachtree Rd. , NW Atlanta, Ga. 30367 KArUAR - pllgi! 122 DOE PLANS FALTER, COMMUNITIES ORGA NIZE In Nove111ber of 1985 the Department of Energy was to have narrowed its choice of Nuclear Waste Suppositor y sites from the 236 under study to 20 "possible" locations. Widespread public involvement and the Department's own negative findings have caused the DOE to postpone, until January 1986 their annoucement of selection. This is their second postponement since November 1985. While Oak Ridge, Tennessee is the most likely site for the Monitored Retrieva ble Stora ge facility (the HRS is a way station for waste headed to the Suppository). the associated transportation routes are still under study and the DOE has admitted that they are open to negotiation. Strategy and organizational meetings along the "likely" routes are becoming more numerous. The Highlander Center hosted such a meeting for community action leaders from east ern NC to western Tennessee. Over three hundred citizens of Madison County , NC met this november, providing another voice in this effort to stop the DOE's part in this country ' s nuclear energy policy . EPA SEARCHES FOR ACID RAIN CLUES ~lnu.ral WOl'ld Mew Strvic• Rumor has it that the EPA has contracted with private research groups and other government agencies to find where and to what extent "Acid Deposition" is affecting the Southern Appalachians. Similar studies have recently been conducted in New England and the Northwest. The work here will be conducted in 30 to 40 watersheds located in east Tennessee, western North Carolina, north Georgia and northeastern South Carolina. This study consists of the gathering of data in the following areas: forest cover types, land use, soil and water chemistry and the various climatic factors affecting this area. This information will be comcompiled by the EPA , plugged into its data base and analyzed. While no public information is presently available, it is speculated that the results of this study will be used to trace "Acid Deposition" back to its source and later used in court actions aimed at "cleaning up" the problem. ONLY YOU CAN SAVE THE BEARS M.atu.ral *>rl.4 tf-"'9 Se.rvic• According to biologists at the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Conmission, poaching and other illegal bear hunting is an old and intractable problem. The biggest threat to bear populations, as for most wildlife , is continuing habitat destruction. Even if poaching remains at a constant level, it spells disaster for the bears as habitat shrinks due to increased clearcutting and road building. The survival of large predators and omnivores such as bears requires vast,roadless areas where contact with humans is kept to a minimum. Forest Service logging roads make bear habitat more accessible to poachers and slob hunters. In North Carolina, the Wildlife · Resources Commission's primary means of measuring the bear population is the number of legal kills reported each year. With shrinking habitat and increased road access, the few remaining bears are vulnerable to hunting pressure. The effect of this is that the kill level stays high while the population declines, possibly beyond the point of recovery. Using bait to attract bears is a popular slob hunting practice that has recently been made illegal. The usual technique is to hang sacks of food, sweets, or rotten meat on trees , attracting bears to an accessible area where dogs can pick up the scent. Hunters then monitor the dogs' posi- tion from access roads using vehicles, CB radios, and even radio collars on the dogs. Hunters don't need to leave the saftey and colD.fort of their vehicles until the dogs ' baying indicates that the bear has been treed and can be shot with a minimum of effort and skill on the part of the hunters. Baitin_Jt was often used at the edge of bear sanctuaries to draw protected bears out where they could be letally killed. A new law that went into effect October l makes it illegal to use bait to attract bears on public or private land. Wildlife enforcement officers say it is impossible to control poaching and baiting without help from concerned local citizens. Some states have toll-free hotlines to report hunting violations, and can dispatch an enforcement officer to the scene quickly. In North Carolina, call 1-800-662-7137, South Carolina 1-800922-5431, Tennessee 1-800-262-6704, Georgia 1-800-241-4113. A number for Virgina could not be determined. To participate in the Bear Action Network to document incidences of poaching and other illegal bear hunting activities, contact: .'aul Gallimore Long Branch Enviornmental Ed. Center Big Sandy Mush Creek Leicester, NC (704)6e3-3662 .. Wintq.r _1985-86 �HORSEPASTURE RI VER TO FLOW ON: SMOKE GETS IN A GRASSROOTS SUCCESS STORY YOUR EYES Ntituu.J Morld Nev• ~ erv 1c. Spruce Pine-Mitchell Systems Inc . , an incinerator plant owned by Charles Foushee continues to burn hazardous wastes. The smoke causes irritation of eyes, nose, and throat. People have developed "allergies" since it opened five years ago. It has burned corn crops nearby. The heavy metals coming out of the smokestacks are above permissible standsrds set when its permit was reissued early in 1985. Fores~ Service botanists have linked the emissions to tree deaths surrounding the plant. Homes remain un- Since the spring of 1984 a grassroots group, Friends of the Horsepasture, have rallied support for the protection of the Horsepasture River and her 5 waterfalls from an out of state invesbnent group, who plan to build a hydroelectric dam. While this ill-fated tax write off has faded, further public support for the Borsepasture has brought about Natural and Scenic River designation by the North Carolina General Assembly and most recently, appropriation of funds by the U.S. Congress to the United States Forest sold, land values are dropping, water Service for purchase of the 350 acre is becoming contaminated. Because of these gross violations of all applicable standards, Mitchell Systems has been fined, has had its air quality permit revoked and was issued an order of compliance when it was discovered that its environmental liability insurance coverage was no longer in effect. Since it did not comply with regulations as of December 2nd, the N.C. Department of Human Resources ordered the plant closed. On December 5th a local resident brought a $250,000 lawsuit against Mitchell Systems alleging that discharges and odors f ran the plant make his home unfit for human habitation. Community response has been escalating rapidly. 150 people from all over Mitchell county gathered at a recent meeting to air their demands and frustrations. Outside professional consultants have been hired and they are learning what program consultant Millie Buchanan called "effective involvement." Citizens are bringing pressure on state officials to release information, they are helping the legal and technical consultants collect data, and they have exposed a large flaw in due process procedures regulating waste disposal. Why is the incinerator still burning? No insurance, no permit, and still the smoke settles on cars, houses, children and streams. Local people in Mitchell county are fighting national problems: lack of control and an inability to enforce laws governing the disposal of hazardous wastes. Charles Foushee has appealed both the insurance compliance order and the air quality permit revocation. Until these appeals have been decided upon, Mitchell Systems is free to burn wastes. "If be operated a bar and served alcohol to minors he would be shut down immediately and kept shut during the appeals process:• said one involved person. Why is Charles Foushee still allowed to serve emissions hazardous to the health of Mitchell county? Leder tract. This will allow for protection of Turtleback, Rainbow and Stairway Falls (the others are owned by Duke Power.) Bill Thomas, Chairperson of the Friends o f the Horsepasture, points out that a special thanks goes to the private conservation group, Trust for Public Lands. The Trust, through its own funds, secured an option to buy the Leder property at a Forest service appraised price. This protected K.\Tl'.\11 - !Mge :!3 the river from develo?11ent while Congressional appropriations were sought. In doing so, Thomas says, TPL has incured a $70,000. debt primarily in option costs, which will not be refunded by the Congressional appropriations. It is the hope that all the "Friends" will continue their support by sending tax deductable donations to the Trust via FROTH so they can continue their preservation efforts. Most recently, the N.C. Department of Natural Resources and Community oevelopnent is preparing a management plan to "preserve" the river in its natural state and offer guidelines for recreational use. This is the first step in" placing the river under the protection offered by the National Wild and Scenic River Systems. Gov. Martin is expected to request Interior Secretary, Don Hodel, for this status. Hore info: FRIENDS OF THE HORSEPASTORll P.O.Box ·272 Cedar Hountain,NC 287lij A QUESTION OF STANDARDS CHAMPION WASTE PERMIT ){U'U.rAl ~ld N...,. Suvi.c:• As of mid-November, the EPA has stepped in to resolve differences between the states of Tennessee and North Carolina and the color of water in the Pigeon River at the state line. Being contested is the NC Division of Enviornmental Management ' s 1985 waste water discharge permit for Champion International ' s Canton paper mill: the amount of color in its ef f ulent and its affect on water quality down stream. This summer the EPA voided this perlllit and informed the DEM that the permit did not canply with the required federal Clean Water Act guidelines . DEM countered by saying it might not have statutory authority to implement all of the EPA's recommendations. Tennessee has filed suit against NC and Champion stating that the 111111 should be required to meet their clean water standards . It is here we find the crux of the legal and political debate. Water quality in Tennessee is based on a "narrative standard" which states that color units in waste water shall not exceed "background levels" which can be treated by conventional methods. They have further "interpreted" this color standard and assigned a value of 50 ppm. Paul Wilms, Director of the DEM states that all of the EPA recommedations have been met except those that pertain to the 50 ppm . color standard. It is their feeling that Champio~'s new Ultrafiltration test system and oxygen enrichment equipment will maintain water quality and thus cOlllply with the NC permit. They also contest Tennesse's 50 ppm. color standard stating that it has been arbitrarily derived and not scientifically based and as a result no~ legally enforceable here in NC. At present, NC has not assigned numerical standards for color levels in waste water. Champion is presently filling out its EPA perlllit application and is legally operating under the DEM permit. They have also signed a "Special Order of Consent" requiring further testing of color removal technology with a review by DEM personnel this spring. EPA is expected to draft a new permit this spring with a public comment period to follow. (NWN continued next page) Winter 1985-86 c �. - - - - - - - - - - - - - . . . . , - - - - - - - - - - - - - ,W!@\Yf@\Vl@Wr@Wf@\Yl®\V!@\Yl@\YI@ O;t NATURAL VIRUS CHALLENGES CHESTNUT TREE BLIGHT NATURAL WORLD NEWS continued PROJECT FIREHAT AWARENESS TRAINING Each year, firefighters in North Carolina risk exposure to hazardous chemicals. As first responders, firefighters and other emergency response teams are the front line in dealing with hazardous materials. They and their communities particularly need to be more aware of potential hazards in households, in agricultural operations, and at Slllall businesses. The dangers these chemicals pose can be reduced if firefighters ar e more prepared for specific risks and have appropriate resour ces available to handle them. L8ck of information at the local level has been identified repeatedly as a problem in emergency response planning for hazardous material incidents. Project FIRERAT (Hazardous Awareness Teamwork), funded by a grant from T.V.A. to the University of North Carolina at \sheville has recently been started in WNC . It's aim is to assist Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson and Madison counties by collecting information on risks in the COlllDunity. Through a series of workshops with local volunteer fire departments, FIREHAT addresses specific areas of concern identified by local, regional , and state emergency response professionals. Some of the topics covered are: laws governing handling of agricultural chemicals, transportation of hazardous materials and the new North Carolina Right-To-Know Act. Future plans include 3 video to further inform f i r"ef ighters and public alike . For mor e information contact; PROJECT FIREHAT 102 Tacoma Cir . Asheville, NC 28801 Cam Metcalf Millie Buchanan 254- 4414 253-4423 Scientists at Michigan State University have discovered a virus which inhibits the American chestnut blight. An estimated 3.5 billion trees died between 1904 and the early 1950's. With the demise of the chestnut came a decline in bear populations due to a marked decrease in available mast each fall. Being studied is a naturally occurring virus which infects the chestnut blight fungus. The fungus damages the tree under the bark but does not affect the roots. Keeping the fungus in check allows the roots to send up sprouts then allowed to form healthy trees. The origin of the virus remains a myster y. "POST NO BILLS" • n w ""ve' U • cva c•l S~ Billboard landscapes blocking your view? Then write to your U. S.Senators and urge them to support Senator John Glenn's proposed legislation which would in effect abolish billboards . The bill would prohibit destruction of vegetation along highways in front of billboards, close loopholes in the current law which allow for signs in rural areas, and ban new signs from zoned and unzoned co11111ercial and industrial areas. It would also establish a 5-yenr moratorium on signs in unzoned commercial or industrial areas made "non-conforming" by this bill and would require them to come down following the 5year period. Write: Senator , U.S.Senate Washington, DC 20510 NATIVE BEARS THREATENED BY RUSSIAN BOA RS Unchecked populations of wild boar s in the Great Smoky Mountains Nat ional Park are depriving native animals (especially bears) from sixt y per cent of the acorns needed to s urvive the winter months . In an attempt to secure an ecological balance in the park , rangers trap the boar and release them outside the park wher e hunting is permitted. Local hunting organizations and some rangers would like to see the trappings increase . Alr eady five organizations have co-signed an appeal against widening the present range of the boars and thus keeping their destructive ways confined. Raving received national attention has taken the appeal to Washington. But the real issue is back in the park where the ever increasing population needs definite thinning . Perhaps re-establishing a native wolf population in the park would allo~ for a more natural Karen Paquette "The Mo.g.<.ca.i. Chil.d" ht al.£ o6 .the chil.d who dlt.eam.6 a.uxlke oWt. memo.11.y 06 whe.11.e ~ beg.in ... .the chil.d tL6. • • who dJL~ aunke. the. g11.e.a.t 'comhtg .to9e.the.11. place' on owt EaJLth Mo.the11.. HO/" We a.11.e a.t.t. chil.dlt.en .to9e.the.11.. --Scout tee How important is it to pay attention to dreams? Peoples from al.most all societies and cultures on earth throughout time have used dreams to deepen awareness, explain reality, and foretell the future. These have been characterized by 'culture pattern dreams', visions, and ordinary individual dreams consisting of cultural phenomena or subjective personal experience. Much attention has been paid to every physiological and psychological aspect: poets bespeak dreams, mythmakers spin them, and visionaries live them ••. The importance of 'dreamspeaking' is becoming more evident as creative consciousness is accepted as a valid process in a world where science and mysticism are finding common ground. If we look at the essence of what it ia to dre11111 and not 'means', we come closer to understanding the power and the process of the dream's potential. ' Night dreaming ' is a bodiless experience . It is a networking of dimensions unhindered by ear thplace exi stence . Here, we are guided by our leaders , goaded by our 'monsters ' , and sung to by our muses ..• On the other hand, ' daydreaming' is the experience of fantasy, of creative visualization, and of reverie. The former is usually receptive; the latter, creative. If our 'somewhere over the rainbow ' dreams are not coming true for us, perhaps i t is because we have 'pu t aw the things of the child' in ay us too securely. As adults we must learn ~o allow ourselves to be re-enchanted--to look to the child, the one we once were who is still within us, and to the child who walks beside us as son, daughter or friend. Can we rememher when the simplic- preda~~ L---------;,.;.-...:~--:.&,.••ey-• --y s• em ._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _...,. Wl@\Vl@\Yf@Wl@\V(@\'(/@'r(f@\Vl@ WI@ pr • eco• s • t•• Winter 1985-86 �ity of our ' higher' visions were cloud scapes changing with the breeze? When our ladder to higher consciousness was a tree limb? The abandonment of lying face-up, open and vulnerable to the greater expanse of the sky let our imagination be free. It was easy to absorb the knowledge of hidden things, represented by clouds, into the more imaginative parts of our being. Remember the joy? The Adventure! ... If we can relive that ma&ical moment in time, remembering that the child we once were is still there (covered, now, by our layers of 'adulthood'), we can tap into the 'stuff that dreams are made of' anytime. Remembering dreams not only means remembering sleep consciousness but also means capturing the essence of the creative proc ess (i.e., the 'magic momenta') that are the energy structure of our visions. Knowing we can still 'p13y' is essential to our life's work of manifesting our dreams ss reality. In structuring our future we must also look to the generations to come-to the children. We can help our sons and daughters stay open to their creative processes by encouraging their 'daydreaming'. We can do this by way of a morning ritual: of sharing dreams upon awakening. Doing this, we find it becomes progressively easier and more natural for our children to remember the nightland visited if we do it regularly with them. This practice adds another d1mension to the life we share with our children. It is important not to dismiss our children's nightmareil'With only reassurances. Children have a great ability to understand symbols and inner meanings. If we complement their own fantasies with simple 'truths' we might find that they will begin to look forward to their nightly adventures. In this way we give our children a way to experience and accept their 'inner life ' in a way which m any of us adults were not allowed to do at a younger age. Perhaps John Prine, during a recent visit to our Katuah region (Asheville Music Hall, 10/31/85), summed it up best in this way: WE WERE TN A HOUSE WTTH BOTH OF OUR VTNTNG ROOM TABLES PUSHEV TOGETHER ANV VAV'S HOUSE ANV MOM'S HOUSE PUSHEV TOGETHER. WE WERE ALL GETTING REAVY TO HAVE SUPPER TOGETHER ANV ETHAN WAS TN COLLEGE ANV GRANVIi.A WAS IN HER APARTMENT. I WANTEV TO FLY ANV GET THEM BECAUSE WE WERE HAVING A BTG PARTY AT OUR HOUSE ANV SO T WALKEV OUT THE VOOR ANV 1 FLEW TO ETHAN'S COLLEGE ANV 1 GOT HIM. I HELPEV HTM FLY BACK TO GRANVMA'S HOUSE. 1 GOT HER ANV BOTH OF THEM VIVN'T KNOW HOW TO FLY ANV SO I HAV THEM HOLV MY HANVS AS 1 FLEW. WHEN WE GOT BACK TO OUR HOUSE WE SAT VOWN AT THE TABLE ANV SAW A BIG CAKE ON IT. WE VIVN'T KNOW THERE WAS GOING TO BE A CAKE THERE. WE ATE THE CAKE ANV THEN WE WENT INTO THE LIVING ROOM ANV HAV A FAMILY HUG. Ab.i.ga.il., age g, who4e pa.II.en.ti. cUVOIJ..Ced when 4he 11n.t> 6oWL. "Dream in' comes easy, Like the first breath of a baby~ Like sunshine feedin' daisies-Like the love hidden deep in your heart.'' ... as does the following dream by this e ight year old: A CHILDREN'S PAGE ~ \\@JA\©JA\@JA\@/A\@IA\(i)JA\ @JA\@/Jt.\~/ A\®Jh._JA\@J) \VJA\@/A\@JA\@:/}.\@11'\@IA\®IA\@11'\@l/\\®IA\@IA\.®IA\®IA\@JA\®IA\®® , K.~ 7L oil- \ H - pa i;<? 8P 1 °J 1a.tW ~5 Winter 1985-86 �DRUMMING ,, LETTERS TO KATUAH • Dear Folk Thanks for the latest KatGah, with the pertinant articles on the threats to this area's life. Acid rain and nuclear waste are not metaphors for apocalypse, they are part of it . I am still stirred by memories of the sullUller solstice ceremony at Sam's Knob. The dominant image in my mind is of a people-crystal hung in a rainbow pouch above one of Gaia' a vital organs now in need. The crystal is a little chipped and sort of jagged on one end, and it has cracks in it, but it works. I don't know how it works, but I know it works. We had a fall equinox celebration here involving sweats at Zephyr in their huge blue sweat lodge. People wove wreaths out of vines and flowers. Each year people bring whatever ripe fruits are on hand, and Bob AveryGrubel takes them and makes them into wine. Around the fire this year we drank wine from the two previous years. We chanted all our chants and sang a lot of songs. I read a poem which went something like: We are allies and can ill afford to fight amongst ourcellves we can ill afford to fight amongst ourcellves Dear Katuah I have been thinking about the humans' connection with nature, mainly because I am concerned about my relationship with the Earth. The past two years I have been able to begin fulfilling a dream - a dream of achieving harmony with and awareness of the Earth, her native spirits, muses, plants, and animals •.... the Great Spirit that breathes through all, beyond tangible boundaries. Last year and this past summer were especially profound and strengthening, living in the mystical mountains of Katuab with people who understood and were striving to live i n harmony too . Working in a garden, harvesting her fruit, feeling the sun, rain, early morning fog and dew; sensing my emerging woman. I found that the Earth is full of surprises boundless knowledge, unsurpassable strength. Waking up as darkness rotated into dawn, meeting a companion in the pasture by the saw mill as the Sun burst through the trees over the mountains. Sleeping outside , sensing the roundness of the all-powerful sphere beneath my body. "Woman" is a powerful sense, I found, feeling the cycles and circles and the bond between myself and the Earth ...•• growing . Such strength and insight can be gained from active involvement with Mother Earth! Knowledge that can only be felt and inwardly heard, beyond human words. Now I sit in the morning sun upon the western part of this continent. In this changed atmosphere , it is easy to forget, easy to become passive and let Mother Earth with her unlimited knowledge and opportunity, her infiniteness, slip away. I will continue to strive for my goal, which I hope will always be just beyond my reach, forever expanding. My "environment" is wherever the River leads me. A human being can be forever hopeful. I make sure not to miss the new day's da~"!l ....• Peace, Celia Wissler Central California After seeing the cover picture on the fall issue of K.atuah, my lady and I went to the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. We thought that i f those two poplar trees in the picture were still there, then we would find the bodies of the chestnut trees there, too. Sure enough, lying behind those two old poplars were three huge chestnuts. They were covered with moss, and we could climb up on them and walk a long way! It must have been amazing to see them standing. Ralph Morgan Webster, NC There's plenty but there's not enough to spill it on the ground when we work together love will reach around We are allies and can i l l afford to fight amongst ourcellves we can ill afford to fight amongst ourcellves Take Heart ~ Will Ashe Bason Travianna Farm Check, VA !<.ATl'..\H - page 26 Winter 1985-86 �On Swtday, Oc..tobe11. 13, 1985, tfWi;ty-6.<.ve. people. came. toge.the11. 6011. the. annua.l l<a.tLulh Fall Ga-theM.ng . We. had a c.hanc.e. to .6 e.e. .6ome. 6ac.u be.h.<.nd namu we. had known 6011. a long ilme ... and we. had a c.hanc.e. to tatk wUh. ea.eh othe11.. We. .&poke. abou:t oWtAe.l.vu .<.n 11.e.Wi.on to th.<..6 land: _A._~:Jr 1t;~·~ .~-f (J ":~'\ ' '' "I live down in Georgia. The land down there is so poisoned, that we can't even be sure about the drinking water. I want to grow an organic garden , but a garden can 't be certified down there, because there's no telling what was put on the land when it was planted in cotton. "We came up here to Katuah because the land seems so much less disturbed. This seems like a powerful place to get in touch with the land. 1 hope everybody who lives here remembers how they are blessed and will protect this land to keep it alive and healthy." - Morgan "For a long time I was looking inside myself for a spiritual change and a spiritual experience. Now l feel myself coming out, and I am moved by concern for the Earth and her creatures. Once again I am feeling earthiness. l think that now l need to bring my spiritual part to a practical level, working on the Earth, being of service. In doing this, every thought we think is important, because thought is creative . It brings the spiritual down to the material level. "Each of us has a purpose for being here. For myself, I want my actions to come from the heart. I want to make permanent changes in others and in myself - changes that bring us toward unity, not separation. "People and groups can teach each other. Every little bit is illportant. I f we leave out anything,. then it's not whole. I'• looking to see whole people and a whole Barth. It's good to know a little bit aore of ay purpose." - Linda "Looking around us we see ecological disaster, and looking at our society we see a great spiritual void. The two are interconnected. We can't ever be whole on the spiritual level unless we are biologically well. "For example: I don't like clearcuts. I heard once that it takes 40 acres of trees to print one issue of the N.Y. Times. Since then I haven't bought another newspaper-:-r-go to the library if I want to see a paper. That may seem insignificant, but it's an exam;ie of an action moving from the spiritual to the mental to the political realms." - Donald ' "This is an age of personal transformation. Our personal change is a metaphor for the changes the Earth and our universe are going through. l want to learn and listen, a.nd translate these lessons into my life and work. 11 - Les "Those who care about life have to come together to reinforce each other in a multitude of ways to make us all strong enough to live through the coming changes. We must do thia if we are to survive as a species . "We have to keep in mind that this culture is real. It exists. It is not people, it is not a government. It is an energy form, and it stands against everything we value. "We need to be strong and dedicated . We need to have the will to stay together, to keep our ideals, and to make our visions happen. Otherwise it won't happen. If we believe something, we have to eat that way, think that way, live that way." - Andy " We need to have a positive dream, a positive vision. We need to focus on that and head for it straight as an arrow. "Looking around me, I see others changing, and I see myself changing. We need to take the world as it is, the good with the bad, and, starting with this, to make it new. We need to affirm a positive future and our ability to create it. We need to affirm our ability to dream." - Judith It ~ an .<.Mpi.11..i.ng da.y ••••••• Le.t' .6 aU 06 U6 ge.t .toge.the.11. 60.I!. the. Katful.h Sp!Ung Ga-thell..<.ng. See. you the.n! #" "-~TUAH - page 27 Winter 1985-86 �cfReLes cle, I began with small stones and sticks that I stuck in the ground at the right time on the right days. Later when I found a good rock and I had the time, I'd haul it back there and stick it in. "This is the most primitive way of making the simplest types of observations. It is now known that the ancient Europeans could predict eclipses by watching the moon. This is remarkable, because the key to predicting an eclipse is a slight wobble in the moon's orbit, and this wobble is visible only every 9. 3 years when the moon is at the northernmost and southernmost points of her orbit. These people were considered illiterate! Bow could they have kept that information long enough to establish a repeating pattern of observations?" THE PATIERNS IN NATURE The stone circles acted as a bridge between the Earth and the sky for the early peoples. l:lumankind is ever searching for patterns. It seems to be in our nature to seek out the order in our ever-changing world. In their role as astronomical observatories, the rock monuments_pass on to us the excitement the ancients felt in discovering the cosmic order in the movements of the heavens. "At one time," said Lylich, "when it turned winter, people didn't kn.ow if it was going to be spring again or ot. But when they could look at the sun, and see it turn back, they could say, 'Look! It ' s following the same pattern it did last year!', and they'd know everything was going· long alright.'' (continued from p. 5) There is also a power in the Earth. Whether physical and/or spiritual it is capable of turning dowsers' rods or making an electromagnetic charge measurable on a gaussometer. The Cherokee Indians of Katuah were aware of this and recognized sacred sites that were sources of spiritual •power here in this land (see page 11). It is said that th~ standing stones of pre-Celtic Europe were also conductors for this mysterious Earth energy, sometimes called the "dragon power" and symbolically represented on the great stones by spiral designs chiseled with great care onto so many of the monuments. It is surmised that this power was readily perceptible to the ancestors through senses that we have lost to civilization, and that generating and using this energy was a central feature of the ceremonies and rituals held at the sites. "I hear stories," said Lylich, "of people who touch big standing stones and feel a tingle or a shock, or who ·lose their balance and fall to the ground. There are also stories of strange electromagnetic effects or weird weather associated with them. "No one has told me that they have felt that in our circle. Mostly what I feel is a solid, massive, rooted-in-the-Earth, basic-type feeling. Maybe that's what we need today." This could very well be so, The movements of the heavenly bodies, which so transfixed the old ones, are now proven and documented to the point of being commonplace. But the connection to the Earth that the old ones took for granted is only now being rediscovered by Mother Ela's children. Perhaps by helping us to remember, the stones are helping in a healing. "Making this megalithic stone circle was slow, but it wasn't difficult," said Lylich. "The time was right and it felt like we were moving with a flow of something already happening. "The number four is a sacred number to the Cherokees, and it seemed to be important in the construction of this circle . I was 40 last year when we built it, and that was the 400th year of European settlement in North America--dating from the lost colony of Manteo. It was also the 444th year since DeSoto's expedition in 1540, which was the first time white people penetrated these mountains. We have had our way with this con-· tinent for 400 years.The four directions, the four seasons, the four rounds of a sweat lodge; 1n many ways the number four signifies a completed cycle. I think it means that we've had our time here, and that now it's time for something else to happen. "It's time for a change 1n our attitude. We've been screwing it up for 400 yef.rs, maybe now it ' s time to straighten it back for 400 years. That ' s about how long it would take to restore the wild places the continent had when we first approached its shores." RESOURCE READING: Earth Magic by Francis Hitchings (Wm. Morrow & Company, New York City, 1977) - D.W. Ly.Uch (;)[.(tba.wtL may be cont.ac.te.d tlvt.ough Ka;tUah; Sox 873; CuLlowhee, NC 2872;-- Pmvidin~ Pen<>n.1l Sttvicc Allin~ Your Boal< N..,.U 704.264.5866 In Speciali:od Fields Books Q,.J ThingsL~ ... GARY HEMSOTH !loolutlJ..- ?08 Blowu>g Rock Road Boone, Nonh Camlonn Ul607 A \'ARIF.TY OF WHOJ.F.Sot!E BAKED coons SOI AH PllOUlJCTS WAIER ANALYSIS RAN UAL l C lANIER 704 293 5912 :{AITAH - page 28 llWY. 101 Rf. 68 BOX 125 CULLOWllEE, NC 28723 Winter 1985-86 �WINTER SOLSTICE-YULE The longest night, light is born. This is a time for community earth ceremonies and celebration. See Kat6ah issue 06 for a suggested Winter Solstice Earth ceremony. CULLOWHEE, NC "The G eat Forest: An Appalr achian Story," ongoing through January 6, 1986. At The Mountain Heritage Center. 17 ASHEVILLE, NC Dr. H. Ray Evers of the Evers Clinic, Cottonwood , AL, one of the most successful institutions offering alternative medical treatment in the country , to speak on "Holistic Healing and Freedom of Choice"· UNC-A, Humanities Lecture Hall· ' 7:30 pm. ' 19 ASHEVILLE , NC Christmas Caroling at Craggy State Prison. Bring flashlights, songsheets provided. Parking limited Please carpool. (ABCCM Jail and Prison Ministry). 7-8 pm. HOT SPRINGS, NC. Southern Dharma Retreat Center will sponsor a 7-day meditation retreat, which will be led by John Orr, a former Buddhist monk who now lives and teaches in the DurhamChapel Hill area of N,C. The retreat will cost $190., which includes all meals and lodging. For further info call 704-622-7112 or 704-254-1351. 28 3 BLACK MOUNTAIN, NC. David Wilcox-original and traditional folk tunes. Exceptional guitarist, storyteller , singer and songwriter. McDibbs, $2.00 9pm , 16 BLACK M1'N. 1 NC . Harriet Witt Miller-slides on Halley ' s Comet, McDibbs, $2.00, 9pm , Children free , No smoking. 18 ASHEVILLE , NC. Martin Luther King, Jr. prayer breakfast. Key speaker-Shirley Chisholm. Call 253-37ll FEBRUARY 28 ASHEVILLE,NC. A concert in the Great Hall by The Community Chorus of UNC-Asheville. Free Admission. Grove Park Inn.4:00-5:00 pm. BLACK HISTORY MONTH For event info, call Y,M.I. Cultural Center (704) 252-4614 29 2 CANDLEMAS-the light quickens. GROUNDHOG DAY 7 MARS BILL, NC. ASHEVILLE, NC. A concert in the Great Ball by The Asheville Junior Symphony . Free Admission. Grove Park Inn. 4:00-5:00 pm. • Opening night of The G e.s t r Forest: An Appalachian Story Exhibi at Rural Life Museum. Public Showing Feb . 8-April 29. 9 HALLEY'S COMET reaches perihelion .•. its closest point to the sun. Earth, though , will be on the opposite aide of the sun from Balley' a Comet so it will be impossible for us to see it. Dr. Robert A. Resnick CHIROPRACTIC PHYSI C IAN MARCH ..;....we/ve,, now l'Y\oved to 01.At"' Y\CW off1ve .....)( NATURAL FOOD STORE & DELI CELEBRATING OUR 10th YEAR '3'3S Me-vv imon Ave. Ashe.vii le NG z~eo1 (704 ) 255. 6333 160 Broadway Ashev ille, N.C. 28801 Open 1 Days A Week Monday • Friday (704) 253-7656 9:00 a .m. · 8:00 p.m. Where Broadway Meets Merrlmon And 1 ·240 9:00 a .m. · 6:30 p.m. Saturday Sunday 1:00 .m. · 5:00 .m. 2-15 WOMEN'S HISTORY CELEBRATION Events at UNC-Asheville ( cal (704) 258-6588) and A.S.U., Boone ( call (704) 262-2170) & elsewhere . 8-21 HALLEY ' S COMET. Look south in the sky before sunrise. 18-25 CENTRAL AMERICA WEEK For program info, call (704) 252-9167 21-23 BOONE , NC. Appalachian Studies Conferenc Center for Continuing Education , Appalachian State University , herbs , na tive pla nt s, pere nnials, flowers, fruit trees, bulbs, bedd ing pla n ts. 80 Lakeside Drive 8/ IOl hs of a mile from Hdrdee'!> in Franklin, N.C . fo r informdlion call 524·3321 M ALAPROP'S BOOKSTORE/ CAFE BOOKS - CARDS - RECOROS 81 H4YWOOO ST. ASHEVlllE. NC 29801 704-254-8734 KA7f A - pa ge 29 H Winter 1985-86 £ �LIFE DESIGN: A counseling/consultant service; addressing communication , cooperation and a centered, focused approach to ENJOYING your life! Group Workshops , Individual and Family Sessions. Located at 5 Ravenscroft ~. Asheville. Phone Cat Gilliam at 254-8140 or Lorra Streifel at 2535575. RURAL SOUTRERN VOICE for PEACE (R.S.V.P.) is a network of people in rural/small city communities in the Southeast who are working to build the nonviolent alternative systems and lifestyles that can bring peace to our world. Publishes RSVP Newsletter. More info : RSVP, Rt 5 Box 335, Burnsville , NC 28714 NICARAGUAN COFFEE. Delicious, roasted coffee beans or ground coffee available for $6.00 a lb. Contact: Steve Livingston (704) 257-3019 IN 17th YEAR OF PUBLICATION, Akwesasne Notes is a Journal for Native and Natural Peoples, covering world events which effect indigenous peoples. For subscriptions or tax-deductible contributions: AKWESASNE NOTES, P.O. Box 196, Mohawk Nation , Rooseveltown , NY 13683-0196. liEADWATERS: What is your experience with water? Would you share your experience in your own means of expression (poetry, story, dance, music) for a performance and recording to explore and celebrate the beauty and purity of the mountain headwaters? We will focus on water in all its aspects-our goal is harmony. If you would like to be in a core group to create this production, contact Bill Melanson, P.O. Box 628, Asheville, NC 28802 T'AI CHI , a philosophy you can dance to. Mondays 7:30-9:30 pm at 70 Lexington Ave . Asheville with Harold Miller. APPALACHIAN GINSENG COMPANY. Stratfiied Seeds, Seedlings, 2-5 year old Roots. P.O . Box 547 , Dillsboro ,NC. 28725 ALTERNATIVE METHODS for controlling garden pests- send $2 . 00 to Joe Armstrong, Rt. l,Box 121 , Bardstown , KY. 40004 . If you have experience with methods of pest control that do not rely on synthetic pesticides, send your contributions to the "Alternative Methods of Pest Control" list being compiled by Joe Armstrong. Copies of the list available for $2.00 and a long SASE from address above SELF-RELP CREDIT UNION has now opened a branch office in Western North Carolina through the State Employees Credit Union system. For more info: Write: S.R.C.U., P.O. Box 3259, Durham, NC 27705, Or go by: State Employees Credit Union, 200 All Souls Crescent, Asheville, NC/telephone: (704) 274-4200 We are makers of Bamboo Flutes, Each of our flutes is capable of a twooctave range. They are electronically tuned, burnished, and lacquered. For prices and more information, write: Wood Song Rob Yard Route 3, Box 120-3 Floyd, VA. 24091 BACKROADS TOURS - A 32 page collection of self-guided motor tours through the rural areas of the Virginia Blue Ridge -$2.75 Laurel Publications Route 1 Meadows of Dan , VA 24120 WEBWORKING is free. Send submissions to: Katuah P.O.BOX 873 CULLOWREE, NC 28723 ·waterman ram pumps Q I ,t • .. • I • ~age, > 1\~ll~I ~a-Wr~ I ... , ' I t - • • I ' I T -SHIRTS E:1c h ori11 i n;il •• lf@~ia:n hand screened in 5 colors on lhe line~l 100% pre-shrunk cotton PaY "why to pump water when a ram pump wiil do it for free ?" Send for free brochure C. Hollifield 355 Cedar Creek Road Black Mountain, NC 28711 (704) 669-6821 ~ '<ATI:..\H - page 30 short a nd long sleeve t·shirts. I Sho11 Sleeve •1 ppcl S&P C/f£CJ<.H.a,"'41( I 0 1 CNA lt<;c 11" J ong Sf'eve indudes h owlc leol hers b eorpow') ' M r p d. Nome Ad dress _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ f l ong Sleeve Bloclc Beor 0 Silver 0 Ton 0 White Phone Moslercord Viso t1 Red-Tniled Howle 0 Ec111 0 SilvN O Too Mallle· Rld10Rtmoodl•~"''' E-,.-p-d-:-n_l_ _ __ _ . e 1033''> 911s... Rd w , ....111 •• lfr.7Al~R .. • Shor! long S·M· l ·XL n 1><11•56 JOOJ or wnle for brochure 0 0 Winter 1985-86 �OUR ERROR We neglected to put the by-line on the excellent article on "Acorn Bread" in the fall issue of Katuab. The article was written by S~ ·Bear - herbalist, counselor, and co-director of the Pepperland Farm Swi:lit.sfi 8 Degi .:l>l11xk .JJ(ai.."1;1' ~i~ 8 1'.Jfaril!J 13afa11ct1~/ Cerrffi£cl Camp. 628-1537 GET BACK! ISSUES OF KATUAH ISSUE TWO - WINTER 1983-84 ISSUE SIX - WINTER 1984-85 Yona • Bear Hunters •Pigeon River • Another Way With Animals • Alma: Poems • Becoming Politically Effective • Mountain Woodlands • Katuah Under The Dril l • Spiritual Warriors Winter Solstice Earth Ceremony • Horsepasture River • Coming of Light • Log Cabin Roots • Mountain Agriculture-The Right Crop• William Taylor • Forest's Future ISSUE SEVEN - SPRING 1985 ISSUE THREE - SPRING 1984 Sustainable Economics • Bot Springs • Worker ownership • The Great Economy • Self Help Credit Onion • Wil d Turkey • Responsible Investing • Working In The Web Of Life Sustainable Agriculture • Sunflower_, • Human Impact On The Forest • Childrens ' Education • veronica Nicholas : Woman In Politics • Little People • Medicine Allies ISSUE EIGHT - SOMMER 1985 ISSUE FOUR - SOMMER 1984 Celebration: A Way of Life• Katuah 18,000 Years Ago • Sacred Sites • Folk Arts in the Schools ·Sun Cycle/Moon Cycle • Hilda Downer• Cherokee Heritage Center• Who Owns Appalachia? water Orum • Water Quality • Kudzu • Solar Eclipse • Clearcutting • Trout • Going To Water•Ram Pumps • Microhydro • Poems: Bennie Lee Sinclair, Jim Wayne Miller ISSUE NINE - FALL 1985 ISSUE FIVE - FALL 1984 The Waldee Forest • The Trees Speak • Migrating Forests • Horse Logging • Starting A Tree crop • Orban Trees • J.\corn Bread • Myth Time Harvest • Old Ways In Cherokee • Ginseng • Nuclear Waste • Our Celtic Heritage • Bioregionalism Past, Present, And Future • John Wilnoty • Healing Darkness • Politics Of Participation I KATUAH: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalach ians B~x 873; Cul l owhee, N~rth Carolina 28723 ORDER FORM For more i n fo : call Marn ie Muller (70 4) 252- 916 7 Name Regular Membership ••• • • $10/ yr . Sponsor • • .••••..•• •• • •• $20/ y r . Contr ibutor • • . • •• ••• ••• $50/ yr . Add r ess Enclou .d .i4 , .t~.l.4 t66o~t c ity Area Code State Zip $ 4n txt~A .to 9.ivt bo o4.t Back Issue s Issue 2 Issue 3 Issue 4 Issue 5 Issue 6 Issue 7 Issue 8 Issue 9 @ $2 . 0 0 = $ @ $2.00 .. $- @ $2.00 = s-- @ $2. 00 • $- - @ $2.00 • @ $2 . 00 @ $2 . 00 @ $2.00 TOTAL PRICE • postage p a id $-$= $ $== $_ _ I can be a local contact peraon for m area y Phone NUilber KA rf AH - pa~e 31 Wint er 1985-86 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records Description An account of the resource <em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal</em>,&nbsp;was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. <br /><br /><span>The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name,&nbsp;</span><em>Katúah</em><span>, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant.&nbsp;</span><br /><span><br />The <em>Katúah Journal</em> was co-founded by Marnie Muller, David Wheeler, Thomas Rain Crowe, Martha Tree and others who served as co-publishers and co-editors. Other key team members included Chip Smith, David Reed, Jay Mackey, Rob Messick and many others.</span><br /><br />This digital collection is only a portion of the <em>Katúah</em>-related materials in the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection in Special Collections at Appalachian State University. The items in AC.870 Katúah Journal records cover the production history of the <em>Katúah Journal</em>. Contained within the records are correspondence, publication information, article submissions, and financial information. The editorial layouts for issues 12 through 39 are included as are a full run of the Journal spanning nearly a decade. Also included are photographs of events related to the Journal and a film on the publication. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived This resource is part of the&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal Records </em>collection. For a description of the entire collection, see <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Katúah Journal Records (AC. 870)</a>. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The images and information in this collection are protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. C.) and are intended only for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes, provided proper citation is used – i.e., Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records, 1980-2013 (AC.870), W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. Researchers are responsible for securing permissions from the copyright holder for any reproduction, publication, or commercial use of these materials. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1983-1993 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource journals (periodicals) Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, Issue 10, Winter 1985-1986 Description An account of the resource The theme of the tenth issue of the <em>Katúah Journal</em> is on holistic healing, folk medicine traditions, and sacred places. Authors and artists in this issue include: Meridel LeSeur, Kate Rogers, Barbara Reimensnyder,  Marlene Mountain, Stephen Knauth, Douglas A. Rossman, Nancy-Lou Patterson, D. Massey, David Wheeler, Roger Stephens, Richard Ciccarelli, Diannah Beauregard, J. Linn Mackey, and Karen Paquette. <br><br><em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to <em>Katúah Journal</em>, was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name, Katúah, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-1986 Table Of Contents A list of subunits of the resource. Medicine Traditions Near Home.......1<br /><br />Kate Rogers and Her Mountain Medicals.......3<br /><br />Circles of Stone.......4<br /><br />Internal Mythmaking: An Interview with Marlene Mountain.......6<br /><br />"This is Heresy!" Holistic Healing on Trial.......9<br /><br />Two Poems by Steve Knauth.......10<br /><br />Cherokee Mythic Places.......11<br /><br />The Uktena's Tale.......15<br /><br />Crystal Magic.......19<br /><br />Good Medicine: "What Makes a Place Sacred?".......20<br /><br />Review: Deep Ecology.......21<br /><br />Natural World News.......22<br /><br />"Dreamspeaking".......24<br /><br />Fall Katúah Gathering.......27<br /><br /><em>Note: This table of contents corresponds to the original document, not the Document Viewer.</em> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Sylva Herald Publishing Company, Sylva, North Carolina Subject The topic of the resource Bioregionalism--Appalachian Region, Southern Sustainable living--Appalachian Region, Southern Holistic medicine Alternative medicine--North Carolina, Western Art Therapy Visions Herbs-Therapeutic use--North Carolina, Western Dream interpretation Sacred space Stone circles North Carolina, Western Blue Ridge Mountains Appalachian Region, Southern North Carolina--Periodicals Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937"> AC.870 Katúah Journal records</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a title="In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted" href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/?language=en 8" target="_blank"> In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted </a> Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Appalachian Region, Southern Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. <a title="Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians" href="https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/collections/show/79" target="_blank"> Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians </a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Journals (Periodicals) Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1980s Acid Deposition Appalachian Mountains Appalachian Studies Black Bears Book Reviews Cherokees Children's Page Earth Energies European Immigration Folklore and Ceremony Good Medicine Habitat Hazardous Chemicals Health Katúah Pigeon River Plants and Herbs Poems Radioactive Waste Sacred Sites Turtle Island Water Quality Women's Issues https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/3567a630be59b5496463f585671f2635.pdf 61f182d69dcedf09a39a622f12601af3 PDF Text Text f ~ . CK._ATUAH > .... $1.50 ISSUE 18 WINTER 1987-88 BIOREGIONAL JOURNAL OF THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS ._,, • �Photo by Paul Gallimore (j~~-~-T-~H) P.O. Box 873 Cullowhee, NC Katuah Province Postage Paid Non-profit Org. 28723 Note new address, inside/ ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED Permit #12 Cullowhee, NC 28723 �• SHELTER IN KATUAH Resource List.... .. ... .. .• • On Bui.Jdlng andDulgn Solar Compo ting ToileL.......... IS October Qysk ............................. 16 P<>tms by Rlla Silns Qull,.n Review by Ju/Ja N11111f411y Duncan Good Medicine: 'On Sbelter"....... 18 The Future of the Black Bcar........19 COf(cnia Rqon Natural World News.. .. ............20 CaldwdJ CtJlllfly I~ SlflOkia Wlldentas Bill Poachers C.,lrt MRS in CDngras Forat Snvla Pba Al1Mll Duh'1 Col~ Cred p;o}«t AslwvUle R«,clJni CenlU A Children's Page......................23 Drummang ...... Utltn to Kalllah • ... 24 ·A Bourn of Buds".. . .. .. .. .28 f'\ l'otm by Miclrod ffodtatlat The presence of shelter embodies much more than just a building. It is a home, a center around which members of a family or community emerge, travel from, return to, and are visited. Many of the most important events in human life find a place, time, and meaning within the structures we build. It is here that we house or integrate the activities of our lives (birthing, growing, eating, sleeping, playing, working, dying...) In many ways, "we are what we build". Through this kind of architectural mirror is reflected the expression of a cultural and personal world view. We now greatly attect the ecology of the Earth by the impact of our collective human existence. The niches we carve out for ourselves very often intrude into the habitat of other animals and plants. Is it possible for us to build our communities in accord with the recycling nature of the systems that surround us? Buildings are inherently open systems that interact with the forces of wind, water, land, temperature, season. and other living things. Our relatedness to the natural world can be acknowledged through designing shelter that is actively aware of the flow of energies coming into, working within, moving out of, and mingling among other systems of the Earth, and, particularly, of a bioregion. By affirming patterns of sustainability in the design of our shelters and communities. we foster their existence and come closer to being in harmony with all that is. -The Editors/ �......---..;~ (i.ATUAH) EDITORIAL STAfF DDS J.s.s!LE; Scott Bird Sam Gray Rob Messick ~1amie Michael Red Foit Manha Tree David Wheeler Muller EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE: Christina Morrison Bob WiesellTl311 Sarah Jane Thomas Hot Sauce Cover: "Howie's Dome" ne:ir Bethel, NC. Photo by Rob Messick. Thanks lO Eart.hdanccr for the Invocation for this issue. which was reprinted from lhe Educational Resource Ccmcr Newslcucr, P.O. Box The Southern Appalachian Bioreglon and Ma1or Eastern River Systems 460; Floyd, VA 24091 EDITORIAL OFFICE THJS ISSUE: Worley Cove. Sandymush Creek PRINTED BY: Sylva Herald Publishing Co., Sylva, NC WRITE US AT: TELEPHONE: (704) 683-1414 KaWh... Boit 638 Leicester, NC Katuah Province 28748 01vcrsuy 1$ an imponant clement of bioregional ecology. both ll.llural and soci.11. In lme with this principle, Katllah tries to serve as a forum for the discUSSion of regional iSSlle$. Siincd articles express mly lhc op1n10n ol the authors and arc not ncccuanly the opiruons of lhc Kati.ah edit.ors or Slaff. The lni.cmal Rc•'CllUC Servltc lw declared Kazuah a non-profit organ11.ation under MlCtion SO I(cX3) of the ln=I Revenue Code. All conuibutions io Katuali arc doducuble from personal income rax. 'LNVOCA.TWN STATEMENT OF PURPOSE Here in rhe sou1hern-mos1 heartland of the Appalachian moU11Jains, the oldest moUnJain range on our continent, Turrie Island; a small buz growing group has begun to IOU on a sense of responsibility for the implications of tltat geographical and cultural heritage. This sense of responsibility centers on ti~ concept of living within ti~ narwal scale and balance ofumversal syswnr and principles. Within this circle we begin by invoking the Cherolcee name " Katuah" as the old/new name for this area of the mountains and for its journal as well. The province is indicared by its natural boundaries: the Roanoke Rfrer Valley to the nonh; the foothills of the piedmont area to the east; Yona Mountain and the Georgia hills to the somh; and the Tennent/! Rfrer i'nlley to the west. The editorial priorities for us are to collect and disseminate information and energy which pertains specifically to this regwn. and to foster the awareness t/IDJ the land is a living being deserving of our love and respect. LJ1•ing in tltis manner is a way to insure the sustaillllbilicy of tlte biosphere and a lasting place for ourselves in irs continuing evolutionary process. We seem to have reached the fulcrum point of a "do or die "siruarion in terms of a quality standard of life for all living befogs on 1/iis planet. As a voice for rite caretakers of this sacred land, Kawah, we advocate a ceruered approach to tlte concept of decentralization. It is our hope to become a support system for those accepting the challenge of s1istainabi/iry and ti~ crea1io11 af harmony and balance in a total sense, here in tliis place. We welcome all co"espondence, criticism, pertinent information, anicles, arrwork. etc. witlt hopes that Katuah will grow to serve the best interests of tltis region and all its living, breathing members. - The Editors KATUMI - page 2 WINTER 1987·88 �PROTECTING THE DREAMER: Vernacular Values in H.cgional Architecture by Sam Gray ln his classic work, Poetics of the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard focused on various levels of architectural meaning. He suggested Lhat a basic feature of those meanings we associate with the idea of Lhe house is that the home protects. It not only protects physically against climate and weather, it protects psychically as well. IL protects thought, reverie, and dreaming. That, perhaps, is its most important function. "The purpose of the house is to protect the dreamer within," wrote Bachelard. Evoked is the architecture of dwelling - protective, sensual. natural - grounded in a locale and a time. In a word, vernacular, ar adjective which connotes in buildint economics, politics. cooking, or a what it once described exclusive! about language or poetry. "Vernacular" is Lhe indigenou the traditional, the homemad1 spontaneous, colloquial expression< anything. If a house of some order (tip cabin. frame house, stone hous1 yurt) is important for huma reflection and dreaming, it is littl wonder that our psyches become s1 entwined with their architecture. The house of our childhood i: an architectural emity, a psychic landscape and a context for memories and understanding. So. too, is the house of our plans, the house we would build - the dream house of the mind that we continuously construct, revise, and renovate. The dreamer. protected by the house, dreams a house and fills n with plans, voices, and ghosts that are themselves protected by the house. In our time, the architectural space that shelters thought and dreams has begun to fill with the electronic dreams, projections. and hallucinations of the national media and markets. It is possible that the traditional purpose of the house has undergone an evolution. The dreaming space, filled from within ~. • continued on page 4 WINTER 1987·88 SM/ton I/oust. llaywood Coun1y. 1876-188(). Two-story frame howt wl1h tngaged /WO-lier /'()rch bu1/1 by ConftlkraJt \'ttcran S~p,..tn J. Shelton. 1he building now hawsts 1he Mumm1 of Nor1h Carolina llaNficr<(rs. Ap1'><11arl11a11 log cabin i11 uniikntifitd locale, circa 1900. Roofln~ is chcstnUI or oaJc slt.:iks. Jesst Cmp I/oust. Graham Counry. tarly 20th cen1ury. Two-s1ary framt hou.~t of a "Y-p/an• foU!ld with some frequtncy in Graham County bw rurt tl_.htWrt KATUAH - page 3 �PR01 EC'Tll\\G THE ORl-:AMER connnucd from J13gC 3 Gallaway llou.u l tanrylv'11lla CoUJtty, clrrn 1878 T'r<o•Jtaq tOC!/ di /armlil>~ '6ilh iabk aJtd ~;iltrlDt r!ld bticl tldM11r11fr0111 '4 • a 114 titr ~roe/p<nlt atTO.U UllW bay Jlar w lla1m. CllLrctLt Co1U1tv, IBSO 1882 f'Wo.srory britl /ttJllU of lftDd 1td •t.i.p/an• ..~111 iltltTID! t1ii,,.J1tp Tl:e "'""'~' porr:h a TOIJ tltLfa t ..idth t:ftM/.itilM ha.I s:mn ..wl lnacltts and balas:radt 71'~ brl "' tbr bltJldint "~" mt:M on ilu Cl111r ~11'1:1 loust lla¥>4'00d COIUIJJ lA:L I II UfllJl.1'1 r ... •r plt111 brW: ho1<u •iJ/I t l l"lpcrtA aucw/att:tk/ta:J:nfll tlt:fldr un.n ..w1 balllft~ KATUAH p:igc 4 tic stCOnd Jnri. \\uh the \\lute noise of the mas dream. loses its cnp!lcit) to protect nnd nunurc ubJCclt\C drenming 1 he contemporar1 mas nrclutccturc of dv.elhng reflects th1 ero 10!1 Demographics, technology. nd the market &re estabh hing n stnndardized hou ing thai fills an urb!lil or suburb:m topogrnph) \\hi ch ha been stripped of all indigenous populnuon!; and fe:iturcs. 1bc re uhing arrangement of nrchitccturnl values lea,es the dreamer (the subjecti\'e self) unprotected, unjustified, and nccidentnl. What has been deleted from contemporury mass architectural expression of the house i the sense nnd presence of the \'Cmaculnr, nn element essential to the protection of the dreamer. There nre two architectural clements of the vemnculnr house thnt ore particularly impon:mt to the protection of rc\erie and drcnming. lbese arc the heanh nnd the porch. Hoth v.crc corn istent features of the vemacular houses of the Kn1unh re ion an former times. ·1bc psychic mean mg of the hearth go fnr b:tck m time nnd the relationship of henrthfirc and drcnm consciousness have been discussed frequently in the poetry nnd literature of architectural meaning. The porch or verandah is n more regional nrchitectur:il feature. Jn its grander, two-storied, b:tlustraded fonns, it is derived from the semi-tropicnl, colonial, Canbbean nrchilecture or the 18th Century. Yet it wns always n feature of 1hc Southern Appalachian log cabin. It is n medinting space situated between the outside, the domain of energies expended in agricultural labor. and the cabm intenor, the domnm of energies regenerated in enung nnd sleepmg. h is n place of repose, n place for dreaming. The photograph oc:ompany mg th1 text offer a sampling of the nch leg C) of vemncul r hou es of the Kntu h region. 1t 1s a lcgnc) that •"' fnst d1sappeanng. These hou es that have protected generations of dreamer hn..·e themselves little protection from the descendants of the dreamers. , Wl~'TER 1987 8 �by Adam Cohen pbns nuke 11 casa to csnmac materials and to by out consttucuon sequence cffiaenlly. My uplllTmion nf building 1n Ka1Wih has been on a personal Incl as ...~11 as on a professiolllll lr:vel. My aperienu rangt.s from building for ma.timum economy to building for maximum luiury BUI 1hLre u a COmmJJn ft•cl111g I get from people n•eryonc de.sires a spucc 111 KIUc:h ro l1vt./111ly. To tmly e.rperitncc life means to live on orhtr lt\•cls bcs1dct the phylical. A /Mng Jpace llumlJ bt. bmh organic and J1exihlc ·it mmt l>e oble w grow and chan~ ro mur all of our nuds. Ir IS rhur fuUng of organic:, tccmorrucal arclurcc:turc rhar I strl~ f<1r 111 m)' wark, /n thu article I will 0U1l1M tlui lxmc.r of bmldmg as rcmpcrtd by my personal architectural phUosophy and practical, professional ~rkncu. But even 1hc best·latd plans run tnto wiforcsccn diffaculncs. 1bc bes& ~-ay 10 deal w11h this 1s 10 be flexible and to devise cn::ulvc soluuons.. If you choose to have a house dra't•lll for you, Rmcmbcr that 1he design proocss 1s yours. One can move walls on papcreauly, so 1akc dmc and uplore many options bcfon: dccidin~ on I rmaJ plan. To begin designing 1 dwelling, oullinc the needs the suuaure should fulfill, lis1 1he areas and livin& spaces desired. 1ncrc arc many ways to pu1 these spaces 1ogclhcr. Whal approximate square foocagc is desired'? Is a linglc·unit or multi·unu dwelling the best for the sile and the inhabitants? Would you late IO hve in a roundish, squarish, turtlc·baclccd, or free-form dwelling? How tall should the space be? Any lofts or second 5'0rics? Are ~J~n spaces « disunct rooms A house rctain5 the energy put into the builJ1ng. tnrusc the bullchn4 process w11h good energy rrum 1hc be4mning to stlllt the new dwelling off In the nght way. smNG Solar houses arc desirable in cvuy biorcgion in the temperate zone. The sun as hfc. Where I bvc in northern K.atiiah. I find lhat we need house£ 1ha1 are flexible. Our weather is iuch 1hat 1hc 1empcra1ure can swing .SO degrees Fin a 12 hour period. We can have snow on 1hc ground and 70 degree F 1empcra1ures outdoors an r:ebruary. 1'hercforc. my emphasis h:is been on houses 1h:11 cnn be easily hCllted as well as cooled. "Inc conditions in Ka1ii:ih indicate 1lu1 we need house.~ 1ha1 heat up quickly :tnd 1hcn rntha1c 1h:11 hc:i1 rapidly. As u rule of 1humb, site n dwelling 10 fnce wuhin 10· 12 degrees or solar sou1h to mnx1mi1.c solar uposurc. When choosmi; a sue, consider 1hc direction of the prcvnahng cold winter wands u well ns 1hc cooling !iummcr winds. but keep 50lai orientat1on 11S a domlnnn1 fnc1or because pl:tnungs and olhcr buildings can serve as 1o1.1ndbrcaks as the homcslead grows. Water supply must also be considered when choosing a she. A rchablc source of clean 1.1.1ucr is csscn1ial for 1 homestead. Gravity flow from a spring above the building site is the ideal shu11ion and lhc C3.Siest to develop. W11cr from a well or another source below lhc house can be pumped to a large reservoir above lhc dwelling to crate a gravity flow. Electric pumps nm bf AC po"'cr from the &rid arc the least dcsuablc way 10 accomplish 1his. Elccmc pumps powered by solar cdls are better, but !hey still arc high-1ech solutions. and they depend on a high-1cch future. Some appropriate pumping systems arc ram pumps. micro-hydroelectric (stt KJllli.aJ1 #4 ), wind·powcrcd DC systems, wind-driven compressed air sysacms, and my personal favorite, the bicyclc·powcred water system. WINTER 1987-88 A chcmical analystS IS worth the pnce dclcrminc the presence: or polluting chemicals or organic m:ucnali in the waicr supply. IO DESIGNING nm SITE Having found a site with solar exposure, wn1cr, and hopefully, 1 windbreak from the winier winds. m4kc a rough site plan to help decide where to locate the building. D111grnm 1hc she, pencilling in essenu:lls like fruu 1rccs, gardens. shop, sheds, animal houses, and p:isturc. I like 10 1h1nk of hvmg structures as p:in or cite landscape. connecting indoor and outdoor space. A wcll·planncd, m1CtCOnncctcd, outdoor IJllCC adds acsthetic: qualuy 10 a homcsle.ad. Our home is a central CCR lb1ICtUre dlll we coaanually arc . ddiftl small aaians a onto. J b1ghly recommcncl dus way of approaching design and buUdin1 lor the owner-builder. Tbc inhial suuc:ture can be C<Jm\'lcted durina the building 1C&10D to provide shelter for the wima. Additions can continue throughout the years following. This also allows rime 10 change design. Jn this n:sidcntS can occupy lhcir home as lhcy build It. Once a general idea of the nccdcd laving areas is clear, draw a "blob dll&rll1l" {sec diagram I) to show 1he 1ntcr-rcla11onsh1p of the d1ffcren1 spaces. The walls, floor, and roof mc~ly hold 1he no1hangness 1ha1 is the living space.The IClUal envelope which contains lhesc spaces can be any shape or fonn. The following hst of arc:tS, Starung from the loundatJon Ind wortcin,1 up, gives some ideas which can be used in design and bu1ld1ng These simplified d1sc:un1ons an: meant only to snmul11e and IO guide the reader's creative war. unagmanon. DESIGNING A DWEU.JNG Designing your own home is a delight. As a general rule, lhc less cxpcricnccd the builder and the mon: OUl5idc help lha1 is going co be ailed on. the more complete and thorough the building plans should be. A complcle sci of plans Includes dimensioned fJoor plans, clcvanons, and sectional drawings, IS well IS dc11ils ror tricky areas and elccuical, plumbing. and hcatin plans. ~o build a umber or ocher pre-cut house. a farm plan is necessary. If much of lhc consttuctlon is to be contnetcd out, complete plans will make lhe work much smoolhcr and much less expensive. Good • Clllldmued oa ma1 pop. KAn.JAH • PIF S �FOUNDATIONS In Katiiah the best foundation is mnsonry. For lo ngevity, bug-proofing, and structural 1megri1y, ~11he house on a stone, 0 block, or concrete foundation 16 1 24 inches deep. Unless the slopes arc very siecp or the ground is very \Oft, this is suflicient for this region. Having said this, I will add 1h:11 a time-honored Katuah foundation is debarked, v. inter-cut, black locust posts set about 30 inches into the earth with a n.11 stone m the bottom of the hole. This can be a very effective method for n quick beginning 10 a structure built to last 30 ye:in. or less. (Of course. posts can be replaced 10 extend 1h1s lifespan.) llus would still outlast most suburban hou~e~ constructed today. for these arc built to a 25 year life expectancy. My favorite foundauon is stone. Begin the wall 16 to 30 inches below the surface and build to whatever height is needed. Another easy foundation is the "grade beam" as used by Frank Lloyd Wright. If the site is sloped, instead of making one large cut, you might consider stepping the foundation in small cut-and-fill operations to save time and money (see diagram 2). Foundation insulation is optional, but if it is used, it must extend at least two feet below grade (ground level). Proper drainage is imponant 10 a lasting foundation. A foundation drain is standard. The site must be graded, so that water runs away from the house. If necessary, French drains can be located a few feet from the drip line in cases with Clltrcmc runoff problems. Photo by Adam Cohen Wood floors arc quite cozy and warm. Finished flooring can be laid on rough-cut joists and subflooring material. Planed tongue-and-groove finished floor is the most desirable, but an inexpensive and serviceable floor can be made by gluing and nailing well-dried boards 10 the sublloor. Should cracks appear between the boards, they can be pointed with grouL R..OORS There arc many types of flooring materials. If someone really wants 10 be "grounded," the easiest floor is din. Din and cement can be mixed for a durable floor. A plain concrete slab can be used or stone, brick, or tile may be laid on. Smooth creek rock makes a pleasing floor surface. If one spent one hour a day collecting small creek rocks, in two weeks one would have enough creek rock 10 do a large floor. If desired, the perimeter of such a floor can be insulated. Soapstone is the best flooring material for solar storage and radiance, in my opinion, and is readily available in Katuah. KATUAH - page 6 WAU..S Sundard "balloon" framing is simple, lightweight, and easy to cover. Use rough-cut or recycled framing rru1tcrials for the best price. My favorite wood technique for building wood-supponed walls is 10 use large, upright members and fill in with stucco, bricks, glass, bottles, stone, glazed block, bone, or anything else you can set in monar. Windows arc framed in with rough-cut wood when using this method. Masonry walls arc relatively inexpensive, if stone can be gathered for free. To speed up construction, a back-form can be used to give a wall that has one side stone and one side stucco (see diagram 3). To construct frce-fonn structures, use rcbar and plaster lath 10 create free-shaped forms on which to lay cement I believe this offers some of the freest expression available in architecture. It is important when designing walls to think about windows. l cannot stress enough how imponant it is 10 have as much glazing as possible on the south side of a home. The sun is vital, and the more of itS radiance we can bring into our houses, the healthier we and they arc. The north side of the building is the darker side and takes the STO!llE.--.... M~AP, fcD~ fL'('tl<X(? Z"4' ~- UP fO~M WINTER 1987-88 �The walls,floor, and roof merely hold the nothingness that is the living space. The actual envelope which contains these spaces can be any shape or form. brunt of the cold winter winds, so nonh-facing windows should be small and well scaled. East and west walls also should have windows, and these should be able to open to welcome in the cooling summer breezes from wherever they may blow. Window quilts are easy to make. They conserve wannth in the winter, if they are put up when the sun sets to keep the day's wanntb in and the night's cold out. It is also important to know that wiring, plumbing, and heating features may be put in the walls. These must be considered when naming. It is too late afterwards. 1HEROOF "Putting a roof over our heads" is not just a figure of speech. The house roof not only keeps rain off, but it can let light in, hold solar equipment, and shape the interior space. ln designing the roof, consider: Docs the house want skylights? How will water flow off the roof? Where should extra bracing be put for solar panels? What shape and how high should the ceiling be? There nrc many possible combinations of answers. I strongly believe roofs should not be flat in Katuah. Even a sod roof should have a slope for drainage. Flat roofs eventually leak. Wood frame roofs can be built on a flat or a curved plane. It is possible to frame a curved shape out of suaight lumber. Galvanized steel or shingles arc the most common roofing materials. Both are readily available and relatively inexpensive. I have buih some roofs with rcbar and lath using insulating cement covered with either concrete or a strong cement scaler. For a good discussion of roof shapes. I suggest reading The Owner-Built Home by Ken Kern and A Timeless Way of Bu1ldjng by Christopher Alexander (sec resource list, page 15). Windows may be obtained from old houses, a window factory may sell seconds, or a neighbor might have a few old windows stacked up in the back of the garage. Material hunting takes time, but it does not cost a lot, it is fun, and it results in a more individualized slructurc. Heating with water in a wood-fired boiler is the most healthy and practical system to warm a house during Katiiah's cold winters. Catalytic converters arc a cheap way to help the environ men" and I advocate their use on all woodbuming stoves. INSIDE OUT SANITATION I recommend the use of the passive solar composting toilet (sec p. 15) in combination with a grey water irrigation system to process human wastes. I strongly believe that the passive solar composler is the most efficient way to take care of human waste, cspccially in Katiiah, where the land is generally mountainous, and septic fields do not function well. The time is coming when many families in Katuah will handle human wastes in a methane digester. It might take the impetus of economic collapse to make it common, but the digester can compost waste and produce fuel as well. Septic fields and waste treatment centers are barbaric technologies and should be phased out in favor of cleaner, better integrated systems. The indoor/outdoor connection is imponant. I suggest the use of decks, covered areas, walkways, porches, living trellises, and other connecting spaces to draw inhabitants out into the fresh air and sunshine. An outdoor kitchen, sleeping areas, and living areas can be used most of the year. The more exposure to air and weather a person has, the more vibrant and healthy that person's life will be. All these aspects should be taken inlo consideration in the design and conslJ'\Jction process. What I have listed here is an outline of ideas and techniques. tf the reader is interested in further details and correspondence on any of these or other building ideas, please write me: Adam Cohen; RL I, Box 217; Oteck. VA 24072 HEATING How we get our heat is important to our health. Wood or coal stoves arc drying, dangerous, diny, and generally unhealthy. MATERIALS An important aspect of economical building is materials. The way to build 11 house for $3.00 per square foot is to choose a design that utilizes simple materials. Check what is locally available for free or for cheap. For example, in nonhc:m K:nuah the population is one-third of what it was in the 1930's. There remains a lot of empt}' structures which contain materials that can be recycled. Stone piles, brick, and glass can also be found for free or for minimal expense Local lumber mills have rough-cut lumber and seconds at low prices. Local building material factories may have inexpensive seconds as well. Auctions provide another source for che11p materials. WINTER 1987-88 Photo t:sy Adam COhen KATUAll ·page 7 �and interpersonal relationships develop. By reviewing a few design patterns one quickly understands how shelter shapes our daily life both practically and spiritually. Consider the one room poplar log cabin built on a stone foundation. When approaching this cabin one immediately feels a cenain rustic blend of the canh with the stone and log much as the mountain landscape itself. Take this log cabin and set it into the side of a mountain so that the earth covers the back wall, wraps the comers of the building, and gradually slopes to floor level on the sides. The front of the building is poplar logs on o stone foundatioon. From the top of the hill one looks down and secs the cedar shingle roof of the house and eanh. Walking around the front and sides of the building one feels a sense of wannth. The cabin appears to nestle into the mountainside. Windows on the front and side walls let daylight and moonlight into the cabin. We walk up the front steps 10 an open porch. It is winter. PostS and beams cover the deck, but the roof panels have been removed. The front wall faces due south, so that winter sun passes into the cabin. The prevailing nonhwest winter winds are blocked by a shelterbeh of white pines that were left when the forest was selectively thinned before the cabin was built. poplar I"~ walls moder.Ile lhc comfon in the cabin as "ell. Sp1mual nrchitccturc creates intu11ive space; ~pace \lthere interaction between structural and human clements takes place. Where the wall provokes new ideas, oot beC3use the wall speaks to us, but because the wall speaks with everything in the environment The ~r in the space is infused whh hght, heat, :ind moisture as byprodu1."1S of the physical surroundings. intensity of color, temperature, and humidity all in1CI11C1 to create a unique ambience of space. I breathe this ambience and it enters my bloodstream through my lungs. I view this body as my cabin. A certain quality lives in this cabin and the quality is a result of everything in it and around it A cool shadow wakes me.The late afternoon sun line angles off of my body, as I sit up on the slate floor. I get up and go wash my face in the kitchen sink in the southwest comer of the room. I am splashing sunlight onto my face, sunlight absorbed into tanks of water located off the southeast comer of the front porch. Water enters the tanks from a reservoir located about 100 vertical feet above the cabin. Gravity pressure gives the cabin plumbing a sLrong flow of water. An indoor shower is heated with solar energy when available, and a large outdoor tub is heated by a wood tire directly underneath. The overflow from the reservoir empties into a small creek that maintains a steady flow of water twelve months a year. Toward the bottom of the valley a rom pump pushes water back up to a second reservoir near cabin elevation. This second reservoir provides water for irrigation of a fruit orchard, a terraced vegetable garden, larger crop fields, 11 solar greenhouse, and assoned animals and poultry. Entering the cabin, one feels a warmth shining from the sunlight scattering across the slate floor and glowing from the coals of a masonry heater built into a central chimney that passes up through a cathedral ceiling. The stonework on the chimney is primitive and beautiful, and as l walk over to lean against it, l feel heat radiating from the stone. I tum and rest my back against the stone and press my palms against the warmth. The slate floor attracts me and my hand reaches for the sun-drenched gray. lt, too, is warm to the touch. Walkin2 across the cabin, I find the nonh wall refreshingly cool, as though the earth on the other side is touching me. I circle the fireplace a few times and strangely miss the feeling of comers in the cabin. An indoor-outdoor thermometer hangs on the wall - indoor temperature, 72 degrees; outdoor temperature, 15 degrees. The sun is high on this winter noon. Shelter can become more th:in just a place to stay warm or dry It also can be :in experience of emotion stimulated by our sensory responses. When we speak of "appropriate" housing or "appropriate" technology. the word "appropriate" has many levels of meaning. I may feel lazy, like taking a nap in this solar heat. That's appropriate for me. On a cold, winter day, I set a one hour morning fire in the masonry heater 10 heat up the chimney. That's it. Let the contoul'l> of the land. the movement of the sun and canh, and the shell of this mountain home follow their natural course. That is appropriate, 100. In my afternoon slumber on the wann slate floor, I think of summer. The sun will not touch the slate floor then. The roof panels will be in place so the south porch will be in shade. The dense floor will remain cool just as the nonh wall docs. Off the southeast and southwest comers of the cabin the hickory trees are in full leaf and they block out the hot morning and afternoon sun Windows on the cast. west, and south walls allow breezes 10 blow through the cabin. Ilidden an the ceiling framing is insulauon, the guardian of comfon. Heat from the sun passes slowly through the exposed roof and is vented through openings around the chimney. The Waste products arc disposed of in specific ways. Human waste is taken care of in an aesthetic, two stall outhouse. Grey water from dish, clothes, and people washing is drained from the cabin into a gravel-filled dry welJ just below the house. Burnable trash is used in wood burning, or incinerated. Plastic~ glass, aluminum, and other recyclables arc collected and delivered to tbe local recycling center. All of the energy systems reviewed in this cabin so far required no electricity for operation. Electricity is a precious energy form and should only be used where there is no other practical substitute. Refrigerarion and cooking are the major electricity consuming appliances, so in this house there is an energy-efficient LP gas refrigerator and a gas stove. Beller to use gns on site and utilize approximately 80 percent' of its available heat thnn electricity, which, by the time it gcrs 10 your house. only provides about 30 percent of its available heat. The solar clothes dryer is a fifty foot rope suspended between two poles. So the only major appliance needing electricity is the washing machine. Other than the washing machine, the house if outfiued 10 provide electricity for lights, stereo, computer, blender, and other small miscellaneous ncms. The creek docs not have enough flow of water to generate adequate electricity for a small hydroelectric system. and wind pauems are too irregular around the house site for a "'ind generator. The final choice for electricity generation is a photovoltaic system that generates electricity. The solar electric panels are mounted on the south facing roof pitch of the cabin and feed into deep cycle batteries, where electricity •~ stored and sent 10 the appliances ns direct current. So we have a simple plan for a mountain homestead. The basic energy needs have been met with appropriate technology, but the technology is incomplete without the human behavior to complement it. We live in an age of plastic and steel. Many of our daily needs are dependent on oil drilled on the other side of the world and automobiles built and assembled on two or more continents. One way to control the use of energy on the planet is to seek out ways to A MOUNTAIN HOME Wnucn lltld 11lustnlltd by Greg Olson Shelter is our tilter from the clements of wind, water. and sun. It lS also a ~work that shapes our environment The home is an enclosure of space where sensory experience conunual on 1'"£C 211 KATUAH - page 8 WINTER 1987-88 �A LOOK AT SOME HOMEMADE HOUSES IN KATUAH ... Madison County, NC Pho10 by Paul Galllmore Floyd County, VA A$he County, NC Watauga County, NC WINTER 1987-88 Photo by Rob Messick Photo by Rob Messick Floyd Coun1y, VA Joci<son County, NC Photo by Adam Cohen Photo by Adam Cohen Photo by Rob Messick KATUAH ·page~ �by Marnie Muller In considering your bomeplace, it is important to understand the earth energies of the place you arc choosing. Cultivating this sense of listening lO the primal energies of a place h;u been practiced by many culture~ over thousands of years. Aboriginal peoples still pay anenuon to these forces. There arc people in China who still consult with their culnue's t:raditionalftng-shui masters. Here in these mountains ofKatiiah, some oldrlmers and "newtimers" listen lo earth energies by means of dowsing n0t just for water but also for the more subtle earth energies. Presently, there is a call for a "new" geomancy in order to design human systems in alignment with earth systems. The ancient I Ching ( The Chinese Book of Changes) speaks of The Great Ham:>0ny. By perceiving the wider rhythms and energy nows of the living earth system in which we participate, we can team to harmonize our individual energy with the wider 'symphony' of place. In particular, in the specific place where we choose t.o live, we can find out about itS special energies-wind, water, light as well as the more subtle realms--and become pan of the process rather than a blockage to it "The id. a or movement of energies in e the earth, of the chl or the earth, and of the possibility of harmonizing with such energies is very old. Associated ideas of blood, water, breath, chi, spirit, circulation, machine, and organism figure here. A 4th century tcXt speaks of the earth, 'flowing and communicating within itS body as if io sinews and veins' (Needham, Scitnct and Civilization in China]. A 14th century text, of interest for current thinking about "universal planetary grid" or "earth acupuncture", refers to a "mysterious network" thus: (it) spreads OUJ and joins iogtther evtry pan ofthe roors of dll! tarth. ..Thousands and ttn thousands of horiU>fllal and VtrticaJ lltins liJce warp and wtft weavt lbgtther in muJual tmbraet ...Taking all (including land and sta) as earth, the stcrtt and mystery is thot the roots communicare with tach other " (Steven Post. Ralst the Stakes) Perceiving the Earth as a living, functioning being, our species can begin to redevelop a symbiotic rel.arionship with the specific eanhplace where we dwell Reacquainting ourselves with the ancient slcills of listening to the vibrant, subtle earth energies is a significant step in lhis process. Then as we live our lives, each aspect from homebuilding to right livelihood to ceremony... will more deeply reflect the undercurrent Life patterns. ; ,,# "In China, the dragon is a symbol of the electrically charged, dynamic, arousing force that manifests itself in the thunderstorm. In winter this energy withdraws into the earth. In early summer it becomes actjve again appearing in the sky as thunder and lightning." From I Ching, Tht Chintse Book of Changes Description of terms: Earth Htru: Energy emanatlng from Ille e:inh, dcieclible by b1otogical means (cg. dowsing) and physical means (with sensitive detection ins1111mcnis (cg. geiger countcrS)) though not normally obvious to the casual observer unless in an especially sensitive state. F1ng Shu/: A Chinese system which recognizes energy Oows and forms in the landscape. It 1J1Cludes mclhods of modjfying these forms 10 amclionue the "eneray climate" of a site. Ljterally. means 'wind/Wald. Grom1ncy: 1lie science of putting human habitalS and activities into harmony with the visible and invisible world around us. "Themes and concepts from architecture, gcomcuy, geography, cosmology, art, archaeology. mctrology, numerology, astronomy, astrology. surveying, religion, and mythology. all complex subjccis in !heir own right, t<1J1 be seen to have a common root in cenaio ancient pnictices which related them to a special place, lime, cosmic position and purposc •. .EV1dcnce from a great number of sources indicat.es that thclC is certainly aomcthing linking all these enigmatic fac.ts and universal practices, an age·old and venerable science which may be called geom1111Cy." ~!ck) Dowsiac: A means of delecting seemingly imperceptible obJCClS or subtle encrcies by the feeJjng of a rod Olf pendulum held m the hand. Traditional wattt divining using a farted haul rod is a form of dowsing which has provided evidence of sublle energies present at sacred sites. Gala: To the ancient Oreets, Oa.ia was lhe Eal\h Goddess. In more recent times the name has been utilised by James Lovelock to describe the entire bimyslem or our pbnet - all !ho pbnis ..... imab and fungi. plus the atmosphere. the oceans and the soil. The Gaia hypothesis suggests that the Eanh's biosySlem as ~-regulating; that. for example, 11 is able to conllOI ilS aunosphcric tcmperawre as well as the composiuon or the air, sea and soil so es to maintain the optimum conditions for the survival of life on the planet. Chi: 'brealh of nature' : basic energy ~ Sacnd Sites: Special eanh pbcea ""h1ch have the '-- ~ '- quality of bnnging an individual tO •more auuncd state with Nature. Often associated wilh having an abundance of "minus" (or negative) ions in the elccuanagnctic field. Eartb Acupuncture: A way of regarding earth energies whereby the living Earth is seen es an equivnlent of the human body m acupuncture terms, with the flows of energy along the meridians and with special energy centers or "ac:upuncture points". (Most of tltac tuwu Jul•c M•1t d~fuud ilt £.,11t; MJSUrlu: Alt l!J1plorator1 l11tro4Mttl.,. l1y BriDn lorkmms illtd Plul'P lfLUluHt.. P"'14'Md by IM Nortlt Eortlt/.fµ:.eriaCl'Ollp.) Suggested Reading: The Earth Spirit: Its Ways, Shrines and Mysteries. John Michell, Crossrond Publishing Co., NY, NY. 197S. The Ancient Scltnce or Geomancy. Nigel Pennick, Thames llld Hudson. Ud., London. 1979. Earth Wisdom. Dolores LaChapclle, Finn Hill Arts, P.O. Box S42, Silverton, CO 81433. 1978. Shu/: The Sci,nce or Sacred Landcape In Old China. Ernest J. Eitel with oommenwy by John Michell. Syoergctic Press, 24 Old GIOOCCSICr Sttt.ei. London WC I Engl:ind.1984. Feng "Geomancy: A Tawny Grammar", Steven Post in Raise tlr.e Stakes, Sprint. 1984 . Plllnet Drum FoundalJOll, P.O. Box 3t2SI, Snn Francisco, CA 94131. Gain: A New Look at Life on Earth. J.E. Lovelock, Oxford University Press, Oxford. 1979. Tbe LMn1 Earth Manual of F•n1 Sh11I. Su:phc:n Skinner OUt or print. Nttdtcs or Stone. Tom Graves, Granado Publishing Ltd., NY, NY.1978. Tbe Divining !land: Tbe 500 Year Old Mystery or Oowslnc. Cllristophcr Bird, New Age Press. P.O. Box 1216. Blaet Mountain, NC 28711. 1979, 1985. The Ley Hunttrs Manual: A Guide to Early Tracks. Alfred Watkins, Turnstone Press, Ltd., Wellingborough, Nonh Hampton~ire. 1927, / 1983 / ~---- " • 14 ~~----~;;.uonbyM~M~l~-~ KATUAH - page JO ) I ~,~, \\\ WlNTER 1987-88 �Earth-Sheltered Living by Scott Bird From prehistoric Limes to present, human beings have lived sheltered by/within the Earth... in caves, within rock wwls and cliffs. and in earth-covered lodges and houses. In some pans of the world, members of tribes have gathered toge1her to build their homes in common, underground. Ciries housing thousands have been builL Stone age cave dwellers who used nruural cave forma1ions for shelter, pro1ec1ion, and temperature moderation, benefiued from 1he even tempero1ures of living within the Eruth. For example, the year round 1empera1ure in the Mammoth Cave in Kemucky is 54 degrees F. In many pans of 1he world today earth-sheltered homes are a common way to build and live, especially in China where over 10,000,000 people live in earth-sheltered spaces in the provinces of Shensi, Shansu, Kansu and Henan. Their earth-sheltered population has numbered in 1he millions for generations, where schools, workplaces, temples and shrines have been part of the underground landscape since the 5th century BC, complete with gardens on the roofs. The mountain village of Matmara in Tunisia is home to between 5·6,000 people where most shehers are underground. An open counyard connects the individual homes. Pedestrian tunnels connect different families of the tribe to the main social group. Rooms are built with curved walls and ceilings. In the center of each courtyard is a cistern which is used to collect and store water with a system of water pus. In Cappadocia, a mountainous, barren region in Turkey with severely exLreme temperatures, villagers have lived continuously in 41 under~round cities since the 3rd century. Some cities are built on as many as 10 levels and house 30.000 people. On this continent, the Pueblo Indian ruins at Mesa Verde in southwestern Colorado were hollowed-out cliffs built around 300 AD with rooms up to 80 feet in diameter. Other native peoples of the southwest built earth-covered winter homes and kivas. Here within the Katuah province, the Cherokee lndinns constructed earth-covered winter homes and lodges (see "Good Medicine," page 18 of this issue). Pioneer dugouls were built in the Great Plains in the late 19th century as white people pushed wesrward. Building materials were scarce, so grass and s:>il becl:me the simple materials with which the pioneer families made their homes. Though most of the structures were free-standing sod houses, which were vulnerable and shon-lived, some families actually excavated dugout shelters in the earth. Today within the area of the United States. it is estimated that there a.re between 4-5,000 earth-covered homes and an undetermined number of earth-benned or eanh-sheltered homes, that far outnumber those totally eanh·covered. Once again, it seems that eanh-covered and earth-sheltered houses are being accepted by the mainstream population. Eanh-sheltered homes today qualify for immediate financing and immediate insurance, and they have gain~ a high level of consumer acceptance. Earyh shelters ai:e ~mg built by many .ltl"OUPS of people: the punsts, the surv1vaJ1sts, the environmentalists, and ordinary citizens, who might live, for example, on the Great Plains, which are subject to tornadoes and proirie fl.res. And th~n there. are !hose who simply want to tower their home heanng/cooling bills. Earth·benning or eanh·sheltering means simply bringing the earth as high as possible around a structure on the nonh east, and west sides, leaving the south completely open to 'accept the w~th of the sun. i:tie Tf'Of is of conventional construeuon, though heavily insWa1ed. Earth-covued homes, however, entail significantly more expense to provide for extra load-bearing capaciry for the roof, complete waterproofing, and the expense of eanh-moving. People who choose to live sheltered by/within the Earth, do so for many iusons. In a house protec~ed by Earth, both winter winds and summer heat have less impact on the interior. The house takes advantage of the more even, moderate temperature changes of the Earth. Earth-sheltered buildings require less heating fuel and, therefore, relieve pressure on our over-extended biosphere and pocketbook. If planned carcfutJy, eanh·sheltered homes provide all the light and ventilation of an above-ground home. Eanh·protected homes are quieter, require less upkeep. are safer from natural and human-made disasters. They arc also less of an imposition on the life around them. EARTH SHELTER UNDER CONSTRUCTION NEAR BLOWING ROCK, NC. Dalaaed and built bJ Scott Bird. - continued on next page photos by Rob Musick WINTER 1987·88 KATIJAH - page 1 l �...................·.....·.................... ········· .... . ·continued from page 11 As you begin on the canh shelter path, the best place to start is your library. Begin reading about earth-sheltering, subscribe to a journal or two. Talk to others who have buil1 earth-sheltered homes in your area. Look for the pros and cons of each design. When you finally choose a home site, spend as much time there as possible. Get 10 know 1hc sun's path there, 1hc drainage patterns, c1c. Also spend time observing what wildlife lives there in order to determine how you will share the habitlt. Observe the wind pauems for your locale. Also begin an inventory of your land. Arc there natural wind fences on your land that will help to protect your homesite? What is your soil composition? The soil rypc will significantly effect the buildi~ process. What water is in the immediate area? Engaging a local dowser may prevent a lot of trouble and heanache down the road. Besides locating a drinking water source, a dowser can also detect shallow water veins as well as other complications that may be present to your possible homcsite. Resource List for Earth Shelter Construction and Design: Tiie llandbook of Earth Sl1elter Design. Make Edelhart. A Dolphin Book, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, NY 1982. This book is highly recommetUledfor purring you in touch with the Earth Shelter movement. Very clear and inclusive, lists earth shelter organizations, earrh shelter periodicals, articles on earth sheltering. books, films, as well as earth shelter designers, solar infonnarion by state, etc. Ear th Shelttred Housing Design : Guidelin es, Examples, and References. Underground Space Center, University of Minnesota. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co.• Inc., During the energy cns1s of the I970's, people were drawn cowards 1he lower fuel costs of solar, superinsulated and earth-shehered homes. As the fossil fuel economy rebounded, in1erest in earth·sheltering slackened as was evidenced in a major earth shelter journal falling from over 18,000 subscribers to a present 2.000 subscriber b:ise. People once again misiakenly believed thal the fossil fuel supply was endless. Now as our economy faces 1hc possibilily of a major collapse, reliable, energy-efficienl earth-sheltered housing will once again offer an attractive op1ion. At the turn of chis century, Baldasarc Fores1iere spenl 38 years constructing/sculp1ing 65 rooms, courtyards, grouos. 11nd gardens beneath 7 acres 10 Fn;sno, California. The work was complete with atnums and rooms designed to catch 1hc sun. The rooms contained many forms of plant life including one tree 20 feel underground that was grafted with 7 differen1 kinds of citrus fruil. As Baldasare Foresticre's cffons within the Eanh were aesthetic as well as func1ional, we 100 can develop 1hc sensitivity to create a form of Eanh sculpture with our earth-sheltered home designs. h is also time in our hist0ry for us to re-establish a spiritual communion with the planet, and living in an earth-sheltered home is literally "close to the Earth." As a professional homebuilder, the best advice I can give prospective owners of earth shelter homes is to stay closely involved throughout the entire home construction project. Paradoxical as it may seem, special sensitivity is most needed during the initial excavation of the home site. This can make the difference between a site that looks as if it has been cleared for a shopping mall and a homcsite that has been carefully carved out of the Earth with respect and care. You, the owner/dweller, will be the one to know how the Earth looks and feels after the whole building process is completed. The solar warmth pcnncating a structure sitting in the protective lap of Mother Earth can make each day a joy whe~~ one chooses to live with/within the Earth. P" Scott Bird is a professio11al residential designer atUI builder of conven1ional atUI earth-sheltered homes in the Katiial1 region. He works with Appalachian Building & Design. I Earth -Sheltered H abitat: llistory, Architecture and Urban Design . Gideon S. Golany. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., Inc., 1983. Notes and bibliography in back of boolc are rich in research. The $50 and Up Underground House Book. Mike Ohler. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., Inc., 1981. Ear th Shelte red Homes: Plans and Designs. Underground Space Center, University of Minnesota. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., Inc., 1981. Construction information, plans and energy data for 23 successful earth-sheltered I~ A real bible/or ti~ Eanh Shelter fTl()vement, will help quiet fears and insecurities concerning earth shelter planning, design, building and living. Untluground S poc• Dept. of Civil & Mineral Engineering, University of Minncsoia, Minneapolis, MN 55455 Bi-fTl()nthly journal of the American Underground-Space Assoc. Natural Solar A rchitecture: A Passive Primtr. David Wnght. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., Inc.. 1978. Wonderful. sensitive design with Earth, sun. and environmenl working rogerher Underline Underground Space Center, 790 CME, 500 Pillsbury Dr. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 Qiurerly Underground House Book. Stu Campbell. Garden Way Publishing Co., Charlotte, VT, 1980. The favorite of many. E n ergy Inform 3528 Dodge, Omaha, NE 68131 Complete bibliography of earth-sheltered writings. $5.00 1978. KATUAH - page 12 WIN'ffiR 1987-88 �..............·•• ••••·• .·~11 •• ••••••••••••••••.• •·•·• .......... •·•·•••••• •••••••••·••·• •·•·••• ..... ........................................... •·•·• ........ •·•·••••·•·•·•••·• •·••• •••••••••••••• -••• • ..::·· Through the whole spectrum of living systems, from planet Eanh to a living cell, the natural world is abundnnt in rounded fonns. Within this synergetic order the organizing principle of a covering, or membrane, that meets 11self around a nucleus is the basis of any regenerative structure. Found in anim31 bodies and the homes they build, as well as in the shnpe of plants, their seeds and the housing for their seed$, is this dynamic pnuern of a membrane with inward and outward curves being strong, insulative, protcctive, and interactive with environments. With this example human beings can build sheller that is in tune with these patterns and can rejoice in this resonance. Ovoid, spiral, polyhedral, and branching designs are a practical and pleasing alternative to many of the dull rectangular schemes we now employ. These ovolo lend themselves 10 many styles and uses as a way of dwelling wirhin surroundings. . '. ·: :: .. .• ·: .. .· (conUll!JCld on s-sc 18) .. :· .. ·. . ' ' '~ .. .: ' ':... © Drawings and Text by Rob Messick~ •/ wn-(rnR.. i'9s7:sil .... ········· ···· ·.. ··· ··· ··· ...... ,... ,. · ···· ····· ... ···.··· .. ······ ·......... ·· ····.... ··· ····· ··· ·.... ·.......··· ·· ··· ··· ···KA.ru.;.:1:i :·p~.&~ 13 �BRUSH SHELTER by Snow Bear As I.he autumn chill deepened into the sharp cold of winter, it was important for native peoples to have a place to keep wann when they were out hunting, away from their villages. By watching how squirrels kept themselves andtheir young warm and dry, native peoples learned the lesson of how to build a stick and leaf nest It was a good way to keep warm and dry without a fire. Here is a description of how to make a temporary, primitive brush hut similar to those of the native peoples here. The brush hut provides warmth and shelter from rain and snow, requiring no cordage or canvas in its construction. I have spent a comfonable 15 degree night in such a hut with no sleeping bag. When well made, it will shed heavy rain; snow laying upon it becomes additional insulation. It takes about I 1/2 -2 hours for a single person to make a shelter. Unden;iand, however, it is not a home or a workplace when made 10 cap1u~ body heat. An additional lean-co srrucrurc can fill the need for workspace; it can be made using the same method. The idea is simple: to construct a low shelter framework with dead and down branches and cover it thickly with leaf liner from the forest noor. Essential to the Structure is a strong ridge pole, at least nine feet long, placed wilhin the fork of a living tree, three feet off the ground. In the absence of a forked tree the proper height, I have used a strong, three foot forked branch leaned against a tree trunk and secured wuh long stakes pounded into I.he ground with a rock. Staning at the end of the ridge pole that lies upon the ground, stack branches up against the ridge pole. As you place branches, alternate from side to side of the ridge pole; the tops of the branches will interlock to keep the branches from sliding off the ridge and serving to anchor the leaves at the ridge. Remember to make the shelter at least twice as SfAKE 'flALL wide as your body: this will make a low, wide framework that will keep its leaves in heavy wind. Less heat will escape if your door opening is narrow and low. You can make a low door after leaves have been put inside by using two forked sticks to support a stout branch for a door lintel (see dingrJm). KATUAll ·page 14 Begin covering by using dry leaves. Always put leaves on the top of the side you are working on; they will settle in to the pince they are most needed. O>ver in dry leaves so thnt when you push your hand in to touch the stick framework, the leaves come up past your elbow. This is essential for n brush hut that will shed rain. Then, if available, use leaves (from beneath the dry, crackJy leaves of the forest floor) that are maned and compressed. These can be lifted off the ground like shingles. Start at the bonom and lay them in rows, overlapping each row. If any funher anchoring is needed, you can use branches. laying them upright as you did to make the frame. To stay wann in winter weather, further insulation is needed. Fill the inside with dry leaves, then wriggle in and roll side to side until the leaves are compressed into a "mattress". Do this at least four times to get a mattreSs that will stay 8"-10" thick when you lay upon it. Then fill it once more with leaves (pack them in!) and crawl in. To funher retain heat, you can weave a door plug with thin green tree branches. After you crawl in, pull the door plug closed from inside and pile leaves against it You may need to leave a vent :11 thc top or the door plug. Spend many hours in practice before you rely upon your skill for your well-being. This is true of any primitive camping skill It would be good to make at least six shelters before testing your skill on a subfreezing winter's night. The consequences of a mistake in building your brush hut could be hypothermia and death. Building a brush hut is bu1 one of many vnluable skills the old time Cherokee practiced; they were a people who could stay warm, dry, well fed, clothed, nnd comfonable with nothing but a knife as their basic tool. May we keep these skills alive, that our people may live in,,.; # strength nnd well being. ,P' Wll\.'TFR 19R7-811 �Resources on Build ing & Design: Books: I.ow-Cost, EntrtY Cfllcltnt SMltu for tht Owner and JJulldtr, Edited by Eugene Ecch. RO<ble Press lnc , Emm3us, PA 1~9. 1976. Furoctmtnt: Bulldlnt with Ctmtnt, Sand. and \Virt .Hnh, Sunlcy Aben:romb1c. Sc hockcn Books. NY. 1977 Tht /Jousts of Mankind, Cohn Dul y. Thom:is and Hudson, NY, 1979 Arrosanti, An Urban Laboratory, Paolo Solen. Avant Books. 191!4. Natural Solar Auhltuturr: A Passil'r Primtr, 03vid Wright , Environmcnul Architect. Van :>;osunnd Reinhold Co.• 1978. Tht Tao Of Archllutuu, Amos th T1ao Chang Princc10n Univ Prc.~s. 1956. Tht Tfmlftu \Vay of Building A Patttrn longuagt Tht Oregon Expufment ChrislOphcr Alexander, Cl al. Oxford Unrver.ity Prc..<;,<;, NY. From Tht Ground Up, John N. Cole and ChNI~ Wing. L1Ulc, Brown and Co.. 1976. Tht Stcond Old llou1t Catalogue, compiled by Lawrence Grow. Universe Books. NY, NY, 1978. &mh Shtlttr, David Martindale. E.P. Duuon, NY. 1981. Passive Solar ArC'hlttcturt- Loglc a nd Btauty, David Wright and Dennis A.Andrejko. Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1982. An Agt of Barns. Enc Sloane Ballantine Books, NY. 1967. l.og Bultdtrs l/andbuok, Drew Lang~ncr. Rod31e Press, Emmau~. PA 18049 Shelttr, Shelter Publications. Mounuun Boot..s. P.O. Box 4811. Santo Barbara, CA 93103, 1973. Tht Vittait as Solar Ero loty, Procttdings of Tht Ntw Alrht1t11 Thrtshold Gtntrir Dtsign Conftrtnrt, E.Wlc.d by John Todd and 1':inc)· Jack Todd, The :'\cw Alchemy lns111u1c. 237 Hatchvillc Road. East Falmouth. MA 02536, 1980. llandmadt 1/ouscs, A Guidt to /ht Woodbutchu's 1t r1, An Bocricke and Barry Shapiro. Scnm~haw Press, San Franci"Co, CA. 1973 Tht Compltte LOI I/oust Boole, Do le M;inn and R1ch:ird Slmuhs. McGraw-Hall, 1979. Building tht lltwn I.of lloust, Charle~ McRoven Thoma~ Y. Crowell Publishers, NY. 1978. llandcrafted Doors and Windows, Amy ZolTarano Rowland. Rocblc, 1982. Mud, Spac1 and Spirit: 1/andmadt Adobe, Virginia Gray, Alan Macrae, & Wayne McCall Capra Press, Sllllta B:irb:lra. CA. 1976. A Goldtn Thrtad: 2500 Ytars of Solar Archittcturt and Tuhnoto11. Ken Buui and John Perlin. Cheshire Books, 19n. Fantastic A rchlttcture: Personal and Ecctntric Visions, Michael Scboyt and loost Elfers. Harry N. Adams, Inc. NY, 1980. Tht Owntr Built llomt; Tht Owner Built Homestead ; Th t OM •ntr Built Homtsttad Rtvisittd, Ken Kem. Scnbners, NY. How lo Malet Eltctrlcily from Wlnd,\Vattr and Sunshlnt, John A. Kucd:en. Tab Boob, Inc., Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214, 1979 Rtin habltl ng CitltS a nd Towns : Dtslg nin1 for S us1ainability, John Todd w1lb George Tul.cl Planet Drum Foundation, P.O.Boit 3 I2S I, San Francisco. CA 94 131 Ptrmaculturt Ont. Bill Mollison and Da-.d Holmgren , 1978. Pumaculturt Two. Bill Molljson . 1979. Tagan Books, P.O. Boll 96, Sunlcy, Ta~mania. 7331 Austmlia. Dwtlting, by River, FrceslODC Publishing Co.. 1974. Pe r iodicals: Adbbt Ntv. s, P.O. Boll 702. Los Lunas. N\1 87031 Ntw Shtlttr Magaunt, 33 Ea~t Minor Street Emmaus, PA 1!!049 Altunatiw Sourcn of Energy. 107 S. Ccntml Ave .. Milaca, MN S6JS3 New England Builder. The Journal of Light Construction , P.O. Boll 278. Montpelier, VT 0.5(,02 FiM llomtbu1ldin1. Thc Tauton Press, Inc., 63 South M3in StrccL Newtown, CT 06470 Fine Wood Workin1. lllc Tauton Press. Inc .. 63 South Milin Street Newtown, CT 06470 Thi! Solar Collector (Soon to be The South/ace Journal of Energy and Building Technology). Published by the Southfnce Energy Institute. P.O. Box S506, Atlanta, GA 30307 PASSIVE SOLAR COMPOSTING TOILET The typical live gallon flush IOilet consumes approitim3tcly half of a household's conswnpl.ion of water. This is about 12,000 gallons of waier / pu person I pu yea to carTY 165 gllllons or body waste co the place or disposal . What rcsulis is: • Large amounis of valuable and sc:arcc pure drinking Wlller is used • Ground water and surface water is polluicd • A useful, natural fertilizer is lost • Energy-inicnsive nnd costly waste ucatmcnt plnnis must be constructed • The disposal of sewage sludge cau~ further pollution problems We assume th:lt by nushmg and forgetting we have solved the problem, yet in l'C3lity we have only created several new ones. The watcrlcu composting toilet is 11n alternative to these problems. ll uses no water. thus chmmatlng massive consumption used with Oush L01lcts The <;i-lf.eonUlincd sy51Cm protects ground Md ~urface wai.ers from conLDmmat1on. and valuable nu111ents arc coo,·cncd into a s:in1tary nch humus lhal can be applied directly to the orch:ud. MUmCnl3ls. and the garden. With solar fC3llltCS, 11 needs no additional or outside source of enctgy to complete the decomposition, nnd there arc no mechanical or moving parts. Because of thi~. 11 needs very hule ml\inlCD311CC nnd l'CqWICS no additional Cllpcn5CS after the original mst11llauon .. Watct conservation equals energy conscrvalJOn m that no energy is nocdcd to pump. store, or purify waste. Compo5ting toilets arc a part of an appropriate technology m that they renect a low-cost soluuon to local problems. They are simple co build and mam1:11n: nnd can be constructed from locally available materials. WINTER 1987-88 Scx,.b.\>I :5 .·. · C.IW11'E:Y ·: " .: lllc toilet conslSls of a c:oocreie block vauh with a sloping "air s11u-case• system (sec diagram). The org:lllic was1A:S move down the St:lll'CISC at a rate that will insure aerobic dccomposlllon by the time they reach the final storage chamber. Aerobic decomposition means th:lt the ocg:inic materials a.re breaking down in the presence or oxygen. The compost pile is aerated in three ways: Fir;t, the incoming air stream 1s prchC3lcd by the flat plate sol.3r hot air collcc10r (eliminating the noed for an adcbtio1131 power $0UtCC). and brought undeme:llh the "steps" of the air ~talrcasc so th31 the au can Cll'Culate from the bouom and on up through the center or the pile. Second. the air is conducted through the slotted and perforated four inch PVC pipe ducts that run through the center of the pile. Third, air nows over and across the pile, ovnpor:ating citccss moisture and pulling olT the carbon d1oudc. The solar chimney drives off the air c1rculat1on system for the compostct by allowing the sun to heat the air in the black vent si.ack. thus causing a n3tural draft . The warm air rises by natural convection and in tum pulls more air through the colleci.or and through the compost pilc... the cycle goes on. Also. u's 1 mponant to lldd af1tt C3Ch U5C a scoop or "dry Oush" materi31 nch in carbon, ~ch as &Tl.~' cilppmgs. sawdu~1. leaves. peat. and 111ood ch1J>l' You're building a working compost pile here so you need enough fibrous mlllCriJIJ to miit with the wastes to keep the pile loose so n1r cnn circulate through. All odors arc released through the solar chimney which ensures the bathroom is free from odors at all tim~. The humw; which is remo"cd 1s ooly live to ten percent of the original volume as 9Q.9S percent will be transformed 11110 carbon dioxide and water ,.apor and rcle:iscd through the 'cnt. It will l3kc 3J'Pr0llma1Cly two ycatli for the f~t decomposition pcnod, then with the continuous proce.~s. three to icn gal Ions or humus will be produc.xl per pcrsonfpcr year. generou~ Dct:uled blueprints an: available for SIS.OOfrom Long Branch Environmental l:ducanon Center Route 2. Boit 132 Leicester, NC 28748 (704) 683 3662 KATUAH ·page 15 �Review of Rua Sims Quillen's October Dusk JULIEANNA Bi' Timber, Mon1:1113; Sc•cn BuIT:lloc:; Press; 1987. 26 p:igcs This collection of twenry-thrcc poems is as invumg a.s a cool front porch in summcnimc Md opens to the l"C3dcr a ~orld of Appalachian place, culture, and ritual. In Quillen's poems we arc rooted in a place of apple buucr IT\:lking and calf binhing; a place where people look to the seasons to tell them what work needs to be done. Herc arc hard laboring people who draw such conclusions as 'The potatoes from the garden/ lie scattered in the grass./ Tomorrow we will son them I and store them for winter." This dedication is an intimate and loving gesture which leads the reader to assume the couple in the poem, who sit on their front steps after a hard day's wcrk and whose "eyes meet in the fading light," arc lhc poet and her husband on their own fann. Such intimacy is typical of Quillen's poems and is neither offensively confessional nor self-indulgent, but rather comfonablc and interesting-a glimpse into a panicular Appalachian family's world. ln these p<>cms rich in Appalachian culture, we notice the effects of ume. Sometimes we sense the new imposing itself on the old, as in "Time To Go". Here an old woman sees a countryside overtaken by "multi-level houses"-symbols of the new "American dream". But she also observes young people taking over an "aged" farmhouse and "trying to live in another time": ... solemn young women in earth-colored clothing I chop wood and raise chickens." She realizes that people !Oday arc facing a "hard time," perhaps too hard, and she knows she has lived long enough. We often see old generations passing, as in "Julicanna", in which "Mamaw" sits by the window and recalls her past, not sadly, but acutely: "She can still smell I a hot kitchen full of men I after a hard day ...." She sits with her granddaughter, sometimes thinking she hears her late husband "Paw I saying 'Julie' I and she almost answers." Such moments in QuiJJen's poems are poignant, tender, but rarely, if ever, repetful. They are ultimately not regretful because Quillen sees renewal in the passing of time and people. The poem "Sunday School Lesson" (dedicated to the poet's son) investigates the notion of new generations replacing the old, as the mothet' ponders "how each of my children I resembles someone long dead .•.. /The boy is my father I reborn I with red hair." I find this poem comforting and a beautiful and quite appropriate conclusion'° the collection. My favcrite poems, however, are those that deal with Appalachian ritual, as in "Revival", a poem which depicts a child's perception of an old-time church revival, an event filled with ta1Jc of fire and brimstone and infused with the Holy Spirit ("Many moaned, cried I said Yes Lord"). The child is confused and " [runs] out of the shadow into the clean nl&ht air". The poem doesn't pass judgement on the revival, but certain! y captures the mystery of the ritual as seen through a child's eyes. A second of Quillen's poems set in the church, "Meeting House," offcis a touching glimpse of another country ritual: counship. In this poem we find z.ekc Bays riding his "spooked" mule into a church service. It's not the event itself, despite its quirkiness, that gives this .J>OC:m its reason for being. Instead, the hean of the poem lies in its theme: the discovery of love. While Zeke apologizes fcr his actions, he keeps his eyes on Anna Compton, a young woman in the congregation, and this gesture signals to everyone, including Anna. what Zeke feels for her. They all know that "Zc.ke [will) be the one I to teach her about loving, I sing little songs to her in the dark." These "little songs" arc the essence of romantic love and will be as sweet, no doubt, as that dark countty night when Zeke will sing them. What I ultimately find most appealing about QuiJJen's poems is her use of the concrete, her interweaving of crisp illlllges that l can visualize and metaphors I can savor. In her poems is a mngible world where one sees a "spring burst of white blossoms", and smells "A musry sweat smell" of a crowded country church, and hears "little chimney sweeps I (that! cry in the blackness". This is a living world, the poet's own, J suspect, that she has opened to her readers. We are invited in for a while, and here we can discover, ponder, and, I think, enjoy ourselves immensely. Mamawfin1Jlly swps 11Jlking She siis birdlike by the window on a green vinyl chair. Her toothless mourh opens, closes collapses right inlo the face. Her hands circle slowly around and around as she talks, every ~·ein dark bltl.t and swollen. I warch and wait can'r take my eyes off her. Siu: keeps glancing ar the clock on the mlllllel then back at me. Eyes dull like old window fXJlll!S stare oUJ the window 01 yestudays w/u:n she worked wirh Ju:r /'1llJll in steamy fields. She remembers her babies, rwo alive and grown, rwo dead at birth blood coming out their ears. She can stifl smell a hot ldtchenfull ofmen after a hard day, feel her own light, quick srep move sure through ti~ gardi!n. Someti~ she thinks she hears Paw saying "Julie' and she almost answers. We sit together while the old 1111J11Je/ clock ticks loud, louder. Ouiside the quaner moon, the least lighl ofall, hangs in the air resting lighlly then like that last spoken word. OCTOBER DUSK The evening dark falls all around me, iJs warm bl'eaJh casts a shadow on my face. Sitting 011 my front steps, I am a candle flame drawing moths and moS41'iu>es, holding the mo~nts in my cupped hands. He sils quietly /:Ty~. memories ofthe day's work swift moving cowr shared lilcefall leaves in the yard. The pol/JJQes from the garden lie scanued in the grass. Tomo"ow we will sort them and store thunfor winter. His hand rests on my neck as he slowly stands. He off the other dirty hand us to help me up. Our eyes meet in the fading lighl. We go inside, surrendtring to nighl, d1t: sm411 ofeanh still strong. - Julia Nunnally Duncan KATuAH ·page 16 -------------------.,WINT;-;-;::;:-=E=:R:--:1~9-:::87::-·:-:88 �October Dusk by Rita Sims Quillen MEETING HOUSE When Zeke Bays rode his mule in10 church the sweating preacher froze open-mol.UMd in the middle of a Bible vuse and the sranled men rtoched in rheir coaJS fo r tlu! guns they left at home. Aunt Becky Summey fainted 011 tlu! women's side, a crowd rushed around her as Zeke struggled wilh the mule, its flat hooves senin~ up a deafening echo on the rough plank floor. H What in tlu! \'.'Orldr S1Jmeone said. Zeke meanJ co answer bw the mule walked sideways and jarred a pewfull of deacon's wives. Anna Compron hid a s17Ule untkr a~ whit.e hat when ZekefiniUly managed to steer the mule toward the door. She watclied his hard, dark anns pull aJ the rope. noticed that full and STllOOth mouth, tlu! long eyelashes that made people say he was too pretty fora man. Pausing at the door, Zeke apologized/or himself and his wild, spooked anUnal. said lu!'dfu the door. Everyone tw7red to sr.are QI Anna becm.ue he looked QI her as he talked. She ~d red as her 111/)tWs tinnias. She knew; he did, too. Now everyone probably saw ii: Zeke would be the one to reach her aboUI loving, sing liltJe songs to her in the dart. COLLAGE TIME TOGO Tire old woman spits amber StilT$ in the dust standing on a long road leading nowhere except Elmwood Hills Subdivision where ""'1ti-level houses stand mtJSt/y empty save for the Nnuican dream <fwe.r bars, color1V, and pool tables. And on down the road a piece a lane mOlk l1y VW buses pressing down tlu! grass leads wan agedfarmhouse where rusty bu.eke.rs carch waur from the roof and solemn young women in earth-colored clothing chop wood and raise cAfcAzns: living, walking memories trying w live in another time while the old woman keeps si/en1 waJch She holds lu!r breath, st.anding and ware/ling between the IWO there in the stardusr rood, pocks her jaw with more tobacco. She's thin/clng what a hard time they will all have and congratu/ares herselffor living just long eno11gh. WINTER 1987·88 I hold the dl.m picture close to the light. The background ls faded: an old man's silhouette on a barnwall. black On 8rtl)'· a shaft of white sun slashing his face. He holds a bale of hay on his left shoulder, expruslon dirta dueEast- overlapping with the tiny grantlson in the foreground lying Ill the crib, seemingly soulless in that sl«p beyond remembrance known only to the M\'.born and rhe dead. Yet surely there nwsr /lave been ho~d puffs ofair passing through rhose he.an-shaped lips, the soft body rising with eoch breath.. The missing lin/c is the old man's son the baby'sfarher out ofthe picture somewhere where f Qlhers always are, leaving me to wonder about JUm, impatient wilh my owA curiosity. Ile is1ust another man, seed bearing seed. Why do I go begging for meaning in rhe accidenUJI double - expos11re? KATUAH - pa!!,e 17 �In the old days "shelter" meant just that: a place to sleep and to get out of the weather. A building or a structure was not a place where people spent their ·whole lives, as it is today. Jn a modem city, people go from one building - where they live, eat, and sleep - by car to another building where they work, and then go back again. They even exercise in a building! Only incidentally do they get out into the open air. These people live in a completely anificial environment. They regard the natural elements as inconveniences to be avoided. When I was a boy living with my grandfather and grandmother, we would take all the doors and windows off the house in April. By the end of May we had moved the wood cookstove outside under a liule shelter, and my grandmother would cook out there. We also slept outside. We did not have tents or sleeping bags, so we slept under a liule brush arbor we built to keep the dew off us. We slept there until thunderstorms or a wet spell of several days would make us go back inside for awhile. We lived oucside and did everything under the brush arbor and under the O'CCS until the last pan of October. Then, when the leaves fell, and it swted to get cool, we would put the windows and doors back onto the house, move the cookstove back inside, and Stan 11 up again. But even in the wintertime we would use the dogtrot, which was a wide, covered passageway between the two pans of the house, as a place 10 shell beans. whittle or carve, make baskets, or work on other projects. We would eat there in summer when the weather was rainy and we had company. Folks would always visit and socialize there. Out there it was alright 10 smoke or chew tobacco and spit. When my grandfather was a boy, his grandfather was living with his family. The old man was a strong influence on the boy, telling him many siorics about how the Indian people used to do things. That is why my grandfather always liked the idea of houses with cane mat walls, the way they were built before the white settlers came. He used to say that building a structure that lasted beyond one's lifetime was a burden on the Earth. Back before they were all cleared, the river bottoms were full of thick-growing river cane. The cane was an incredible material that was used for many purposes. One of the main use:. was to m:ike $iding for the houses in the villages along the river bouoms. The women wove the split cane into mats that '"'ere ~even feet tall and six to ten feet long. These were hung on a framework of poles stuck into the ground in a circular pauem. Other poles were lashed across for bracing and 10 suppon roof rafter;. The roof was made of bundles of broormcdge grass. which is waxy and oily and repch water. These were bound in place to make a thatched roof. In this way the people could build a dry structure 1n a very, very shon time. If the mats were still good in the fall, they might roll them up and use them again. In some of the larger, more permanent villages like Peachtree or Old Echorn, they would daub the cane mats with clay. In the smaller villages they would replace the mats every year and never daub them. One time when we walked across the field where Old Echota was formerly located, we found chunks of hard clay that bore the imprints of whole cane leaves and stalks that had been pan of the old houses. They also would build small towers in the fields among the com and squash plants. Kids would take rums standing watch in the small buildings 10 head off marauding animals and 10 throw stones at the crows. The old com-cribs were also built off the ground. They were made of thin poles and were well-daubed with mud. Every crack, even around the doorway, was tightly sealed to keep rats and mice out of the gnin. They put up com, beans, and dried pumpkin in pots and checked their stores frequently. The only permnnent structures were the town house, which was built on a mound at the center of the village, and the asi 's, or hothouses. An asi was a family storehouse, guest house, sweat lodge, and winter shelter. They were eanh-covered structures that were built on the surrounding hills above the fertile bouomlands. The asi was low and na1, usually constructed on a slight rise to help the water run off. They were made of wood, usually locust trees. Medicine people often made their asi's with seven sides. the sacred number, but families usually nude them square, 12 by 12 feet or JS by IS feet. according to the size of the family. The: basic log structure was covered with mats, then broomsedgc would be placed on top of that, and then soil would cover that. Some of the older asi's had grass growing on top of them, but the locust never roued, and very rarely would they ever leak. In the summenime the asi would be used for storage or to house guests if the family had clan \isitors. although the town house was also used for overnight lodging. The asi would also be used for sweat lodge ceremonies. A family would move its thi~gs out, and they would heat up a pile of big rocks in a large fire outside and carry them into the asi. A lot of people could crowd in 10 sit around the steaming rocks. The sweat lodge was one of the - continued on page 28 KATIJAH - page 18 WINTER 1987-88 �'The Grear Spirit did not give man the right to destroy this great life." (ucuptsfrom a ra/A: ta the bled btar conftrtnct by Kay Littfr)Ohn. a Chcr'1Ut Indian} My fotlu!r 011d grandfather and their grandfathers before were asked to speak on behalfof our animal relatives, which were rapidly disappearing in their times: the snail darter, the ivory-billed woodpecker, the passenger pigeon, ti~ CoroliNJ parrot, and 1.lte list goes on and on and on. Each one of my ancestors wlro spoke om against the destruction of our relatives. saw that tire native people of this country were placed here by the Great Spirit as caretakers. We see this great gift of mind 011d creativity as something we use 10 share witlt all those two-legged, four-legged, winged, water, and root creotiues. We see ourselves as something not set apart from our environment, but as a pan of the whole ..... There is hope in me tltat thest people who hove removed us as caretakers will see the responsibility that we all share. I om responsible/or pollwion, the disappearance of the animals and plants, for hate, and prejudice, as eoclt and every one ofyou are. Our people were swept aside with tire j11stijicotion of "manifest destinyH. This archaic expression was used in tlte post to ju.rtify cruel and unjust acts. This some plulosoplty exists today, when it comes to the nvo-legged, four-legged, roots, and insea creanues Let's not let "manifest destinyH be the ckstruction of al/ life. The Great Spirit did not give man the right to destroy this great life Great Spirit, my prayer is for Yonoh, 01u brother, ti~ black bear. Concern for the black bear (Ursus omericonus) in the Southern Appalachians drew over 200 people to the Owen Conference Center at the University of Nonh Carolina al Asheville on September 29 10 hear a schedule of speakers presenting different perspectives on the present and future condition of the black bear and its mountain habitat. The conference was sponsored by the Environmental Studies Program at UNCA, the Southern Appalachian Black Bear Federation, Long Branch Environmental Education Cenrer, and Klu.UBh. The presenting speakers agreed that the black bears had survived intense pressures, but that the species faced even more difficult times in the near future. caused primarily by the ever-expanding human population. Opinions differed widely as to the nature and the projected impact of these pressures, but the mood of the conference was one of guarded optimism that if people of different points or view could work together, the problems facing the black bear could possibly be averted. As Dr. Michael Pelton, professor in the Depanment of Wildlife, Fisheries, and forestry :11 thc Univer.;ity ofTenncssec said in his keynote address. "We are sitting on the last major long· term population of the WINTER 1987-1-iR THE FUTURE OF YONAH, THE BLACK BEAR black bear in the Southeast." He said that the indigenous black bear population had by its remarkable adaptability overcome the threats posed by the massive deforestation of the Appalachians by the timber industry in the early years of this century and the chestnut blight, which wiped out the American chestnut tree, the bears' most stable and abundant food source. "Diminishing habitat has without a doubt been the single most imponant factor that has impacted these animals," said Dr Pelton. "It is unlikely that any new habitat will be created," he said, and called for policies to proteet and maintain large blocks of forested lands in the Appalachians for the far-ranging black bear species. "More miles of open roads and forest management policies that decrease hard mast (acorn and nut) production will lower the carrying capacity of the forest for black bear," said the biologist. "Roads affect bears either through direct monality or by bears having to shift their habitat to more marginal areas, making them more vulnerable to monality. A road policy must be clearly defined and strictly enforced. That is very important to the long-term stability of the situation. "We also need a management strategy to perpetuate and stabilize hard mast production in the Appalachians. This means long tree harvest rotations to allow oalc trees long-term mast production when they reach maturity." Roben Zahner, professor of Forestry at Clemson University, underscored the need to encourage the different oak species in the mountains. "At this point," he said, "When we're talking about bear habitat, we're talking about acorns. "Oak trees are showing signs of decline in different areas, and there is some reason to believe that atmospheric pollution is an influence." Zahner also warned of the approach of the gypsy moth, whic.:h has the capacity to defoliate whole forests and is moving toward the Southern Appalachians. There is no way to predict what the elfcc.:h of the moth infes1ation will be on the black bear, but the larvae or the insect prefer green oak leaves, and it will have a strong negative effect on the mast-bearing trees, he said. In light of these pressures to come, Zahner advocated extending the roration age of trees; implementing a strong oak regeneration program; and keeping large blocks of forest land intact to cushion the effects of future pressures on black bear habitaL Lauren Hillm3n, wildlife biologist for the US Forest Service, said that "population management is a second critical factor for the future of the black bear." Citing population studies in the Pisgah-Nantahala National Forest, she said that "monality is at or approaching its maximum sustainable limit..... Population in the Pisgah-Nantahala National Forest is probably not declining, but the population appears to be characterized by a preponderance of animals in very young age classes." This affects the availability of breeding females necessary to keep the reproduction rates up to the level of occurring mortality. Shortening the bear hunting season or pushing it back later in the year tends to protect females, who go to den earlier than the males. A bright spot in the conference was a report by Kei1h Langdon, resource management specialist for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, who spoke of promising results in the the breeding of blight-resistant American chesmut trees that one day might be able to reinhabit the species' former range. New genetic techniques developed by researchers affiliated with the American Chestnut Foundation have produced encouraging results in eitperiments in Minnesota, said Langdon. John Stokes, storyteller and musician, and the dancer Zuleika presented on Iroquois Indian story about the bear. In closing, Stokes said, "We have only one statistic to offer you. That is that we arc 100% sure that the sumval of the black bear is not a question of number-s, but a spiritual question." pfll' KATUAH- page 19 �NATURAL WORLD NEWS FIGHTING THE BIG BURN IN CALDWELL COUNTY by Barbara Kirby (from a talk before t~ WNC A//iQJICe) For nearly 1wo ye:irs the people of the Mt. Hennon Community near Hudson in Caldwell County, NC have been involved 1n an intense fight to get rid of a hazardous waste incinerator on nearby Lick Mountain. The history of the incinerator goes back 13 years to 1974 when the county decided it would purchase the equipment to burn hazardous wastes trom t.:aJClwell and surrounding counties. Caldwell is a m.'.ljor furniture producing area, with a lot of noxious wastes as by-products. In 1975 a fire in the incinerator plant forced its closure, and the county officials decided that they were not qualified to operate the facility. It was leased it to a man named Charles Foushee, who began Caldwell Systems, Inc. (CSI). Charles Foushee is the man who operated the Mitchell Systems incinerator and was unceremoniously thrown out of Mitchell County a year and a hnl r ago. In 19&3 the county commissioners agreed to renew the CSI lease for 25 years. There had been complaints of odors, smoke, and pollution, but they were low-key, and few people had been involved. In 1985 a man named L. C. Coonse began serious opposition to the waste incinerator. Following his lead, a group of people organized as Caldwell Concerned Citizens for a Clean Environment. Their first act as a group was to ask the county commissioners to form a study committee to investigate the incinerator and determine if any health hazards did in fact exist Since that time we have met with continuous obstruction. The study committee was started eventually, and they have done an excellent job with the aid of hired legal and environmental expcns. The study committee found several instances of unsafe operation of the incinerator planL As one example, the manufacturer of the incinerator reoommends that it bum no more than 1,882 pounds of hazardous waste per hour. But the operators go by the state regulations, which allow them to bum 4,018 pounds per hour. The incinerator bums 22 million pounds of waste per year. Halogenated hydrocarbons, a very serious health hazard, are burned at the plan1. On August 22, 1987 phosgene gas (also known as mustard gas) was released into the air. Several Mt. Hermon residents were stricken by the vapors. KATIJAH - page 20 Numerous employees have been sick, and one person is probably going to die from injuries sustained there. Caldwell Concerned Citizens has continuously pressed the county commissioners to do something. We have pressed the state. The state has been very reluctant to work with us. They have started studies and refused us access to the data generated. Our group has raised $5000.00 to do our own soil and water studies, all of which have shown contamination. The county commissioners have been under tremendous pressure from the state Natural Resources and Community Development (NRCD) and others to lceep the incinerator open, because since the closing of the Mitchell Systems plant, it is the only commmercial hazardous waste incinerator in the state. We have found that part of the problem in regulating a hazardous wa~te incinerator is that there are very few regulations. So tho incinerator operators can truthfully say, "We meet all regulations," but that does not mean that they are not hurting anythUig. In October, 1987 the srudy comminee finally recommended that the Caldwell Systems incinerator be closed. At a meecing on November 2, the county commissioners said that they would ask CSI to leave. The announcement was met with cheers from the more than 400 people in the audience. The commissioners continued by saying that they would allow CSI to sell its business and equipment to another company. They did not set a deadline for when CSI had to be ouL They did not tell us who would be the new buyer. They did not say anything about cleaning up the area, which in Mitchell County was a job of several months duration. A near-riot ensued after that announcement. and the commissioners left under the protection of lhe sheriffs departmenL The outcome of all this is still not clear, but there is cause for hope. At a special meeting on November 9 the county commissioners voted to temporarily close the CSI plant. The final result still remains to be seen. Citizens is an orRanization of mountain people just like all of us Their experience shows us that we can learn what we need to learn w deal with these issues. Ir's as simple as chal.") SMOKIES WILDERNESS BILL PASSES THE US HOUSE N.wnl World News Service A bill co-sponsored by Rep. James McClure Clarke of NC that would officially declare 90% of the Great Smoky Mountain National Parle a wilderness area has won unanimous approval in the US House of Representatives. Wilderness status would protect the greater part of the Park from road-building or any olher development. This bill formally ratifies the past management policy of the National Park Service and gives it the force of law. The House bill authorizes a payment of $9.5 million to Swain County, NC and forgives a $1.6 million loan to the county by the Farmers' Home Administration to redeem a promise made at the Park's inception for a road to a family cemetary located at Deals Gap within the Parle limits A similar bill, S. 963, has been proposed in the Senate, sponsored by NC Sen. Terry Sanford and Sens. Sasser and Gore of TN. Sen. Jesse Helms has proposed countering legislation in the Senate that would cut the amount of land to be put into wilderness and authorize the road to the cemewy to be built through the Park. Congressman Clarice expressed optimism about the Sanford bill's chances in the Senate, saying, "I think this is the best chance we have to get this controversy behind us. Everybody, even Senator Helms, feels that the 23 mile. $400 million road to the cemetary will never pass the Congress." (Taylor Barnhill ofthe Western Nonh Caroli/Ill Alliance says, "Barbara Kirby is not an environmental ex:perr. She is a school librarian ar Maiden Elementary School in Catawba Coulll)', NC. Caldwell Concerned WINTER 1987-88 �CONGRESSIONAL ACTION ON THE MRS Nlllllnll Wmld News S.S-.a POACHERS CAUGHT; POACHERS CONVICTED Acting on an anonymous tip, NC wildlife officers caught and charged seven men with bear baiting on Mackey Mountain near Manon, NC. The seven appeared in McDowell County Oistnct Coun on Nov. 9. Four of the men pleaded guilty to bear baiting, which is illegal in NC, and were given a minimum fine of $250, a suspended jail sentence, and lost all hunting privileges for two years. Two others contested the case, but were also found of guilty of the same charge. They stated their intent to appeal the decision. The remaining case had not come to !rial by the end of the day. The poaching !rial was monitored by the Southern Appalachian Black Bear Federation, which is initiating an active program to discourage poaching in Katiiah. 'This is the most flagrant case I've ever seen. They've been doing it all summer." Frank Pennell, enforcement officer for the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC) in McDowell County told the Charlotte Observer. Responding to the tip, wildlife officers investigated the baiting site, which was just outside the boundary of the Mackey Creek Bear Sanctuary. The officers found enough snack cakes at the site to fill two bushel baskets. Cellophane wrappers from hundreds of other snack products littered the ground around the area. The bait was placed by the poachers to lure the bears off the protected sanctuary lands, so they could set dogs on their trail and run them in unprotected parts of the Pisgah National Forest. When the bears would finally be shot, they would miles from the incriminating bait site. The actions of poachers threaten the stability of the black bear population in the Southern Appalachians. Poached kills go uncounted in bear population management statistics, and poaching from the state bear sanctuaries violates areas that are set aside to provide females a safe breeding ground for a core population to maintain the numbers of black bears in the mountains. Defend the bean! Write to: Ass'L District Attorney Sandra Pugh P.O. Box 2143 Marion, NC 28752 Tell her that you arc watehing the bear poachers' appeal case and that you care about the outcome. If any signs of other poaching activity are seen, one may call the WRC "Wildlife Watch" number, 1·800-662-7137, to repon known or suspected violations. Confidentiality is assured. It is dangerous to personally intervene with poachers and far safer to call wildlife enforcement officers. Compiled 111 patt from o uport ur tlw CharlOlu Qbrmz, The US House of Representatives and the US Senate are on a collision course on crucial high-level radioactive waste legislation. ln the House. a move toward a momrorium and independent review of the nuclear waste management program is being led by Rep. Morris Udall (D-Utah) and Rep. Jamie Clark of the NC Ninth District. The vehicle is HB 2967 which would institute a study commission to review the actions of the US Department of Energy (DOE) and halt any funher site selection work for the two planned high-level nuclear waste dumps and the MRS (Monitored Retrievable Storage). which the DOE would like to site in Oak Ridge, TN. Senator Bennett Johnston (D-LA) is pushing Senate Bill 1668 (the Johnston-McOure bill) that would authorize an MRS. The MRS would store 80-90% of the nation's high-level nuclear waste. If Johnston were to succeed in his efforts, Karuah would not only be threatened by the MRS, but would be one giant step closer to receiving the second high-level nuclear waste dump in the Ellc River geological formation, just outside of Asheville, NC. Congressman Jamie Clar.Ice; US House of Representatives; Washington, DC 20515 deserves thanks for sponsoring HB 2967, and NC Senat0rs Sanford and Helms; US Senate Office Building; Washington, DC 20510 need to hear from people in the region who do not want the MRS and 1hc high-level waste dump. fA PAC AGAINST THE COMPACT •• Nlllnl World News Service The NC Political Action Committee to Dump the Compact has been formed to elect legislators to the NC Senate and General Assembly that will withdraw the state from the Southeast Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact, which plans to dump 32 million cubic feet of radioactive waste in the state over a 20 year period begiMing in 1992. The group is planning to mount a strong campaign around the state's May 3 primary and November 8 election in 1988. Contact the organization at: P.O. Box 26071 Raleigh, NC 27611 FOREST SERVICE PLAN UNDER APPEAL - AGAIN! NllUnl World News Service The Western North Carolina Alliance (WNCA) and the NC Chapter of the Sierra Oub have both entered fonnaJ legal appeals of the Pisgah-Nantabala 15-Ycar Management Plan to the Chief of the US Forest Servicein Washington. The WNCA is filing on the basis of several violations of the Forest Management Act of 1976. The act requires that forest management be done on a site-specific basis, that management promote biological diversity in the National Forests, and that multiple-use management (which includes water, wildlife, and recreational needs as well as timber harvesting) be practiced. The WNCA in its suit says that the Forest Service is not considering management practices based on conditions at individual sites, but rather is making blanlcct prescriptions for clearcuning in all pans of the forest. They cite the Forest Service for managing the forest to promote a few selected varieties of trees, rather than promoting the wide diversity of trees found naturally in the Appalachian hardwood forest. The suit goes on to say that the widespread practice of clearcutting destroys protective cover, old denning trees needed by many mammal species, and mast-producing trees necessary for many species' survival. The WNCA favors uneven-aged timber management by means of selective cutting. The WNCA suit also protested the extensive use of prescribed burning by the Forest Service, calling the practice "excessive and environmentally damaging." The suit mentioned in particular the controlled bum that was triggered by dropping napalm in the Mica City Creek watershed. Both the Sierra Club and WNCA suits called the Forest Service to task for making many below-<:<>st timber sales. saying that the agency did not, in the words of the USDA, "accept a considerably greater burden of proving that a below-cost timber program is necessary." The Sierra Oub lawsuit also charged the ForcSt Service with projecting excessive road building into the 15 year plan. • continued on next page WINTER 1987-88 KATUAH-page 21 �- continued from page 21 RECYCLING CENTER OPENS AT ASHEVILLE LANDFILL Nannl World News Scrviee DUKE POWER MOVING IN ON THE MOUNTAI~S N-1 World News Scsv..,.. Duke Power Company is planning to scour and nood 1,200 acres on Coley Creek in 1hc heart of the Jocasscc wa1ershed 10 build a reservoir for a pumped s1oragc hydroelectric project The watershed is in the sou1hcrn reaches of Transylvania Coun1y, NC, jus1 above the South Carolina st111c line. The Horscpas1urc River, which was rccen1ly inducted in10 1he National Wild and Scenic River System, and the Whuewater, 1 hompson, and Toxaway rivers now through the area. The Jocassce Watershed is currently undeveloped and unspoiled. The well-known Foothills Trail crosses I.he area, and it is home to the endangered Oconee Bells flower and several types of rare fems that grow on I.he north-facing sides of some of I.he many waterfalls in lhe drainage. Two colonies of lhe green salamander, rare in this re~ion, live on Coley Creek. But the high nunfall and abrupt chan~cs in elevation that malcc this a unique area m the East also make ii a prime area for hydroclectrical development Duke Power has submit1ed a draf1 application 10 I.he Federal Energy Regulation Commission fora 2,100 mcgawan pumped s1orage facility that will cost $3.3 billion to construct. Plans call for a dam to flood the main valley and two or three side valleys and coal-fired electric plan1s that will produce energy 10 pump water back uphill during slack pcnods. A new road is proposed from NC Route 281 10 the cast side of Thompson Ridge - a 1,000 foot drop over nine miles - to transpon heavy equipment to the Coley Creek sile and to maintain the project. The Jocassec Wa1ershed Coalition (JWC) has been formed to oppose the flooding of Coley Creek and to press for inclusion of the Whitewater, Thompson, and Toxaway rivers in the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers System. The JWC is comprised of citizens' groups, cnvironmcn1al groups. and individual landowners and hunters tha1 use the watershed. They arc being aided by the Sou1h Carolina Wa1er Resources Commission, which, fearing damage to tr0u1 fishing waters, is urging protection of I.he rivers in I.hat state. 'lhis is going 10 be a mon:: difficult taSlc than saving the llorscpastun::," said Bill Thomas, co-chair of the JWC, "because Duke Power has owned the land since the 1960's." The JWC is suggesting to Duke Power I.hat providing incentives for energy conscrvarion 10 reduce overall electrical consumption would be a cheaper alternative that would possibly obviate the need for I.he Coley Creek dam. Utility companies, par1icularly in New England and the Pacific Northwest have been using this option to avoid installing nuclear power plants or other unsightly and polluting electrical generating facilities. Research has shown I.hat it is twO to four times cheaper to invest in energy conservation in preference to energy generation. At a meeting with Duke Power, JWC representatives proposed tha1 1he company hire a consullant 10 do preliminary research into the possibility of invesung in energy efficiency as a possible option. The company refused. "It seemed like a prcuy good idea to us," said Thomas. "parucutarly since a consultant would only cost $30,000 as compared to the $3.3 billion budget for I.he Coley Creek project." The JWC 1s requesting that Katiiah residents wrire to: Tommy Rhodes NC Depanment of Natural Resources and Community Development P.O. Box 27687 Raleigh, NC 2761 I to ask that I.he 1hree rivers of 1he Jocassce Wa1crshed be placed immediately under state prorection. To contact the Jocassec Watershed Coalition, wricc: Gil Leebrick c/o Highlands Biological S1ation P.O. Drawer 580 Highlands, NC 28741 Duke Power is also deepening its involvement in the mountain region be buying out the Nan1ahata Power and Ligh1 Co., which provides electricity 10 1he five wcstcm-mos1 coun1ics of NC. Veronica Nicholas, a county commissioner of Jackson Coun1y. NC and tong-time activist in citizen struggles with Nantahala, calls this process "changing masterS." She observes, "By adding Nantahala's area and resources and developing the pump storage facility in Transylvania County, Duke Power is a-ying to create an in1cgrated generating system. I think they're loolcing to a time when they won't be able to rely on nuclur power." The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, with the support of Quali1y Forward, has opened a recycling cen1er at the Asheville landfill, located seven miles north of Asheville on Highway 251. Clear glass, colored glass (brown and green separated), newspaper. corruga1ed cardboard, and aluminum cans may be recycled. The cenlcr is open during regular landfill hours: 8:00 am-4:30 pm, Monday-Friday and 8:00 am- I :00 pm on Saturdays. The usual landfill tipping fee of Sl.25 is waived ror up 10 10 bags of garbage for !hose who bring four bags of recyclables. II has been estima1 that up 10 ed one-lhird of all solid waste can be recycled. Recycling to this cxtcn1 in Buncombe Coun1y would depend on other recycling 1echniqucs as well as 1hc recycling area at the landfill. Curbside pick-up, on-si1c separation, and small, local commercial recycling businesses would all make recycling more convenient and profitable. The remaining two-thirds of the genera1ed waste could be composted, 1umcd into fuel pellets, or compacted and landfilled. All lhesc methods arc currently in use elsewhere. The Asheville landfill recycling center is a response on the pan of citizens to the idea of mass-bum incineration, which is one waste-disposal technology under consideration by the Buncombe County Commissioners. The major advocates of incinera1ion arc mega-industries trying 10 comer 1he SIOO billion spem annually in I.his country on waste disposal. Incinerators arc the most expensive solid was1e management technology a community can choose. They arc expensive to opera1c, involving massive inputs of non-renewable fuels, and repairs have proven 10 be devastatingly expensive. There are also major heahh and environmental problems involved in incineration. Fine particles of lead, cadmium, mercury, manganese, antimony, tin, and other heavy mc1als arc released in the incinerator smoke. Dioxin, the mos1 highly carcinogenic of the synthc1ic hydrocarbons. has been identified in significan1 amounlS in incinera1or gases and ash. The ash i1sclf is slated to soon be designated a hazardous waste by the US Envtr0nmcntal Protection Agency. Although a small s1cp, the recycling center at the Asheville landfill is a start toward bet1er waste managcmen1 practices and deserves resident use and support./ WINTER 1987-88 �A CHILDREN'S PAGE Underground House - Abigail Bird, Madison County, NC Under Water House Sarah Reany Floyd County, VA I would have a big house under the ocean and you got there by going through a door in a house on an island. My house would be shaped like a big mushroom. I'd have a big window on lhe top or lhe ocean to get sun power. And I'd have a fire at the bottom or my house and a boot and I'd have a bumblebee for flying away. I'd have a big flower so the bumblebee can drink. j J ( 11..i Mn 1 .: ..... h" (; .m ifJ v f 11t 1.1t1 ~ ,t u1~t -t11e 9n"vtn../. ti! ..>. t.l.."l'OU..9"' Ofltr( 5LiJQ - .... flJ1Jl. lC j()(:;.o h 1..s B td __ _ Underground House - Michael Flowers, Madison County, N / WI NTER 1987.:88 KATIJAH ·page 23 �Dear Friends • DRUMMING LETIERS TO KATUAH Ko.lWth 1s still a\ good as alway\, but I do agree it Y.ould be a i;ood idea to keep the old format. I'd hate for ~omc folk~ to i;et left out becau~e the price Y.Cnt up. Ju\t some or the feedback I've also heard from some people who enjoy looking forward to the ne:itt issue. Keep up the good! Tara Cla)1on Rougcmc:nt. :\C .....Thanks for a great fall issue. In response to your question: I'd rnthcr sec )oU mainl3in the ine:\pcnsive, rccycleablc newl>print. Keep up the good Y.Ork. Jeanene (Cabanis} Cashiers. t\C Dear Friends • Let me tcU you what I feel is important in my life: I stan a fire by spinning a wooden spindle. In doing this, r re-enact a ritual that transcends the bounds of time. Smoke curls from powdery, hot, black dust, and I am re-establishing my link with nature through an act of primitive humanity. I skin the gift deer with a stone knife I made, and butcher this friend who has given life for continuation of life. Eating this sacred food cooked on my fire, I realize that the deer is inside me and becomes pan of me, and I become pan of 11. I wear clothes made from this deer's skin, and. as I move, the deer moves with me. We arc one. 1 bathe in the stream, and the life blood of the Mother Eanh cleanses me, and again I sec the connecting link between my being and all of the universe. By panicipating in a primitive life, in immediate contact with the natural (real) world, I find comfoning, meaningful relationships with all of my relatives in this universe. I have lived outside for over eight years, nunurcd by this primitive exi~tencc. During thi!> apprenticeship with nature, a chief activity has been the use of natural materials for appropriate "Earth Skills" technologies to make a lhing, following techniques that natives have used in this area for over 12,000 years. I feel I have learned something valuable. and I want to share it. I have found how useful "Eanh Skills" arc in connecting humans and nature and stimulating spiritual insight, :ind I te.ich these methods to others. "Earth Skills" are life suppon activiucs through which people involve themselves in nature, primiuvc technologies, and primitive thinking processes. In the barren realities of modem American life and thought, "Eanh Skills" arc an avenue to understanding another way of perceiving the world and developing a foundation for spuituality based upon interaction with the natural world. On the surface, making a bucket of tree bark seems practical only because it provides a wild woods container. But in our day and culture, the experiment has a much more valuable benefit: we gain a very strong perception and understanding of a connecting linlc with the foreSt and with the primitive skills that our ancestors depended upon. By experiencing the physical connection, we arc opened to appreciate the spiritual value of the event. Leaming "Eanh Skills" relates an individual with the na11ual world to produce a craft or ~riml!nr that brings a person to the awareness of the connectedness of all things, humans included. •Earth Skills" lessons arc inherently spiritual. I never need to mcnuon the word "spirituality" or to scare conscrv:mves with phrases like "change m world view." The latent revelations, connections. and meaningful guides need never be anicul:ued. They just happen. "Ennh Skills" give a strong, practical foundation for under.;tanding spiritual realities by sharing Y.ilh the spirits of the wild places. Eustace Conway 602 Deerwood Drive Gastonia, NC 28084 KATUAU ·page 24 Durable magazine format vs less durable newspaper format · I'll opt for qunlity in either presentation. One awaits Katuah eagerly each season because of hannonious weavings of philosophy, issues facing our Mother Eanh, teachings to share, verse to stimulate ponderance, etc. For me the present format works!... .. Bern Grey Owl Raleigh, NC I'm making a prayer I'm gathering the kindling I'm making a prayer I'm clearing the way I'm making a prayer I'm striking the flint I'm making a prayer Lhat will illuminate that will warm or cedar and oak Of maple and pine Of coming Logether I'm making a prayer because iL is time • Colleen Redman Dear Editors: We have high praise for the Fall 1987 K1IiiA!L and its excellent anicles on the black bears of Southern Appalachia. No bear species anywhere on Eanh can survive without local and regional suppon, and that suppon depends primarily on what people know about bears and their needs. Your issue on the bears of the Kau.iah Province is a landmark step toward meaningful protection of bears and their habitat in your region. As planet Earth becomes less inhabitable as a result of traRically misplaced national and international priorities, the b:mle to keep p3tlS of Earth, habitable for wild bears will help prcscIVC the health · and life - of the planet as a whole. Keep up the fine work, because we arc all in this together. Sincerely, Lance Olsen President, The Great Bear Foundation Missoula, MT W1NTER 1987-88 \! �Dear Editor - While on a hurried VJSll Alar. your l.J.NJfturtd !M. At tlir" bthtst )IOll btc~ my ad\/Usary BtctJJ<U )'Oii .,.f:rt blood brotJo.u IO myfo~r llibc I Ww -,Ollr tlto1111w GS )'Oii p11rswd IM, I could 110t li111u to std 110rvislrmt111. 011 ONl on. yo11 pllTswd IM. Soon I 1rtw wtak, nut to tartlt. Ytt wht11 -,011 slew this body. I did llOI dit. My soul tlldiutrlt. to the new library at Appalachian Suue this past week, I chanced to see the notice of the upcoming symposium on the black bear in Nonh Carolina. It occurred to me that you might find the enclosed poem, "Nemesis," appropriate at this time. You will recall that Wilburn Waters was noted as the famous hunter and hermit in the White Top section of Nonh Carolina. He was credited (?) with killing 108 bears as well as many wolves and other animals. J became interested in his story when I learned he was my great-grent-grc:11-uncle. Rev. M.D. Han raised the funds and built the monument with the imposing black benr on top. I visited the graveyard where it srnnds this past summer, and it is still standing in good condition and has numbers of visitors each year. It is located near Lansing, near Tuckerdale. The symbol at the bottom right of the poem is the Cheroke word for Yo-nu, the bear. Sincerely, Mrs. Ruth Trimble '----------------~-~"""' E11t11tually )'Oii too. my bro/her. wtrtftlltd by rht inaor~ 1umd of mortality. NEMESIS Once./ was as you wert. A m1Jn tal/ and proud. Ordained by the GreaJ Spirit 10 toll OJld :t'*'l!al so 1ha1 I mightfted upon 1/itfruits of my labor. In thtfv.l/nessoftlme I beCDml! ll'l!Oritd by tht constant struggle 10 sustain lift. Encwnbtrtd by fau.• I langtd 10 be lilt:t tht Btar • frtt to roam DI will. gathtring the berrits and mast. I grnv faint with my disconttnl . Tht GrtaJ SpiriI ltntw my OJlguish. Maniftstiltg I /is arcant power I It gra111td my heart's dt.wc OJld cJiangtd mt into Btar, c/ollting me in long si/Jcen hair. I was Yonu, mighliesl of tht crcaturts. None challengtd my right 10 bt Yo11 lit tnto!nMd high on this /ouly kMll. Mtnftlt ltd to trtet an effigy of me· froztn ill rime • ovtr your grave 10 show rtsptct for your prowess. They tOd /IOI perceive thtir efforts wert dirtcrtd by tht Great Spirit and nor of thtm.ttlvts. I. too. ha11t rtsptctfor -you, mybrothtr. but I SIOJld htrt not to honor you. Rathtr. I stOJld guard 10 OJlChor your spirit firmly ill rhe tarth until Yonu rerurns unw his own 111 rht secret dtpdis and NXlows. Ohly thtn w1/l I relinquish my vigil so thal your spirit may ristfrom its fc11us and soar .,.;,h """' 111 the etastlw harmony of rhe Uniwrse. Ulllil )'OIL We reprint two ofthe pomufrom the Drumming section of last Issue. A typographical error changed the meaning ofone, and two verses ~e inadven0t1ly lef1 ow ofthe other. Our apologies to the poers and to our readers. Ajirs1 rule of survival in any region is to stay on 1he good side of your IDcal poetS! The Lessons of the Hunt Persimmon seed, I am•... let me glisten in the sunlight to paint you colours, gold, bronze, amber forever. let me be free 10 grow to bear.... to w3tch my young sway, to grow, to bear. let me not lay on the cold, damp ground trample me not for the Earth is my food and the sunlight my wonderment Persimmon seed, I am .... betraying no man. - Bun Grey 01111 Wouldst learn the lessons of the Hunt From those who know them best? Then one must go to marsh or wood Where hunters seek their prey. "Patience" says the stately Heron As it stands in the shallows, Waiting for a fish or a frog To obligingly swim by. "Concentration" says the Heron As, one slowly moving foot at a time, It stalks A shining minnow. "Patience" says the tiny Jumping Spider As it dans along a vine, Its huge front eyes alert For an insect's telltale twitch. "Concentration" says the Jumping Spider As, forelegs el(tendcd, It takes aim At a foolish fly. ''Patience" says the coiled Rattlesnake As it lies beside a log, Waiting for an unsuspecting mouse To follow its accustomed path. "Concentration" says the Rattlesnake As the mouse scampers closer, For there can be But a single strike. "I see and understand," say I "And thank you for your gifts. Now I can tre3d the inner paths To seek my own prey, Truth." © Douglas A. Rossman WINTER 1987-81! KATUAH · page 25 �An Appeal At the turning of this new year, we would like to express to you some thoughts and feelings about the Katuah journal at this point in its existence. We have been gratified at the expressions of love and support that have come in from readers and friends from all over. Our primary goal is to have KatUah be read and used. We see the journal as a way for each of us in the region to share our learning experiences, as we all try to find a balanced, harmonious way of living in these mountains. This element of sharing is very important in the ongoing process of us growing together and growing into the land. Katuah is produced as a collective effort of folks from around the region. ( Most of us live several hours apart from each other.) While some of the original members have been continuously involved, the editorial circle still opens and reforms after each issue of the journal. Doing Katuah is a demanding task that requires a lot of time and offers little material recompense (but, oh, such rewards to the spirit!). Most Katuah jobs are volunteer (though a few arduous tasks like bookkeeping are compensated). Katuah does offer expense money like gas and telephone calls, but simply getting to the various meetings and to layout is a big demand on people who are working for a living. This is taking its toll on the editorial collective. We would like to be able to maintain the journal at the standard it has come to reflect in the course of the last few years. By breaking the job list up into smaller pieces, we could make it easier for everybody, while bringing more variety and excitement to the pages of the journal. Opportunities are available to participate in the Katuah adventure. With added input, the journal could not only continue to exist in its present form, it could expand its functions in any direction the participants wish to take it. Besides help with actual production and lay-out, Katuah also needs writers and artists (and, of course, cartoonists!) to work with the journal or to submit material relevant to the region. The more submissions there are, the more variety and interest in the pages of Katuah. Even if submissions are not about the selected theme for an issue, they could fonn the nucleus for a future issue of the journal. Also needed are: - An advertising manager. who could bring in needed revenues for the journal, but also help Katuah consciously encourage a regional marketplace by spotlighting biorcgionally beneficial business enterprises. - A "Webworking" editor, who could work to encouraie trade and barter between people, help oottage industries to develop, as well as ftnd interesting and creative additions to mnlce a Lively individuals' ad section. - A distribution manager, who could help get Ka11iah out onto new store shelves and magazine racks and help keep up the network of community contact people. - Additions to the poetry committee that evaluates submissions and guides them into the pages of the joumiJ. - There is also a niche for a person or a committee to keep track of the Katfiah T-shirt sales and offer books, tools, stickers and other bioregional pamphemalia through the mail order system. - A calendar editor, who could compile a definitive events Iii.ting and perhaps transfo"" the "Calendar" section into a sun-moon-forest-garden-people almanac, creatively showing the upcoming cycles for each season. - Someone to be Natural World News editor, one of the vital sections of the JOumal. At present it is a patchwork of material picked up as we go along. This section needs an on-going editor to stabilize news presemations. keep in touch with contacts, add depth and continuity to our coverage, and become kno""n as a regional news conduit. This is a position that could become an important one for shaping news coverage 1hroughout the region. We have ulkcd often about expanding NU/Ural World News beyond the p3ges of the journal, but it would lllkc a person or a group with vision and commitment to actually make ~mething happen in this area. �1"tNttR. TRAVEL tNG "R.OUNDAJJOUT ~'JUA1l " It has also been a fond hope that Katuah could develop interest groups 1n areas of importance for b1oreg1onal life. People sharing a common interest 1n certain broad areas could meet independently, at first to see that their area of interest gets adequate and incisive coverage m the Journal, but developing into regional "think tanks" to develop and deepen bioregional thought on their chosen topics and perhaps to publish independently of the journal. Forestry and Wildlife, Water, Energy, Agriculture and Regional Diet, Healing, Education and Personal Growth, Sustainable Economics, Shelter, Bioregional Theory, and Spirituality are topics that have already been suggested, but any aspect of the new Appalachian culture could be treated in this way. Thinking bioregionally opens up new worlds to our mind's eye and our heart's touch. It's a participatory experience. If you think KatUah as a journal or as an idea is a useful form that helps you relate to life in the the Blue Ridge Province, help us help it to grow. If you can see your way to doing it, jump in. Share the excitement of a group venture, and join us as we seek to better understand the mysteries of this place. Blessings upon you at the turning of the year's wheel. - The Kstush sta"/ 11as wt.nter t wifl he traveling tlirou9l1 Xatunli to botli broarfen anc! aeepen tf1e biore9ionnf network tl1ougliout the province. t wi([ travel as extensi.vely as time and rcsotuces permt.t. 1he purpose of the trip is to hudd up tfie Xatuah cli.stributwn/local contact people network. and to strengthen tire two - way communication between the journal cma the communities of the reljion. tf you woul'cl like me as a representative of Xatuali to visit your area, q you woul'cl like to arrange a m eeting (!ar9e or small, pubUc or private) to talk about our region, if you can offer a floor to s~p on as t 'm passing through, please write and let me know, so we can taa. specifically about the trip 's timing and schduling. We can tf,o mutings or discussion 9roups about b!acft, bears, nukes, !and use plans, or any of the sugtjeSud "special interest areas ". We could hole! beljinnf.ng semf.nars on the meantn9 of the wore£ "biorel]f.on " and our own unique area. IVe could tell stories about clra9ons and the Uttk people. IVe could p!alJ drums. IVe coulc! tf,o sweat Coclljes. IVe could mut wi.th school 9roups or 9arc!en. clubs. IVe can tf,o whatever is rUj/Jt for SJOUr weak. Tfsi.nlt- about bei.ng a Xatuab contact person for your area. 1he contact system is tlie basic frameworF., of the XotUoh networft-. IVe would Uke to 9et more local news, local i.nterviews, local pi.ctures, stories, and opi.nLons from around the regf.on. Let me know, and we'{! get totjether to talk about U. Hope to hear from you. 1hese are excULng times to Uve in. Let's maft-e the most of them/ .Jlfl"' c Io -Davie! Whakr X.aUiah BLorUJional Journal Box ~8 Lei.cester, NC 28748 KATIJAH • page 27 �9004 nuttc£ne continutd from pace 18 A Mountain Home conunucd from page 8 As well as being above 1hc valleys, the asi's were always si1ua1cd on 1he wanner south- or west-facing slopes of the nearby hills. When the weather got cold, wc1, and nasty, the villagers would retreat up the hillsid~ 10 spend the winter snug and dry in their asi 's. The opening into the asi was so low that one had 10 crawl on hands and knees 10 enter. There was a wooden wall inside the doorway Lo cul off Lhc wind. so one entered by crawling in and turning to the right. The wooden partition cut off most of the light, too, so a bright fire of pine knots was kept burning inside to provide light while the asi was inhabited. Sometimes there would be a smokehole, sometimes the smoke would drift out the door. From time to time the people of the family would smoke their asi thoroughly with fragrant cedar or hemlock to ex1ermina1c insects and vermin. It must be remembered that the asi was intended only for a sheller and not as a living space. On nice, sunny days, even in winter, the family would work in the sunlight out of the wind in the warm, protceted area in from of the asi. The men might be carving or making arrowheads, and the women would weave mats for the walls of the summer houses. Weaving the walls for your house each year would seem like a long, tedious job to people today, but the lndians would sit together and talk while they worked, sharing ideas and gossip. It was communication; it was a social event, and if one was raised knowing that the mats for the walls of the summer house had to be made each year, then it was just one of the realities of living and was not seen as a burden. The asi also offered a place safe from the spnng floods that came down the river each year. The people could s11 on the hillsides and watch the river sweep away everything on the old village site except the townhouse, which remained safe above the waters on its raised mound. When the weather warmed and 1he waters subsided, the people returned to the bottoms and built their summer dwellings oriented around the townhouse. The floods also deposited 11 layer of fertile silt over the planting fields, so when the houses were reconstructed, the people set out seed for new gardens for the new growing season. It seems like an easy and practical way to live. bencr utilize local resources for energy production for our shelter. As we implement appropri3te ways of living, we become continually more aware of the spiri tual nature of shelter. The soil is the flesh, the water is the blood, the rock is the bone, and the wood is the sinew. For a person to experience the energy of his/her daily lire within and without IS II gifL Greg Olson tksigns passive solar and energy-efficient homes and teaches courses in the E11viro11mental Swdies Program at rile U11iversity of North Carolina at Aslrevi/le His course "Environment, Design , and Solar E11ergy" is offered every fall semester and focuses on tlie use of alternate energy systt!TTIS i11 building design. Write Greg at 211 Stoney Knob Rd.; Weaverville, NC 28787 or call (704) 658.()834. MEMBRANE HOUSES continued from page 13 Here are some specific LCChniqucs for creating thcJc: pod-Idec houses 111 KatU3h: •Build ribs or metal or plastic 1ub1ng on a saonc or c:cment foundnlion. Sttttch wire mesh over I.his frame and, by band, fcrroccmcnt lhe shell in a numbet or I.ayers leaving openings and shuL-offs. Pigments can be added 10 cement mix1urcs along wilh ol.hcr mnrkings put on the membrane for a mote involved blending with the land. It can take around 28 days for a sl3lldatd cunng or cement in Lhis process yCI there is a method of 7 d3y mois1urc 0 cur111g. A Bourn of Buds With an eye to woe and one to wonder, I regard late January daffodils just budding from the bare warm ground beside my tilting woodshed, a way too early to convey the full flame to the greentime. Near them I stand, a little tilted myself, feeling in the dawn sun some lightened sadness. - Michael Hockaday •con)truc1 fiberglass (or even cardbo3td) molds, with horiwnaal scnms for casting purposes, 1111d blow a dry miiuurc or sprayed cement cnllcd gunnne at high prCiSUrc onto the mold and connccuvc mesh. The mixture as dry enough IO suck 10 ceilings and can be shaped soon aftcr spraying. Adv111113gc) to this method arc lh31 a mold can be reused, and the curing umc for gunnue i• only about 3 dnys. •Malec a frame in which to inOa1e a I.hick l»lloon lh3I can then be covered with wire mesh and fcnoccmcntcd on the out:;adc. Also. in a m11Ch more m1t1caie process. steel fibers can be added 10 the concl"CIC mix - as a strenglhcncr • and sprayed al high PfC.\'iUl'C ona.o a I.ayer of 11\lulation from the inside of a I.hick balloon. The 51CCI fibers being put in the mix itself arc a replacement for the ribbing and meshmg of fcnoccmenL Air pressure can be wed as a 1113in suppon during lhe spraying process. •A grcnL mnny combinations of lhC$e LCChniqucs can be used. along with canh henning and adding on IO exilUng suucaurcs. Rob Messick is a graplric artist and an avid student of synergetics and whole systems. flis work with mandalas, m£mbranes and other organic forms portray a wide spectrum of enviro~nts from tire macrocosm 10 tire microCQsm. sraphic by ChriotJna Mormon KATUAH- page 28 wrNTER 1987-88 �Green B..gcr Kin&) Boont,,C (704) l64·5866 • • • • • • • • • • • • K"'-"r'UAfi l\oa-\E [) £.SIGl"I ~,p;:: -c t.•J ;::,,;\•'t'R.M~~.i,,·_ 1~£!..:...~rJ ·4-)E..? ~, ,\t_·, 11..f: h .. ;..:...- l:. -> \ ,- ..,. '~ .. , •"v:--~. ( 1:.l~ 1 :~ :-. . ~a .. _, ·=---- Green Line, lhe newsletter of the Western North Carolina Greens, has just published its second issue! Conceived as a project in solurion-~riented, ecology·~as~ journalism. Green Line began pubhcauon 1n Occober, with a well-received four-page issue. "Respect for diversity" is one of the ten key values of the US Greens, and the current issue, now eight pages, has further expanded its already . diverse mix~ure of local, regional, and n:monal news to include political cartoons and essays that aucmpt to penemue beneath the surface of the issues to the core beliefs, values, and elhics of Green philosophy. "Decentralization" is another key Green value, so the content of future issues of Green line is very open to our readers' contributions. Karzlali's readers are welcome to submit reports, essays, poems, graphics, or anything else that fires the imagination. Charter subscriptions are available for $5. The Gretn Une WNC Greens P.O. Box 144 Asheville, NC 28802 noon• llrli:his Shopplna C•nl<r (h.:hind . " . e Now " On Lme L10 ... ....) ... ' t.ii•\J ...4:;.. • ~ ~ (iL 7 ..:: .....-...., ",.. t"~4 o 1L (70~) Chinese Acupuncture and Herbology Clinic Natural Food Store & Deli 160 BroadWay Ashevllle, NC 28801 253-5383 Where Bro.c!wri meets Merrlmon Ave & 1-2.0 OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK Monday·Saturday· 9am·8pm Sunday 1pm·Spm <1>$5'.ffl~~cn WJ~ ll'JlD'.K§@ ©~~ !l The Elk River Coalition asks people throughout the mountains to tum off all electric lights in their homes and place a candle in the front window from 7:30-8:00 pm on Sunday, December 6 as part of the Sunday Nuclear Boycott (SNuB). . Boycotting nucle3;1"·ge~erated elec~­ city for that shon penod 1s a symboltc protest of the federal government's nuclear waste policy and its implications for the mountain region and all of the natural world. For further information, contact: The Elk River Coalition c/o Madison County En vironmental Defense League Mars Hill, NC 28754 J im Wayne Miller LITERARY FESTIVAL Emory & Henry College February 4-5, 1988 More info: John Lang, English Dept, Emory &. Henry College, Emory. VA 24327 Rt One With lbe Earth is a 1ounng collection of Native American art on cxhib11 al Ille Museum of lhc Cherokee Indian now through Dec. 14, 1987. Located Highway 441 N al Drama Rood. Cherokee. NC. Open daily 9am-Spm. (704) 497-3481. (704) 683-1414 68:M795 342 Merrimon Avenue Asheville, NC {704) 258-9016 (704) 253-7656 'J\i(lee, 'lt~f 'Na~r~ BOBCAT T-SHIRT SHORT SLEEVE T: $10.00 ppd Colors: Ecru, White, Sliver. Sufoam (II. grHn) THI LONG SLEEVE T: $14.00 ppd. (lnclut»1 P•w Print on SIHv•) ColOl'I: Ecru, Sliver, Te•I, White S•tlsf11etlon •~red or ,.tum for full ,.fund. Ple•u Indicate size, color, sleeve length, qu•ntity. ........,. r'I ~ Introducing the BOBCAT This full color design Is hand-screened on T-SHIRTS OF 100% PRESHRUNK COTTON We •l•o IN AOUL T SIZES S,M,L,XL h•v• • tine or 1weetshlrt1 •nd WINTER 1987·88 kids T-Shirts I -... =.::::.~.,........ ~- ......c... .. I:.""" .• ,.l.110414t6 a.l "'- ccaoca_,,,,.,_u1o111111•---· '--==~=---1 . IUUl_.-111 Village Hands or llandm:ide Objects Beaut) rrom :ill O\er the world! •ptciatWoi: in ile.m~ rrom llotp:il &Tibtl Open Dail,> 11:00am-6pm 43 Broadway Ashcvllle, NC (704) 252-4336 Located across from Stone Soup KATUAH - page 29 �vf€BW0Rl51t§ APPROPRIATE PASSIVE SOLAR DESIGN, blucprinLS and foll working drawings for homes, shop$, and sheds. Creauvc dnlftina - your idc:is or ours. Harmony Sunbuildcrs; P.O. Box 194; Sugar Grove. NC 28697 NC FARMERS can gel 75~ reimbursement for conservation m11113gement practices from NC Soil and Water Conservation Comm. Cropland conversion, tcmices, gm.•>s«I waterways, and other erosion prevention measures. ConUICt locnl Soil and Water Conservation District officci.. STARSPAN ASTROLOGICAL PROFILES: Relationships, lire chart, forccasL~. Charts and profc«101Ul taped readings also available. P.O. Box 10413; Raleigh, NC 2760S GUATEMALAN REFUGEE SEED FUND: help refugees in southern Mexico maintain lhcir culture and d1i;nity by shirring a variety of •-egct:1blc o;eeds directly to farmers. Write to: 2292 Grant Si.. Vancou,cr, BC, Can.:id.1 VSL2Z7 EUSTACE CONWAY· Guule and Teacher of pnmitive Emh Sl1lls with cmphasi~ on fire building, hide tanning, shelter, and foraging. He ieachcs at public school~. parks, cnvll'Onmcma.I centers, and classes of all lands. For mocc information CODl.1Cl him at: 602 Deerwood Drive, <i~ 1'Ci280S4 u call Allcm Stanley al (704) 1918 SIMPLE LIFESTYLES CALENDAR • Photos of "Cnf1SpCOplc or Appabchia" by Wam:n Brunner and suggcs11ons for simple h"mg for each day. S6.00 from App:ilachia-Scicncc m lhc Public lnlCrcSl; RL S, Box 423: LivingslOll, KY 4044S. All prOCCCds bcnc!il lhc WOf'k or ASPI, a llOll·(llO!il corpomuon. ROSE AROMATICS - csscntilll oils have been healing body, mind, spirit, since ancient Egypl. A most pleasant therapy! Dabney Rose; Rt. 3. Bo~ 286-A; Candler, NC 2871 S CHEROKEE INDIAN LANGUAGE clnsscs. For info, write Robcn Bushyhcad; P.O. Bo~ 70S: Cherokee, NC 2871 ROCKTN' WITH BILLY B • Do lhc DO!lct of I~ Dragonfly or the Roel 'n Roll of PhotoS>nlMsis in lhe "Music and lhc Natural World" work•hop. Avnilablc for bookings for schools or local groups, fan. 29-Feb. 4, 19gg, Great mouvalicin for kids! Call Ken Voorhis (615) 448-6709. FUTOl'S by Simple Pleasures • afford:ihly priced. Send SASE for info ID: Simple Pica.sum;; Rt. I , Al TERNATIVE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL· At Arthur Morg:in School 24 students and 14 staff lcnm 1ogether by living in community. Curriculum includes crcnl.ivc ocndcmic:s, group dccision-maling, a work program, scrncc projccis. extensive neld uips, challenging outdoor experiences. Wri1e: 1901 Hannah Branch Rd.; Burnsville. NC 28714 (704) 675-4262 CUSTOM CELTIC HARPS • A'Colltl Bason: Tra"ianna Farm: RL 1: Cbcck, VA 240n. DRUMS • CllSIOID bandaafi.ed ceramic dumbc:cks &. wooden medicine drums. Call Joe Robcns at (704) 258-1038 or write to: 738 Town Mountain Rd.: Asheville, NC 28804. Box 1426; CbylOll, GA 30S2S (~) 782-3920 A\tERICAN l!'.'DIANS of 1/16 blood. any tnbc, accepted as mcmbcn of the Soulhc:lstcrn Cherokee Confcdcro<:y. For application, wore: Chief Wilham "Ratll<:.'>nakC" facl:son: RL I, BOJt 111: Leesburg, QA 31763 sn-79n graphic lilt to express and enhance our hvcs. l..ogos, brochures, boou, porua1ture, window and wall hangings. ConLict Manlui Tree (704) 7S4-<i097. ASHEVILLE I BUNCOMBE COUJl<'TY SOLID WASTE ALTERNATIVES PLANNING WORKBOOK: A design for handling sohd w:ll>lCS tn nny urban context. SIS from Long Branch Env1ronmcn111I Education Center. Rt. 2. Box 132; Leicester, NC 28748. BARTERING NETWORK forming. Call Peter al (704) 926-6250 for 1nformooon. Am&.· stone.~ from folk uuditions till around the M. TREE DESIGNS· lllustrauons and Design • Beyond the p:igcs or lhi~ JQum:il, I work. in pencil, colored pencil, inl, cul paper, :ind b31.ik. Fine and AND THE EARTH UVED HAPPILY EVER world chosen lo help protccl all living beings by bringing the world society a few steps clo,cr to pc:icc and respect for all life. Edited by Floating Eagle Fca1her. S7.00 ppd. (All profiis go to Greenpeace and the Peace Museum). Order from : Wages of Peace: 309 Trudeau Dr.; Mellirc, LA 70003 DA YSTAR ASTROLOGICAL SERVICE· natal, transit, companson chans. Very accurate. Only S3.00 each. Chris and Will B11.wn: R1. 2, Box 217; Qie(:k, VA 24072 (703) 6Sl-3492 STIL-LIGHT THEOSOPHICAL RETREAT CENTER - • qu1c1 space for personal mcd1uuon, group interaction through study and communuy work. 8lld spirit.u.11 semi run. Conlatl Leon Fr.llllr.cl; RL I, Box 326: Wayncsv1Uc, 1':C 28786 CRAFTSPEOPl.l'i • send pncc l1rungs 10 Ci/t~d /lands of NC, 331 Bl.lie S1; Raleigh, l"C 27601 (Att'n: Bern Orey Owl) • unique shop prucnling 35-40 crahcrs' works in R.ilc1gh"s C11y M.utcL All a:lfl~ coosidcrcd. FLOWER ESSENCES • H.vmony v.alh Na1ure &. Sp1ri1. Ocnllc cmOOC>llal ~ppon during lrnll~itions, specific: hsucs, rcla11onship~. Opens communication~ Sclr·OdJUSling, non · lox1c, awareness "U>Oh" for 1mprovmg lhc inner quality. Correspondence 10: F.b1nc Geougc, c/o PDtchwork Castle, Cclo, 3931 llWY 80 So.• Bum!IY1llc, NC 28714 MASSAGE/BODYWORK THERAPIST 1mcrcsicd m c~changmg trcatmcnL• for other 1CtYICCS/produc1S. Call Peter 11 (704) 926-6250. KATUAll - page 30 MEDITATION CUSHIONS from Carolina Morning Designs. Traditional and inflatable .c.afus. For free brochure, write: RL I, Box 31-B: Hot Spnni;s. NC 28743 (I? GRAFICKS • I u~ lhe media of rcncols, colored pencils, gouachc, pen and mk, aaJ pltolognlphy in creating unique !inc and gralicl art. I can make diagrams, logos, finished pnnLS, and dc$igns for brochures, calendarJ, Cllrds, books. cte.. Mandalas and symbol> arc my tendency among other styles. Concact Rob Messick (704) 754-6097. THE APPALACHIAN HERB NEWSLEIJ'ER: exploring lhc potcniial for herbs as ca'h crops 1n Appalachfo. Subscriptions S 12/yr.. Wruc: Appal3cbjnn Herb Ncwslcucr - ASPI; Rt . S, Box 423; Livingston, KY 4044S MOON DANCE FARM HERBALS herbal salves, tinctures, & oils for b1nh1ng &. family hc3llh. For brochure. please wri1e: Moon Dance Fnrm; Rt I, Box 726; Hampton, TN 37658 SAMADHJ FLOAT TANK for sale. Spcalcers and pump. Foe back pain, medaation, relaxation.. Sl2.SO (nc:goci:lble). Call (704) 68'.l-1103. CAROLINA MTN. MACROBIOTIC CENTER ortcn natural foods cooking classes, diewy counselling, cducauonal lccUJn:~ ror a healthier life. Torn or Debbie Alhos. Call (704) 254-%06. WEB WORKING l~ free. Send submissions to: KaJ.ua.h P.O. Box 63g LciCCSICr, NC Kaliiab Province 28748 WINTER 1987 -88 �Mtdfcfn,.. Alllts Kil.IiJJJh wants to communlcace your tho11ghcs and feelings to the other people in the bioregional province. Send chem to us as letters, poems. stories. drawings, or photographs. Please send your conrribiuions to us at: K1lnJIJ.h,· Box 638; uicester, NC; Karuah Province 28748. There has betn a profusion of topics proposed for articles for the spring issue. Send in ':iJ1W ideas! January 16 is tire submissions deadline/or Issue 19. BACK ISSUES OF KATUAH AVAILABLE ISSUE TWO · WINTER t983-84 Yon.ah. Be.- Hunlal Pigeon River . AnOlher Way Wilh Animals • Alma • Bccomln1 ful I rolor T-s61rts ISSUE TEN· WINTER 198.S-86 Kile Rosen • C1tclcs or Stone • lruc.mal Mylhmakin1 • Holistic He&lm1 on Trial • Poans: SICYe Knal>lll • M y1hic Pbces • The Uktena'• Tale • Crysral Maalc • "Dlelnwpealana" Politie&lly Effective - Mounlaln Woodllllds K&lah l.1nder lhc Drill Spiritual Wrnwm ISSUE THREE· SPRINO 1984 SUJl.wble Asnculnn. sunnowen • Human. lmpacl on lhe Forui • Childrau' Ed11ea1ion Veronica Nlo:holu:Woman in Politic. • Ullle People· Medicine Alliea ISSUE ELEVEN· SPRINO 1986 Community Planrun1 • Citiu and Iha BicnaionaJ Vision • Recyelill& • Community Glldcn&na· Floyd Col.ay. VA · Ouobol • Two BiorePonaJ VMwl • Nudec Supplemau Fo11"1tt Oamu. Oood Medicine; Visions ln the traditional Cherokee Indian belief, the creatures in the world today arc only diminuitive fonns of the mythic beings who once inhabited the world. but who now reside in Galuna'ti, the spirit world, the highest heaven. But a few of the original powers broke through the spiritual barrier and exist yet in the world as we know it. These beings are called with reverence "grandfathers". And of them, the strongest are Kanati, the lightning, the power of the sky; Utsa'nati, the raulcsnakc, who personifies the power of the earth plane; and Yunwi Usdi, "the littJc man", as ginseng is called in the sacred ceremonies, who draws up power from the underworld. Each is the strongest power in irs own domain. Together they are allies: their energies compliment each other to form an even greater power. As medicine allies, they represent the healing powers of the Appalachian Mountains. The medicine powers of Karuah have been depicted in a srriking T-shin design by Ibby Kenna. Printed in 5-color silkscreen by Ridgerunncr Naturals on top quality, all-cotton shirts, they arc available now in nil adult sii.cs from the Kan!:ID journal. "To show respect for this supernatural trinity of the natural world is to in turn become an ally in the continuing process of maintaining harmony and txililnce here in the mountains of Karuah." To order, use the form below. ISSUE FOUR ·SUMMER 1984 Wauz Orum • WIU# ~ • Kudzu • Solw Eclipse • Cturcuuma • TJ'OUI • Ooin& ., Wala R11n Pimps • Micl'oll)'dro • Poems: Bennie Lee Sinclair. Jlm Woync Miller ISSUE EJGKT - SUMMER 1985 Cclebn11on: A Way or Life· Ka1u.ih 18.000 Yeat11 Ago Sacred S11es • Folk Atu in lhc Schools • Sun Cycle/Moon C)lolo • Poems: Hilda Downer Chtrok.ec Hcnlige C.-nu:r • Who Owns Appalshui? ISSUE NINE· FALL 1985 The Waldce Foru1 • The Trees Speak • Migra11.n& Fore.ts • Horse Louin& • Startma a Tree Crop • Urbln Trea • Acom Bread - Mylh lune Address Enclosed is $ to give this ejfort 011 extra boost WINTER 1987-88 Phone Number ISSUE FIFTEEN • Spring 1987 Coverlets . Woman Forester • Susie McMahan Midwife Ah.emaltvo Contraception • 81osuuali1y · Biorcaionalism and Women • Good Medicine: M.in.tcharial Culan ·fad ...,....... ISSUE SIXTEEN· Summer 1987 Helen Waite · Poem: Visiona in a Garden • Vision Qucsl • Fant Plow lnitiaLion • Leamin& in lhe Wildcrneu · Cherokee Ollllcnge • ·va1uin1 Tn:cs· ,~---- ISSUE SEVENTEEN - Fall 19117 Glady • Bear Su.y • M1chad PellOn • Boan Good Medic-inc: •findina Albcs• • Bcai Hun1.1n1 • Champion • "8C&I"." Poem • Grecns "Old Oaluics:" Poem. ·uuering" Back Issues Issue # .@ $2.00 = S_ _ Issue # @ $2.00 = Issue#_@ $2.00 = S_ _ Issue# .@ $2.00 = S_ _ Issue # _ _@ $2.00 = S_ _ Complete Set (2-11, 13-17) @ s20.oo =s__ T-Shins: specify quantity color tan s__ S_ _ M_ _ L_ _ XL_ _ Zip I can be a local contact person for my area Arca Code Siovcmake(s NanaU..e • Good Med1"1ne: lnlalpecies Commurucauon Regular Membership........ SlO/yr. Sponsor.........................$20/yr. Contributor.....................$50/yr. State ISSUE FOURTEEN· Winsa 1986.87 Uoyd Carl Owle · Booaen and Mummas - AU Spcciu Day • Cabin Fever Univeniry • Hamel- in Kan.ah • Homemad& Hot Wall:l ISSUE SEVEN · SPRING 1985 Sustainable Economics • Hot Spnnp • Worker Ownership • The Creal Economy · Self tlolp Credit Union . Wild Turkey • Re1ponsible lnvcstul& • Wcn1Un1 m the Web or Ufe For more info: call Mamie Muller (704) 683-1414 City s,.._ ISSUE SIX • WINTl!R 1984-85 Winsa Sohlicc l!&ttl> Caemony • Hancpun.n River • Comins or lhe UgJu • Loa c.btn Rooca • Mounwn Ap;culnne: The Rill>' Crop • W-llliam TayI«· The FD!ln or lhe l'oml J(AilJAH: Bjoregional Journal oflhc Southern Appalachians Box 638; Leicester, NC; Kauiah Province 28748 Name ISSUE THIRTEEN · Pall 1986 Cenler FOT Awahnin& ·Elizabeth Callari· A Gentle Dealll • Hospice • Eme.1 Morgan • Dcalin& Crarively wilh Death • Home Bmial: 801 • The Wake • The Raven Mocker • Woodllorc ud Wild"'OOC!a Wisdom • Good MDC!iciroo: The Lod&e ISSUE FIVE· FAU. 1984 HltVest • Old Waya in Cherokee • Oinscn1 • Nuclear Wuie • Our Cd11c Hcritaae • Biore&ianahsm; Pu1, Present. md Fulllre • John WilllOIY • Hui.in& ~ • Pohta or Participalion @ $9.50 each........... .$_ _ TOTAL PRICE= postage paid $_ _ KATUAH-page 31 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records Description An account of the resource <em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal</em>,&nbsp;was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. <br /><br /><span>The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name,&nbsp;</span><em>Katúah</em><span>, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant.&nbsp;</span><br /><span><br />The <em>Katúah Journal</em> was co-founded by Marnie Muller, David Wheeler, Thomas Rain Crowe, Martha Tree and others who served as co-publishers and co-editors. Other key team members included Chip Smith, David Reed, Jay Mackey, Rob Messick and many others.</span><br /><br />This digital collection is only a portion of the <em>Katúah</em>-related materials in the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection in Special Collections at Appalachian State University. The items in AC.870 Katúah Journal records cover the production history of the <em>Katúah Journal</em>. Contained within the records are correspondence, publication information, article submissions, and financial information. The editorial layouts for issues 12 through 39 are included as are a full run of the Journal spanning nearly a decade. Also included are photographs of events related to the Journal and a film on the publication. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived This resource is part of the&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal Records </em>collection. For a description of the entire collection, see <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Katúah Journal Records (AC. 870)</a>. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The images and information in this collection are protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. C.) and are intended only for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes, provided proper citation is used – i.e., Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records, 1980-2013 (AC.870), W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. Researchers are responsible for securing permissions from the copyright holder for any reproduction, publication, or commercial use of these materials. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1983-1993 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource journals (periodicals) Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, Issue 18, Winter 1987-1988 Description An account of the resource The eighteenth issue of the <em>Katúah Journal</em> focuses on vernacular shelter: log, frame, stone, yurts, earth-shelters, and membrane houses. Authors and artists in this issue include: Sam Gray, Adam Cohen, Greg Olson, Marnie Muller, Scott Bird, Rob Messick, Snow Bear, Rita Sims Quillen, Julia Nunnally Duncan, Michael Hockaday, Rob Messick, Martha Tree, Barbara Kirby, Colleen Redman, Bern Grey Owl, Douglas A. Rossman, David Wheeler, and Christina Morrison. <br><br><em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to <em>Katúah Journal</em>, was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name, Katúah, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1987-1988 Table Of Contents A list of subunits of the resource. Protecting the Dreamer: Vernacular Values in Architecture by Sam Gray.......3<br /><br />Dreams in Wood and Stone: Building Your Own Home by Adam Cohen.......5<br /><br />A Mountain Home by Greg Olson.......8<br /><br />Homemade Houses in Katúah: A Photo Feature.......9<br /><br />Listening to Earth Energies by Marni Muller.......10<br /><br />Earth-Sheltered Living by Scott Bird.......11<br /><br />Membrane Houses by Rob Messick.......13<br /><br />The Brush Shelter by Snow Bear.......14<br /><br />Resource List: On Building and Design.......15<br /><br />Solar Composting Toilet.......15<br /><br />October Dusk: Poems by Rita Sims Quillen | Review by Julia Nunnally Duncan.......16<br /><br />Good Medicine: "On Shelter".......7<br /><br />The Future of the Black Bear: Conference Report.......19<br /><br />Natural World News: Caldwell County Incinerator | Smokies Wilderness Bill | Poachers Caught | MRS in Congress | Forest Service Plan Appeal | Duke's Coley Creek Project | Asheville Recycling Center.......20<br /><br />A Children's Page.......23<br /><br />Drumming: Letters to Katúah.......24<br /><br />"A Bourn of Buds": A Poem by Michael Hockaday.......7<br /><br />Webworking.......30<br /><br /><em>Note: This table of contents corresponds to the original document, not the Document Viewer.</em> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Sylva Herald Publishing Company, Sylva, North Carolina Subject The topic of the resource Bioregionalism--Appalachian Region, Southern Sustainable living--Appalachian Region, Southern Owner-built houses--Appalachian Region, Southern Dwellings--Energy conservation Vernacular architecture--Appalachian Region, Southern Cherokee Indians--Dwellings High-efficiency toilets Geomancy North Carolina, Western Blue Ridge Mountains Appalachian Region, Southern North Carolina--Periodicals Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937"> AC.870 Katúah Journal records</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a title="In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted" href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/?language=en 8" target="_blank"> In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted </a> Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Appalachian Region, Southern Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. <a title="Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians" href="https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/collections/show/79" target="_blank"> Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians </a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Journals (Periodicals) Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1980s Appalachian History Appalachian Mountains Appalachian Studies Black Bears Book Reviews Cherokees Children's Page Earth Energies Electric Power Companies Forest Issues Good Medicine Habitat Hazardous Chemicals Katúah Katúah Organization Poems Radioactive Waste Reading Resources Recycling Shelter Turtle Island Western North Carolina Alliance Wilderness Women's Issues https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/b7c30c6ce7c5fb288b9fbaf8533bfb00.pdf e4fb1233504bfc8d0f823864df5a94b2 PDF Text Text ISSUE 19 SPRING 1988 $1.50 BIOREGIONAL JOURNAL OF THE ~OUTHERN APPALACHIANS �©~ Postage Paid Bulk Mail Permit#18 Leicester, NC 28748 P.O. Box 638 Leicester, NC Katuah Province 28748 ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED �The Perelandra Garden ...... 3 Spring Tonics .............. 6 Rooting Blueberries ......... 7 "First Dogwoods" a poem by Michael Hockaday .... 7 Gardens of the Blue Ridge .... 8 A Visit with Granny: An lnterVlew with Carolyn Port ... 1O Flower Essence ..... . ...... 13 The Origin of the Animals: Plants have been in communion with the human species for thousands of years. Only recently with the advent of the mechanical age have we relegated them to muteness. a story by Clyde Hollifield . . . . . . 14 ''Sacrament," "Rain Has Come Again:" poems by Janeice Ray ......... 15 Good Medicine: "Power" .... 16 Be A Tree .......... ...... 17 Natural World News ........ 18 Drumming: Letters to Katuah .......... 22 A Children' Page . .......... 25 Events ... .. .............. 28 Spring Gathering ........... 29 Webworking ............... 30 In the past, plants have shared their information with us. They have told us which of their species is good for medicines, for healing, for food, for making musical instruments ... They have whispered songs to our ancestors ...and poems. They have sent dreams our way...and visions. We share a sacred bond with plants. Our "world" depends on their world. Even from the beginning, photosynthesis was essential in allowing our species to eventually occur. Today, sharing the earth's atmosphere...exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide with each other... reflects how intimate our connection is. In fact, at the heart of the relationship is "exchange". We receive nourishment from plants ... not only for the physical body, but also for the psyche. They daily reveal to us visions of rootedness, stillness ... vibrancy and life. The plant world holds the memory of what a bioregion is...what it looks like in its wholeness. By listening to the plant world, we can tap our own underlying sense of what this region could be... how to re-inhabit Katuah. As we begin to become more conscious, we see how power and creativity can be used to enhance and celebrate the heartbeat of the ecological processes here rather than disrupt or destroy it. The plant world can participate in a vital way in this internal reawakening . Plants can partner with us as we explore integrating the human species into the ecological symphony of this place. Whether in a garden, in a grove...or in wilderness, we can begin to develop a co-creative partnership with plants, where once again, they speak to ~ �EPlTORTAL STAFF THIS ISSUE; Scott Bird Christina Morrison Mamie Muller Jack Chaney Sam Gray Michael Red Fox Sally Mander Manha Tree Rob Messick David Wheeler THA NKS TO: Julie Gaunt. Ellen John, Brooks Michael, Judith Hallock, Tom Hendricks, Kathleen Mclaughlin, Karen W.i1.ldns-Deckct. Susan Laird, Chip Smi1h, Joe Roberts, John Peuie, Manha & Dean, and Cclo Communi1y. Cover: Manha Tree Invocation: Rob Messick EPTTORTAL OEFTCE nos ISSUE: Worley Cove, Sandymush Creek THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BIOREOION AND MAJOR EASTERN RIVER SYSTEMS PRINTED BY: Sylva Herald Publishing Co., Sylva, NC WRTTEUSAT: TELEPHONE: (704) 683-1414 KiWah. Box 638 Leicester, NC Katuah Province 28748 Diversity is an imponan1 elemeni of biorcgional ecology, both nn1urol and social. In line with this principle, KatCiah tries IO serve as a forum for 1.he discussion of regional issues. Signed articles express only the opinion of the authors and are no1 necessarily lhe opinions of the KatU/Jh editors oc staff. The lniemal Revenue Service has declared KaJiia.h a non-profi1 organizatioo under section SOl(cXJ) of the lntcmal Revenue Code. All conuibutions IO KaJliah are deduclible from pcrsooal income 13X. Let !he center of the earth Be my heart Aod the laod be mv shell Let the soil be mv cells Aod the rock be rrrv bo!la U!t the water be my blood The ocean be my pulse And a• rivers be my veins Let the atmosphere Be mv bream And the seasont be my senses As the spirit lives Let its growing bring a change Aod plant the seed of its continuance For all things will return To the elements from which they come In being one Sl'ATEMENTOF PURPOSE Here in the southern-most heartland of the Appalachian mountains, the oldest mountain range on our continent, Turtle Island; a small but growing group has begun to take on a sense ofresponsibility for the implications of that geographical and cultural heritage. This sense of responsibility centers on the concept of living within the natural scale and balance of universal systems and principles. Within this circle we begin by invoking the Cherokee name" Katuah" as the old/new name/or this area of the mountains and for its journal as well. The province is indicated by its natural boundaries: the Roanoke River Va.l/ey to the north; the foothills of the piedmont area to the east; Yona Mountain and the Georgia hills to the souih; and the Tennessee River Valley to the west. The editorial priorities for us are to collect and disseminate information and energy which pertains specifically to this region, and to foster the awareness thaJ the land is a living being deserving of our love and respect. living in this manner is a way to insure the sustainability of the biosphere and a lasting place for ourselves in its continuing evolutionary process. We seem to have reached the fulcrum point of a " do or die " situation in terms of a quality standard of life for all living beings on this planet. As a voice for the caretakers of this sacred land, KalUah, we advocate a centered approach to the concept of decentralization. It is our hope to become a support system for those accepting the challenge of sustainability and the creation of harmony and balance in a total sense, here in this place. We welcome all correspondence, criticism, pertinent information, articles, artwork, etc. with hopes that Katfuzh will grow to serve the best interests of this region and all its living, breaJhing members. - The&Utors KATUAH - page 2 SPRING - 1988 �'The Pere.Candra Clarden: Cooperation JJi,th N atu.re 'LnteUU}ences It is in a garden that we have a special opportunity to enter into a purposeful relationship with the Earth and its creative energies. MachaeUe Small Wright has been working with these energies in her garden in a specific, conscious way for over a decade. She refers to them as "nature intelligences." Machaelle's garden, called Perelandra, lies a few miles east of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Perelandra, meaning "of the heart", began as a small family homestead and has now grown into a nature research & learning center. There, she teaches co-creative gardening, produces flower essences, and publishes books and tapes based on her experiences. Machaelle's first book, Behaving As If The God in All Life Mattered (1983), is an autobiographical account of how she came to garden in cooperation with nature intelligences. From Behaving As If the God in All Life Mattered: ...One evening in early January 1977, I walked into the woods and announced in a loud, clear voice, "...I want to work with devas and I want to work with nature spirits. I invite all of you to make yourselves known to me. I am ready to learn from you." Then I left the woods, returned to the house, put myself into meditation and waited. At the time of "my declaration," I didn't know what I was doing. But years later, l realized that I had used a oercmony to ground a shift that was taking place in me. Ceremony is a physical vehicle used to ground energy from a higher level, thereby giving it form and greater accessibility to the people involved in the ceremony. It's a tool designed to give clarity and form to energy. To accomplish this, we use special settings, actions, words, music... whatever is appropriate. On that night in January, I moved through a ceremony. I made a clear decision about what I wanted. I chose the woods as my setting. Then I moved through a seric:s of physical actions via the use of words. I stated my mtent Clearly SPRING-1~88 and simply. I invoked to myself what I felt I would need to carry out my intent. Then I scaled my declaration by physically acting on it -- by going into meditation and opening myself to whatever was to happen next The response was immediate. In fact, I. had the same experience that Dorothy Maclean had at Fmdhom when she first connected with devas. I had a "crowd of voices" coming at me, all talk:ing at the same time - all telling me that it was "about time." I connected in with them and found that they had been waiting for this for some time. I remembered that in the Findhom book, when Dorothy described this experience, she said she simply asked the devas to speak to her one at a time. Having nothing to lose, I tried the same thing. Much to my ama~ment, they responded instantaneously. And from that pomt on, I received one devic voice at a time. Behaving was followed in 1987 by The Perelandra Garden Workbook: A Complete Guide to Gardening with Nature Intelligences. This book is a step-by-step manual for anyone wishing to develop a relationship with the devic levels and nature spirits. In this excerpt, Machaelle describes her understanding of these presences and their distinctive characteristics. From The Perelandra Garden Workbook: ... "Deva" is a sanskrit word meaning body of light. This has little correlation with what I experience when I am open to the devic level, but I accept the word. The devic level is the architectural dynamic within nature. It is the force that formulates every individual aspect of form on Eanh. It is the creative force which determines the size, color, shape. weight, texture, taste, life cycle, and requirements of all form, all of nature. Each form has inherent in it its own deva. There is, for example, the • continued on Delli pqc Editots' Note: In her book:s, Machacllc baa chosen to follow lhe conventional mode of grammar, ic. "he" ralher lhUI "1/he" or "one"; "mankind" ralher lhUI "bwnankind"; etc. Becauac lhc pusagca cc diJcct excap!S. we have left them u they arc. - continued on next page --·KATUAH - page 3 �Deva of Soil, the Deva of che Shasta Daisy, the Oak Tree Deva, the Carrot Deva. Each deva holds, as in a computer bank, all the specific information relative to its form. It also holds the information pertaining to how its individual natural form fits into the grand scheme of things both on Earth and within the universe. If there are to be any physical changes made -- for example, changing carrots from the color orange to pink - they must be made within the devic level in order to maintain natural balance. Change made through the pure will and desire of us humans disregarding the devic dynamic is called "manipulation" and results in a weakening imbalance and becomes part of the ecological disaster we are experiencing... ...There is another distinguishing feature about nature spirits that will help you understand them and the differences between them and devas. Nature spirits are regional. Although I do not have a phalanx of little people visible in the garden, I do have my group of nature spirits who are connected to this land and what is happening here. Your connection will be with your own group. They are an intelligent reality that is individuated enough to be connected with specific geographic areas on Earth. Devas, on the other hand, are universal in dynamic. When I contact the Carrot Deva, I touch into lhe very same intelligent reality someone in China would touch into when making the same contact. ...Here is my understanding of nature spirits. In Behaving .... I referred to nature spirits as the blue collar workers within the realm of nature intelligence. I still hold to this imagery today but feel it is simplistic. My work with the nature spirits has convinced me that they are truly masters of understanding and working with the concept of bringing spirit into matter, energy into form. They tend to the shifting of an energy reality which has been formulated on the devic level and assist the translation of that reality from a dynamic of energy to form. In short, they constantly work with the principle of manifestation on Earth. They also function in a custodial capacity with all that is of form on the planet. That is, when not interfered with by us humans, they tend to the care and needs of all physical reality, assuring perfection within form. .. Machaelle depends on a systematic communication with the devas and nature spirits to inform her about every aspect of the garden, including what plants go in which locations, soil preparation, and how to deal with insects and animals. She consistently affirms that "the backbone of the Perelandra garden is communication." From The Perelandra Garden Workbook: .. .I happen to be someone who feels deeply that this communication is possible for everyone. We are talking about a natural partnership between humans and nature and it is not meant to be exclusive. It only stands to reason that there be simple ways for us and nature to communicate with one another. There have to be language frameworks that are just waiting to be developed. I see the communication problem as being similar to the problem that arises when you are faced with someone from another country who speaks a language that is completely foreign to your ear. There isn't one sound they are making that strikes a familiar note. We can back off the situation and say, ''This is impossible." Or we can tackle the situation together with the other person, begin to learn each other's language, and devise additional techniques for communication. This is what I've done with nature. I've worked to develop techniques which we can use for the purpose of sending and receiving information. And it's not difficult. In fact, it's embarrassingly simple. But that's as it should be. The workbook gives complete instructions on how to use the form of communication that Machaelle has found to be most effective - kinesiology. In the following passage, she explains the principles of this technique. From The Perelandra Garden Workbook: ...Simply stated, if a negative energy (that is, any physical object or energy vibration that does not maintain or enhance the health and balance of an individual), is introduced into a person's overall energy field, his muscles, when having physical pressure applied, will be unable to hold their power. For example, if pressure is applied to an individual's extended arm while his field is being affected by a negative, the arm will not be able to resist the pressure. It will weaken and fall to his side. If pressure is applied wl\ile being affected by a positive, the person will easily be able to resist IUld the arm will hold its position. To expand on a more technical level, when a negative is placed within a person's field, his electrical system (the electrical energy grid contained within the body) will immediately respond by "short-circuiting," making it di.fficll]t for the muscles to maintain their strength and hold their position when pressure is added. When a positive is placed within the field, the electrical system holds and the muscles are able to maintain their level of strength when pressure is applied. Original Drawings by Kore Loy McWhirtt:r SPRING - 1988 �This electrical/muscular relationship is a natural pan of the human system. It is not mystical or magical. Kinesiology is the established method for reading their state of interaction at any given moment. It is most commonly used today by wholistic physicians, chiropractors and the Touch for Health people. What does this have to do with "hearing" information from the nature spirits and devic levels, you ask. Simple. If you ask a question using the yes/no format, they can answer your question by transferring a yes (positive) or no (negative) into your energy field. Then you read the answer by testing yourself using kinesiology... For good communication, Machaelle emphasizes being outside in the garden space, achieving an inner quiet, and vocalizing one's requests. She then affirms the importance of asking simple, precise questions and being willing to act on the information and ideas received...even if they challenge one's conventional concepts. The workbook provides detailed information on how to formulate these questions. It also includes many insights and practical tips that Machaelle has gained from her own experience in the garden. From The Perelandra Garden Workbook: ...It has been over ten years since I began gardening under the tutelage of these nature intelligences and the result has been a garden in which all inhabitants, be they animal, mineral or vegetable arc truly compatible with one another. Each member of the garden enhances the health and well being of all the others. And this includes the bugs. The garden is inclusive, not excl usive. I do nothing for the purpose of repelling. The focus is to create a balanced, wholistic environment in which all within that environment arc enhanced. The results are not only more food than I know what to do with, but also food that has contained within it a very high level of life energy - light. ...The Perelandra garden thrives because of the approach I have been taught and the underlying consciousness and reality that motivates the approach. What l'm going to describe to you in this book docs not fit comfonably into the recognized notions of tradition, logic or even sanity. Be that as it may, it works. And that's what drives traditional gardening thinkers a little nuts. Everything you know which has gone into establishing your sense of order, stability and balance, in other words, logic, both in your garden and your life away from it, will be constantly challenged. For you see, this gardening is, in fact, a metaphor for the whole of life. As you change how you approach the garden, you will, in turn, change the very fabric of how you approach your life. '"~7~,.....~~t In addition to the specific information that Machaelle obtains through kioesiology, she also receives more extensive messages from the nature intelligences. In both books, she includes these messages that have deepened her understanding of herself and her garden. (1be devic voices are indicated by italics.) From Behaving As If The God in All Li/e Mattered: ... As each deva came into my awareness, 1 noticed that there was a slight shift in vibration, that each had its own vibration. After awhile, I could recognize which deva was entering my awareness. This led me to develop tho ability to call upon specific devas by "aiming" my awareness for the deva's own vibratory pattern... Overlighring Deva ofthe Garden We urge you to join our creative process. When you planr a seed, invoke the deva and nature spirits connected with that seed. The seed is the door between you and the various energies that are drawn rogether on the devic level and cared/or by the nattue spirits. Once you have planted the seed, put our the call for the deva to draw together all the individual energy components of that variety. Ask that the natwe spirits receive the energies and, in essence.fuse them to the seed. The seed contains the potential of the plant's perfection. The grounding of the plant's energy into the seed activates that potential and transfonns it inw reality. As you call the energy into form, see its energy channel wuch into the seed as it is growuled by the nattue spirits. By joining in our creative process in this manner, you will begin to see the importance of worldng with the nature energies with clarity. We urge you to plant the garden in this new way and see the difference yow clear panicipatkm as a co·creative partner with us makes i11 the germi11arion ofthe seeds and the qualily ofplant growth. · continued on page 24 KATUAH - page 5 �dandelion can be used throughout the growing season. but to avoid bitterness you need to look for new growth and young plants. Spring Tonics! The docks, dandelion, roostard, sorrel and lamb's quarters can all be used as cooked greens. V- 0/ets can also 1 be cooked, but I have never bothered. They are too good raw. When cooking greens it's best to pid< a lot because they cook down. Most can be thrown into boiling water and cooked, but dandelion leaves should be started in cold water and brought to a boH. by Lucinda Flodin A s I sit poring over seed catalogues, looking for bargains on untreated, non-hybrid seeds, scheming and dreaming my gardens. plotting crop rotations, remembering ga"tr:Jens past, wishing gardens future. feeling in my rooscles the reminders of turning spring soil - I remember a time not too long ago when I thought one could not have food without the hard work of digging, planting, and weeding. Lamb's Quarters M ind you, gardening is work I love, especially in the springtime, but in recent years I have disct:Jvered the joy of foraging for wild foods, food that is Earth's gift - available at the cost of some study and a walk in the sunshine (although some plarts I hardly have to leave my door to find!). I feel a wonderful balance when I take a break from the garden to seek out a treasvred wild food which grew gloriously without my help or work. It gives an insight into how the Earth worlcS..... who, after all, really grows the food. I start to forage early, pulling bad< snow looking for that first new growth. By the time spring arrives •officially" there is food abounding - rooch moffJ than I find in my garden at that point. This is a time when mountain people tonic with wild foods, knowing their health will be more vigorous year round. It is a tradition worth embracing. My favorite cooked green is poke, which roost be cooked when young and tender. ff the stems are red or the plant is over 12" high, it is too old, because it becomes poisonous with maturity. The roots and the seeds are medicinal, but they are poisonous and should be used under the guidance of an experienced herbalist. Some folks will say that poke should always be eaten cooked. I always do, but I have seen ffJCjJes that cal for it raw. Another fine cooked green, ff you don't mind the hassle, is nettle, the stinging variety. Anyone who's ever been caught in nettle knows the respect the plant requires. Long pants, long sleeved shirt and heavy gloves are necessary to gather and handle it until it's cooked or dried. Repeated cookings, each in fffJsh water, get rid of the stinging hails. It's a wonderful food rich in vitamins A and C and high in protein. It is also a lot of wolk. I always gather a bunch to dry for nettle tea in the winter. There BffJ so many edib/8 plants and so many ways to eat them. An old timer is a great ally in teaming local plants. and theffJ are also many books that contain good pictures and important information. I am fond of Foraging For Dinner by Helen Ross Russell, Roda/e's Herb Book, and also the Foxfire books. It is important to know your food plants, because there are others which can poison you. Early spring salads can begin with a base of sorrel rumex and sorrel moxalis. Rumex sorrel can be eaten in great quantity; moxalis sorrel must be eaten In small amounts to avoid too much oxalic acid. Both have a slightly sour taste. I add small amounts of the more bitter plants - dandelion, cress, and the docks (yellow, curled, or burdock) - using very young leaves because they get more bitter the bigger they grow. I try to pick dock leaves before they have completely unfolded. In early salads I also use leaf lettuce from my greenhouse, and I add in violet leaves and flowers as soon as I see them. Violets are also a favorite hiking food, a nice munch while you walk. Later in the spring saxifrage comes in season, followed closely by lamb's quarters. a great salad green which will carry you to the first frost. Late spring salads are also nice with purslane leaves and shepherd's purse leaves. Dock and Plantain A nother way to prepare spring foods is green drinks. Rll your blender with leaves • violet, plantain, mints, dandelion, or other tasty greens (either singly or as a mix). Cover with water and whiz in the blender until it is a pretty green color. Strain and drink immediately. I have heard that you should blend green drinks for at least a minute, but that makes a powerful drink, which Is too heroic and strong for most. When I use bitter plants In a drink, I add a lot of mint to sweeten it. Some vegies like carrots w11 1 also sweeten the taste. Experimentation will lead you to the tastes you like. Green drinks have become a standard In our home when the children decide to hate green food. Then they get a ChOice - they can eat a salad or drink a green drink • it's the same great nutrition whichever they choose. Ramps are a food which people either love or love to hate. I love them - in moderation. The blend of onion and garlic taste is a wonderful seasoner to food. A few ramps will season a pot of beans or a mess of greens. Try them cooked if you don't like the strong raw taste. Ramps are not only good tasting, their lily·like appearance makes them one of the prettiest plants. Violet KATUAH - page 6 illustrations by Ellen John SPRING - 1988 �rooting blueberries After a warm rain, when the darl< blue violets bloom, the morel ~shrooms grow. They Jove old apple groves in the fn!'Untams.....and they are the highlight of spring foragmg. Morels are all one piece and they are hollow. f went rooshrooming ona tifn8 with a neighbor to be sure I could cfistingufsh the right kind, before I set off on my own. Morels are fun to hunt, beause they hide In the undergrowth. Sometimes one will appear beneath your feet, as though in that instant it had magically popped to full growth. .... perhaps by Will Ashe Bason it did. In my kltehen the best meal of springtime happens in May when we have stir-fried rafTfJS, morel rooshrooms and asparagus with a wild green salad. To me it's Thanksgiving spring-style • knowing that each food is there because the Earth grew It, and we were blessed to find it. We look forward ~ to it and celebrate It. The Earth Is good to us. P' Scientific classifications and vitamin/mineral information on above mentioned plants: Nettle (urt/ca d/oica) • contains almost all vitamins and minerals necessary for human growth and health. Vitamins A, C, 0, K. Calcium. potassium, iron, sulphur, silicon, copper. Lamb·~ quaners (Chimopodium abum) - contains calcium, silicon, follc acid. Dandelion (Taraxacum otricinale) ·contains vitamins A, 81. 82, niacin, C, E. Calcium, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium and many trace minerals. The bast at(angthener of tha liver. Yellow dock (Rumu crispus) • Fully absorbable, non-consllpating source of iron. Burdock (Att:tium lappa) • Vitamin C, iron. Watercress (Nasturtium ofrlcina/e) • contains Vitamins A, 81, E, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, Iron, manganese, flourine, copper, sulphur, Iodine, zinc. Plantain (P/anlago ma;or) - contains calcium, potassium, sulphur Sorrel (Rumex aa.tosa} • oontains iron. Violet (Viola psp/lionacea) • contains vrtamin A, calcium Shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pa. toris) - contains s calcium, Vitamin K. A great remedy for all bleeding problems Poke (Phytolacca amerlcana) • contains vitamin A. C, calcium. Lucinda Flodin lives a1 Moon Dance Fann in Hampton, TN where she crea1es herbal health care products, Moon Dance Farm Herbals. Moon Dance Farm, Rt. I , Box 726, Hampton, TN 37658. First Dogwoods Now I don't know what is going on. These days I wale the fJBJds with tears in my eyes. Spring is so lovely l follows fn8 around and gives mB shame. In quiet little D~minations of the moment, when rlJbons of light descend between the ic.B and snow, my heatt achBs with death and dying itto the nBW land. Sure it is good to bum li<e the eatth with desire, and then by aystal beauty to be cooled. Each brief rainshower glistens the air so the sollBI)' trees in first leaf glow li<e candles on the mountainsides. During spaC6s between the birds singing so freely, my lamentation unfolds. My mind bursts open like the hard·held ctUst finally gona to green. My woe Is akin the whispers of an errant breeze enveloped and carried off by the long west winds. SPRING · 1988 © ev'J B lueberries are an excellent crop for Katuah. They bloom late enough to almost always escape spring frosts and love acid soil. Here In Floyd Co. VA we doni have the high quality wild blueberries found in most of the rest of Katuah The oldest planting I know of is a half acre in the Riverflow Comroonity that is seven years old and doing very well. Last year, as my friend Alta was pruning the Riverflow blueberries, we decided to try to root the prunings. Alta put the prunlngs Into water In which I'd placed willow cuttings several days before. The willow has magic rooting enzymes which the blueberries lack. Chris, my wife, cut these prunlngs Into pieces about 3 or 4 Inches long, and dipped their tower ends In rooting hormone powder. She then Inserted the cuttings Into a propagation frame filled with a mixture of half sand and half peatmoss. T his frame was oovered with a layer cl plastie and then a layer of burtap. The plastic keeps the environment humid and the burtap reduces the amount of sun to a tolerable level We made our frame 2' by 4', from 1x4's and with a bottom of hardware cloth. We made the ribs for the covering from some bent rebar we had but bamboO, lath or pvc pipe would wort<. We watered the cuttings mostly with comfrey and with a ittle manure tea We took the poly oover off in June and the burtap off In August although I think this last could have been e811ier. We had about a 90% soocess rate and some cl cuttings put on 6 inches of new growth. We were worl<lng with highbush varieties but this year we are rooting some rabblt-i!ye varieties as weU. These are larger bushes and though oonsldered less oold tolerant than highbush or lowbush, some are thriving in the riverflow oomroonity and we are at neal1y 2500 feet at the northern tip of Karuah. Rabbit-eye blueberries fruit later than the hlghbush and, In our area, continue till frost. They are supposed to be harder to root. -Will Ashe Bason / KATUAH - page 7 �.. ©~ rot\li Ejardtns "f-t11e 13(11f. 'RiJ,t.. ...Each displaying its own particular beauty beneath the young sunshine and soft waters ofspring · ...Each with its own particular niche in tMwoodland habitat benelllh the tall rrees - the right balance of fll()iscure and light, the particular soil that will encourage its growth. ...And each with its own unique capabilities and strategies for sustaining life and reproducing its ldnd. The world of the forest wildflowers is simultaneously one of exquisite beauty, rigorous specialization, and demanding competition. Though the soft colors and delicate textures of their blossoms delight the eye in springtime, these plants have evolved through eons of stress. and change to prove their sturdiness and resiliency among the life forms, great and small, inhabiting the Appalachian forest. Their magical appearance in the spring, their apparent daintiness, and their impossible beauty, have enchanted the human beings of every age. And in these days, when people want their affluence to be tasteful, there is a resurgence of interest in purchasing the small wildflowers of the eastern forest for shade gardening and home landscaping. KATUAH-page 8 There are several companies now catering to that interest, but none have been in the trade longer than a small concern located off Highway 221 near ihe smaU town of Linville, NC at 4,000 feet elevation in the heart of Katuah province. The Gardens of the -Blue Ridge was begun in 1892 by the family of a surveyor named S.T. Kelsey. The sense of power and grandeur around nearby Grandfather Mountain had always atttacted people to the area. In Indian times it was known as a sacred place of power. In Kelsey's day, Grandfather Mountain Corporation and the Linville Improvement Co. were founded on a cenain reverence for the area's durable real estate values. Kelsey was called to use his surveying skills to help parcel out the lands at the Grandfather's feet. He liked the area and bought a tract for himself for the nursery from which he sold ornamental shrubbery. A young man from the area, Edward C. Robins, took a job at the nursery and worked there steadily until 1923, when he bought the operation. Since then the Gardens of the Blue Ridge has been a Robins family enterprise. Members of t~e fourth generation of Robins' are now worlcing in the company. For a time E.C. Robins carried on the business as Kelsey had left it to him. He dug a tremendous number of nati\'e rhododendrons, azaleas, mountain laurel, and dogWood trees and shipped them by rail throughout the East. As a sideline, he also collected and sold the small woodland wildflowers. . But the ornamental shrubs trade grew more competitive, and the native varieties began to be eclipsed in the eyes of wealthy buyers by new hybrids developed especially for the color, holding capacity, and brilliance of thei{ blooms. Robins decided to deal exclusively in wildflowers and began a tradition that the family has adhered to since. In those early days of the Garden's development, the trees still stood tall in many areas of the forest. The ground was largely clear beneath the great trees' massive crowns, and hunters and bikers could still stumble into clearings carpeted in ginseng or brilliant with the color of an extensive colony of pink ladyslippers in full bloom. In those days it seemed that the forest would never die, and .the wildflowers would always grace the forest floor. Robins employed 30 - 40 men digging, transplanting, and shipping shrubs and flowers. They dug wherever they could and took all they could find. Trilliums and lilies were popular at the time, and Robins shipped thousands of individuals of the various trillium species, the (now rare and endangered) Gray's JiJy, (Lilium Grayii) and the Tur.k's cap lily (Lilium superbum) to the eastern cities. As he became more completely committed to the wildflowers, Robins gathered all the local varieties he could find, until he was offering 200 varieties of plants. E.C. Robins lived until 1969, when he died at the age of 93. Today the Gardens of the Blue Ridge is run by hrs son, Edward P. Robins. The company still offers 159 varieties of flowering plants, 22 varieties of native fems, and 38 types of trees and shrubs. But the plants are now propagated almost exclusively in 10 acres of mulched, raised beds at the nursery. Logging practices and extensive development were largely responsible for changing the face of the forest, and it was in the late 1940's -and early 1950's that the Robins realized that the supply of local flora was limited and that their methods of coUecting were helping to diminish the supply. The family shares with their customers a deep appreciation for the subtle beauties of the native wildflowers. So, once begun, the transition to nursery propagation was made swiftly. In 1969 ginseng (Panax quinquefolium) became a protected plant in the state of Nonh Carolina. Now the small plant known as shortia or Oconee bells (Shortia galacifolia) and the medicinal plant golden seal (Hydrastis canadensis) SPRING - 1988 �are also registered plants, requiring a special certificate to accompany each individual sold. Pink ladyslipper (Cypripidium acaule) in all probability will soon join the list. The Robins family follows scrupulously all regulations for producing and selling the native plants. They note that by making wildflowe~ available, they are relieving pressures on the wild natives and that they are actuaUy aiding several species of wildflowers to survive by spreading them as domestic plantings, while their native habitats are being destroyed or drastically cunailed. In particular, they have helped ex.tend the range of shortia by shipping it throughout the East. The plant grows on runners and is easy to establish, if it is planted in a moist spot or kept wet until it is well secured. E.P. Robins remembers one private wildlife preserve in western Massachusetts where they planted "thousands, literally thousands" of shortia as a ground cover. Pink ladyslipper is harder to establish. The plant depends on a relationship with a particular variety of funius that lives in the soil close to the plant roots. Wherever 1t is planted, pink ladyslipper will prosper for the first year, but unless the soil is such that it can produce the particular strain of symbiotic fungus, the plant will soon languish and die. Once the business of collecting native plants '+'as strictly a matter of stamina and endurance. E.P. Robins remembers fondly the day when the company received a permit to collect plants on some land near the North Carolina-South Carolina state line that was to be cleared by Duke Power Company. "We dug 10,000 shortia that day." But idiosyncrasies such as that shown by the pink ladyslipper make propagating the wild plants in nursery beds more a question of familiarity and accurate attention to detail. The demand for the graceful natives has been steady through the years, and there is room for new companies to enter the field. "There's good prospects for this business," says E.P. Robins. ''It's always been steady. Even during the Depression it was a good business. Wildflowers are becoming popular, so the demand might go up for awhile. But we have all the business we can handle right now, so we don't care if it goes up more or not.'' Breaking into commercial wildflower raising requires more initiative and careful attention than capital. It is a business that can sran small and grow to whatever ~ize is desired. But it is slow work. While most of the flower varieties are easy to raise, some varieties have special requirements that can only be learned through long familiarity and by suffering through mistakes. It takes time to establish a market and to~ain a reputation. "We never got rich," says E.P. Robins, "but we didn't expect to get rich, and we're making a living. As long as we keep our bead <tbove water and have a liltle, that's all·we ·:.:· ..... .·· ..·: :-. ·. .! ·. shortw ·:·..·. . ·: ... ©~ Shortia, Oconee bells (Shortia galacifolia), the mystery plant of the mountains of western North Carolina was first discovered by a French botanist, Andre Michaux, on December 8, 1788. He had been sent to America by the French government to seek new plants that might be of value ro France. In his search through western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, Andre Michaux found and described many new species and carried back to France pressed specimens to be placed in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. Some were labeled "unknown" and among these was a leaf and root of this plant from the mountains of western Carolina. care." Perhaps many botanists studied the specimens with M identity over a period of the next fifty years. In 1839 Asa Gray, a young American botanist, became intrigued with a specimen and recognized it as a new genus, and wrote a scientific description of the genus from the single specimen in France. To lwMr Dr. Charles W. Short, an able botanist of Kentucky, Gray devised the scientific name of tlte genus, Shortia. And, since it resembled galax, the species name became galacifolia. But growing the native wildflowers offers rich rewards in satisfaction. The international reputation for quality plants developed over the last 96 years by the Gardens of the Blue Ridge is obviously a source of d~ep pride to Mr. Robins. Propagating the native wild plants is an occupation that takes little from the land and offers much in the way of natural beauty. And it is good to walk beneath the tall trees and see the colors of the flowers shining in the spring rain. ~ Gray soon returned to America and began his search, high in the mountains ofNorth Carolina and Tennessee.for shortia. In 1842 Dr. Gray was appointed professor of nanual history at Harvard University. For 38 years on every field trip high in the mountains of North Carolina, Gray hunted for the elusive slwrtia. He found many plants and published manuals on botany, but always the little specimen in Paris continued to haunt him. Sources for wildflower plants: - Gardens of the Blue Ridge P.O. Box 10 Pineola. N.C. 28662 - Appalachian Wildflower Nursery RL I, Box 275-A Reedsville, PA 17084 ,P' Further reading: Growing and Propagating Native Wildflowers. Harry Phillips (UNC Press; Chapel Hill, NC. 1985) SPRING - 1988 Then, on an April day in 1877, George HytllnS went fishing in the Catawba River in McDowell County. His father was a botanist employed by Wallace Brothers of Statesville, NC, whose firm collected plants for pharmaceutical purposes. Nodding and swaying in the breeze were some charming bell-shaped, waxy white flowers, on slender stems, with irregularly-toothed petals, growing from a roserre of wavy-margined, roundish, shiny evergreen leaves, similar to the familiar mountain galax. George decided to take a piece Jwme to his father. Mr. Hyams did Mt know the plant, but it looked so interesting that he sent a specimen to Dr. Gray at Harvard University for identijicaJion. Dr. Gray replied, "You have smmbled on what for many years I have tried so hard to find." continued on page 26 KATUAH - page 9 �;- -- - ____.,._...,..,. _ _,_ -- -- ---·-------~ F'inclitUJ Out Abou t lka!int] with Plants .... A Visit with Granny An Interview with Carolyn Port by Karen Watkins-Decker and Christina Morrison Carolyn Porr has been a practitioner of herbal medicine in Burke County, NC for over 50 years. She has also given lectures, classes and workshops on herbology and will soon publish a book of herbal remedies. As a single woman, Carolyn raised two adopted childre11 and now has several grandchildren a11d great-gra11dchildren. She is fondly referred to as "Granny" by family and friends. Katuah:: How did you begin your work? G r anny: I'm a registered nurse. I also carried a midwife's certificate for years until retirement age pushed me out K: How did you become specifically interested in the use of herbs? G: I don't know that I was more interested in herbs than anything else. The body is a whole. If it's sick one place it's sick all over, and it needs help all the way around. Anything that brings it back to normal is good. K: Yet you've found that herbs treat the whole body better than olher medicines? G: Yes. I believe that herbs build health as well as treat symptoms. And if an old woman told you that wall link tea would save a baby's life that had bold hives, you'd try it. K: What is wall link? I've never heard of it G: It's a kind of lichen that grows in spring have to take a knife and scrape those little roots off to make it clean enough for the baby. Editor's ll()te: Wall·linJc "lichen" is actually a type of liverwort (probably Marcha!ltla polymorpha). conjectured to bt among the very first plants to exist on land. It is interesting that such a primitive plant is healing to humans in our tarly stages of developmen1; i.e. infancy. branches. Some people call it "turkey tracks." K : Where did you gather all your knowledge? From your own experience? K: And bold hives - what kind of illness is this? G: People told me things just like I'm G: I don't really know. I think in the medical profession some would say that there is no such thing as bold hives. The old folks said there was. The babies would just tum blue - they'd find them blue in the bed. Some of them broke out in a red rash first. like pimples, and not be able to catch their breath - so they'd die. K: The symptoms you mention remind me of sudden infant death syndrome for which no cause or cure has been discovered. I'd like to know just exactly which lichen you're talking about. G: I can't show it to you as good as if I had you over on the creek bank. It's a deep green • not a green green. It has a ridge right under the center seam and its hair-like roots go down into the moss to get moisture. You KATIJAH - na2e 10 telling you. They told me about the wall link tea and I said I'd remember that and try it and see if it works .. .if I need it • and I did need it again for a baby that was JO months old. They called me in the night and I went. The baby had been blue for two weeks. They'd had her to the doctor twice and in the hospital once for a day or so. It didn't do her any good - still she was blue and beginning to get the red rash. Quick as I got there, I gave her a hot and a cold bath to stimulate circulation and it pinked her up right away. She seemed a little more alen, but as soon as she was out of the bath she began to look blue again. So I asked if anyone knew where I could find some wall link. They said there was some in an old spring half way down the mountain. I asked if anybody would go get some. One woman said she'd go if I'd go with her; nobody else wanted to - they knew how bad the road was. (she laughs, remembering). We took a pine pitch torch and climbed down the mountain at 2 o'clock in the morning and gathered wall link. I got a nice handful of it and went back and made some tea. When the baby got a taste of it she just drank that bottle Hke she'd never had anything good before. And before she was through she began to get pink. I stayed around to 5 o'clock when I was sure she was alright, and then I went home... and that's the way I got the remedy. K : From what age did you begin paying ancntion to these things? G: I decided I was going to be a nurse when I was just three years old. My mother was a nUTSC and while she treated people I treated my doll. I'd give my doll an enema and then hang her on the clothesline by her toes to dry. (laughs) K: Your mother took care of people at home too, just as you do? G: Yes, and my father was a veterinarian. K: Did your mother use many herbs? G: What she knew she used. For instance, when they learned that raspberry leaf tea would stop hemorrhaging we always kept it on hand. She used blackberry roots for diarrhea; things like that K: Did you and your parents work together? SPRING - 1988 �G: Yes. When we moved here (to Morganton) in 1920 we built a home across K: Do you have any' favorite plants that you work with? the street. We had three private room units and an upstairs for father and mother. We could take up to 4 mothers with their babies. G: I just get whatever people need. rve also got a greenhouse full of aloe and I use K: So that's when you became a midwife? G: I was a midwife from the time I finished school in 1929. K : You already had your degree by the time you were 20? G: Yes. You didn't have to finish high school back then, so I went straight into nursing school. Then when I was about to finish up, they said I couldn't take the stare board exams because I was 100 young to become a nurse. But my supervisors worked things ou1 for me to take the exams anyway and I made a 98 average. K: Do you use any standard medicines in your practice? G: I never have. That's the reason I didn't nurse in a hospital professionally. I had 10 find some other way to help people, because I'm not going to give others something I won't take myself. K: And how did you develop that attitude? Did your mother have that approach? G: Yes. She never gave drugs. She was an old Battle Creek, Mich. graduate if you've ever heard of that school. When she was there it was in its heyday. It was around the tum of the century and they had patients from all over the world. They used many kinds of therapies like hydrotherapy, diet, herbs ...as well as standard medicine. K: That must have been quite a departure from the general trend in the rest of the country. G: Yes. They believed the body was the temple of God and they treated it that way. They used very few drugs. K: Seems that possibly we've gotten away from the use of herbs because people have come to mistrust them - they're unknown, unfamiliar. Maybe if we stan using them more we'll come to trust them again. G: We've got to. K: They can even become like old friends. G: You wouldn't think that the humble little violet would cure stomach ulcers - bu1 it does. K: Do you gather most of the herbs you use? G: Yes, I love to... but I don't have time to pick many. And I try 10 get people to gather them on their own. If they're going to get any real lasting benefit they'll have to learn 10 do it themselves. That's why people don't doctor with herbs - they think it's too much trouble to get out and hunt for them and fix them up. it for lots of things - it helps people with cancer who are losing strength, its good for the stomach if drunk· as a juice... ! make suppositories with it for hemorrhoids or vaginal infections. And of course for bums there's nothing that takes its place. So, many herbs li,kc aloe can be used for different things, but when you think of a malady you should use the plant that's the I!!Qfil ~ for that problem. For instance, aloe is good for the stomach but if you have an ulcered stomach and are having pain, violet leaf tea is the thing you wanL There are also lots of remedies for colds, flu and bronchitis, but the best one l know is a tea made from mullein and cockleburrs (xanthium pensylvanicum)... the cockleburrs really make it taste good. And the beauty of it is, you can put it right in a baby's bottle just dilute it a little. (see REMEDIES) G: Comsi1k tea and Queen Anne's lace tea are good for kidney ailments too. A woman came to me who was going to the hospital the next day to have one of her kidneys taken out as she had so many stones in it. It was right in the summer when Queen Anne's lace was in bloom all over the place. I told her I believed I'd try some Queen Anne's lace tea before I had an operation. She said, " Alright, I will." We went up on the hill and galhered flowers and stems to make the tea. I told her to drink a cup every thirty minutes 'til bedtime and whenever she got up in the night to use her chamber pot she should drink some more. Well, by morning she'd filled that pot up half-way, but the bottom of it looked like red clay In." thick. Those stones had dissolved. And as far as I know, she's never had that problem again. Editor's note: Queen Anne's lace (Daucus carota) somewhat resembles poison hemlock (Conium maculatum). Be sure to know the difference. K: My neighbor's baby often has colds I'll recommend it. G: You know, when you give a child herbs you're giving them a kind of nourishment they don't get any other way. And it seems to immunize them to that same malady. They won't have it nearly so quickly or so badly again, and they'll get over it faster. K: Why do you think the medical profession has gouen so far away from using herbs? "Of course these common weeds we walk over all the time, like dandelion and chickweeds, are some of the best - if you can get to them before the mower does!" G: How would they make any money with it? Oaughs). I knew a doctor once whose little girl nearly bled to death with a nose bleed. I told him to give her raspberry leaf tea to stop the bleeding - and he did and it worked - but he didn't seem interested in finding out why it worked or in using it again. K: What do you think about when you're harvesting herbs? G: I think about how quick I can get this person enough plant to do some good Oaughs) and get home and get it fixed up. And I don't get to go out and harvest all the time. If I did I might be like the man I know who went up on the parkway towazd Jonas Ridge. There was a whole bank of ttailing arbutus there and he decided to gather some. He'd filled a bag half full when a lady patrolman came along and asked him what he was doing. II was against the law up there to pick those leaves, so she took them and put them in the back of her car. He told her, "I hope you know what to do with them!" K: What arc ttailing arbutus leaves used for? G: Kidney stones, or as the old folks say, "gravel" ...some folks call arbutus, "gravel weed" because it eases the pain in passing kidney stones by dissolving them. K: Sounds as though it's been a useful and well-known remedy. K: How did you learn to identify plants? G: We always studied nature in our family. Sabbath afternoons we'd go for hikes in the woods and look for bmls and flowers ...and whatever we didn't know we'd look up. Of course these common weeds we walk over all the time, like dandelion and chickweeds, arc some of the best - if you can get to them before the mower does! Chickweed is a wonderful little weed. K: ... and it tastes so good fresh. G: Yes, and it's a good wash for any skin ailment. But it's not only the wilder plants that arc good, we have tame things like marigolds and calendula which arc good for salves. K: You use marigolds? I use those for a dye. G: If you grow them in your gazden they keep the bugs off your plants ... and a tincture of them will keep the bugs off your head! A young'un of mine got uce at scnool and we rubbed the tincture into his scalp and wrapped it in a towel overnight. Next morning we washed it out and that was thaL (see REMEDIES) You can also dry the blossoms for tea that takes polyps out of the intestines. • continued on next page. SPRING - 1988 KATUAH - page 11 u. OSCO - nn.v '"" �- continued from page 11 K: I never knew marigolds had so many uses! G: Well, when you get started on something you find so many things its good for ... K: What is your feeling about the healing properties of plants - the origin of that? G: God put it there. That's exactly where it comes from. He knows what we need. Now right around here, there's lots of kidney stones ...something in the soil contributes to that problem. There's also a lot of trailing arbutus. It's like an herbalist once telling me to gather stinging nettles and I said, "Yes, if I can stand the sting." And she said, "Wherever the nettles grow you'll find yellow dock - just rub your sting with its leaves and it won't hurt." K: That reminds me of using jewel weed to neutralize poison ivy. Do you primarily make teas with herbs? G: Most herbs do yield their strength best to water - some to cold, some to hot - either boiled or steeped - according to what you need. For high blood pressure you use cold mistletoe tea. (see REMEDIES) But if you've got epilepsy or seizures then you make a hot infusion. (see REMEDIES) K: I know of a dog with epilepsy - maybe it would cure him. (laughs) outlawed in the U.S. And now I've beard they're closed down. I hope its not true. K: Did you keep the literature from that course or do you just remember everything? G: Well, I got all hepped up studying it and ii worked so good...that I got the address of Indiana Botanical Gardens - and what I didn't know I'd order so J could recognize it and test it out. K: Did your father use herbs as a veterinarian? G: Yes, we studied together. One day a man came to us who'd overworked his horse. He said her heart was pounding like a hammer and she was standing with all four legs splayed - wouldn't eat; wouldn't drink. So I fixed some lobelia tea and filled up a big drenching bottle full. When we got to the mare the sweat was running off her in a stream and her nostrils were red and looked like they would burst. We lifted her head and drenched her but only got half of it in her before she reared up and came back down and slobbered. After a while she began to walk around and drink water. He asked if she'd live and I said I didn't know she might have burst a blood vessel. Months later my father saw him again and asked about the horse. He said he'd been logging her everyday. G: Well, you just be a brave woman and drink it down - and drink some water after. K: What if someone's ailments demanded remedies of an opposite kind - of opposing forces, so to speak'? G: Nature fits with nature. K : Lobelia is an herb I've beard you should be careful with. G: Did you ever taste Indian Turnip? Lobelia's like that - very strong. It smells good, but nobody's going to eat much of it. Only a very little is needed for healing. K: I've also heard that the seeds of the poke plant are supposed to be poisonous, although I've eaten them myself. The young shoots are very good cooked Do you use poke? G: Yes, I've given the berries for arthritis (see REMEDIES) and folks have had good results. Some harvest the berries every fall and freeze them to have oo hand all year. K: Staghom sumac berries (rhus typhina) crushed and soaked in water make good lemonade. Have you used them as a remedy? G: The tea is good for bedwetting - helps K: Not quite as hard, I hope! That's retain the urine. interesting - lobelia grows in my holler G: A woman came to me one day and said, where horses are still used for logging... Has anyone ever had a bad ''What can I do for my poor little doggie? reaction to remedies you've prescribed? He's having seizures one right after another." So I said, "Give him some G: I don't give them anything that would mistletoe tea." She said, "That's poison, cause a bad reaction. isn't it?" I said, "They say so - but birds eat it." She said, "Well ..." A couple wee.ks K: Are there any herbs that you finally later I saw her and she said, "What can I do decided to stop using? for my doggy?" And I said, "Did you give him the tea?" She said, "No." So I said, G: Some are easier to get than others...and "Well, just let him die then." And she some taste a lot better than others. looked at me as if I was the meanest thing in Personal) y I like things that taste better. If I the world. I didn't think she was very much impressed. Then a few months later I saw her husband and he said, "Did you hear-the dog's all well." I said, "Good what did you do?" He said, "We gave it mistletoe tea!" (laughs) The dog had gotten so weak he couldn't get into his little wicker bed. He wouldn't drink water and hadn't eaten for days. She put down a bowl of tea and she said his nose twitched and he raised up and began to drink. When he finished she set down another bowl and some food and water. She expected him to be dead by morning. But in the morning the tea was gone, the water was gone, the food was gone and the dog was gone! He was over V'.......~~~*::;:;:·~rt;.l'!D across the carport in his bed. K: What a great success story! So how did you learn how to prepare so many different herbs - was it just from people telling you? G: No, honey, l see what you're after.. .! took a correspondence course from Canadian Herbal College in the early '30's. They had to go to Canada because they were K: Do you have any ideas about the intelligenc.e behind plants? G: The same God that made you and me made the plants. He knows what they need and they haven't perverted their appetites like I have. So they take only the nourishment they need from their environment..! think the.main good we get comes through the life of the plant - from the minerals and food value it gives us. K: It's very pure, isn't it.. G: It gives your body just what it needs. K: Do you feel the plants you gather have any awareness of your picking lhem? G: I don't feel they have a ...what would you say?... a soul...or a menrality. But they do have some kind of feelings and ability to communicate. And I think in the new earth state, after sin is gone, that we'll be able to communicate with animals and plant life better than we can now. K: But you don't feel like you do thar at all now - when you're working with them? G: No...when I'm gathering plants I think Mullein illustra11on b'f Ellen John give people somerhing that tastes good they'll probably use more of it. K: How do you mask the ones that don't taste good? of the good they're going to do. I don't believe in nature spirirs or fairies ... Angels exist, and can lead us to plants, but God is the spirit And He is a personal God. I le made us and He made the herbs. He knew what we needed so He put their healing qualities in them. - continued on page 27 KATIJAH- page 12 SPRING - 1988 �Frower Essences: Harmony wtth Sp£r£t and Nature Flower essences serve as catalysts to awaken the natural life force and spiritual consciousness within us. Each flower essence embodies the hamumious vibrational panern of the particular flower species used, and thus attunes and resonates with specific human energy patterns. The essences stimulate an enhanced awareness and ability to transform limiting attitudes, emotions and behavior into more creative and health-affirming ways of living. Flower essences are liquid, potentized preparations which carry a distinct imprint ofa given flower and only an insignificant material component. They are prepared from sun-infusions ofj[Qwers in water, diluted and preserved with brandy and generally taken orally af~ drops at a time, several tim&r per flower, coltsfoot In the joy of the moment we found the radiance within one another and made our life commitment together, although the golden flower eluded us then. Since that lovely day, coltsfoot has found us often...and in most surprising places... along highways and mountainsides, dry bulldozed places and small streams...during needful, dark and joyous moments. Each time she Earths the Light for us along our journey. Each time she opens us to our own knowing. day. yellow is used to dispel depression. One spring, Edward and I both developed 'lung fevers' - my first, his, a long endured ailment It was this particular Spring that we felt agreement to prepare the flower essence. I'd been relating with friends with 'lung troubles' and this encouraged my own healing. fd been holding grief for so long. The Equinox came brightly and we t.ook our healing bodies to the cold creek to be with the coltsfoot flower. In a sacred way we happily created coltsfoot essence, with her permission. Her radiant light dispelled our 'darkness' and we got welU These essences are completely safe and do not inteifere with and are not ajfected by other medications. They show a lack of effectiveness if used improperly but if too much is taken they do no harm. Flower essences harmonize well with other health and growth practices including exercise, nourishing diet, relaxation, balanced lifestyle, and appropriale medical care. Always gentle and strengthening.flower essences bring a continual union between soul and body, Higher Self and personality. The graduiJJ attuning within blends and connects one with one's source. As a medicinal herb, ~o farfm (coltsfoot) is traditionally used for lung ailments. The lung is an "earth" organ and Drawing by Shell Lodge Cottsfoot ~tooc£t"oot C oltsfoot is the earliest blooming flower here where we live in Katuah, appearing in February before the cold snows have finished melting. Blooming fully bright, coltsfoot brings her Promise of the Light and Radiance of Spring from the deepening regenerative forces of Winter's Dark. In early Spring, before leaves cast shadowy images, petite candles stand erect on hardwood forest floors. Arriving at dawn, one can lie amongst their glow. As the sun warms the day, one then can watch the delieate unfolding petals of the beautiful bloodrool flower. A single protective leaf shelters this flower in her early development As it matures, the candlelight shoots up from the leaf and opens to fullness. Then the forest ground covering is a myriad of white stars with glowing golden centers. Heaven laying to rest a s~ll on Earth...Spirit blossoming with matter. Her special way of responding to the sun lends to us knowledge of her use as a flower essence. She follows the arc of sunlight across the blue Heavens then closes up silently to the cold night awaiting the Sun's ever re-appearing warmth for opening each day. The large green leaves developing at the end of her flowering season grow in the shape of a " colt's foot" and tell us of her ability to ground us as well as enlighten. My husband and I affectionately call coltsfoot our initiator. On a clear sunshiny day along a delightfully cold rushing mounrain creek, Edward and I searched the banks and boulders for signs of the radiant yellow ray F eelings of my sacredness flow while in the presence of Red Puccoon ( Indian for bloodroot). a revelation of my opening psyche. My initial experience of using bloodroot flower essence came like the swift flooding river over rapids, gurgling forth in living affirmations. Life affirming words came pouring forth from my being, streaming out. fd been struggling with the use of affirmations, but no more! I experience their inner wadrings now; I foci surprise and delight and laughter. The aeative process of receiving the Divine Feminine within began blossoming. T hrough this process Bloodroot becomes my friend ...sharing her self wilh me through the opening of my feminine psyche...and being so intimately here with me while I clear the cobwebs from my ancient cauldron. The exhilarating union with my feminine creative spirit and ageless wisdoms is coming home using bloodroot flower essence. As an herb, this member of the poppy family is known to be internally poisonous in all but small doses. The red root was used medicinally to make tinctures and decoctions for internal use , and external washes for skin Edward & Elaine Geouge are flower ess~nce infections. When freshly dug, the root of sanquinaria canadensis bleeds a red juice. Dried lovers living in Yancey Co., NC ga1herinY' flowers and wisdom to co-create flower and powdered roots were used by the Indians essences with Nature in KaJUah. as a dye and as a body paint These Appalachian Gower essences are available lhtough Flower Essence Services, P.O. Box 586, Nevada City, CA 95959. A.sic ror the research flower essence list. SPRING - 1988 KATUAH-page 13 �THE ORIGIN OF THE ANIMALS by Clyde Hollifield " lam a storyteller. You can take this story any way you want to - as a dream, a Ue, an exaggeration, a vision, or as the truth. l am only required to tell the tale. " Long, long ago, at the dawn ohime, there were only plants upon the Earth. No people, no animals, no birds, no fish - only plants. At first the plants were rather meager. T here were onl y algaes, liule mosses, lichens, and fems, but gradually they grew into larger species. The early trees began to develop. If you look at the geological record, you will see that animals came into existence about the same time that plants began to develop fruit, nuts, and grains. Of course, the animals could not have existed before this, because there would not have been anything to eat. Here is how it came to happen. Plants bad evolved for millions of years before any animal was even thought of. For eons they had experimented with dispersing seed using water and air as carriers. For a lot of the plants, this was a problem. Some, like the milkweed, bad learned to send their liule seeds on parachutes through the air. The cattails and the rushes experimented with floating seeds that were carried to the other shore of the lake and took root there. But many of the other plants could only drop their seed at the base of their own stem, and were thus crowded out by their own offspring. As the plants evolved, and their intelligence grew, some among them began to discuss a radically new way of dispersing seed. The oak trees, in particular, were precocious plants. They watc hed the mistletoe, the only mobile plant, which had no roots and flew from one oak tree to another. From this the oak trees got an idea: they would devise a small, living creature that could move !lllml around from one place to another, as the mistletoe was able to do. They called together the hickory trees, the walnut trees, the hazel, and all the other nut-bearing trees, and they made their plan. It being such a new idea, it was difficult at first to convince the other plants to allow it. "It'll never happen." "Ridiculous." "Go away," said the other trees, but the oak tree persisted. (Oaks are very persistant trees) .T hey agreed that they would design their creature so it would not harm the environment or intrude on the living spaces of the other trees and plants. They also agreed to provide total care for this little "animal" creature. You have probably guessed already that the animal they were devising was the squirrel. His job would be to plant oak seeds at some distance from the parent tree. lo exchange, the tree would offer him a place to live, hollow places in which to take shelter, and food in the form of acorns and nuts. They finally completed their task, and, as you can see to this day, the plan KATUAH- page 14 worked very well. A squirrel will get a mouthful of nuts, run down the tree, and go off into the woods a little way. Then he will dig a little hole, plant the seed right side up, and pack the din back around it very carefully. Then be will promptly forget where he's planted it. That's the business of the squirrel; it's in his nature. With the help of the squirrel, oak trees began to become a dominant tree on the Earth. The other trees began to think that maybe this was not such a silly idea after all, and the persimmon tree, the serviceberry, and the pawpaw got together and decided to create a creature of their own. The persimmon tree suggested an idea, and they all thought it was a good one, and carried it out. They made the possum. The possum was different from the squirrel. It was completely nomadic, it never denned up. This was an improvement because they did not have to provide the possum with a home, only food. The fruit trees were not as determined as the stout nut trees, and the possum was the lazy approach to making a squirrel. The fruit trees did not waste a lot of energy filling up the possum's brain housing. The possum, therefore, is not quick and clever like the squirrel. Face it, a possum is dumb. But the possum does not have to be smart, because it has a natural design advantage. It eats the sweet, ripe fruit off the trees. Then, as the possum meanders on through the forest, the fruit passes through its body, and when the possum is a good distance from the parent tree, the seeds are deposited .among tho leaves, neatly packed in a small bundle of fertilizer. But neither squirrels nor po5sums can cross large bodies of water;·and some of the other plants began to think that they would have a big advantage if they could come up with an animal that could fly. What a totally outrageous idea! None of the other plants thought it would work, but a daring group of plants - blackberries, blueberries, mulberries, and even cherries got together on it, and so many of them were working on the plan that they actually made it come about. They took the best features of the possum, passing the seeds through the digestive tract, combined with the brightness of the squirrel, and they designed their creature with wings and a new invention, feathers and this new being a bird - actually flew! With their mobility and sense of purpose, birds could fly to where a crop of berries were ripening, eat these, and fly, often for hundreds of miles, to where other berries were coming into season, depositing their seed packages along the way. These plants, too, took care of their own particular creature. They gave the birds materials to use in building a nest and a safe place back in among the briars or high in the tree branches to protect themselves and safely raise their young. The new idea worked splendidly, and there came to be more and more birds of all sizes and varieties, and at the same time more new and different animals were being created as well. SPRING - 1988 �But what plant devised the human beings? This is a question that bas baffled science for centuries. Some say that the humans were thought up by the intestinal bacteria. but l happen to know that the apple tree was responsible. The apple tree felt that life was becoming too confusing, because there were too many kinds of apples. Each young tree created from seed was different from its parents, and when the young ones crossed, they themselves produced entirely different types. It was a dilemma that required a quick and drastic solution. So the apple tree devised a creature with the intelligence to help them reproduce by cloning. In this way a strain would remain true to its original form. This required a creature with special qualifications. This creature needed to be able to graft a tree, and, when the graft was established, to transplant it in a good location, and then wait seven to ten years before being rewarded with any apples. This was a remarkable achievement. None of the other trees had created a creature that could do that. It took a coalition of different kinds of plants - the apple tree and other fruits, the grains, and the vegetables - to create and sustain the human animal. The new "animal" system was turning out to be successful beyond any plant's wildest expectations. The plants were doing extremely well. and there was hardly a pan of the Earth that they could not coloniz.e. But too much was happening at once. It was too much to control. The fust sign of trouble was when some lower orders of plants. being too lazy to take the trouble to devise and maintain their own animal or bird, grew seeds that could ride in other animal's fur. These were the hitcbikers: cockleburrs, beggar lice, agrimony, and others like them. This was just the beginning of the troubles. The animal kingdom that the plants had created took on a will of its own, and new animal species began appearing that the plants bad never dreamed of. Animals apppeared that ate the flesh of other animals and were not under the control of any of the plants. Other animals began to manipulate the environment to their satsfaction. Beavers, for instance, began gnawing down their host trees to build dams and lodges. Shocking! Before this only the plants had done anything to change the way of the world. A bad day came when the humans discovered fire. With fire they became the greatest threat to the plant world that had ever appeared. They could start fires, but they were not so proficient at putting them out. The humans made a lot of mistakes and did a lot of damage in the early days when they were learning how to manage fire. · The beautiful system the plants had created was careening out of control, and the plants could do nothing to bring it back into balance. The plant kingdom began to go on the defensive against the very creatures they themselves had created. Poisonous plants developed, vines and brambles appeared to hinder the animals' way through the forest. Long prickers grew on the locust tree and other plants that had never bome thorns before. The humans, their most complex creation, turned out to be devilishly adept at cutting, cleating, digging, and poisoning the SACRAMENT Candlemas Day divined one blue violet. Yesterday trout lilies were spawning down at the creek. I have saved a beeswax candle; there will be other times to celebrate the rites of spring: the planting of peas & potatoes, signs of urging warmth, a stirring of the earth, the surging of the body to stir the earth. One honeyed candle burns at an altar of lilies. bringing the poems of spring to light. -Janeice Ray RAIN HAS COME AGAIN Rain has come again after the dryest spring recorded deep in me the garden has leapt these past weeks-mullein sends up spires in the moonlight. The four o'clocks burn a bush of sweet purple, effigy of efflorescense. The garden is a dense verdant mass of growing summer vine & bush & stalk screaming recklessly open to foraging bees, wasps, bugs, birds, me. I think I have seen it climax, baptiz.ed in pale the night of the last full moon of summer, wide wide open and singing with life. Flowers of luffa glow yellow and grow long. Vines vein white; leaves in a mad ebb of chlorophyll drink in the sudden abundance of water and are reborn. The mute sundial casts gray & wan. Stolons passing underground fountain into spearmint. These are the showers of blessings. From the wetness comes redemption. - Janeice Ray - C01llinuod on page 21 SPRIN,9 - 1988 _ KATUAH-pagel5 �(These are lhe words of a traditional Cherokee 111-0dicinc person.) ON POWER There are three types of power, and they are: Power over others or power over ideas. This is the power to force other people to do certain actions, whether they would like ro or not. Personal power. This is the power of will. This power can bring ideas into physical form. A person can also use this power to step into a negative situation and change it into a positive situation by simple strength of will. The third kind of power is spiritual power, and this kind of power comes when one is connected to the Greater Life, which is the totality ofcreation. We must recognize that we are only a part of a greater whole. Then we will be able to receive spiritual power. This is the greatest power ofall. To attain spirirual power, one has to be open to it. This is done, not by cultivating a strong desire for spiritual power, but by recognizing a need for that power. This creates a hole or a space that the spiritual power can flow into. In the story of the Garden of Eden, it was separation, not fornication, that was man and woman's original failing in the Garden. Separation from the Greater Life is the source of all our limitations. We limit ourselves by emphasizing and valuing our egos, our fears, and our prejudices. This limits the spiritual power we can contain. We cannot be changed by the spiritual power if we indulge ourselves by dwelling on our limitations. What if your mother did do something that was not right to you when you were a kid?! The hell with it! We all have to continue and to live our own lives. Ask some spiritual people the simple question "How are you doing?" and they will say "Oh, I'm working on...... " and give a whole involved list of what they see as their personality defects. These people devote a good part of their attention and energy to what is holding them back, instead of thinking about how far they have gotten. If those people would think about how far they have gotten, they would be amazed at the resources they have to work with and what they could do. If they would share those resources and put them to use, they would find that they would grow mucli faster than by "working" on their limitations. 0 ne way to overcome our limits is by serving unselfishly. Most people begin to practice this in order to increase their spiritual power. This is ''serving selfishly," but service becomes a habit that is performed without thinking, and then it begins to woik. Another way to gain spirirual power is by practicing unconditional love. This means to love somebody without requiring that the person do something, be something, or act in any particular way to "deserve" that love. What a strong magic this is! Fasting is also useful in helping to become conscious of our limitations. We may feel that we cannot go four days without food or four days without food or water. But when we accomplish that, even if there is some bitching, we learn about how we can go beyond our limits. Praying is talking to the power of creation. When praying, express your feelings clearly. Any person who would pray for 15 minutes every day would witness remarkable changes in themselves and in the world. It does not maner how you identify the Spirit to which you pray. The action and sincerity of praying will bring amazing changes in just a few months. We have been told not to pray for ourselves, but to pray on behalf of others. The only thfog to ask for oneself is the strength and endurance to continue to serve the Creation and to help others. Praying is a humbling activity, because prayers must be humble to be sincere. A sincere prayer is powerful and can bring about real accomplishments. When even just one person is convinced that something is true, the power of that belief is enough to set changes in motion. If only one person sees an obvious injustice and knows that it is an injustice, that is enough to change the situation a little bit It may appear that nothing has happened, but if one person out of 100 can be changed, then much has been accomplished, because an idea grows like a seed, and once the seed is planted in someone's mind, that person will change somebody else, and the idea will keep growing and spreading in that way. Spiritual power is greatly magnified in the circle of the people. We need to get over our separation - literally - and come together to pray. If 20 people who are fairly clean inside gather together in the circle and hook into the power, that group could accomplish almost anylhing. Of course if there are people working in opposition to the goals of thls group. that limits the degree of unity that can be reached. And, of course, we cannot eliminate negativity and evil. If we did, there would be nothing in the world! Each of the opposing forces, positive and negative, is the basis for the other, but the negative can be neutralized or deflected by people's focussed energies. How is this done? On the spiritual level we do not try to defeat other people or their energies. Instead we 1ransform them by bringing them to the awareness that the world is a unified and connected entity, and that we are not separate from the world or from each other. Thus we achieve our goals by increasing the opposition's spirirual power! Conjuring in the traditional Cherokee medicine is a way a medicine person empowers his or her prayers. To bring about a healing, a medicine person first would pray and then would do conjuring, which is acting out the cure and seeing the result already accomplished. The act of conjuring opens part.S of the mind that do not act through verbalization and focusses the deeper power of the mind on the task at band. The old-time conjurors knew that praying does not take the place of action. The old Cherokee belief is: "You put the seed in the ground before you pray for the crops to grow." You do your work, and then you hook into the Greater Power to bring it to fruition. This is very sincere, very humble. The physical work is an important part of the magic. - continued on page 26 KATUAH - page 16 SPRING - 1988 �BEA TREE by Brian Ellis The following is a brief exercise I use frequently with children at camp and with adults at conferences. You may want to adjust the vocabulary to the child or group you are working .with. Be sure to add lots of pauses... and speak In a soft voice. F ind a tree that you feel really drawn towards, one that speaks of beauty...perhaps, one that you may have climbed in your youth. Stand facing that tree. If a small group, hold hands encircling the tree. Then, begin to center down, breathing deeply and relaxing. (At this point, I introduce the idea of "deep listening" or "hearing with your inner ear".) Ask, "Have you ever been sitting quietly, maybe thinking about a problem, and all of a sudden you hear a voice inside that tells you what you need to know? Or have you ever sort of known something and not known exactly where it came from? Well, that's a kind of deep listening. What we are going to do is to let our "inner ear" open to what this tree may want to share with us. Some of you might hear a song, a poem, or a story of what happened here long ago. For some of you it might be a feeling, pictures, or Images. Continue to breathe slowly and deeply. Keep your eyes closed and focus your attention on your feet. Wiggle your toes a little. Now imagine that you are growing roots. Feel your roots sinking down Into the soll, sprouting out In all directions. And like a tree, draw energy from the earth. Feel warm, healing energy flowing Into your roots, into your feet and legs, up your strong straight trunk. Feel Iha! energy coming from the earth up into your heart, shoulders, arms, and head. SPRING - 1988 Now Imagine yourself growing limbs, reaching out in all directions. Send earth energy from your body, up, out into your branches. Draw the warmth of the sun into your leaves. Feel the warm light soak down into you, filling your heart, filling your body and sinking down into the earth. Earth energy surging up through your roots; Sun energy pouring down through your branches...and mixing in your heart. Now feel your own heart send love, warm light, into this t.ree. Open your heart to this tree. Allow the love to flow back and forth. Take a few moments of silence and listen with your inner ear to what this tree might have to share with you...open your heart to this tree... (pause 2 - 5 minutes)...and know that you can always reconnect In this way. (again, pause) Now it Is time to finish up. Remember to give the tree thanks...now draw back into your heart. Feel your body becoming human. Feel how strong and healthy it feels to be a human being. Wiggle your toes and fingers, drop hands and stretch. Open your eyes and shake your arms and legs. Feel how vibrant and alive you feel! Now give the tree a hug, maybe a kiss and a deep thank you. At this point, I give folks a chance to share what it felt like to be a tree, or something the tree shared with them. Almost every time people have really powerful feelings of empathy and often some neat idea or bit of wisdom. I remember once a girl shared a real clear image of what the place looked like when the tree was a sprout. Another time a child said, "The tree told me how old it ls...157". I have counted a lot of rings on a lot of trees and I would have guessed it was about 150orso. Please be careful when you lead this exercise with a group. Let them know what they are getting Into and carefully guide them out. Please try it many times by yourself or with an experienced guide before leading others. And make offerings to the spirit of the forest. Mo/ All my relations/ Walk in Balance~ BRIAN ELLIS (alias Flying Fox) /iv9s in Celo, NC. HB is a dynamic storytBllBr, pOBt, and songw1iter as well as a membBr of lhB National Association for the PBrpetuation and Preservation of StorytBliing. KATUAH-page 17 �an issue when dealing with the giant utility corporations, but Duke Power Co. in panicular seems to have a hazy conception of the difference between public service and corporate adventurism. The company bas promised ratepayers in t h e ir recently-acquired NP&L territories that for several years their rates will remain lower than those of Duke customers on !he piedmont. After that promise has expired, however, Dulce's new dependents may find themselves contributing the capital to fuel Duke's continued corporate expansion. NATURAL WORLD NEWS THE LATEST WORD IN NUCLEAR WASTE P ANTHERTOWN SOLD! Nllllr&I Worid Naws Service High at the headwaters of the east fork of the Tuckaseegee River lies a valley called Panthertown. The beauty of the valley's striking features was for many years a secret known only to a few. But Panthertown may soon be crossed by a Dulce Power high-voltage electric al transmission line. The site has recently been the focus of much attention and activity, but for a long time it lay in relative obscurity, the property of the Liberty Life Insurance Company, which limited access to the area. Before last year few people knew of the white, domed cliffs that framed the valley and the sttcams and waterfalls that graced the location. When Liberty Life decided to unload the 7100-acre tract, they tagged it with an aslcing price of $10 million. Congress passed bills in both houses, one sponsored by NC Senator Terry Sanford and the other by Rep. Jamie Clarice of the NC Eleventh Distriet, that appropriated $6 million toward the purchase. But this was not enough for Liberty Life, so the Nature Conservancy, a private land conservation organization, went to work to try to engineer the purchase to bring the prized site into the public domain. For financial reasons, the Nature Conservancy let its option on the Panthenown tract lapse. Immediately Duke Power stepped in and bought up the prope.rty for the $10 million asking price. Dulce is in the final stages of acquiring the holdings of the Nantahala Power and Light Co. (NP&L), and the utility has been rapidly buying up land in the Panthertown area to create a link between the NP&L territory and Duke's other facilities in the Piedmont. The high-profile, high tension wires will span 30 miles to join a station in the Jocassee watershed area to a tie-in in the Tuckaseegee district that links with all the NP&L facilities. The proposed ttansmission line will cost $30 million to build. It is unclear whether Dulce's expressed interest in the Panthertown property contributed to Liberty Life's intransigence in the land dealings. Duke has been willing (and is certainly able) to pay a high price to obtain clear ownership and avoid any public accountability over the route. The corporation has reportedly paid exorbitant rates for small-acreage tracts, so as to have complete control over the proposed right-of-way. That control is now virtually consolidated, and Duke is acting the part of a magnaminious benefactor who might KAUIAH- page l8 - - -~--~ compromise its own interests to accomodate those who wish to preserve the beauty and habitat areas in the Panthertown valley, rather than a public agency that must consider the best interests of all in its decisions. In other words, Duke is holding all the cards, and those who arc interested in keeping the valley in a wild state arc scrambling to petition the company to take the least obtrusive route for the proposed power line. While the utility corporation's first proposal was to run the high-tension wires down the middle of the valley corridor, there are now several alternate routes under consideration. Ralph Bauman, land acquisition officer for the US Forest Service, has indicated that the agency is open to land swaps of adjoining National Forest land to make alternative routes possible. Congressman Clarke's office and the Nature Conservancy are still hopeful of acquiring the unused remainder of the property a fter the locatio n of the transmission corridor is set The route of the proposed power line will affect other areas as well. From the power house at Bear Lake through the magnificent Tuckaseegee Gorge, the Tuckasccgee River valley is pristine with no sign of human habitation. A route should be chosen that would spare the river the massive intrusion of a high-voltage line. The installation of the new power line will be tho culmination of decades of corporate planning and desire on the part of Duke Power. The company has the dubious honor of being known as efficient and effective managers of nuclear reactors, because they have been making their stoclcholdcrs substantial profits from the generation of nuclear power while other utilities have beeen backpedaling from the nukes lilce the proverbial "hot potato." In recent years Duke has maintained an aggressively expansionist stance. Their insistence on initiating a gig antic engineering project to generate electricity on Coley Creek in the Jocassec watershed when the need for that amount of power remains still unproven, and the enormous size of the proposed transmission line that is to penetrate the Panthertown area has raised questions that perhaps the company is contemplating a move into TV A territory in east Tennessee, as the TVA nuclear plants along the Tennessee River are currently inoperable. There has been speculation that Duke plans to install yet another reactor on the shores of the Oconee lakes to funnel power west to accomplish this goal. Public accountability has always been Nllunl Worid News Service Under the t e rms of the Johnston-McClure Bill passed by Congress in December, 1987 an unwilling state of Nevada was chosen as the site of the first nuclear waste repository. The bill also eliminated the eastern repository - which in politicians' language means, "eliminated the eastern repository for awhile." An area overlapping Madison, Buncombe, and Haywood counties in Katilah was considered a lilcely site for the eastern dump. The Monitored Retrievable Storage (MRS) facility, a "temporary" storage area which the Department of Energy is counting on to hold tons of spent nuclear fuel rods that become government property in 1996, was re-ratified in principle, but no construction work may be begun until a site for the first underground repository is clearly decided. As part of the political dealings around the bill, the states of Tennessee and South Carolina were grant.e d immunity from consideration as MRS sites. A . three-person panel will be appointed by Congress to study the need for a MRS facility, which may delay plans for the facility somewhat, and a negative finding by the commission will most certainly strengthen opposition to the MRS. A DOE study at Yucca Mountain, NV, the favored first repository site, shows a strong possibility !hat groundwater contamination may occur. This may delay first repository siting and therefore slow the MRS as well. Johnston-McClure serves notice that if a politically feasible solution presents itself, Congress will seize it immediately to hasten an end to the nuclear waste debacle. The bill does buy us additional time. Meanwhile, heed the words of Congressman Clarke: "We must be prepared to fight any future plans to locate an MRS facility in our region." ENDANGERING AN ENDANGER ED SPECIES T he Roanoke logperc h, an endangered species, will become more endangered if developers and ignorant public officials of Roanoke County, VA have their way. Their plan is IO withdraw most of the flow of the Roanoke River and pump it into the proposed Spring Hollow Reservoir. Even after strenuous opposition from a citizens' group, "Friends of the River" and SPRJNG - 1988 �milder opposition from the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the State of Virginia, a colonel of the US Army Corps of Engineers responsible for the project "leans" toward approval of the reservoir. The question for people interested in the future of the river is, "Arc the profits to be made from this project worth sucking away the habitat of an endangered species?" If the answer to this question seems clear, send a letter of protest to: US Army Corps of Engineers P.O. Box 1890 Wilmington, NC 28401 EVEN CANTON IS DOWNSTREAM Na.tural World News Scrv""' "We have to give quality water to our people!" shrilled C.W. Hardin, the mayor of the town of Canton, NC. A turnabout on the question of Champion International Paper Company's effluent discharge? Not hardly. It was discovered that a faulty wastewater treatment system was discharging improperly treated effluent into the little Pigeon Creek, which feeds into the Pigeon River from which Canton draws its drinking water. The system handles wastes from the Pisgah Inn, a concession on the Blue Ridge Parkway at the head of the Pigeon River watershed. It was Canton's tum to be downstream. Public health officials closed down the old treatment plant, but the inn bas a permit to install a new system that would again discharge imo Little Pigeon Qcclc. Unfortunately, that permit was sought and received without consultation with the Environmental Advisory Board of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The board has among its members Dr. Dan Pittillo and Dr. Garrett Smathers, well-known and respect¢d scientists in the region, who sincerely care about the fragile ridge-top environment the Parkway traverses. "Overload on the original facilities was a contributing cause to the system failure, " said Pittillo, ''but they are adding even more buildings and extending the paved roads in the campground even further. And flushing down oil from the gas station and chemicals from RV chemical toilets is not going to help. Those substances kill organisms in the biological treatment system and will slow or possibly stop decomposition. "The Pisgah Inn is acting like any business: it's trying to get more and more people in. And the Parkway administration is saying everything is alright, but it's not alright. 'They need to remember where they are. That is a very delicate area, and the greatest resource they have up there is the area itself. ''The whole operation needs to be reviewed. Perhaps it is time for a study to determine a ceiling on the traffic the area can handle." Serious questions arise when people throng to a delicate area like the top of the Pisgah Ridge. Those questions are always close to tho surface when vigilant watchdogs like the Environmental Advisory Board and the town of Canton are standing up for water quality. SLOWING THE LAND RUSH NllUnl World News Seivice Two concurrent bills now before the Georgia state legislature offer some relief against the rampant development proceeding unimpeded in the north Georgia hill country. The Senate unanimously passed Bill 393, the Mountain Protection Act, which restricts development on lands over 2200 feet in elevation and with more than a 25 percent slope to one single-family unit per acre. Within the area of the bill's jurisdiction only one single-family dwelling or six-family unit could be built per acre. No structure may extend more than 40 feet above the ridge line. The measure also provides that any land on which more than 40 percent of the forest cover is removed must be reforested. Other minimum standards would require an environmental assessment and landscape plan for commercial construction, a soil erosion prevention plan for agricultural activities, and would permit private logging activities only after a harvest plan had been professionally prepared. A similar bill is now before the Natural Resources Committee of the GA House of Representatives. The House bill has been modified to restrict construction on lands over 1200 feet in elevation that maintain a 33 1/3 percent slope over a distance of 500 feet In other respects the bill as it stands before the House is only slightly different from the measure that passed the Senate. One clause in the House bill attempts to put some teeth into the Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Act by allowing the GA Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to charge counties and municipalities for the services of the DNR if the agency has to move in to enforce the terms of the anti-erosion law. Although the Mountain Protection Act is just a beginning at alleviating human pressures on the north Georgia habitat, it bas attracted a major amount of attention. With the legislative session nearing its close, it is in doubt whether there is time for the House to pass its version of the bill and work out a joint measure with the Senate to give Georgia a much-needed land use Statute. EARTH SHAKE! NlllnU World News Seivice The mountains trembled Wednesday evening, February 17, as a minor earthquake shook Cherokee, Clay, and Graham counties in western North Carolina and parts of eastern Tennessee at 7:30 P.cc. The tremor, centered near Robbinsv11le, NC, registered 3.8 on the Richter scale. No damage was reported. Residents who experienced the quake felt a vibration and beard a rumbling noise at the time of the event. Some reported feeling a brief sensation of being under pressure, as is experienced when one goes deep underwater. ©~ TRACHEAL BEE MITE INVADES WESTERN SLOPE Nallllal World News Service Bee colonies in the Katuab region have come under attack by the tracheal bee mite, a destructive intemaJ parasite. Officials of the Tennessee State Agricultural Extension Service announced that the state bee inspector found hives dying from mite infestations in Greene County, TN and Monroe County, TN during the month of January. The mites are suspected to have arrived in shipments of bees from South Carolina. Once established, the mites spread rapidly. The infestation was first reported within the national boundaries of tho United States only four years ago. Since that time it has spread to locations in 30 states. Bees throughout the region are now under immediate threat of the parasite invasion. Chemical poisons cannot be used inside of bee hives, as they contaminate honey and beeswax in the hive, so commercial beekeepers are deprived of the orthodox method of recourse. The TN Extension Service does not know of any natural defenses the bees have against tho parasite. The only known method to protect bees from the tracheal mite is complete isolation of the hive. Hardest hit by the infestation will be commercial apiarists who routinely import bees and equipment. To commercial producers, replacing lost hives means a financial loss in labor and equipment costs. Honey producers who survive the mite attack will not receive premium prices for their honey, according to the Extension Service announcement, because cheaper, imported honey will make up for any shortage in the regional supply. Allergenics and those who depend on local honey supplies may have to look harder for honey this summer, and there will be fewer honeybees to pollinate the apple blossoms and sunflowers this year. - continued next SPRING - 1988 ~ KATUAH- page 19 �EPA TESTING FOR DIOXIN IN PIGEON RIVER Nllllnl World News Service Who knows what evil lurks in the murky shadows of the Pigeon River? Officials of the Champion International Paper Co. have consistently claimed that it is only the excessive coloration of their corporate effluent that keeps the Pigeon River barren and lifeless below the Canton paper mill in Haywood County, NC. They are fond of deriding "environmentalists'" and other residents' concerns about the river as a big flap based on arbitrary regulations of "harmless" colorants. River fish say otherwise, having deserted the river in droves, leaving only a few species of pollution-tolerant "garbage fish" to inhabit the lower reaches of the Pigeon. Now, alerted by reports of the highly toxic compound dioxin being found in the effluents of other paper-making companies that employ a process similar to that used at the Canton mill, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ordered that fish samples be taken from the river to test for that substance, which is a deadly carcinogen. Dioxin was a primary component of the herbicide 2,4,5,-T, which gained notoriety as the defoliant Agent Orange in Vietnam and which came under attack in this country as a dangerous substance that causes cancers and mutations. Fish samples from both the NC and TN stretches of the Pigeon River have been sent to the EPA for analysis. The samples were obtained by an elecao-shock technique that stuns f1Sh within an eight-foot radius of the point of contact with a powerful electrical source.The fish are then gathered and sent to EPA laboratories in Atlanta for testing. Tennessee officials had to return to the river for a second round of fish-gathering after taking initial samples in January, 1988. They did not bring in enough fish in their first try to make an adequate sample. The government fishermen said that the water in the deep pools where they fished was a dark brown color. They complained of the foul smell of the river. Local people living along the riverbanks said that although fish were few in the river, they would catch what they could, untiJ lhrcc years ago when, according to one resident, the fish "had a lcind of blue mold on them and their eyes were funny-looking." Dioxin has been shown 10 pass along the foodchain via small, bottom-feeding fish and into the larger predator fish. Officials from Champion International and the state of Tennessee are involved in protracted negotiations that might perhaps resolve the immediate fate of the river. The EPA has indicated that it would be amenable to ratifying a compromise agreement on color standards for the Pigeon, if one could be reached. The fish say that unless the river is cleaned up completely, they will noc return. The Dead Pigeon River Council (DPRC) is a group of western slope residents who feel victimized by Champion's misuse of the river. The group KATIJAH - page 20 was a strontt voice urging the EPA to undertake the dioxin testing. They also have been persiste.ntly urging the TN Department of Health and Environment to undertake a study of the abnormally high number of cancer deaths of residents of the downstream community of Hanford, TN. An informal survey by residents of the town (population 500) revealed that 167 cancer deaths have occurred there in the past 20 years. The Cocke County commu ' t;y is .locally known as "Widowville." The TN Water Quality Control Board will test Hanford's well for contamination of the local water table by river water pending a review of the EPA 's dioxin tests. ConlOCI: The Dead Pigeon River Council 803 Prospect Ave. Newport, TN 37821 MEETINGS CALLED ON TOXIC SPRAYING Nanni World News Set\lice Carol McGincbey, Mary Ann Delany, and Nancy Barnhardt are three women who litcralJy cannot stand toxic chemicals in the environment. The women, who are from neighboring Floyd and Patrick counties, VA, have body systems that are extremely sensitive to toxic chemicals. They have suffered acute symptoms of poisoning in the presence of chemical insecticides and herbicides. The three arc acting as a liason committee between community people and state agencies on the questions of agricultural and silvicultural spraying. They are meeting with Dennis Anderson of the Vrrginia Forest Service and a representative of the state Agricultural Extension to discuss the spraying of the herbicide "Round-up" to weed out young broadleaf trees, particularly yellow locust, which contend with young plantings of white pines, and the spraying of "Paraquat" as a pre-emergence herbicide oo "no-till" com plantings. Nancy experiences liver problems and respiratory ailments in the presence of the poisonous sprays. "When I feel an aching sensation in the area near my liver," she says, "I start to ask around. If I investigate, I always find that someone is spraying nearby." Carol has more extreme symptoms in the presence of the toxics. Her body reacts with a high fever, sore throat, numbness of the extremities, nausea, and extreme fatigue. "I was laid out in bed for three or four days at a time in several instances last spring and summer," she said. The women maintained communication with Anderson during last year's spraying season. The Forest Service officer said it was almost uncanny how the women pinpointed his spraying schedule through their bodily reactions. The women also approached the Appalachian Power Co. about clearing brush under their transmission lines by mechanical means rather than with poisonous herbicides. The company is now considering the idea. This year the three are meeting with Anderson and the state Extension Service before the spraying season to communicate the depth of feeling that some area residents have about this question and to suggest measures like publicizing spraying schedules so sensitive people can avoid the toxic clouds. "We are going to meet with them in a non-confrontational way," said Carol, "to tell them about our needs and viewpoints, and to seek out any common ground we may have about this issue." "Everyone, whether they know it or not, is affected by these poisons near our living-places," said Nancy. "Everyone who is exposed accumulates those complex chemical compounds within their bodies to the detriment of their life and overall health. Because our special sensitivity causes us to have immediate, visible reactions to the poisons, we have been selected to be the buffer between the sprayers and the general community." Suppon the women advocates of air that is clean and safe to breathe. Investigate toxic spraying in every part of the bioregional province. To offer suppon, or to receive advice and a standard survey form to evaluate the effects of chemical poisons in the local environment. write to: Nancy Barnhardt P.O. Box 417 Aoyd, VA 24091 US FOREST SERVICE RELENTS ON RIVERS Nawn! World News SCNlce 104 miles of eleven rivers in Katuah are among 35 rivers and 98,000 acres of riparian land in the southeast that are at least temporarily protected by agreements with US National Forest supervisors. "Binding comminmcnts" by the US Forest Service (USFS) provide for evaluation of ponions of these rivers to be included into the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System and five 10 ten years of protection while the study is being carried out. Only the parts of the rivers on National Forest land arc presently under consideration. The agreement was negotiated by the American Rivers organization with the assistance of the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund. Highly pleased with the results of their talks, American Rivers withdrew motions of appeal the group had filed against the forest management plans for the National Forests involved. American Rivers is a non-profit organization seeking legal protections for rivers in the US. FORECAST: CLOUDY UNLESS THE PEOPLE ACT! Nllllnl World News Service Against overwhelming economic, scientific, and ecological evidence, incineration still persists among technocrats as a preferred choice for solid waste disposal. The engineering mentality apparently demands a technological solution to the waste disposal problem, as it has in so many aspects of our society. Yee, when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced their opinion that incineration of Asheville's dehydrated sewage sludge by the metropolitan Sewage District (MSD) would require no environmental impact assessment, such a squall of protest arose that the agency extended the public comment period, and is now considering public SPRING- 1988 �petitions for a full environmental irnJ?act statement. Local residents and organizations have sent documentation to the EPA that the most favored alternative, biological composting, as well as being cheaper, is ecologically safer. The airborne emissions from incinerator p lants simply move pollution into the upper at:m0sphere, and the leftover ash is in most cases classified as a hazardous waste. Dangerous cadmium levels from industrial process wastes in Asheville's sludge can only be removed by an electrostatic precipitator. This is much more expensive that the Venturi scrubber process currently budgeted by the MSD and might make the cost of incineration prohibitive. Activists have also informed the EPA that land next to the MSD facilicy is available to buy, which would considerably lower MSD cost estimates for composting, which were boosted by the addition of expenses for transportation and transportation equipment to move the sludge to a distant site. Cocke Councy, TN is also flirting with the incineration alternative for waste disposal. A Nashville, TN company, ironically called Resource Recovery Tech nology, has approached the commissioners of the west slope councy with a package plan in which the private corporation .would assume all construction costs for an incineration facilicy and charge a disposal fee of $18-22 per ton of trash. As Cocke Co. is producing about 100 tons of refuse daily, the cost for incine.ration would likely be over $100,000 per year. Steam power from the incineration plant would be sold to a local industry for additional profits for the contractor. Apparently, Resource Recovery Technology Co. did not mention toxic gases and heavy metal particulate matter among the benefits of the plan. CSI WASTE INCINERATOR waL BE CLOSED The county commissioners of Caldwell Councy announced that they will close the Caldwell System Inc. (CSI) hazardous waste incinerator. There is a major law suit pending involving the county commissioners, Caldwell Systems, and several local ci ti:zens. At issue is the fate of a dairy farmer located just below the plant who bas suffered a complete Joss of his business due to health concerns about his product. Other local citizens in the neighborhood have suffered r ashes and burns, and a study commissio ned by members of the local chapter of the Western North Caro lina Alliance uncovered evidence of toxic soot falling miles away on the 1-40 expressway. CSI is offe ring an out-of-court settle ment, whic h is meeting mixed reactions from local citizens. The company wants to shut down its operation but use the site for hazardous waste storage for five years. Many feel that plan is unacceptable and want guarantees of verifi able monitoring written into any agreement. From WNCA "Issues Update" available from WNCA; Box 180 ~ Asheville, NC 28814 P' SPRING - 1988 The Origin of the Animals continued from page IS plant people. They even learned to hybridi:ze the plants. By stealing their reproductive power the humans gained control over the plant kingdom. They made the plants serve as human food sources, instead of cooper ating in serving the plants as seed-bearers, as it was intended to be. This is a most dangerous new development. Hybridization is causing the disappearance of the str0ng, old varieties that could reproduce themselves. They are being replaced by new varieties that, although they better serve the humans' immediate purposes, are weak and not able to stand up to stressful conditions like the natural varieties. By their desire for control, the humans are putting themselves in jeopardy. If their ltost plants cannot swvive in the world as it changes, then the humans will perish as well.. The humans also have still not learned to control their fire. Their powerful nuclear fire is the most dangerous form yet discovered. This above all causes the plants to be concerned about the future of the world which has been thrown so out balance by their wayward experiment. But the story continues. It is not over yet. There may be other developments in the evolutionary game. Who knows? The world may be returned to the plants. once again. Plants are more immune to radiation than animals. They mutate and change in the presence of radiation; they are not as likely to die and become extinct. Plants eat sunlight, which is one fonn of radiation. They may find the means to utilize other types of radiation. They are far ahead of the humans in that respect and may once again become the masters of the planet It is obvious from this look at our history that if we want to fulfill our true purpose on Earth, we should save seeds and propagate plants. That is our inborn duty and one of the most healthy things we can do for our world. / Rediscovering Heirloom Seeds Janeice Ray Hybridization has taken the ancient art of seed-saving away from us. F-1 hybrids (meaning first filial generation) are a forced genetic cross between two unalike parents and exhibit unusual vigor and uniformity. Their seeds, when grown out, revert back to some ancestral strain. Hybrids must be re-crossed year after year by seed companies, so we become totally dependent upon them for the basic source of our food. The uniformity of hybrids produces vulnerability to crop failure. Hybridization and the lack of varieties shrinks the genetic base of our crops, leaving them in a weakened state. This caused the potato famine In Ireland in the 1840's · the people were growing only a few varieties of potatoes, which were not blight resistant, and the country starved when the disease spread through the fields. Crop diversity may save us in the future when we are searching for a gene that may withstand the environmental problems that our world faces. Are there varieties that can take the effects of acid rain? Or of shifting weather patterns? Some old variety may be the answer, and we need to keep those gene pools alive. So I am convinced to buy only standard, open-pollinated varieties, no matter how amazing the hybrids sound, and I am learning to save my own seeds. I buy seeds from small, family-owned seed companies. Many of the major companies have been taken over by huge corporations, usually petrochemical in nature. The smaller companies with the less glossy catalogs (most of whJch enoourage seed independence) need our support. The Graham Center Seed and Nursery Directory published by the Rural Advancement Fund is a wonderful resou rce for localing these seedspeople. Send a few dollars to: Rural Advancement Fund P.O. Box 1029 Pittsboro, NC 27312 I am beginning to plant heirlooms - vari eties our foreparents grew for generations. With the advent of seed companies, many of these were lost, many endangered, and only now are folks rediscovering them and returning them to our collective gene pool. The book to read is Heirloom Gardening by Carolyn Jabs, and the place to connect with like-minded people is: The Seed Savers' Exchang~ Rt. 3, Box 239 Decorah, IA 52101 Here are a few seed companies offering open-pollinated and traditional varieties: Johnny's Selected Seeds Albion, ME 04901 JL. Hudson,Seedsman P.O. Box 1058 Redwood City, CA 94064 (Catalog: $1 J)()) F/Qating MoUlltain Seeds P.O. Box 1275 Port Angl!les, WA 98362 forganically-grqwn heirWoms ca1a/og: $1 .00) BounJiful Gar<kns 5798 Ridgewood Rd. Willits, CA 95490 (open-pollint1led, untrea1ed) Southern Exposure Seed Exchange P.O. Box 158 North Garden, VA 22959 (Caralog: $1 J)()) Peace Seeds 1130 TetJu:row Rd. Williams, OR 97544 (Caralog: $1 .00) Seeds Blum ldalw City Stage Boise, ID 83707 (1-ltirloom seeds, catalog $2.00) KATUAH - page 21 �DRUMMING LETTERS TO KATUAH Dear Katuah My husband and I own 40+ acres in Kaniah. We have no children and are concerned about whnt will happen to our land when we die. We would like 10 sec it prorected, not subdivided, and used in a way that is kind to the earth hopefully continuing the organic gardening & orcharding we arc doing, carefully using and preserving the forest land, etc. Ideally we would also like to sec it benefit people in need. A lot to ask! If you have any ideas or can refer us to anyone with solutions for this sort of situation, we would appreciate it. We don't want to sec the place tied up in such a way as to be useful to no one. Thanks for any help you can give us. Shalom, Sheila Wofsy Reggie Lenoir Rt. 1Box178 Suchcs, GA 30572 Dear Editor, Someone who did not identify themselves sent me an unsolicited photocopy of your Fall, 1987 issue of K.i1.iah containing the article "Smells Like Money To Me" CKiW.i\11 #17 - ed.) The author presented a corporacc image of the wealth of the Champion Corporation, however implications in the article were critical because Haywood County had not diversified the economy, and because Champion did little to support quality of life, including this generation of Haywood County residents. True, the mill is old, and Haywood County should be offering incentives to keep the industry, and to assure that better environmental controls arc the goal. In the meantime, children are threatened by the attitude of fear and unrest that prevails because their parents, grandparents, and neighbors are frightened. If your publication is truly interested in the bio-technical development of Southern Appalachia, publish positive approaches about appropriate industrial development which will match our workforce, our geographical terrain, our water and sewerage supply, our cultural and ethnic heritage. Please include articles 10 which the common man who has a sense of stewardship for the earth can relates. l am of Scotch-Irish descent, a daughter of generations of farmers who valued land. Today I see developers cutting into the mountains wilhout regard to the sediment which will be altered and moved into our streams. l see local real estate developments over-building on fragile land sites. J see that the larger number of land holders are no longer full time residents of the county. A land use plan is a critical issue for Haywood County. An indusrrial recruitment plan would add balance to the economy. Yes, I care about poUotion, but try to be comprehensive in future articles rachcr than singling out our "greatesc bread basket" in Haywood. r believe a reasonable solution such as a five-year plan could be implemented. Sincerely, Ernestine E. Upchurch Maggie Valley, NC Thank you/or your thbughtful reply. - The Editors Hopefully KJJ.nu11J 1120 will be ofsome help. - Editors The Stones at Laurel Creek The stones here are shoulders and elbows of the lover I looked for everywhere I travelled to anive hen: poking through her garment of rhododendron, shaped by the rush of her laughter, pools of thought I feel her enjoying my step best when I step naked, enjoying it Like the pause when the fingers seem to listen to the skin and forget which name the lover has and what color the skin, I bend to soothe my bands on her tender grain Through the slow, gigantic pulse of sun in stone I suddenly recognize her- "Mother!" (bur even thar is just a name She lies under every itch and movement ofmy f001 and I have only known her by names-) - Stephen Wing KAlUAH - page 22 Awakening Soft vault of sleep attended darkness Quiet folds around me silence screams In the midst of pitch my eyes arc opened to wondrous views ineffable Angel's garments, as white smoke gently billowing as they tum My mouth is opened to kiss hot coals burning away mortality I change and enter, again, the womb of infinity - Diane Yeager SPRING - 1988 �Dear Katuah - An idea we have been considering here in Spring CTCCk is the Community Computer Bulletin Board This is an interlocking system of computers in users' households that are connected by telephone lines to a central computer that stores the messages that folks wa.nt to share with their neighbors. The networlc could be set up on a local or regional level. The system could be used for communication, keeping records, playing games, word processing, and planning various projects. The network could coordinate bulk purchases of commonly-used items like clothing, shoes, tires, seeds, and fertilizer to obtain substantial discounts. People could barter, buy and sell, call for help, announce a baby, share car-pool infonnation.....the list of uses is endless. The information on the bulletin board appears on the individual TV sets or monitors in the users' homes or places of business. The central computer is located in the home of the system operator. If desired, the computers could connect to national and international networks, so the bulletin could extend all over the world. If a user had a telephone and a TV set, the minimum cost to buy a computer would be around $270. The cost of the central computer and its operation would be shared by the users. If any readers are interested in the Community Computer Bulletin Board idea, please have them contact me. John Artley Rt 1, Box 27-A Hot Springs, NC 28743 (704) 622-7421 Flowers I'm cleaning up the inner environment I'm plowing the fear to prepare the soil I'm mixing the elements to make my hean fertile rm weeding the hun 4:00 A.M. Grandmother moon is caught in the branches of the tulip tree. My husband's arm is around me. She calls out her longing. We hold the crystal aloft and catch her Light in its center. This moment is Forever. Our moccasins lie still Upon the flintstone. to care for the love I'm coming up flowers - Colleen Redman SPRING - 1988 - Rose Morningstar Bryson City, NC Drawings by Kore Loy McWhiner KATI IAH - oa2e 23 �continued from page 5 From The Perelandra Garden Workbook: Deva of Soil When Jmmans open a garden, any garden, a note is sounded within the devic level. One mustn.'tforget that a garden is a man.made invention. Therefore, the sounding of the note indicating that one is w be created must come from humans. When such a thing occurs, 1he devic level immediately responds by creating the numerous energy units which will even.tually be grounded into form. When a human sounds the note with the intent to work in co-creative partnership with devas and n.ature spirits, that note is very different in sound, quality, and vibration. If I were w use an orchestra as an example, I would say that in the case of the ordin.ary garden, the note sounded would be that of one instrument. Add to it the intent to co-create the garden with nature itself, and one would suddenly hear a full orchestra sounding a deep and vibran.t multi-levelled chord. Nawre, on all its levels, will respon.d in kind. The various energy units we on the devic level create when the single note is heard is very different from the units we create when the full orchestra is sounded. So from the instant you sound the note with the more expanded intent, you will set off creation and movement on a far grander scale. As Machaelle's relationship with the garden grew, she found herself appreciating the quallity and integrity of the relationship itself as much as the fruits and vegetables produced. From The Perela11dra Garden Workbook: Deva ofthe Pere/andra Garden The physical planting process of a garden is not the primary issue. What is of utmost importance is attitude and i111ent... I have specifically chosen dance (as metaphor for the garden)for in order w parricipatefully within dance, one must lift his spirit, center his senses.focus his thoughts in essence, he must strike an attitude that will allow him to hear the mu.sic all the way into his soul and move in accordance to that music. It is this attimde I wish to convey for one who wishes to move into the garden in harmony with what is happening there.... ...Through (your mind and heart), the music will 1nove an.d you will naturally move with ~t both within and outside yourself. And you will be most surprised at the ease and grace in which you. your tools, and your young plants and seeds join in effortless movement. ...My experience in the harvesting process has been to sense joy and celebration for a job well done. At special times, I can feel all of nature around me, on its various levels, literally celebrate not just the health and balance of the garden, but the resulting incredible production as well. When I approach gardening, it is with my sights set on creating a bala111ced, healthful environment. I don't consider production. That automatically takes care of itself. So there is always a moment of happy surprise on my part when 1 realize the green bean row has produced a whole slew of beans. It may sound terribly naive, but I think this probably illusttates best how changed my thoughts, focus and intent are around gardening. The larger issue of humankind's relationship with nature is a central theme in the messages Machaelle receives from the devas. It is in her garden that the macrocosm becomes revealed by the microcosm. KATUAH - page 24 Photographs by Clarence Wright The devic messages address the importance of reverence for life in the Perelandra garden as well as the importance of reverence for all of life. Machaelle's sensitivity and attention to the Perelandra garden opens up for her a "window" on the needs and cures for the whole planet. Machaelle Small Wright's journey to the center of her garden was a long one. The first half of her autobiographical work, Behaving, recalls a childhood of intense pain and trauma. Yet the chaos of events, memories, and feelings has now become a sensible whole. Through her garden, the healing of herself and of the land has become a single and continual process. It is in her garden that Machaelle has taken the opportunity to interact in a daily, conscious way with the dynamic energies present there. Through her works, she offers us the inspiration and encouragement t_o begin the endeavor ourselves. From Tiie Perela11dr0: Garden Workbook: ...The Perelandra garden is my life, my. heart aoo . my very breath. It is my friend, my healer, my nurturer and teacher - about myself, my planet and my unjverse ... .. .It has taught me about power - my own and that which is contained in all life around me. About equality. About balance. About teamwork on a peer level... ... And it has taught me that we are a vibrant, active planet fully participating in a larger, loving whole. / Excerp<s rq>rinJedfrom The Pcrclandra Garden Workbook with f"m1issit111. Machaelle Small Wriglu has just completed her third book, eniitled Flower Essences: Reordering Our Understanding and Approach to Illness and Health. It will be available in June 1988. Gardening workshops and an annual open house are held at Perelandra during the summer and early fall. For schedules and infomlillion or to order any of Macluulle's books. meditation tapes orflower essences, write 10: Perelandra, Box 136. Jefferson/on. VA 22724. Excerpts selected by Christina Morrison with Mamie Mui/er and Sam Gray assisting. SPRING - 1988 �The true art of dancing is dancing what comes out and not following the rules. Dancing ho~ you want. Because if you follow rules your soul will never get to show you the dance you've known ever since you were born. - Emily 1dance within myself And look without Joy within Sadness without Music within Silence without Lying on my bed Waiting for morning to come The moon sings to me About the sun Words by Emily Turner, age 6 with Drawings by Amelia Brommer, age 8 SPRING - 1988 KATIJAH - page 25 �900€£ me€£i.ci.ne continued from 1>3ge 16 What people call "visualii.ation" today is a fonn of conjuring. People can visualiu: a healing and by putting their collective energy behind it and getting some sense of how it fits in with the all, they can "push it with power." It is best not to try to visualize a specific end to a situation, because that limits lhe possibilities. Also, things seldom tum out the way we plan. It is bes1 10 visualiu: a return to balance and hannony and to encourage the awareness that the lives of all things are interrelated. However, I do see anything lhat works against the Life Force as a whole as being negative and evil. Nuclear arms and nuclear power, for instance, appear to be destructive forces as far as l can see. They seem like something we can gel along without. The human species is a high consciousness, bu1 a1 the same time 1he human race is a cancerous cell that is trying to diges1 its host, the Greater Life. Yet people on the spiritual path are always searching for the connection to the whole. As individuals 1hey realize their separation, and they are searching for that connection with every part of every cell from the marrow of their bones outward. One of the greatest blocks for us .humans is our intellect. lt is self-defeating to try to comprehend the universe with the intellect, for it is not designed to comprehend the whole. Being in a linear, critical culture as we are makes it even more difficult. Not impossible, but certainly more difficulL It leads us to try to understand the whole by adding up all of the parts. But the whole is greater than 1he sum of its parts. Organ ic Gr owin g Coop e rotiue The Organic Gardening Cooperative of Western North Carolina was started in the early spring of 1987. A small group of enthusiastic people came together 10 promote the merits of organic gardening and fanning and the health and life-giving value of organically-raised food. Meetings are at Unity of Arden on Airport Road. The cooperative meets the third Monday evening of each month. There is time for sharing at 6:30 pm and a meeting at 7:00 pm. The name "cooperative" was chosen, because the group wished 10 create an open forum for sharing experience, infonnation, resources, and projects. There is a steering committee that plans and coordinates the meetings and other activi1ies. 01her commiuees take on the tasks of a newsletter, education, publicity, and telephoning. These committees are volunteer efforts, and new participants are always welcome. Th~ are no dues. A small voluntary donation per meeting helps to cover expenses. The cooperative's meetings offer an array of interesting activities such as songs and music about gardening and nature; an educational program with speakers, films, slide shows, etc; a short nutritional update; news on environmental issues; and a time for sharing among the group. The main topic of each program usually pertains to gardening ac1ivities appropriate for that month of the year, such as composting, soil preparation, seed starting, etc. A varied program is designed to meet the needs of beginning gardeners as well as the experienced ones in the group. There are presentations of resources like magazines, seed catalogs. extra seeds and produce, and group seed or narural fenilizer orders. Glass (clear and colored) and aluminum are collected for recycling at each meeting. We who are active in the cooperative feel it is an exciting opportunity to encourage each other and the public at large to learn how to live in harmony with the Earth and to produce quality food, which will make us all more healthy and happy. We invite newcomers to come and participate at the meetings. Together we can create rewarding adventures in learning and "growing!" - Ellen John For more information about the Organic Gartkning CooperaJjve, call Cheryl Stippich a1(704)687-1741. Herbology Clinic M. C. Majebe Licensed Acupuncturist 78 E.ast Chestnut St. Ashevllle, NC 28801 (704) 258-9016 KATUAH - page 26 • conlinucd Crom JlliC 9 Dr. Gray soon arrived in Statesville bringing several eminent botanists. Dr. Gray had been misled by Miclraux's description of the habitaJ of slwrtia. ltistead of the moun1ain tops where he Juul always looked, it Juul been found along a stream in the foothills. Michaux's directions had been fairly specific, bw his continual references to the "high mountains" misled Gray, the botany detective. Shorria, the mystery flower of the mountains, soon became so famous that pressed specimens of a single plaru were selling/or fifty dollars. SJwrtia makes a good grour1d-cover under rhododer1drons. It needs a shady sire with an acid soil rich in humus, plemy of water, and regular mulching with oflk leaves. It spreads mostly by runners, and grows in luxuriant, dense colonies where conditions are to its liking. Its delicate white flowers lost for several days. It is one ofthe most coveted plants of any wild flower garden. A collector has written, "No idea of the beauty of this planI can be formed unJil it hos been seen in its native Jwme. The mass of glossy green and white, once seer1, car1 never be forgotten." It was never Gray's privilege to see shortia at the height of its blooming period, which is the latter part of March into early April. Of the 25,000 botanical specimens that Gray classified before he died, Gray asked that shortia cover his grave at Cambridge, Massachusetts. In Gray's life, many honors had come to him, but they were os naughl compared to the discovery ofthe little mountain pla111 thal Dr. Asa Gray named shortia. The mystery plant, sJwrtia, lost/or a hundred years, because ofits limited narural distribution, is probably to be found growing more in culdvarion now than in the ~ild. This is especially significant today because of the destruction of much of shortia's native habiuu in North and Sowh Carolina due to artificial lake construction. Rtprinltd from the Noah Carolina Native p(o111 Proaagqljon Handbook prepared by the North Carolina Wild Flower Prtsuvalion Sociery (Tollen Chinese Acupuncture and sh.ot"tta Garlkn Centtr 3375; University ofNorth Cmolina; Chapel Hiil, NC 27599 - $5.00 ppd.) / Natural Food Store & Dell 160 Bro.ctway Ashevllle, NC 28801 Whlf-e llroadwmy n..ia MlrTlmon Ave I. ~240 OPEN 7 DAYS A WE. K E Mond•y·Salurday: 9am·8pm Sunday: 1pm-Spm (704) 253-7656 DE_51GNS by Rob Messick Illustration & Design In Pen & Ink and Colored Pencil P.O . 8o)( 260t . eoone. NC 28U07 • (704J7a4 tiOQ7' SPRING - 1988 �· continued from page 12 K: How d o you think people first determined how to use herbs? G: The first herbs that were used were the leaves of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. And we'll never find the fountain of youth until we get the Garden of Eden back and get back to the Tree of Life. K: Until we get back in touch with nature? G: No, back to the Tree of Life. God took that to heaven before the flood. And when he makes this earth new again he's going to bring it back. And when we see the Garden of Eden we'll see herbs as they're s'posed to be. K : Do you think this will be a sudden occurence or will it be a gradual awakening of God, and now Satan's walking up and down, to and fro on the earth. You see, this battle isn't something done in a comer; this earth is the theatre of God's love. God had to let us tear things up and let things go because our natures won't accept the truth otherwise. Are you passing your knowledge on to them? Are they receptive? G: No young people are interested like I was when I was young. Some are interested and could learn, but they're all afraid of being tied down. They're interested when they feel like it, but when they don't feel like it they don't want to be bothered. K: Do you know when your book will be out or what you11 call it? G: When there are enough people that will G: No, I don't. I was held up all summer be true to God then Christ will come. Think how all this time the angels have tried to help people to think of these things and do what's right Still we go on in our lives and don't study, don't stop to read what God's given us. And just look what a mess we've made. Think of the Garden of Eden - the beautiful flowers and trees - and then loolc at that hillside over there (points to trailer park across road) ... all the death and dying. Of course there's still a lot of beauty here... Satan tried his best to get Christ to give up and not go through with his plan of salvation, but He stuck to it and proved that God's truth could be followed. Adam sold out because he chose to obey Satan instead with my eyes - couldn't see to read. And many days like today are holding me baclc...(laughs). [While talking to us, Granny gracefully received five patients and several phone calls. We arrived at 10 a.m. and by 5 p.m. she hadn't paused once.] K: Thanks so much for your time and energy! We both have personal questions but they can wait 'til another day. G: Oh, I can help you now - would you like that? K: Sure, but you must be tired... COMF TOlHf FOR Drcamwcaver l!Boomllcn: Books and Tapes by Mall and Special Order. Metaphysics, Comparative Religion, Psychology, Children and Women' s Studies. New Age Music. Call Barbara, (912) 233--5934 for Info. NEW AGE SEMI NARS \llHOLISTIC lf[ALTH RETRf;ATS &md fnr our Ire,.. bcuchurtr: L.1.F. E. • Bo• 144K Pullmon WV 26421 (.1041 t.5?·319:1 'Living In Full E nergy K : Everything! REMEDIES K: What about your great-grandchildren? among people? l.l.F.E. RETREAT CENTER G: What have I been doing? Cockleburr and Mullein cold remedy: A large handful each of cocldebuns and mullein leaves to 2 qts waJtt. Boil 20 minutes. Suain well and drink. Burrs and leaves can be used a 2nd time with 2 more quarts waier boiled 20 minutes again. Mar l&old tin cture for lice: Chop marigold blossoms fine. Cover with rubbing alcohol in glass jar. Sel in sun for 2 wect.s, stirring once each day. Strain and boWe. MislldOt tea For lal&b blood pressure: 1 Tbsp crushed mislleioe leaves 10 1 qt cold water. Shake and let Slalld ovcmighL Strain and drink 1(2 cup before breakfast; 1/2 cup after brealdasL Repeat wilh supper. Mlstlttc>t tea For epilepsy or Stizuns: Pour 1 pint boiling water over l Tbsp crushed leaves. Take 2 Tbsp. every 2 boors. Poktbtrry artbrlt.ls remedy: Take one berry at each meal the lst day, 2 at each meal the 2nd, 3 the 3rd and so on for 8 days. Then drop back to one berry again and begin climbing back up IO 8. Continue until joints feel free. Then drop back one berry per meat 8-7-6-5, until you're baclc to ooe, and quit mtl&n WEEKLY CRAFTS COURSES ~ Woodcarving,We aving, Blacksmithing,Basketry, Pottery,Spinning,etc. John C. Campbell Folk School Brasstown, NC 28902 (704) 837-2775 o r 837-7329 T-SHIRTS, SWEATSHIRTS For ADULTS and CHILDREN 15 ORIGINAL HAND·PRINTED NATURE DESIGNS ,_.'? ULTRAVIOLET l'UNFICATIOH AHO FILTENNG SYSTalS SOI.AR PflOOUCTS ·WATER ANALYSIS .HWY. 107 EACH COLORFUL DE.SIGN IS RT. 88 BOX 125 CULLOWHEE, NC 28723 PRIN'IED ON QUALITY T' s Alill SWEA'IS APPALACIDAN BUILDING & DESIGN Passive Solar, Eartlt-Shellered Homes Greenhouses, Spas, Decks SCOTI BIRD (704) 683·1414 GREG BLACK 683-4795 SPRING - 1988 KATUAH - page 27 �MARCH 20 evenrs SPRING EQUINOX 23-24 ASHEVILLE, NC Rhythm Alive! Classes in African drumming with Martha Overlock and Dean Buchan:ln. Ongoing. Wed and Thu evenings, 7: l S al Asheville Academy of BallcL Call (704) 645~ 16 canoes. New Moon CULLOWHEE, NC Tuckaseegee River Cleanup. Rllfts, kayaks. Mcct 11 am. 227-7206 for more info. 14-15 GREAT SMOKY MT'NS. Spring WildOower Pilgrimage. Auto, wal.lcing tours lO view plants and birds of the Smokies. SS. Call (615) 436-1257. 27-29 24 ASHEVILLE, NC Sierra Club meeting. Spcllkcr Bill Thomas, "TheJocasse WatcrShed" with slides. 7:30. Unitarian Univcrsalist Church, Edwin Pl. and Oiarloue. 25-27 WAYNESV ILLE, NC "Vibrational Healing" with Joyce Keane. "Flowers arc the highest vibratory expression in the vegetable kingdom." Lc:im to use Oower essences - gentle, yet powerful. $20. Stil-Light Center; Rt. I, Box 326: 28786. (704) 452-4569. 26 ASHEVILLE, NC The Paul Winter Consort, "Celebration of Creation." Central Methodist Church. Tickets $10.SO at Malaprop's. and meditation with Fr. John Groff. SSS.Southern Dharma Foundation; RL I, Box 34-H; Hot Springs, NC28743. 29-30 & T ANASJ RIDGE MAY I Come to X.~.'TU.~K SJ>1t1.N<l (l.~'JKE1t1.Nlll Worlcshops, waterfall, crystals, mountain meadows. Join the family circle! (Sec ad next page.) 30 BELTANE (MAY EVE) ROANOKE, VA Sixth Annual New Horizons Festival of alternative healing and lifestyles at Roanoke Civic Center. Pre-register. S26.00. TRENTON, GA Caving Expedition with Snow Be:ir. Learn safety, techniQue, geology.Camping at Cloudlaad Canyoo. f.quipmem provided. Sec sn.s. IS New Moon BLACK MOUNTAIN, NC The Black Mountain Music Festival. Taj Mahal, Rare Air, Robin and Linda Williams, Elise Win and the Small Family Band, Fred Armstrong-Park, and more will be there. Pre-register: $35 for the weekend. For more info, ctll Gray Eagle and Friends, (704) 669-2456. 20-22 20-22 WAYNESVILL E, NC "Therapeutic Touch" • using hands to direct human energies in healing with Maria Parisen. SLil-Light Sec 3(25-27. WILLIS, VA "Finding Our Place.• Developing a deeper relatiooship with the land and the spirilS who dwell there. Brian Ellis. Pre-rcgisler. $85. Indian Valley Holistic Center. Sec 4/8-10. 28-29 APRIL 31 2 Full Moon CELO, NC Full Moon Drumming Celebration al Mountain Gardens. Call (704) 675-5664 for more info. ONGOING. Full Moon ("Blue Moon") JUNE 1·30 3 CHEROKEE, NC "Cherokee Concepts of Birth and DcBlh" art exhibit on display al Cherolcee Hcriwge Museum and Gallery. EASTER SUNDAY 8-10 WILLIS, VA "lmaginccring Ourselves and the Crystal Planet." Exploring Earth energies with Mary and Joseph Jochmans. Pre-register: $95. Indian Valley Holistic Center; Rt. 2, Box 58; Willis, VA. (404) 789-4295. APPALACH IAN TRAIL Trail work. Bring gloves. Call Thelbett Dowdy, (704) 684-3053 for dcUlils. 4 MAY 9 9 BLACK MT'N., NC David Wilcox, singer and songwriter Bl McDibbs'. $4. Sec 3(l2. 9-10 ATLANTA, GA Shamanic Jowney, Power and Healing workshop. $100. Call Barbara Hmison, (9 12) 233-5934. HELEN, GA EARTHSKILLS WORKSHOP Lc:im old ways, a new awattllCSS of the woods with Snow Bear, Darry Wood, and EUSUllCe Conway. For more info, call (404) 878-2201. GREAT SMOKY MT'NS. "Forests and Trees or the Smokies." Pre-register: $25. Smoky Mountain Field School; Univ. of TN: 2016 Lake Ave; Knoxville, TN 37996. F ull Moon GREAT SMOKY MT'NS. •A Historical Perspective of the Great Smoky Mountains NP." Natural and human history of the Park with Wilma Dykeman. Pre-register: $25. See 6/4. !! 1-31 ASHEVILLE, NC Robert Johnson's paintings on exhibit t the Asheville An Museum. One of the main themes that runs through his work is the tionsbip between the inner world of dreams and visions and the world of Natwe. He has lived in the Cclo Community near o, NC for the past 16 years and the Katuah ioregion has had a strong innuencc on his worlc. % o Community. Burnsville, NC 28714. lS-16 14 15-19 HIGHLANDS, NC "Meianora• with Walter Chappell. Recording the ethcric image or local nora. $250 includes accommodations.Highlands Biological Center. P.O. Drawer 580; Higblllnds, NC 28741. WILLIS, VA "HEALING WISE • an Herbal Medicine Intensive.• Work with botanical medicines, spirit healing, body systems, and self-love with herbal healer Susun Weed. Pre-register: S9S. Indian Valley Holistic CenlCr. Sec -4/8-10. KATUAH - page 28 CHEROKEE, NC "The Eagle Dancer." exhibit or the worlc or carver John Julius Wilnoty on display at Cherokee Heritage Museum and Gallery. 17-19 7-8 IS-17 New Moon 1-31 17-19 FARNER, TN "Wild Foods and Medicines• taught by Sn.ow Bear. Peppcrland Farm Camp; Swr Rt; Farner, TN 37333. (704) 494-2353. 13-15 HOT SPRINGS, NC "The Mystic Journey Rc1tc~11· - talks BOT SJ>RINGS, NC "A Rinz.ai Zen Retreat" with Sandy Stewart. Pre-register: SSS. Sec 5/13-15. WAYNESVILLE, NC Workshop: "Fundamentals of the Ancient Wisdom.· Esoteric philosophy with Ed and Mary Abdill. Pre-register: S20. Stil-Light. Sec 3(}.S-27. 20 SUMMER SOLSTICE .. SPRING - 1988 �KATUAH JOURNAL is beginning compilation of a regional directory... a GREEN PAGES of political, food, environmental, clothing, arts and crafts, shelter, healing, and other basic resources in the Katuah bioregional province. Listings will be free. If you or your group would like to enter a listing ( including a brief description ) in these or any other categories, please send to: KatUah Journal P.O. Box638 Leicester, NC 28748 The International 4th World Assembly wilJ hold its seventh assembly this summer, July 31-August 4, 1988 at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC. The 4th World is an informal group of people from all over the world who affirm the right of urban neighborhoods and rural villages to make their own decisions about their own lives. The theme this year is "Community Economics As If the Earth Mattered". Registration is open to all. Full conference fee including meals, lodging and proceedings is $150. ($130 before June 1). For more info: School of Living, 7th assembly; 3030 Sleepy Hollow Rd, Falls Church, VA 22042. News Flash! Environmentalist in NC Governor's Race NABCID The third North American Bloregiolllll Congress will be held in the bioregion ofthe Ish River Confluenc-e, north or Vancouver, British Columbia. It will be held August 21·26, 1988. NABC I ('84) and NABC II ('86) brought together local and regional peoples from all over Turtle Island to celebrate and work towards preservln& the spiritual, environmental and cultural diversily or this precious continent. NABC Ill will continue lhis work and discover other ways to cooperale in this way. Katuah has been represented at these congressings. If you are Interested In participatin& in this upcoming coneress, please contact KaJilah, P.O. Box 638, uicttter, NC 28748 or write to: NABC m, Box 1012, Lillooet, BC, VOK lVO, Canada. ... Avram Friedman (Bruce A. Friedman) announces his candidacy for Governor of the state of North Carolina... As director of the NC Political Action Committee to Dump the Co~act. Avram had been looking lor candidates for all the NC state offices who oppose NC's membership In the Southeast Low Level Radioactive Waste Compact. Because there was no gubernatorial or lieutenant gubernatorial candidate who was In favor of withdrawing from the compact, he began a statewide search to enlist a candidate for governor. Because he found no one who would be willing, he registered himself as a democratic candidate right ahead of the deadline. He Is basing his gubernatorial campaign specifically on getting NC out of the Compact although he stresses there are many more related Issues including NC's economy and its future. For more information, w rite: CCNW, P.O. Box 653, Dillsboro, NC 28725 on the Tanasl Ridge, near Blue Ridge Parkway '.F'rtday - Sunday, A.priL 29-'.M.a.y 1 Wor~nops: Nati.ve Crysta.Cs Kerb f"ora.91..n<J Women 's Ci.rcCe The ftiorecJional Poet Commu.ni.ty nowsi.n<_J ... and: others ..USo: M.eadows, Waterf~ . M.usic, Dancl.tuJ, & Drummi.tuJ and Cdebratl.on of the first of ttay wUh MoypoCe, Dc:mc1.!19 !o S""e4 Ckc;C.e ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tent or RV Camping Bring your shelter, bedding and utensils. Bring clothing for all weather conditions. Friday night potluck Other meals community cooking, with food provided Name:_______________________________ Address:_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ __ Phone: L_)_ _ _ _ __ Number of Adults_ _ _ _ __ Number of Children_________ SPRING· 1988 $15/adult before April15 $1 O/child before April 15 $17/ adult at camp $121 child at camp Mail to: Karen Rodriguez U.S. 19W, Box481 Bryson City, NC Katuah Province 28713 KAnJAH · page 29 �PEPPERl.AND FARM CAMP - a unique summer camp experience for child!Cn 6-16 years. Adventure trips, riding, Indian lore, swimming, more. Delicious vegetarian meals - special diets accomodatcd. Also seeking counsellors and staff. For info: Pepperland Farm Camp; Star Route: Farner, TN 37333 (704) 494-2353 STIL-LIGHT THEOSOPHICAL RETREAT CENTER - a quiet space for petSOnal meditation, group interacti. n through study and community o work. and spiritual seminars. Contact Leon Frankel; RL l, Box 326; Waynesville, NC 28786 RM DESIGNS - I use the media of pencils, colored pencils, gouache, pen and ink, and pholOgraphy in creating unique fine and grafick an. l can make diagrams, logos, finished prints, and designs for brochwes, calenders, cards, books, ete. Mandalas and symbols are my tendancy among other styles. Coo tact Rob Messick (704) 754-6097. ALTERNATIVE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL - Al Arthur Morgan School students and staff learn t0gether by living in community. Curriculum includes creative academics, group decision-making, a worlc program, service projects, extensive field trips, cballcnging outdoor experiences. Write: 1901 Hannah Branch Rd.; Burnsville, NC 28714 (704) 675-4262 SEEDS FOR SALE - organically grown lurfa sponge, purple globe amaranth, Mexican sunflower, bushel basket gourd, garlic chives, holy basil SJ/pkt. w/SASE. Velvet beans, jack bean - S2/pkL w/SASE lO Janeice Ray; RL. I Box 188-H; Quincy, FL 32351 SIX RURAL COMMUNITIES - established over lhe last 20 years, invite visitors/members. Nonsexist, Nonracist, genlie cullUres based on equality and cooperation. Write (SI appreciated): Federation ofEgalitarian Communities; Twin Oaks, KH8; Louisa, VA 23093 FREE CATALOG - Our books cover solar energy, natural foods, metaphysics, fiction and poetry. The latest project is Black Mountain Review, with themes on the individual vs. society. Write: Lorien House; P.O. Box 1112; Black Mountain, NC 28711 (704) 669-621 l. KA1UAH- page 30 HAND CARVED WOODSPIRITS. mystical hilting staffs and wall hangings by Steve Duncan. For brochure, please write Wippoorwill Studio; RL 4, Box 981; Marion, NC 28752. SOCIAL ECOLOGY SUMMER SEMESTER June 10 lO July 24. For more information call (802) 454-8493, or write: Institute For Social Ecology; P.O. Box 89, DepL K; Plainfield. VT 05667 CENTER FOR ROBERT BLY STUDIES - Ally Press is now maintaining a mailing list for people who would like lO be informed of Robert Bly's workshop and reading sciledules. An updated listing is sent out twice a year along with a catalog of all available books and tapes. Please write Ally Press; Box K; 524 Orleans SL; SL Paul, MN 55107 1988 SUMMER WORKSHOPS at the Penny Royal Center (Winged Heart Homestead) by Sufi teacher Muzawir. How to prepare spiritually for Earth Changes, How to build a no mortgage shelter and much more. Send SASE lO P.O. Box 552; Floyd. VA 24091 TEACHER NEEDED: Alternative, parent-governed elementary (K-6), set in Monongahela National ForesL Send resume lO Valley School; P.O. Box 83; Elkins, WV 26241. DRUMS • Custom handcrafted ceramic dumbecks & wooden medicine drums. CaU Joe Roberts at (704} 258-1038 or write to: 738 Town Mountain Rd.; Asheville, NC 28804. REVERSE OSMOSIS WATER PURIFICATION better than dislillers. To find out why write New Energy Products; 660 K SL; Pullman, WV 26421 BLIGHT RESISTANT CHESTNUT - hybrid American/Chinese Dunstan Chestnut trees - bliglht resistant, timber growth form, productive orchard crop with large, sweet, easily peeled nuts. Chestnut Hill Nursery; RL 1 Box 341K; Alachua, FL 32615 (904) 462-2820. NA1lVE AMERICAN MEDICINAL PRODUCfS: white sage, cedar, sweet grass, k:innikinnick and more. Please specify your needs and send SASE lO: Good Medicine; 77 Parle Terrace East, D38; New York, NY 10034 (212) 304-9605. M. TREE DESIGNS: Illustrations and design Beyond the pages of this journal, I work in pencil, colored pencil, ink, cut paper, and batik. Fine and graphic art to express and enhance our lives. Logos, brochures, books, portraiture, window and wall hangings. Cont.act Martha Tree (704) 754-6097. HANDWOVEN WOOL BLANKETS - inexpensive, from Mexico. Federation of Christian Cooperatives; P.O. Box 120154; San AnlOnio, TX 78212 LETT'ERS OF FRlENDSHIP AND SUPPORT would be appreciated by incarcerated brother. Write t0: Rick Whilalcer #85670; Box 2000; Wartburg, TN37887 WANTED: IDEAL SPACE FOR RURAL COMMUNITY/HEALING CENTER. 50 - 150 acres, at least 30 arable, with southern exposure, privacy, within 45 min. of Asheville or equivalent urban center. One large house and several cabins preferred. StteamS, springs, river, lalcc? Finder's fee. Write Hibiscus; 521 Northeast Blvd.; Gainesville, FL 32601 or call collect (904) 376-2146. GARDENERS are encouraged lO visit our Paradise garden for instruction and inspiration (free) and/or pereMial plant sale (cheap). Artists are invited 10 come and create in the garden - painting, drawing and photography are encouraged. We also bnvc a cabin available in exchange for working in lhe garden. Mountain Gardens; 3020 While Oak Creek; Celo, NC 28714 (704) 675-5664 "TREASURES IN THE STREAM" - a cassette tape of songs by Bob Avery-Grubel. $10 postpaid to Bob at RL 1 Box 735; Floyd, VA 24091 ALTERNATIVE COMMUNITY NOW FORMING in the mountains of north Georgia. Join others seeking greater cooperation and self-sufficiency. Based on spiritual and ecological values. Propeny is now available. (404) 778-8754 'ESSENCE' - the all-one skin - dress - jumper pantaloons with nursing pockets. Earthwear; RD 1, Box 75-Cl; CarllOn, PA 16311 WOMANSONG - ongoing choral group forming. Songs of beauty, meaning, spirit, fun, peace, cooperation, sisterhood. Come and sing! Monday evenings 7:30 - 9. Also Orff Schulwerk: music-making for beginners of aU ages. Come and sec the studio! CaU (704) 254-7()68 WANTED - LAND in western NC. Family seeks 5 or more acres, preferably near Cullowhee, 10 preserve and eventually inhabiL If you have or know of affordable land, contacl Bob & Mary Davis; 213 Westmoreland Cowt: Georgetown, KY 40324 (502} 863-4267. WISCONSIN RENAISSANCE FAIRE - 2-story shop for sale or renL Weekends July 9 - Aug. 21. Excellent location with sales and living space. Write or call Becky Farnam; RL 1: Check, VA 24072 (703) 651-6170 WEBWORKING is.free. Send submissions to: K.a.IW. P.O. Box 638 Leicester, NC Kaulah Province 28748 SPRING - 1988 �I Comt.n«J Up . . . Mtdfrfn,.. Allfts The Katuall Journal wants to communicare your thoughts and feelings to the other people in the bioregional province. Send them to LIS as letters, poems, stories, arricles, drawings, or photographs, etc. Please send your co111ribwions to u.s at: Katuah Jo11r11al, P. 0. Box 638, Leicester, NC, Katuah Province 28748. The summer issue of Katiiah will concern itself with "Our Relations with the Land" ...our effect on the land, new forms of relating, visions of our fumre habitat, and other perspectives. In the fall, Katuah will look at Castanea dentata, tile American cliestnut tree. Any information abo1a this great tree's past andfmure will be welcome. BACK ISSUES OF KATUAH AVAILABLE ISSUE ELEVEN · SPRING 1986 Community Planning Cities and the Bioregional Vision • Recycling • Community Gardening· Floyd Couruy. VA • Guohol • Two BIORgional Views • Nuel- Supplemau Foxfire GllllCS ·Good Medicine: Visions ISSUE THREE · SPRING 1984 Sustainable Aj!ricuhure · Sunflowers - Human Impact on the Forest • Cllildrens' Education Veronica Nicholas:Woman in Politics· Ullle Ptopl.e . Medicine Albea ISSUE FOUR - SUMMER 1984 Water Drwn • Waiu Quality • Kudzu • Solu Eclipse· C~tling ·Trout ·Going IO W1.1U Ram Pumps. Microhydro · Poems: Bennie Lee Sinclair, Jim Wayne Miller full rolor T-s61rts In the traditional Cherokee Indian belief, the creatures in the world today are only diminuitive forms of the mythic beings who once inhabited the world. but who now reside in Galuna'ti, the spirit world, the highest heaven. But a few of the original powers broke through the splritual barrier and exist yet In the world as we know fl. These beings are called with reverence •grandfathers·. And of them, the strongest are Kanai/, the lightning, the power of the sky; Utsa'nati, the rattlesnake. who personifies the power of the earth plane; and Yunwi Usdi. ihe little man", as ginseng is called in the sacred ceremonies. who draws up power from the underworld. Each Is the strongest power in Its o wn domain. Together they are allies: their energies complement each other to form an even greater power. As medicine allies. they represent the healing powers of t he Appalachian Mountains. The medicine powers of Kawah have been depicted in a striking T-shirt design by Ibby Kenna. Printed In 5-color silkscreen by Ridgerunner Naturals on top quality, a/I-cotton shirts, they are available now in ail adult sizes from the Katiiah Joumsl. "To show respect for this supernatural trinity of the natural world is to in tum become an ally in the continuing process of maintaining harmony and balance here in the mountains of KatUah." To order. use the form be/Ow. ISSUE TIURTEEN - Fall 1986 Ccnicr For Awakening • Elizabeth Callari ·A Gentle Death • Hospice • Ernest Morgan • Dealing Creatively with Death • Home Burial Box • The Wake • The Raven Mocker • Woodslore and Wildwoods Wisdom • Good Medicine: The SWeat Lodp ISSUE FIVE • FALL 1984 Hatvest ·Old Ways in Cherokee - Ginseng Nucleu Waste • Our Celtic Heritage • Bioregionalism: Put. Present. and Future • John Wilnoty • Healing Dukness • Politics or Plttiaipation ISSUE SIX-WINTER 1984·85 Winia Solstice Earth Cuemony • Horsepas1ur• River - Coming or the Uaht • Log ~in Root• • Mounl&in AgricullW'C: The Right Crop • W"tll.i.IJn Taylor· The Furore or the foiat ISSUE SEVEN • SPRING 1985 Sustainable Eco~ics . Hot Springs ·Worker Ownership • The Great Economy • Self Help Credit Union • Wild Turkey • Responsible Investing • Woriting in Iha Wab of Ll!e ISSUE EIGIIT ·SUMMER 198S Celebration: A Way or Ufe • Katuah 18,000 Ycan Ago • Sacred Sites • Folk Aru in the Schools • Sun Cycle/Moon Cycle • Poems: Hilda Downer • Chciokee Hcri• Cenu:r • Who Owns Appalachia? ISSUE NINE- FALL 198S The Waldee Forest • The Trees Speak • Migating Foresll • Horse Logaing • SW1lng a Tree Crop - Urban Trees • Acom Bread - Mylh lllllC ' ISSUE FOURTEEN· Winlef 1986-87 Uoyd Cul Owle • Boogcrs and Mummen • All Species Day • Cabin Fever University • Homeless in Katuah • Homemade Hot Waicr Siovemakcr·s Narrative • Good Medicine: lnLcrspCcics Communication ISSUE FIFTEEN· Spring 1987 Coverlets • Wo~ Forester • Susia McMllwi Midwife • Alternative Contraception • Biosexuallty • Bioregionalism and Women • Good Medicine: Matriacharial Culwre • &ad ISSUE SIXTEEN· Summer 1987 Helen Waite • Poem: Visions in 1 Garden • Vision Quest • First Flow • Initiation • Leaming in the Wildcmeas • Cherokeea OWlcnJ!C ·"Valuing Trees" ISSUE EIGH1E£N ·WU- 1987-88 Vemaculu Atehi1eeiure ·Dreams in Wood and Stone • Mowllain Home • Earth Energiea • Earth.Sheltered Living • Membtanc Houses • Brush Shelter • Poems: Oc1ol!cr Dusk • Good Mcdk:inc: "Shelia" • ISSUE TEN. WINl'ER 1985-86 Kate Rogers • Circles of Sione • Internal Mylhmaking • Holistic Healing on Trial • Poems: SleVe Knaulb • Mythic Places • The Uk:ten a's Ta.la • Crystal Magic • "Dmmspeakin&. /'"r" ~UA~URNAL P.O. Box 638 Leicester, NC Katuah Province 28748 For more information: (704) 683-1414 Name RegularMembcrship........ $10/yr. Sponsor- .......................$20/yr. Contributor.....................$50/yr. Address Enclosed is $ to give this ejfon an extra bOOst City Area Code State Phone Number Zip I can be a local contact person for my area Back Issues Issue# _@ $2.50 = $_ _ Issue# _@ $2.50 = $_ _ Issue # _@ $2.50 = $ _ _ Issue# __@ $2.50 = $_ _ Issue# _ @ $2.50 = $_ _ Complete Set (3-11, 13-16, 18) @ $25.00 =$_ _ T-Shins: specify quantity color: tan S_ _ M_ _ L_ _ XL_ _ @ $9.50 each............$_ TOTAL PRICE = _ $_ _ postage paid SPRING - 1988 KATUAH - page3 1 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records Description An account of the resource <em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal</em>,&nbsp;was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. <br /><br /><span>The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name,&nbsp;</span><em>Katúah</em><span>, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant.&nbsp;</span><br /><span><br />The <em>Katúah Journal</em> was co-founded by Marnie Muller, David Wheeler, Thomas Rain Crowe, Martha Tree and others who served as co-publishers and co-editors. Other key team members included Chip Smith, David Reed, Jay Mackey, Rob Messick and many others.</span><br /><br />This digital collection is only a portion of the <em>Katúah</em>-related materials in the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection in Special Collections at Appalachian State University. The items in AC.870 Katúah Journal records cover the production history of the <em>Katúah Journal</em>. Contained within the records are correspondence, publication information, article submissions, and financial information. The editorial layouts for issues 12 through 39 are included as are a full run of the Journal spanning nearly a decade. Also included are photographs of events related to the Journal and a film on the publication. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived This resource is part of the&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal Records </em>collection. For a description of the entire collection, see <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Katúah Journal Records (AC. 870)</a>. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The images and information in this collection are protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. C.) and are intended only for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes, provided proper citation is used – i.e., Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records, 1980-2013 (AC.870), W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. Researchers are responsible for securing permissions from the copyright holder for any reproduction, publication, or commercial use of these materials. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1983-1993 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource journals (periodicals) Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Katúah Journal</em>, Issue 19, Spring 1988 Description An account of the resource The nineteenth issue of the <em>Katúah Journal</em> focuses on springtime, plants, and the New Age movement: gardening with "nature intelligences", rooting blueberries, native plants, and herbal medicine. Authors and artists in this issue include: Michael Hockaday, Clyde Hollifield, Janeice Ray, Lucinda Flodin, Will Ashe Bason, Karen Watkins-Decker, Christina Morrison, Elaine Geouge, Sheli Lodge, Martha Tree, Brian Ellis, Stephen Wing, Diane Yeager, Colleen Redman, Rose Morningstar, and Ellen John. <br /><br />Beginning this issue, the title of the journal was simplified to <em>Katúah Journal</em>. A quarterly publication, it was published from 1983 to 1993 and was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name, Katúah, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1988 Table Of Contents A list of subunits of the resource. <p>The Perelandra Garden.......3<br /><br />Spring Tonics.......6<br /><br />Rooting Blueberries.......7<br /><br />"First Dogwoods" a poem by Michael Hockaday.......7<br /><br />Gardens of the Blue Ridge.......8<br /><br />A Visit with Granny: An Interview with Carolyn Port......10<br /><br />Flower Essence.......13<br /><br />The Origin of the Animals: a story by Clyde Hollifield.......14<br /><br />"Sacrament" <br />"Rain Has Come Again:"<br />poems by Janeice Ray.......15<br /><br />Good Medicine: "Power".......16<br /><br />Be A Tree.......17<br /><br />Natural World News........18<br /><br />Drumming: Letters to Katúah.......22<br /><br />A Children' [sic] Page........25<br /><br />Events.......28<br /><br />Spring Gathering.......29<br /><br />Webworking........30<br /><br /><em>Note: This table of contents corresponds to the original document, not the Document Viewer.</em></p> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Sylva Herald Publishing Company, Sylva, North Carolina Subject The topic of the resource Bioregionalism--Appalachian Region, Southern Sustainable living--Appalachian Region, Southern Herbs--Therapeutic use--North Carolina, Western Plants, Edible--Appalachian Region, Southern New Age movement--Appalachian Region, Southern Wild flowers--Blue Ridge Mountains Heirloom varieties (Plants) North Carolina, Western Blue Ridge Mountains Appalachian Region, Southern North Carolina--Periodicals Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937"> AC.870 Katúah Journal records</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a title="In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted" href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/?language=en 8" target="_blank"> In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted </a> Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Appalachian Region, Southern Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. <a title="Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians" href="https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/collections/show/79" target="_blank"> Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians </a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Journals (Periodicals) Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1980s Agriculture Appalachian Mountains Appalachian Studies Bioregional Congress Children's Page Earth Energies Electric Power Companies Geography Good Medicine Habitat Hazardous Chemicals Health Katúah Katúah Organization Pigeon River Plants and Herbs Poems Radioactive Waste Stories Turtle Island Water Quality Western North Carolina Alliance https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/2f5c7a65526cf67e7320e0c5525d2492.pdf a25df4140491bff73a4b9d4c92436ab2 PDF Text Text ISSUE 23 SPRING 1989 $1.50 BIOREGIONAL JOURNAL OF THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS �~LJAHjOURNAL Postage Paid Bulk Mail Permit #18 Leicester, NC 28748 P.O. Box 638 Leicester, NC Katuah Province 28748 ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED �THE PISGAH VILLAGE: A Window into Ancient Ways ..~..-··-·-···-"·-·- ··..·-----··-··-..··-......~.. ...... ·' - ....... - -......· -.. Pisgah Village: A Window into Ancient Ways ..............! by Kim Sandland Planet Art in Katuah............................. 5 by Denise Newbourne The Green City as Thriving City.........8 by David Morris Poplar AppeaJ .................................... l 0 lJy Doug Elliott Written and Illustrated by Kim Sandland Clear Sky: A Composite Portrait... .... 13 by James Rhea "A New Earth" ................................... 14 by Jerry Trivette College as Community Resource .......16 by C.B. Squire Wild l ovely Days ............................... 18 Poems by Elizabeth Griffin Photographs by Gil Leebrick Natural World News..........................20 Reviews: Sacred Latu/ Sacred Se.x Rapuue of the Deep .....................23 Stopping the Coming Ice Age ............25 Drumming: Leuers to Kafllah ...........26 ''Sudden Tendrils" .............................28 a poem by Michael Hockaday Events Calendar................................32 Webworking .....................................34 On a low rise above the Catawba River there was a village .....Once, long ago, the village flourished ..... Flanked by magnificent forests, with mountains rising abruptly on the western side, it stood on floodplain soils, with fields and gardens enriched by seasonal deposits of sih..... lt has long since been abandoned. and now it lies underground, a ghost town enslirouded in the mystery of its demise.....Remains of posts in 1he ground delineate where homes once stood. cold heanhs contain fragments of roasted nuts and seeds and the bones of deer and small game animals.....Picces of hand-formed and decorated clay ea.nhenware. tempered with the sands of village paths, litter old floors .....When one stands in what was probably once the cemcr of the village, there is a pervasive aura of kindred association and the lingering question of why was this village abandoned by its rcsidcnls 600 years ago..... The old town has been named the Pisgah Village by mhaeologists presently excavating the Cn1awbn River site. Ken Robinson of Warren Wilson College and his field workers are only now uncovering the village, and it will be some time before a thorough picture of its rcs1den1s' wiy of life is pieced together. Excavation hns already taken months of work, and the project will continue through October of 1989. Laboratory study of the artifacts recovered from the site, photography. drawing, mapwork, and comparisons with other sites will take much longer. NOTE. The exact locOUO!t of the "Pisgah VI/Inge" article 10 protect tlit #le fro111 po.r3iblt di!.turlJanus before ucawJlion rs c:ompltttd. is 1101 11l•tlf 111 thU Archaeology allows us to reconstruct the lifeways of chose who lived here before us. II allows us to determine the distribution, availability, and use of natural resources by peoples of 1he past; climatic conditions; cultural, behavioral, and spiritual traditions and their material representations. Archaeological fieldwork can also tell us when - and possibly even why • such cultures dlsappeared. The Pisgah Village is one of thirty promising sites that were identified in McDowell County. North Carolina. Three of the sites were tested for future study, but this is the only one currently under inrcnsive study. The site is interesting. says Robinson, because of its location at the edge of the mountains on the boundary between 1 very differe nt wo geographical situations. This was not typical of late prehistoric settlements. The Pisgah village presents lhe first opportunity for study of what is possibly a definitive boundary between the ancestors of the Cherokee and the ances1ors of the Catawba peoples. whose culrurcs were evidently very differenL Anifac1s so far recovered indicate two occupations of I.he village sire - the first from about 500-1000 AD, the second from about 900·1500 AD. The focus of the current research is on the later occupation, says Robinson. He hopes to shed some light on why the Pisgah Village site was ab3ndoned. Widespread disruption of narive settlements throughout the Southeast occurred around 1450· l 550, and the dissipation of such (oonunucd on p:ige 3 �~LJAHjOURNAL ·- EDITORl AL STAFF THIS ISSUE: Will Ashe Bason Michael Red Fox Richard Lowenthal Rob Messick Christina Morrison Marnie Muller Kim Sandland David Wheeler EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE: Scou Bird Manha Tree Jack Otaney John Creech Jay Joyce Marsha Ring Patrick Clark Chip Smith COVER by Rob Messick INVOCATION - a poem, •world.~ by Elizabeth Griffin PUBLISHED BY: Kauiah Journal PRINTED BY: The Waynesville Mow11ainecr Press WRITE US AT: Kail1ah Journal Box 638 Leicester, NC Katuah Province 28748 !ELF.PHONE: (704)683-1414 D1vcrsi1y is an 1mport:tn1 elemcm of bioregional ecology, both nawrol and social. Tn line wath Iha~ principle, lhe KaJ1'ah Journal uics 10 ~e as a forum for the discussion ot regional Issues. Signed arucles e~rcss only lhe op111ion of the aulbors and arc not necesSill'il)' Ille opanions of the Karliah Jounw/ tduors or stnff. The lmcmal Revenue Servtce bas declared Kat11ah a non·pront organiza1ion under seer.ion SQl(cXJ) or Ille ln1cmnl Revenue Code. All conuibwions lO Katiiah are deductible from person.al income tl.it. tNVOC.ATWN the vJorld is as W9- are TH£ SOtll'HERN APPALACHtAN BJORECJON AND MAJOR EASTERN RJVER SYSTEMS STATEMENT OF PURPOSE Herc m lhe souLhcm-most hcattlund of Lhc App:ilnchian mounuins, 1he oldest mounlllan range on our continetll, Turtle lslnnd; a small bu1 growing group h:is begun IO mke on a sense of responsibilhy for Ille implicau(ln.~ of lhl11 gcogr.tphicnl nnd culturol heritngc. This sense of responsib1li1y c:cnu:rs on lhe conccp1 of hvmg w11hin the ruuural ~ and bal3nce of universal sysiems Md pnllClJllcs. Wilhan dus circle we began by invoking Lhc Cherokee mime • K;u.Ualt' a.~ lhe old/new name for this nrca of the mouniains and for ii.s joU!Tllll as well The province is indicated by •L~ naUDUI boundarie$! the Ro:inokc Ri~cr Valley 10 the nonh; the foollulls of the piedmont area IO the cast: Yona Mount.am nnd lhc Georgia halls lO lhc :>0u1h: and the Tennessee Raver Valley to the west. TI1~ editorial pnootieli ror u:; arc t0 c:o!Ject and disseminate mfonnar.ion Md energy which pcrL'llllS specifically LO lllls region, nnd IO ro.u:r IJ1e awareness 1h:u 1hc land i~ a hvmg be.mg de$CMng of our love and rcspeeL Livmg in this manner is a way IO ansuro the su.~n:ibility of the bao.~phcrc and a la.rung placc for ourselves m 11.S continuing cvolutlonary process. We seem IO h3ve readied Ille fulcrum Point of a• do or die • si111t1tion m t.cnrn; of a quality standard of life for all living beings on !his planeL A~ a voice for lhc can:lakcrs or llus saarcd land. Kaniah. we advoc:uie a c:enlefed approach 10 Ilic cooccp1 of dccenlnlli1..otion. II is our hope 1 become a support sysicm for those acocpong lhe .0 challenge of SUStninabilhy and lhe creation of harmony and balance an a total sense, here an this place. We welcome all correspondence, critlcism, perunen1 infonnation, articles, an work, etc. with hopes th31 K.a.tWib will grow ID serve lhe best in1eres1S of lhis region and all us li11'11lg, breathing members. -The EdilOrS let us desire only that consciousness ,r Of life in which the cosmic will and the will to be are.,one Some of lhe K01iiah JourfllJ] Staff: (le1i IO right) Foreeround: Andy Ha!I-Bak.cr Middlr: David Wheeler, Mamie Muller, Rob Messick Standing: Will A.She Bason. Christina Morrison. Chip Smith, Rithiud Lowenlh3l. Lisa Franklin Sprt"'J, 1989 �(continued from page J) well-developed, thriving cultures has never been fully understood. Robinson feels lhat CJCcavauon of the Pisgah Village may lend some support 10 the theory that early Spanish explorers had a devastating effect on native aboriginal peoples. lt has long been surmised that Spa.nish explorers, led by Hernando De Soto and Juan Pardo among others, came up from the east and Gulf coasts through South Carolina and then inlMd to the Little Tennessee River. The routes of these explorers have lately been re-evaluated, however, and much evidence now indicates that they came along the eastern edge of the mountains ~ perhaps even as far east as the Catawba River. Some of the ac!ual records from the DeSoto and l>ardo expcdhions contain references to what are now believed to be villages in McDowell County. a hand in decimating these large animal populations. The burgeoning human population. unchecked by disease and nunurcd by abundance, reached a saturation point. The time from about 8,000 BC to I AD is called the Archaic Period. when human living took on a very different approach. In the woodlands the Archaic peoples hunted small game - primarily deer - fished. and collected plant foods. They were only seasonally nomadic, capitalizing on the migrations of animals, the spawning of fish, the maturing of nuts, and the flush of ripening benics. The people of the Archaic Period were efficient enough in their hunting and gathering that the search for food did not take up all of their time; they also pursued other endeavors. They made basketS and mats which have been found preserved in sites in the dry Southwest desen. They made hand-polished stone articles - some done very anistically, others left undecorated fo~ utilitarian use. Graves from the Archaic Period contain tools, weapons, red ochre (a pigment associated with ceremonies), beads, pendants, and dogs - all mcticulo_usly placed to accompany the dead into an aflcrhfe. Their stone hunting points were made with stems to be attached to sbaftS, an innovation from the time of lhc Palco-Indians. The earliest evidences of human occupation in the Southern Appalachian Mountains date from the Archaic Period. They consist of isolated find.~ of a distinct type of projectile point used for hunting - the Morrow Mountain type - dated to 4500 BC. The Woodland Period The Woodland Period of human habirotion The Spanish brought conflict and murder along wi1h their pack trains. They also brought Q.iseases - smallpox, measles, tuberculosis, and influenza - the likes of which the native population had not experienced on this continent. The Spanish, according to their own writings, burned villages, kidnapped and enslaved natives, abused the native cullure, and spread their imponed diseases. They formed trade alliances with some of the native tribes and introduced European materials. The full extent of the cultural and social disruption caused by the introduction of these trade goods is only now being realized. Robinson hopes that study of the Pisgah Village site will provide new links in the chain of undenaanding. extended from about I AD to 1600 AD. Three primary developmentS marked the transition from the Archaic to the Woodland cuhural iypes: · the development of pottery for cooking, storing, and transporting food and other items: - the cultivation of vegetable crops to supplement hunting and gathering: - and the first pcnnanent settlements. People of the Woodland phase settled in river valleys, where seed-bearing plants thrive. and became almost sedentary. cultivating native grains and then com. gourds, and squash as these crops were passed nonh from Mexico. Projectile poinis became smaller and more finely crafted. The bow and arrow replaced the spear and the dan. Woodland peoples traded across long distances. Mica from the Southern Appalachians and shells and fossilized shark's teeth from the coastal areas appear in archaeological sites throughout the southeast Burial practices continued the tradition of placing grave goods to accompany the dead. Some individuals were bwied in elaborate earth mounds, indicating some status or rank among their feUow villagers. Some of the Woodland Period peoples built tremendous carthworlcs for purposes that are still unclear to archeo-historians. They show a remarkable diversity, some being mathematically executed, others shaped like serpents. birds, and other figures. The full extent of some of these landscape sculptures was fully realiz.cd only after observers could fly above them. In some pans of the Southeast during the Woodland Period, clements of what is called "Mississippian culture" appeared. Mississippian culture was characterized by temple mounds (eanhworks which were the foundation for ceremonial centers). village) fortifLed with encircling palisades of stakes. copper tools and jewelry, and inrncruely designed ceremonial an. The v.intings of early European explorers of the 15th century describe palisaded towns with an ehtborate soctal development and material culture. (continued on JXl8C 4) The First People During the last lee Age a land bridge JOined Asia and Nonh America acrosi. chc Berin~ Strait. Many scientist:. believe that prehistoric people followed the large game animals into the new continent by this rou!e, and by the year 10,000 BC the first humans were well-established in both Nonh and South America. These Palco-Indian people. as they arc called. were nomadic hunters. They had no settlements, and the only evidences of their culture that have been round arc hunting weapons (stone spear points and darts), chipped stone knives, choppers and scrapers used for processing game meat and cutting wood, and animal bones thnt are evidence of their big game kills. By 8,000 BC the glaciers had retreated, and the climate became wanner. Many of the big game animals - species of horse. camel. rhinoceros, and bison not seen today. the great ground sloths and the woolly mammoth - became extinct on this continent Some scientists believe that humans had Spr~"'J. 1989 Ken Rotmisnn and visiring school class t!t.Omi1U! parrially ew1WJ1ed grid .fllUl1re OJ PiSgaJ1 Vi/Inge. Pho•o by Morme1 Mulltf �(col\Ullucd from p:ige 3) In the Southern Appalachians, lhis Mississippian tradition, borrowed from cuhural influences 10 the west is called "the Pisgah tradition" by arch~eologists. Peoples of the Pisgah tradition were the direct ancestors of the Cherokee. The Pisgah tradition of lhe late Woodland Period with its Mississippian influences, marks the pi~nacle of the cultural evolution of native peoples in the Southern Appalachians. Although some cultural traditions persisted until the rime of the Cherokee Removal, the native way of life was altered forever with the arrival or white explorers and seulers. Pottery fragments, called sherds, cons~ilute the majority of anifacts from the Warren Wilso11 excavations. Pottery vessels were fashioned from coils of clay, shaped and rounded. Some of the containers hnd handles or thickened runs and were tempered with sand before firing for extra s1rCng1h. Some were plain and undecorated, while others bore complica1cd panerns created by stamping the unfired vessels with carved wooden paddles. Cords or nets were also used lO l~ve fiber impressions in the wet clay, and des1~ns were also incised with small, sharp. marking tools. Plnin and decorated clay tobacco pipes have also been recovered, as well as small s1one and clay discs. believed to be counters or gamepieces. Also found were clay and soapstone beads and polished stone gorgeis. A hole was drilled into each of the ornaments so that it might be worn around the neck. The Pisgah rradition was a way of life which allowed individualized expression of talent and beliefs. During this phase livelihood was secure enough to allow time for artistic embellishment of functional tools. Carved soapstone bowls were made in sizes to hold from Relics AJong the Swannanoa The Pisgah tradition is best represented by archaeological discoveries made on the campus of Warren Wilson C-0llegc in Swannanoa in Kan'.iah. Artifacts found there preview what might be uncovered at the Pisgah Village site along the Catawba. The Warren Wilson site snw four penods of habitat ion by native peoples. The earliest occupation daies back nearly to the beginning of !he Archaic Period, The snc has been disturbed by erosion, dig~ing. and more recently by plowing. Disturbed sues are more dlfficull to interpret, because artifacts are misplaced, and feature.~ such as building foundations, heanhs and r::rosh pits are scauered. Despilc such disturbances, archaeologists have learned a great deal from the Warren Wilson site. No anifacts later than the Pisgah phase have been. recovered ~1 Warren Wilson. Its residents vanished someume 1n the mid- l600's and never returned. two quaris to 1wo gallons of liquid. Polished stone axes were found, some grooved to be anached to shafts, others designed to be hand-held. The excavation yielded monars and pestles of stone for grinding seeds, nuts, and drie(benies. and caches of red and yellow ochre and graphite used for paint pigments. The villagers who occupied the Warren Wilson site lived in rectangular dwellings. Over the years. the sunken posts rotted and left dark circular Stains in lhe earth, like perfect shadows. ghoslly visions of the past. The walls were Likely made of waule-and-daub, a mixture of clay and grasses. Mose of the dwellings were not within the village itself, but in outlying farmsteads. In lhe center of each house was a raised clay fire basin for warmth and cooking. The heanhs and the storage vessels buried nearby contained evidence of the foods these early people utilii.ed, among them hickory nuts, waJnucs, buuemuts, acorns, persimmons, maypops, grapes, bl~ck cherries. and chesmuts. There were also remains of com, squash, beans, and sumpweed, all of which were cultivated. Trash pits contained the bones of 30 species of animals, including bear, deer, bobcat, weasel, mountain lion, squirrels. turtles, snakes, frogs, and turkeys. From the distribution of foods, it is sunnised that the Pisgah (conbJlued oo page 24) EXCAVATION OF A PREHISTORIC SITE An archneological cxcavarion site is chosen because of the discovery of surface artifacts. because of a promising location that looks likely to yield evidence of occupation, or because th.e area is threatened by development or by destruction by vandals. Fieldwork begins with a surface collection of artifacts. Surface finds are ploued on a detailed map of the site, because their distribution may in itself reveal important information. The plow zone is scraped away and sifted through mesh screen 10 separate out any artifacts. Below the plow zone may lie a surface undisturbed by the activities of lauer-day humans. A grid of stakes and Jines is then laid out over the site, usually in a true nonh-south alignment, to correspond with grid l~nes mark~d on a site map. The area of each gnd square 1s usually one square meter. Soil samples may be taken with augers to determine distinct strata and/or the presence of hidden constructions or features (visible item which cannot be removed from the site and taken to the laboratory, such as house floors. burials, cooking fire pits, etc.). Selected grid squares may be excavated at random if the site is large. Small sites may be excavated entirely. Test excavations help 10 determine where to concentrate digging e!Tons. As the squares are excavated, the wall of each square 1s left intaCt m display lhe stratigraphy (visible layering) of the soil. Small layers, and sometimes whole strata, of soiJ are removed using shovels or trowels, and the exposed surface is levelled. M~terial from each level is sifted and soned. The an1facts recovered are bagged, labelled with their exact location in the soil stratigraphy. Soil samples are taken from each stratum 10 be examined in the laboratory. for even mJcroscop1c elements in the soil {such as pollen grains) may reveal information about the nora of the area and the climate (such 11s periods of drought and rainfall). Each exposed surface level is mapped and photographed, and details arc recorded in field notebooks. Features arc very carefully u~covcred ~s they appear in the strata. To d1~turb lh_e1r placement would be 10 destroy the rnformauon they contain. Small dental picks, 1ooth~:ushes, and even fine paintbrushes may be uuhzed to remove the soil from artifacL~ and features. Laboratory analysis of the artifacts. notes, maps, drawings. and photographs may take months, possibly years, of additional work once the fieldwork is completed. . Artifacts and features from each gnd and srratum and their relationships to the other finds through~ut the site, will reveal the lifeways of the people who once lived there - their t<?Ols,_ trades, rituals, subsjstence. An archaeologist literally delves into the relationship that ancient peoples maintained with the world around them. Archaeological fieldwork reveals details .of th~t relationship. It may te~ how lo~g lhat ~elauonship was sustained, and Dllgh1 possibly potnl to clues as to why it came to an end ;st:t' Sprtng, J!189 • �Art by Denise Newboume Dream f rQl}ment . •• Slt.e fell oslup that mghl and as she dre<uttM her spirit was luult'd through the long spiral tunnel and inII) till! scars. M1uri-dimtJtSional ribbons with Jhimmering citcu.ils drifted past aJ incompreJumsiblt spuds Slie realized she was in 1/ie center of the 1rwi.rplanetary in~rface, a place similar to a radio sroJibn w/ll!re lJfU! can nW'. into past <JNlfimue choices and possibilities for any piaMt, and/inc tune w tlic path ofgre01esr harmony. "Hmmm," she wondered, .,what can that p01h possibly be for the eartlrr Finding ow ~·as as simple as speaking the roMS that most corresponded with Earth's vihrationaljreqrumcy ar tlie prese111 tu~. No soonu had llll! said "John Wayne" than she fo1uld lu:rself in a lwlogram oftill! Earth. Her SU&Sitivc a.11ral rectpum M-Ve overw/11:/med a1fv.~t with an almost 1111/Jearablt colkaion of hurrlingferocities, terrified srreaming, and lrnpelt!Ss fwiliry. She re111(Ji/led calm, knowing from experience tll/Jl often tire jint reception ofsuch planets was the hardest lmagu of marching soldiers appeared before her, rows ofmen 1n unifonns, who turned on their heels and became long rows of ballerinas, all dressed in the same rum dolng rl~ uact SOllW hops and twirls while myriads of musicians all played variatwns of the SattU'! song. A smal I number of "others" hod them wrapped in strings, wl11ch the>• kept rig/rt, and twisted tfl/!nt this Wtl)' and tllDt, like puppets. Then she noticed thOl'-fand:. of beings sitting i11 tlie darkness.paralyzed The dancers and musicians wen' used to dii-en rheir anention from tll/!ir dl!.rperarely repres.ud condition. Then di/! Sct!nario began to change the people in darkness bt:gan to wake 11p and cw the strings. They swpped allowing tl.e cloned do.nurs and arrisrs to llypnoti:e them and started dancing tlll!mSelvts. Nor imuating any form, they simply followed wh1tre their own bodies led tht!ITI. The "official" artisu also stopptd their/~en.sh reprodJJJ:twnr ofprescribedforms long en1mgh w listen to the songs and dances from wid1itt They all begD11 listen.ing to and performing thdr own unique songs and danus. and helping otlll!rs learn tlll! s~. More and 1111>re strings were cw. and tlle ligliJ gr~ brigluer wilh t!llch ""e's gift of color. until of/ the beings became a mandala ofilrlerw<J\'tn harmony and beawy. Her anelllion tllrMd to a man in a belly dancers silks and veils, doing rhl sinuous, anciefll dance of binh She looked closer and saw it war .. John Wayfll!! "What a nice resolurilln," slie mused to herself. "It doesn't seem so hard looking at ft from oUlhere.·· "'do We are now witnesses to the ultimate dead-end created when reason attempt~ to dominate spirit, men to dominate women, science to dominate an. and "civilized" peoples ro dominate "'n:uive" ones. The5e are all external eumples of a fundamental split and sttuggle within e:ich of us. We have come so far from our primordial heritage of wholeness. that many of us arc at a los:. as to how to regain it We are still StrUggling to learn lhnt our fundamental problem is not any category of people. but the \'Cry existence of ~~teg~es.. 9ur problem ~s nOt science.~ power. not an, not ~pintuahty; n 1s the pcrcepuon of these tlnngs as sepanuc rather than facc1~ of a unified whole. ,\ key clemenr of the 1houglit sys1cm in which we perceive each Other ns lw lhan whole 1s the notion lhat some people arc creative and Olhm arc no1. Thi:. is extremely discmpowcring becllusc the power to cn.:.ltC is a cenrral attribute of divinity in all n:ligions. Thi~ c~tivc now from within provides us with 1he knowledge of our own power. b:iJance, and self-wonh. lf we believe that we do not have this rcgcnenitive power, then we promote scarcity for ourselves and others. So here we all nre amidst terrifying psychological scarcity collectively creaccd by the majority of the population who for one rcawn or another do no:i belie~ they arc creo.rivi- nnd powerful The planet cnn only a1wn the pence thut com~ from wholenes.~ when the beings who comprise it acknowledge •heir own and each others' wonh An. ai. we know 11 today. b a mirror for our plnnewy condiuon. There arc some people who do it. and they are n:vercd :is if they have something others do not. There is a funher dhtinction between "fine" an and "folk" an, with the unplicarion that fine an is somehow nobl~-r and better than folk., because it is non-funclionnl. TIUs 1s the alienating idea that an is only real if it is removed from the daily now oflifc. When a peoplCli: he.1.rlfclt. arti~ cxprcs.sion is_ lo;-t or s~tenurically extingu15.hcd, they begin to feel empty inside and often beccmc caught up in a funle effon to saiisfy themselves with utemal g~. 11us exu:mal grasping often IC3ds lO the phenomenon o! ~ictiveness The fact &tlat ~e !'ow ha~oe whole societie~ c:."pcncnang desperate levels of addlCtlOn :uid_ 1is a11endan1 destruction is a signal that it is ume forchoosmg to heal ourselves. One way we can do this is by tapping our unique expression~ and bl~ing ourselves llild the planet ~;th the creative energy that Oows from our spinL Our culrural definition of an needs to expand from the activiucs or an elite few to that or all people. Jose ArgueUes, in his latest book Surfers ofthe luvuya, provides such a definition: "You've all gott.t undcrsuind th:tt you're artists. Nothing fancy, but anists of life. anists of reality....Anything that's harmoniwl. that's an. This is an imponnn1 point ... since the planet's got to (conunllCld on PQ&ll 6) SJJrin9' 1989 ~ ~~~ - 1'.!'9'1 ~ y �be cleaned up and rehnm1omzed, there isn't any1hmg that isn't Planet An." With this kind of definition. an becomes intrinsic to the flow of life. \Ve are now beginning to realize that a11y expression that comes from our own spirits i'> valid, even if it docs not confom110 formerly prescribed ideas of'' an". To see an as a force for hnrmonizing our world is also to odd a higher di~s1on '?f social respon~i~ility to it. 111~. question "Will this conmbute to harmomzing our plam:t? becomes a standll!"d pan of the creative process, and an irnpon:mt criteria for whether or not 10 mar.ifest nn idea. Also integral 10 a holistic perspective is the understanding that an and science are not separate but are indivisible facets of a life-oriented culture. This understanding would ~1e a much-needed ~1al . . responsibility for everyone m all areas of human producuvny What exactly is Planet An? It is about reclaiming our concept of an to encompass all forms of exchange with our world. An is the language our species has used to communicate with the universe for thousands of years. Primitive an focussed on the intimate relationship of a tribe to it~ particular homeplace and all of its inhabitants. Now our homeplace has become the entire planet and beyond...aod our an has begun to rcllect this reality. Planetary an is a conscious awareness of the whole Life community in which we participate and a strong intent to . hannonize with it. lt is vital to our species' survival that we shift to this more active engagement and interplay with the universe. Jn this way. the many facets of our reality become intimately woven toget.hcr...our own interior world, our human cultural communiry, our planetary life community and the rest of the universe. How does the Harmonic Convergencu fit in with all this? Broadly speaking. the purpose of the Converge.nee wa.s 10 reactivate our ay, an:ness of the earth as a consc1ou~ b<:ang and to pro-.idc a time to rcatlirm our choice to co-create with her. Those who consciously made that cho1ce at that umc are the people Arguelles is now calling the "Eanh Force". By next year, Arguelles feels that this Earth Force will begin to manifest itself as a global and cultural phenomenon. He also feels that all need 10 move in a much more direct, mobilized way. By the second anniversary of Hannonic Convergence, he sees the opponunity for a Rainbow Peace Event. That would signal that the Campaign for the Earth has coalesced and bonded enough in the underground to begin 10 manifest as an alternative force of allied, planetary, non-government organizations moving in concen to take measures int0 our own hands. When I think of "art camps" and the "alternative force of allied, planetary, non-government organizations", the bioregional movement comes to my mind. We are a ready-made resource of diverse people who are awan: of the Earth's aliveness and are choosing to assist with her healing process. Karuah is a very supportive communuy for Planet An, and a strong network is already fom1ing. Here are some examples of Planet An going on inKatuah... Heart Dance Pat Sharkey, who lives in Floyd, Virginia, makes beauoful jewelry from crystals and stones. One lhing she has learned from working with crystals is that our own bodies operate in a similar way ... that is, they can be programmed, and they amplify energy. These conceptS have inspired her to create ways for an and science to become pans of a whole... through sacred dance. "Dance is like a gridwork, a system of conduction," she iold me. "By encompassing tones, using our bodies as conductors by arranging them in specific geometric configurations, employing corresponding herbs and stones, and consciously utilizing the energy gridwork of Icy lines on the planet, we can attune oarselves to move any specific energy through, and use it for healing." This kind of work could be done at key sites alJ over the eanh ...those places that amplify energy as well as those in need of healing. She Stressed the impon.nncc of a disciplined preparation of daily meditation for at least a month before coming together to do sacred dance. "The more preparation, the clearer the channel, the more juice we all reccive...the more we personally understand -something, the more authentically we can put it out to others." One way that planetary art is manifesting is through networking. Jose Arguelles, one of the key figures in the 1987 Harmonic Convergence, helped to found The Planet An Network in 1983. According to Arguelles. it is far too late for anything else save for artists, from all medias, 10 converge and produce inter-media performance rituals and other forms of planet art. He feels that these performance rituals should be simulcast via satellite to as many cities as possible to raise the consciousness of humanity. He sees this as a higher purpose of our extensive system of mass communication. When we are able 10 liberate this media system from the forces of fear and domiruuion we will have an incredible tool for dispersing immediate visions of peace. Astrologer Amero Alli envisions "the emergence of multiple 'art camps' ...clusters of resonant core groups dedicated to varied forms of planet an." Again.. the indicauon is that this an js a grassroots, collective phenomenon. Some of the elements for such activities could be music, dnnce, comedy, drama and sign language, combined with visual an. lighting, costumes. holograms. crystals and audience participation. There is no limit lO the possibilities! Drawing by Sbe.IJ Lodge The example she gave is for a Hean Dance, in which men and women would come together nnd fonn into a Star of David ...men forming one triangle, women the other. Rose quru:ii; would be in the center. Pora month beforehand each pamcipant would have spent time meditating daily on healing between men and women. They would then come together in meditation and symbolic movemenrs. and allow their energies to interact for the purpose of healing. The same concept can be used with any symbol, for any healing purpose, anywhere on the planet. Groups could begin travelling 10 other countries f~ the expres.s purpose of performing sacred dance there to amplify the energies of hannony and healing. "This is a way we can utilize all the systems we've learned - astrology, numerology, the tarot...and combine them in perfonnance through our bodies. High technology has become so overspecialized that no one can see the whole anymo.rc. By using our bodies as holographic componenis we are going back to lhe source of all recbnology...our inner beings." Pat is interested in organizing an Earth Dance gathering, and in exchanging inspiration and info with others interesled in this idea. Her address is P.O. Box 606, Aoyd, Virginia, Kaulah Province 2409 l. SprLf19, 1989 �Orandmottu A planetary art exhibit ... The popular Gmndmothc:r band in Asheville, North Carolina is a group tha1 is already doing visionary planet an. The group is composed of four women who each play several different insD"Uments and sing h:innonics 1ogelhl'r. They arc a visual, muhi-me<lia band. incorporating inro !heir performances creative movement, sign language. masks, costumes. acting and comedy. Their inclusive approach 10 music provides an enthusiastic vision of peace. leaving nudiences with a tremendous feeling of satisfaction. l talked with Deb Criss. one of 1he founding members of Grandmother, on her thoughts about Pl:lnet The People of Lhc One Song UV!NG ART F!Xll/B!T An. Her inspiration for Grund mother crunc to her when she was visiting lhe pyramid sites at Palenque. Mellico. She sa1 for long periods of time in the part of the complex that had been the Mayan's theatre. There :;he had visions of "blending ri1ual art into a music concert with respect to 1he four elemems and a ~ensc of oneness with 1he eanh, using costumes and masks. and finding ways io reach ou1 and dec~se 1he distance be1wecn audience and performers.'' ''The original vision l had was for an intentional way of doing a show, beginning by smudging the area, a group prayer and quie1 rime of positive thought We could then play with 1oncs, color, and lights, blended with modem-day music 10 induce frequencies tha1 unify heart, will, and higher mind. People of1en become uncomfonable when things are quiet, sacred, and serious for 100 long, so comedy is also an important part of our shows." Grandmother is very community orienled ... at one of their shows !his past fall four women joined 1he show for theatre and signing. One of them was an 89-year·old woman from Waynesville, the "honored Grandmother" of the evening. "I feel 1hat i1's important 10 in1cgra1e all ages, so that we all have a fuller understanding of the circle of life," said Criss. Their group is a dynamic process of consensus, and chooses to be open to additional aclS (with prior pl!lnning) being part of the show. "Grandmother is the ancient spiri1 of the winds Lhrough lime that speak through the earth to all people ... if s..meone feels that inner voice speaking through them. it is good 10 claim it and find a way to express ii. We hope 1hat Grandmother is a catalystic agent to inspire others 10 do this." For more information about Grandmother, call Deb Criss at (704) 253-4831. Contact Improvisation Also going on in Asheville is the quie1 revolution of Contact Improvisation, a newly arising dance form. Its emphasis is on releasing individual and group creativity through spontaneous movement rather than following a specific 1echnique or choreography. More than traditional dance forms, Contact relies heavily on suppon and cooperation among the dancers. II strengthens both the "I" and the "we" because the movements come from one's own center as well as being shaped by one's interactions with the other dancers. It's a way for 1 physical body to learn he trust. •. in a literal fashion, through physical imerac1ion. rn Contact, there are no wrong steps or movemcn1s---1here is only more or less fiowing, depending on how relaxed, trusting, and sensitive the dancers allow themselves 10 be. Contact is also p:utidpatory rather th:m perfoml!lnccorlented. fl is primarily an expenence for the d:lncel'li instead of for an audience. The movemenlS spring from deep v. ithin and nre a continual source of surprise, even 10 1he dancers This makes 11 nlJ the more dynamic to Y.itness. Audience and dancers are brought together llS both expcnence in different ways the everchanging now of movement coming from spiri1 into form. Leigh Hollowell and Christina Morrison are co-1e.'lching the first Conmct Dance class in Asheville. Chrisuna had auendcd a Dance New E11gland Conmc1 ln1ensivc la.~1 summer and rerurned home excited 10 share this fonn with others. She immediately began teaching friends in Celo and talking with Marnie Muller abou1 the possibility of a regional Dance Kn11"1Ji. Spring, 1989 (continued on pago 29) Who are the People of the One Song? They are ILf a1ul nwre ...They are inspiratian ... />a.rt 14ah.ng into furure ..Funue leaking into past. We invite rlrem into prese111 being ro help us remember rite word.f to The One Song Singing in rite liearrs and mitids ofall Earth's People. Tile People of rlie One Song is an art exhibit centering on the clay pottery faces and masks by artisl/poner Jane Avery-Grubel. The faces, strikingly adorned with beadwork, .shells, and feathers by artiM Jeri Dewey, represent a culture of people dr:Jwn from archetypal memory of natural tribal living. and from the vision of a futuri.~1ic tribe we may become. Out of lhe faces have come stories, written by local poet Colleen Redv.onun, tha1 1ell of the uibe's dreams, ri1uals. roles. and relationships. The exhibit will also fua1ure many local crafts people's works such as baskets, jewelry. clothing, musical insuurnents, pottery and herbs that v.ill repre~ent the tribe's anifacts of everyday living and celebration. The People ofThe One &mg is a \ision of a tribe leading resourceful, crea1ive, peaceful lives in relationship with the Earth and each other. The concept is an expression of 1ime transcending--a merging of pa~r. pn:o;en1, and future 10 cn:ati: a cuhure of our wildcs1 d~a~...one that may have been...could be. The artists involved sec Thr People nf'The o~ Snr.g as a modcl....''Through art we can nffirm a fuum: that i~ noc so dependent on modem 1echnology. Most c~cry1h1og cxhib11ed can be made, grown, or found m na1ure 111e show is a ·work in progress that we are continually crra1ing and recreaung, jus1 as we create our every day rc;tli1y. It's like opening our minds and doing an archeolog1cal dig into 1hc: future." Open through April 1989 at Old Church Glllery. M:un Street. Floyd, Virginia, Katuah Province 24091. For more infonnation or to schedule additional gallery engngcments: _-~ (703) 7-i5-4849 or 745·3316 ~ e • "-I ... >Can.ah Jourrnal pCMJe 1 �THE GREEN CITY AS THRIVING CITY Implications For local Economic Development by David Morris This April, David Morris ofthe I nstiture for Local Self-Reliance will be the key1Wte speaker for the WNC Environmental Summit '89. Here is an article from the conriner110/ bioregionat publication Raise the Stakes that highlighis some ofhis thoughrs. In discussing the greening of ciLies. one is reminded of Lhe slogan Lhat the French s1udents used in 1968. On their posters they said "all that we want to change is every1hing," which comes from that famous ecological dictum, "everything is connected to everything else." When we pull a thread, we may in fact unwind a sweater. The 1wo fundamental assumptions underlying the way we've designed our communities nre the assumptions of cheap energy and cheap disposal cosis. Jn constant dollars, a barrel of oil that cost five dollars in 1910 cost a little over a dollar in 1965. The cost of lhrowing away a ton of garbage remained preuy much the same from 1900 to 1960. We could lherefore ignore lite operating inefficiencies and wastes of the systems that we developed. Cities reflect that inefficiency and waste. Our cities are dependent creatures. A city of 100,000 people impons 200 tons of food, I 000 tons of fuel and 62,000 ions of water a day, and dumps 100,000 tons of garbage and 40,000 tons of human waste a ye:ir. We've accepLed long disaibution systems as the price we pay for progress and development. Jndeed, we've elevated separation to Lhe status of vinue and internalized those principles into our way of thinking about our local economies. J was recently reminded of how much we take 1ha1 state of affairs for granted when Twas in a SL Paul, Minnesota res1auran1. After finishing lunch. 1 got a toothpick, and of course all toothpicks now have an obligatory plastic wrapper. The word Japan was primed on the wrapper. Now, I thought to myself, Japan has no wood, bur it has been considered economical 10 take pieces of wood and send them LO Japan, wrap them in plastic and send lhe whole thing back: 10 Minnesota. Thal toothpick embodied 50,000 miles within it. Well, not to be outdone, Minnesota just set up a fac1ory. Ir's producing chopsticks and it's sending them to Tokyo. This brings to mind an image of two sh1ps passing each other in lhc Pacific, one carrying lildc pieces of wood from Japan to the United States, and the other carrying linle pieces of wood from the United Slates to Japan. That is economical only if one acceplS the twin assump1ions noted at the outset - those pillars upon which our economic system has been established. This impon-expon paradigm is the way our economy runs. It is also the way our waste economy runs. Washington, D.C., for instance, was becoming overwhelmed by its. hum:in wastes, and paid a consulWlt $150,000 to come up with a solution. He suggested they barge them to Haiti. That recommendation was approved by D.C., but Haiti vetoed lhe idea. Haiti decided though they'd been offered the wastes of the c:apiLal of the Frtt World, they preferred nOL to be shat upon. The integrated planetary economy was supposed to make us more secure, but has it? Global trade expands and so do planetary tensions. For example, developing counaies arc now exporting more and more food to the developed counaics to eam the hard currency necessary to repay debts that they incurred primarily to build up their expon indusaies. lndusaial development and utilizacion both have increased. The developed counaies are in an inlCTesting protecrionis1 free trade dance, a pas de deux of late planelruy economics. in which each country tries desperately to preserve ac lease some amount of ils sovereignty and its productive assets. at the same rime trying not to interfere with free trade and the mobility of resources. Capilal has become the lubricant for the planetary economy, the grease that lets the planetary machine functioo. We fervently believe lhat capital should flow at least as freely as raw maLerinls and products. Last year 20 times more currency was iraded than was needed to underwrite world trade. We are more reluctant to embrace the unimpeded rnobili1y of the third factor of production: labor. But we're inching up to it Six months ago the Council of Economic Advisors recommended abolishing all barriers LO migration in order t0 improve the economy. JC.cu .(ui.h ) o"rnal. p~ 8 We've lost sight of the underpinning of a society - lhe sense of community. Mobility is not synonymous with progress. Weve ignored Benjamin Franklin's advice: those who would trade independence for security usually wind up with neither. We have made tha1 crade and in the process have become an increasingly dependent and insecure people. But now the rules have changed. Cheap energy and cheap disposal are no longer available. Despite the recent drop in oil prices, lhe cos1 of energy has risen more than 1000 percent in the last 15 years. Disposal costs have risen even more dramatically. In 1975 it typically cost about three to five dollars to dispose of a ton of garbage. Today in the U.S. it costs between $30 and $50 to dispose of that ton of garbage. In 1970, to dispose of a barrel of hazardous waste cost berween $5 and $10 a barrel •• although most companies just spilled ii on the side of the road. Today, to dispose of hazardous waste costs abou1 $300 a barrel, and for many companies the disposed hazardous wasce now has a legal liability attached to it that is po~ntiallyenormous. What's imponant to note about these price changes is that they have changed not because or the real world exhaustion of supply, but because of a change in political a1tirude. The rising price of oil did not occur because oil began running out, but because OPEC artificially limired the supply. The cost of W3SlC disposal did not rise because we suddenly ran out of dump space but because communities, by establishing new disposal rules, anificially limited the supply. We consciously and willfully changed the cost of doing things the traditional way. One of lhe enduring legacies of the environmental movement is that it bas managed to begin to move the price of doing things to the cost of doing things. The price is what an individual pays; the cost is what the community pays. Let me give you a specific example of price versus cost Rock salt is used 10 de-ice roadways. lls price is very cheap: one to rwo centS a pound. There is at least one alternative to rock salt, made out of plant mau~: calcium-magnesium acetate. It can be produced a1 present for abou1 20 cents a pound · 10 to 20 times more than rock salt. That's ilS price. However, rock salt has some problems. It corrodes the undcrbody of cars, it corrodes bridges, and ill New York City, Coosolidnted Edison has found that it causes a great many problems in the electrical supply system which runs through the sewers. Sprlf\9. 1989 �Sewer water, c1111yi11g dhsulved rock sah. can corrode insulation and lay bare wires. A neoprene gas can be genmued and if a spark occurs. an explosion can send manhole CO\et'S flying. By one estimate Consolidated Edison spends S75 million to n:pa.ir damage caused by rock sah. Thu's part of the cost of roclc salt. Another cost is polluted groundwater and the devastation of vcgetntion. New York S!Atc has made an informal esumate that the acruaJ, internalized cost of rocl salt is 80 ccnlS a pound. Which de-icer should you buy? The individual is unt1warc: of this cost. It is the n:sponsibility of the community 10 make price and cost similar. Even though the rules have changed, we haven't yet adopl.Cd a new paradigm, a new way of organiting our knowledge and our information. One of the principles of that new paradigm should be to extract the mnximum amounl of useful work ecologically possible from the local resource base. Thar sounds like a very modest proposal, but it has profound repercussions. As we begin to obtain more and more u~ful work, we (ind thnt we've begun to be more and more self-reliant and self-conlll.incd. ls self-reliance economical? Whnt do we mean by eoooornics? Whnt do we value in our economic system? Those who praise the global economy and trade as the underpinnings of our economic henlth invariably point to the benefits of comparnrive advantage and just 11s invariably point to the example of bananas. Surely local self-reliance docs not mean raising our own bananas in the United States when the clirruue 1s so much more favorable in Guatemala. Il may be cheaper to impon those bananas. once again, depending on what the price is versus the cost. Bananas that come from Central America cooie from countries that do not pennit unions. arc produced by companies that do not pay any iaxcs, and are grown by production methods that have no environmenta: regulations. I submit that if you ca.lcuhued the number of dollars that have been spent by the Unil.Cd Sratcs in military intervention in Central America, and dh'ided by the number of bananas that 11.rC imponed into the United States, you would find that it's very costly co tmpon bananas rather 1h:ln 10 grow them you~lr. When we look at c<:onornic signals, we need ro look at them in a holistic sense. first, we arc leamio&, as our s)",\tems get ever larger, tlw the downi.hle rhks get com:spondingly gru.icr. Twenty years ago when we wked about a cau1strophe, it meant a flood or an earthquake. Today when we talk about a catastrophe we mean the end of the ozone layer. the end of the human species. Local self-reliance also has a downside risk: you could try '>Omething and it might not work. but the risk Is modest. Second, locnl self-reliance leads to a diversity of cxpcnmenmion. As communities experiment with differcn1 technologies, we advance on the learning curve. Third, local sclf-reliBnCe by definition reduces pollution by improving efficiency. Fourth, local sclr-rcllancc Is economical because It recycles money internally for more productive purposes that would otherwise have to be spent on maintaining the system. A crude estimate that r made recently :;uggcstcd that 15 years ago the United States was spending between one and three percent of its overall income for system maintenance and cleanup. Today we're spending almost 15 percent of our income fOI' that purpo~. And finally. an advan1.1gc of local self-rcli.tncc is that we begin 10 channel our ingenuity into developing new bodies of knowledge that may be appropriate 10 a world that is in a vef} dlITcn:nt cond1tioo. The technologies that we're developing 1n North America, for example, art technologies appropnatc to ruuions that arc resource· rich and pcople·poof. But ISO percent of the world's popufauon li\lcs in countries that 31C rc~·poor nnd peoplc·nch. ff you try 10 make the United State~ !>Clf-~ufficicnt or sdf·reli:mt, the technologies you develop tO do so will be neither appropnaic nor comp:inble wnh the needs of dc\•eloping nat.tons.. Bui if you move towazd m:tking our tknsely populated and rcsou~-short cities sclf·rcliant the i«hnologicsdcvc:lopcd \I.Ill be appropnate to a resource-poor 1.1.orld. The kno1.1. lcdge generated can become a fll!ljor export commodity. But the pnmary benefit or local sclf·rcliancc J~ not economic; it's psychological and ~oc1nl. II improves decision nuldng because the costs or the decision fall on the smne community. We do not separate the productive process over long.dhtllllC~ Psycho.logicall)'. we improve the setf-<XX1fidencc 11nd socunty of our commuruues. We begin to miniaturize the economy. h means achieving v.hat Fritz Schumacher, one of the great cconomim of our time, dreamt of: local productton tor local markets from local rcsourct$. SprU\9• 1989 ls that theory or is that pr3Cticc? ..yeu: it rums out that in ~c scrap metaJ industry, the scale of producuon IS much smal~ than 111 the raw matcrittls industry. The best ex.ample J know of is 1he steel industry, where the newest technology is called the mini-mill. They used to be called neighborhood mills. but the industry decided t.h:u that would rais.c the image or Mao 1.e-<long's backyard fumaus. aod they didn't feel this was good advertising. Miru-mills use 100 percen1 scrap, and arc very sm:all- 200.000 tons a year average produc1ioo. A raw ore-based, vcnically integrated steel mill produces between two and three million ions a year. The healthiest. fastest-growing pan of the steel indu~try is based on scnp that comes from regional matb:ts and products often sold regionally. Another example 1~ the chemurgy movement, created SO yean ago by scienlisti-. from around the world concerned with using the then-large agriculrural surpluses lb mdustrial products. In 1932. the ltalian ambass3dor 10 Oreat Bnlllin arrived at the coun of St James dressed in a sun made or milk. That is, Italian scientists had discovered how to weave the casein in milk into clolhes. Tn 1941, Henry Ford, a devotee of the chemurgy movement, unveiled his biological car. The car body was made or soybeans. lhe fuel came from com, and the wheels were made of goldenrod. The soybean plastic body weighed hlllf as much as a steel-bodied car, so the car was more fuel·eflic1cnt. lf you dented it modestly, the dentS could be knocked back out. The C11r was wanner in the winter and (COISinuoj ... pq• lO) Green C ily 11 How-To 11 Mnnual---Just Published! "Cities need to be<ome more 'green'. They must be transformed illtu places that are life-enhancing an<l regenerarfre." • PelCr Berg <:rr~a Ci11 as a "how-to• m~nual (Of mdlv1<tUllts and O(JJ.n11AllOns antcmo1ed an a :iuswnablc future. tis intnl3C i.s &hat urban att.aS Cllll Cl.isl lunnonlou\I)" with na111nll 1ysu:im • :md 111nctudca bolb practical mid visL;xury :aw1tcut1on1 lh11I •re uppllc•btt 1;; ny ci17 or 1ino11. lbcte ts also 1 ~ 1ts11ng of volllllUlet o.:uv11a with i:lc:a. llbout gctllftS: wried and womns 0 IO'll<-.ds D £n'C1)" fuwrc. • URBA."' Pl.Af.ilNG • SMARTTRASSPORTATIO' • SUSTAIN"BLEPLA,~'t'l!O • RF.l'>'E\\'ARl.ll E.''ERGY • l'."EIOHBORHOOD CHARAC'rnR AND li."IPOWERM£.'lol • RECYCUNG Al'tl> REUSE • CE.l..EllRATtNG l.IF'E·l'L-\C'F. VITA.Un' • IJRBA.'J WILD HABITAT • SOC'tAU.Y RF.SPONSIBLE SMALL BUSINESSES ANO COOP'ERATIVE.S 'Tbe CrttD C117 Proi:nam 11 1V111bblc d1tcc1ty from Pbru:l Drum Foundation for S7 f'CISIP.1ld Mcmben ol lbc Foundation =eh-cu free aloag with lbc hl·annu.:11 ne11;1p;pcr lfluu tM Suills llld Olhcr public:atiol\1 for ~i: yearly membership rec Sl5. Thta llddtc.ss Is PIAnet Drum FoundaUon, Boit 31251, Son 1'111nt11COCA 9413t �POPLAR APPEAL written and illustrated by Doug Elliott W hen I tell northerners Lhat 1 built my house almost entirely of poplar, including the framing, rafters, interior panelling, and exterior siding, they seem confused. When I go on to say that there arc a 101 of old log cabins in 1hc Carolina mountains built from large poplar logs. they look a1 me like I'm crazy. I'm finally learning that to a nonhcmer, the word "poplar" refers to the aspens and other related trees whose wood is light, soft. and vinually useless for house construction. After a bit more discussion, we finally ge1 our terminology straightened out, and I get the response, " Oh, you mean 'tulip tree'". Yes, this magnificent tree has many names and even more uses. It is not a crue poplar, but was so named because iis leaves are attatched to its branches by long petioles (or leaf stems) that allow the leaves to move m the breeze in a manner not unlike that of a quaking aspen. The tulip poplar is actually in the Magnolia family . ' l ts scientific name, Liriodendron tulipifera, translates roughly to m~ "tulip-bearing lily tree". This is a fitting name for the ttee because itS flowers look like a combination of a tulip and a lily. They are a light greenish yellow and each of the six petals has a blaze of orange at its base. OUJ ofa giant tulip tree A grem gay blossumfalls on me; Old gold andfire iu petals are. Ir flashes like a/al/Ing swr. - Maurice Thomas A large tulip poplar lit up wilh hundreds of these large, cup-like blooms in spring is a magnificent sight indeed. The tulip poplar is the king of the magnolia family. 11 is considered to be the tallest hardwood tree in North America. In the old forests of the southern Appalachians il has been known to attain a height of 200 feet with a straight ttUok 1en feet in diameter and clear of branches for eighty to one hundred feet . The largest tulip poplar on record is the "Reems Creek Poplar" in Buncombe County. It was I98 feet 1all with a ttunk IO fcec I I inches in diameter four feet above the ground. When it was burned in April.1935, it was believed to be the largest tulip poplar in the world, possibly over a thousand years old. "But despite the splendor of its dimensions. there is oothing overwhelming about the Tuliptree, bm rather something joyous in ilS springing straightness, in the candle-liU blaze of its sunlit flowers, in the fresh green ofus leaves, which being more or less pendulous 011 long slender sralks, are forever IW'ning and rusrling in the slighres1 breeze; this gives the tree an air ofliveliness, lightening iJS grandeur. So even a very ancieltl tUlip tree has no look of tld abou1 It, for not only does it make a swift growth in youth, but in maturity it maintains itself marvelously free of<kcay. This look of vitality comes partly from the vivid paleue from which tire Tullptree is colored. The flowers which give it 1/Us name are yellow or orange a t base, a liglu greenish shade above. Almost as brilliant are the leaves when they first appear, a glossy, sunshiny pale green: they deepen in tint in summer, and in awwnn tum a rich, re1oicing gold. Even in winter the tree is still flOt UJllldorned.for the .•.cone remal'ns, candel/Jbrum f as/Uon, erect on r/le bare twig ...(1111Iil) all the seeds have.fallei1." - DoNJld Culross P~ Each of the seed cones 10 which Pcauic refers can produce l 00 or more seeds. Each seed is located a1 the end of a blade-shaped wing, called a samara, which keeps it airborne. On windy days 1hcse seeds whirl like tiny helicopters and are dispersed over great distances. Because they are released gradually all through the winter, the seeds arc important to wildlife. They are ca1cn by many kinds of birds as well as by squirrels, chipmunks. and other small rodenlS. On a bright snowy day rwo friends cross-countty skiing in the Pisgah National Forest were surprised to see a white-footed mouse scampering all over I.he snow, so busy collecting and devouring freshly shed tulip poplar seeds that ir seeme~ eomple1cl y unaware of their presence. Old Uses Indians had many uses for the rulip poplar. Us.ing fire and stone tools, they carved dugout canoes out of large straight sections of the ttunks and taught pioneer se1tlers the an. One of the first accountS of this was in 1590 in Thomas Harriot's brief and true report of the new-found land of Virginia: " ... rite irrhabitams that were neere 10 us doe comrtlQnly make tlleir boars or Canoes of the fomi oftrowes (troughs), only with the helpe of fire , ltarcl~IS of stoMS and shels; we have known soml! being so great ...tluu they have carried well XX men at once besides much baggage· 1/ie timber being greor, ta/, streight, soft, lig/11, & yes tough ...". Captain John Smith in 1612 reported canoes large enough to hold 40 men. Daniel Boone made such a canoe 60 feet long, capable of carrying five tons. Into it he loaded his family and all their possessions and in 1799 they floated from Kentucky down the Ohio River and on into what was then Spanish territory. The tree is still known as "canoewood" in some areas. Poplar blossom time is very important to beekeepers. The poplar is one of the most dependable sources of nectar in the Southeast The yield of nectar per bloom is possibly the highest of any plant on the continent and has been calculated at an average of 1.64 grams - or about one third of a teaspoon - per flower. During a favorable season, poplar nectar is secreted so abundantly that honey bees and other insects cannot carry i1 away as faSt as it appears. Sometimes one can feel the nectar dripping down like a gentle sticky rain when sranding under a blooming wlip tree in a light breeze. (People who park their shiny new cars under tulip trees often complain about this.) Because the poplar blooms early in the season, many honeybee colonies are not strong enough 10 fully utilize the abundance. For StrOng hives, however, harvesLS of 100 pounds of hooey per hive have been recorded during just the three week poplar bloom. The honey is dark in color and is sometimes called Spf'tn9. 1989 �"black poplar honey". When held up to the light, however, it can be seen tha1 it is actually a deep amber-red in color. Though it is not as light as locust honey nor as sought-after as sourwood honey, it has a rlch full-bodied flavor that can sweeten fruit salads, yogurt, tea, and other beverages. Poplar honey goes well on pancakes, waffles, cereal, biscuits, cornbread, and other baked goods. Rarely a day goes by that I don'1 eat some. If you want the ultimate tulip-poplar-tasting experience, sip the nectar straight from the flower like the bees do. You need to find a freshly opened blossom within reach. Pick or lower the blossom carefully without josrling it. Then lick. the drople1s on the inside of the petals, and taSte tha1 ambrosial Sometimes the nectar collects in a puddle on one of the lower sepals. If the air has been warm and dry, the nectar will often be thick like syrup. After one taste, you will know you have imbibed the nectar of the gods! In European gardens the tulip poplar is one of the favorite "exotic" American ornamental shade trees, and it has been so for mOTC than 300 years. In fact, the tulip poplar was first described botanically in 1687 from a specimen that had been brought from the New World and was growing in an English garden. In the early part of the 18th century John Lawson, Surveyor-General of North Ol.rolina, reponcd a hollow tulip poplar "wherein a lusty Man had his Bed and Household Furniture, and lived in it till his labor got him a more fashionable MMsion." Of course the senler's "more fashionable mansion" would probably have been no more than a log cabin made of tulip poplar logs. There is many an old tulip poplar log cabin still standing today and new ones arc still being built Using Poplar Lumber The first significant cutting of poplars in the new world was by settlers who were clearing ground for farming. They knew that where the tulip poplars grew, the soil was the richest. Today this still tends to be true. Ginseng hunters look for stands of tulip poplars when SC'Jnning distant mountainsides in search of the moist soil that characterizes good ginseng habitat lt was not until two decades after the Civil War, when the r:>ilroads began 10 penetrate the rugged mountainous areas of the Southern Appalachians, that the huge poplars and other southern hardwoods were harvested. In those days only trees over 30 inches in diameter, each yielding more than 400 board feet in lumber, were accepl.ed at the mills. In some areas tulip poplar grows in almost pure stands. In 1912, a tract of land near Looking Glass Rock in Transylvania County yielded 40,000 board feet of tulip poplar lumber per acre. Nowadays loggers are pleased IO get 10,000 board feet per acre. Foresters call tulip poplar a hardwood because it is a broad-leafed tree, like oaks and maples. Pinc, fir and other conifers arc called softwoods. The wood of tulip poplar however, is as soft and workable as white pine. Because the extensive heanwood is a yellowish tan in color, it is known as "yellow poplar" in the lumber business. The sapwood is creamy white and has been used as interior panelling. When used in this capacity, i1 has been called "whirewood". Because of its lighmess and strength. ii is used for boxes and crates. Yokes for oxen were often made from tulip poplar, because it was so easily carved. lt was one of the favorite materials for building aircraft in the days when airplane bodies were built of wood. Poplar wood has the ability to return to its normal shape after being compressed under great pressure. This property accounts for the wood's popularity for building barrel bungs. Poplar lumber is used extensively in the furniture-making industry. Its porosity and ability to take glue makes it an ideal core upon which to glue fine wood veneers, and, because it talces a polish beuer than any orher native wood. poplar wood is itself often used as a veneer. Kiln-dried yellow poplar wood makes a good framing lumber for house construction. It is moderately lightweight, yet stronger than spruce, fit; or white pine. Unlike the whole poplar logs used in cabin construction. milled, dry poplar lumber has little tendency to split when nailed. The Nonh Carolina Building Code accepts graded poplar lumber as a framing material. However, it has been infrequently used in recent years because of the.abundance of low cost softwood timber, such as Douglas fir and spruce, shipped in from the western Sl4tes. As the supply of western softwoods decreases. tulip poplar may come back into more common use. Dead and Rotting Wood Tulip poplar is also valuable when dead and rotting. The stumps decay quickly and provide an ideal habitat for various wood boring beetles. These beetles and their larva are one of the favorite foods of the majestic pilca1ed woodpecker (often called "wood hen" by mounroin folks). The pileated woodpecker is so named because of its brilliant red crest. It 1s our largest woodpecker. almost as big as a crow. These and other woodpeckers regularly visit decaying tulip poplar. and some people purposely cut poplar slumps high or use the Jogs in gn:rden beds near the house in order to artmct them. Dead tulip poplar is also the favorite growing medium for cenain fungi. most notably the delec1nble oyster mushroom (Pleurorus osrrearus). Oys1er mushrooms arc one of my favorite 'Aild mushrooms. l learned to identify them by Clll'Cfully studying them in mushroom field guides. They arc f.urly easy 10 recognilC, hence they are one of the safest of the edible wild mushrooms. They grow in cluster:., usually out of the sides of logs or stumps. They vary from a creamy. "oyster" whi1e to 1.1n or gray in color and arc distincbve because the gills run down the entire length of the stem. They arc delicious in soups. on p;ista. and can be saut6ed and gently stewed lO make an elegant side dish. Once l had oyster mushrooms fried in fritter batter, and (conunucc1cmJllil&e30) they actually tasted like oyster mttcn.. ~'°""" J--' 9"'JS t t �The bark of the poplar tree can be remo1Jed in the spring and early swnmer and has been used in many ways. Large sheers of Ir were used by the Indians as CO\'trings for wigwams, wickiups, lodges, and orher living quarrers. In the Nonfl Carolina mountain.s, poplar bark has bun used as siding on frame houses. When I first disco11ered it on some homes near Burns11ilfe in Yancey County, I was suuclc by ir.s rustic, }'et eleganJ beaury. As I was building my own house at the time, I wonted to /ind ow how poplar bark siding wa.f made and how long it wollld last. Wizen l asked around, however, it seemed tlw.t most of the builders of these hauses Jw.d long since passed on, but t~y had left a legacy ofpoplar bark. siding thol was sdll holding up well qfter 70 or more years. 1 finally found one older man who was a poplar bark crafts11w..n, and he tk.scribed tlie process UJ me. In early swnrner when the "sap's running", large sheers of the bark are removed from mediwn-sized trees. The bark is carefully pried off tlie trunk with a to0I know11 as a "tan bark spud". This tool hark.ens back to the days w}ien the collecting ofoak, chestnut and hemlock bark was o pan ofevery timber cutting operation. The bark was sold to tanneries as a source of tannic acid. A spud could be Improvised mu of a stout curved stick with a chisel-like edge carved on one end. Those made by blacksmiths look somewhat like a small-lieaded spade. After 1/ie bark is remo11ed, it is cut illro large rectangular sheets, taken ro a barn or other dry p/act and "stacked and stickered" like green lumber with na"ow strips ofwood between each sheet of bark to allow air to circulate. Rocks or other weights pilled on rop of the stock ofbark en.sure that the sheets stay flat and do not curl up as they dry After a month or two of drying, rhey can be cut 10 length and nailed like slung/es onro the building. Armed with th8se minimal instructions. and a lift·long love of tulip poplar, I knew I had to onempt co/leering bark 10 cover at lea.rt part ofmy house. A friend who was building ms own lwuse was about to CUI some poplars on his land 10 use as suppon beams. He told me that if I'd help him cut them and haul them down to the building site, he'd help me get the bark. The first tree we/tiled was aboUI afoot in dianieter, and it fell uphill. We trimmed off the upper br01iches, until we had a length ofclear trunk abou1 30 feet long. With 1he chainsaw, we mode one long CUI throught the bark down the entire length ofth4 l.og. Then, staningfrom the bonom, with one of us on eilkr side of the log, wt wenr at it with the bark spuds, ourf111gers, hate/let blades and whatever else we collld improvise to genJly pry the bark from the log. . .. - TIU! nt•wly formed cambium layer benn•e11 the bark and the sapw(l(Jd was sofr, slippery and Yer)' juics. As the: bark gave way 10 our efforts arul .tepararedjrom ti~ rrunk, it made a slurpy hissing noise. !Ve gradll(l//')! worked our Wll) up the log . The bark was coming ojf bc:outifully. When wc:j1r1ally reached the 11pper end oftlu: log, tire remaining section f1f the bark StpcJrated wirh a rtsowuling hollow "pop" We stood up and ~ere congrarularing ourselves on a job well dmu:, when we heard a noise. lt>okinR down we sow our newly-skinned log heading off down the hi/IT ltsfreshl)• removea bark had created a trough t/IQJ was slick.er tlllJll any bobsled run, and b>· rhe time that log left that piece of bark, it had picW up a terrific amo1u11 of speed and momenlltm. It we111 careenin,g down the mountainside, and all we co11Jd do was watch in astonisl11T1enl as thoJ log leapt over rock ledges and crashed through thic~ts. It fi111Jlly .rropped uh0111 fl!ry yards down the hill when i1 collided with a srump jusr above rhe house .tire. We breathed a huge sigh of relief. If it had nor been sropped by the s111mp, that .flippery bauering ram would hove done considerable damage to rhe ho11se founda1io11. Afrer rhar, we senved a rope to each log before we removed ilS bark. I found ow larer rluJt mountain loggers hove a word/or a log sliding down a nwu111ainside. TluJt log is nball·hootin'," and it is recognued as a serious danger in logging steep f1W11n1al11 ,f/opes during spring and s1unmer. As one old logger told me, 'Them poplar logs is bad/or that. Wilen the sap's up, that bark can slip off a log you're dragging and if tha1 log gets loose and goes a balf-Jwotin' down the mou111ain, buddy, 'hit can kill a ma11l" The bark of small poplar trees can be scored and folded into carrying 11essels ofall sizes from berry baskets to backpacks. /11dia11s daubed the seams with pine pitch and used them as W(ller buckets. I was first introduced to bark basketry by my mountain neighbor and friend Paul Geouge, wlio has been mak.i11g baskets for years. I was enchanted by the way he explained their simple practicalily; "So you've been out fishing all morning .following the creek up in.lb the nwuntain.t. You're cau:hlnJl some of 1/iem nmive speckled trour, bUJ afrer a while the srream gets too small. So you call it quir.s and head up onto the ridge/or rhe long walk home, There you TUii into the biggest patch of ripe huckleberries you halle ever seen. ~You'd 1011e to take some of them berries lwme, hut you ai11'1 go11101hing to carry 'em in. Whor collld you do?" Paul asks wirh a twinkle in his eye. "Well, if you knew how 10 make a berry basker, you'd just find you a young poplar rree, make you a poplar bark basket, and tote tllUn berries home. Now they'd taste mighry g()()d after a fish dinner! ... Between the ower layer of the bark and the sapwood is a layer rich in fibro11s vascular material known as bast. When rorred under controlled condirfons it can be used to mah ropes. twine and other cordage. Ir was high/}' valued by Native ~ricansfor rhese tiles Poplar bark has also been 11sed medicinally as a tonic and a remedy/or fevers, stomach ailments, dysentary, rhe1unari.sm and gour. It is a source oftulipiferine, an allt:aloid that acrs as a heart stimulanr. / 2 ! ff.'" • Doug Elliou's most recent book, (that includes step-by-s1ep instruetions on how to make a rulip poplar bark basket) is entitled Woods/ore and Wildwood Wisdom. It can be ordered from him at Possum Productions; R1 1, Box 388; Union Mills. NC 28167 for $10.00 post paid. Sprl·"'J· 1989 ""'' .... - �CLEAR SKY a drawing by James Rhea The concept for the drawing derives from my years growing up in the southern foothills and hearing Cherokee follclore, and being fascinated by their lifestyle and contributions. I have always been inspired by other culrun:s, especially so called primitives. This picture is pan of a series of portraits of healers or philosophical leaders, who arc inspirational to their people, representing cultures throughout the world. From that I envisioned a change of bean from a life of war and bloodshed to one of service and ~ce. This choice was indicauve of several individuals who laid the foundation for the later culturnl flowering of the Cherokees. Clear Sky is more of a composite of an ideal figure lhan a definite ponrait. The Cherokee people in the late l700's were in a state of despair and desperation because of the encroachment upon their lands and military defeat by European scnlcis. SC\'Cral individu:tls came to the forefront to encourage and inspire their people. To the Cherokee. they were lcnown as beloved persons. both men and women. They felt a need for a transition or integration into white society, but at the same time they hoped to retain the best of their past for cultural survival. Clear Sky's dress is typical for the time. He wears a blue EngltSh bro3dcloth shin and has a Spanish trade blanket around his waisr. The necklace is wampum with a silver gorget. The eamngs are archaic beaten copper with slit earlobes. The hair is trimmed with a dyed egret feather ornament In his band he holds a turkey feather (an with natural bead work. a sign of respect and dignity. lsk.agua CJtr Clear Sky was listed in Duane K. King's book CMrolcee Indian Na1ion as being present and signing a document protesting the tt'Catment of Chickamauga Cherokees by the Americans. The petition was sent to King George m of England aslcing his government to intervene. At the time of the signing, or thereabouts 1789-1791, he changed his name from NeMnoataah, or "Bloody Fellow" to lsk.agua. "Clear Sky." Spr~nAJ. I used several sources Ill compiling his dress, ornaments and general demcaner. but the most informative was the JnditlJIS of the Southeastern Un11ed States by John R. Swanton, Smithsonian Anthropology. James Rhta lives in an old farmhou.st in a rural pan of Cabarras CoUllt)'. Ht is illlertsttd in organic gardening and environmental issul!S and spends time canoeing and hiking for inspiration and peace of mind. His artwork includes tM subfecrs of wildlife as well as portraits. "In gentral" he says •1 favor world peace and holistic liftstyks". ,/ 1989 Xat-~ )o\UnoL ~ 15 �II a Early, al tine o'clodt IWO sbocb ol-an anbqaUe Wlft felt. Tbc boule D cuM:d mid ew:rytbing WU ID mowmelll. The bcns fell to the paid fJOm lheir room ud set up a pi.tifol cry. You cm see chat the white people mR diffaalt bc:ings from us, we are made or.red clay. they of white sand. About lbe J'Cll' 1811 IOIDC of the Cleroba cbamed ud Olha'S RCtiwd. in various ways. cQ11111mictricw from lhe Oral Spirit. all lr:Dding IO discredit die ICbane ol c:ivilization. See 10 ll dw you get back your old Beloved Towns. Yoor mother is not pleased you punish each other so ha1d. I have told you what the Gn:ac Spirit's will is, and you are 10 pass on iL la on:tcr that you might know bow things want to tell you what happened bcrc in the Nation ju,st the other day. ~Pl in die Wkl IDday, I Jusr dne rughis ago I was at a Wk in C>o&1mally. To tha1 place came~ man and two women who to1d that while they were on 11 journey, Ibey came eo an unoccupied house near a hill called Rocky Mountain and enlCttd it in order to spend the night thcte. Just as it had become dark, they heard a violenl noise in che air.•.As !hey went outside to sec abou1 ii they saw a whole crowd of Indians ~g on I.be hill from the sky•... nding on small black horses...their leader beating a drum. .•came very close.• .They were much frightened .•.•. "Don'1 be afraid. we arc your brothers and have been sent by the Great Spirit 10 spcalc co you. The Great Spirit is dissatisfied that you arc n:ceiving the white people into your lnnd•.•.. You sec that the hunting is gone, you are planting lhe corn of the white people. go and sell ii back to them and plant Indian com and pound it in the manner of your forefathers. do away with the mills. The Mother of the Nation h~ fOtY.lccn you. •. her bones are being broken through the grinding. She will return co you if you put the white people out of lhe land and return to your fonncr manner of life. If you don't believe my words then look up at the sky." They did and saw the sky open...an indescribably beautiful light and in it four white houses. "Such houses you are to build in your Beloved Towns... for white men who can be useful to the Nation.. . ." I mn not Ible IO delcribe lhe creat perplexity into which we C11D11 Jasa ...L Our dwelling bowie was in die most violent mDVellXIH IO lhu it seemed IO be Deir II> be falling in. .. .a strongviolent noise beard from the W.N.W. _ .and stteaks of l.ighlning..... This morning between 7 and 81>'c1ock we felt tw0 more shocks without the sli1thtcst noise. ...our house was r:rembling..•the roof moved. The m:es were in movemen1 wilhout !he slightest wind. It is true, the white people must all go from lhe Nation; boWevcr, 4 smiths, S()tne school ceachers a.rid those who arc building mills for us a.re to be toleralbd. but later. they too must return to their own country..•.. Some of them anribuce the occurrence co the sorcerers; some, to a large snake which must have crawled under their house; some to the weakness and old age of the eanh which will soon cave in. . •.they held a grand feast and celebrated a great medicine dance. .• .. . . .if they believed and obeyed, then game would abound, the white ll1!ll1 would disappear. . • .• .• .instead of beef and bacon they would have venison, and instead of chicken they would have turkeys. . . •we heani today from a traveler tb:u in Taloni. •. thiny miles from here along the road to Georgia. in a field 13 sink holes appeared as a result of the earthquake. the largest of \\<hich is 20fcet deep and 120 feet in circumference and is. • .full of gn:enish water. . . .he would like to know whether lhe end of 1hc world were not near. .•• • sprin9. 1989 �J ...many lndians believe that the white people were responsible because they had already taken possession of so much of the Indian land and wruned still more. The Great Spirit is angry...and be wanted to put an end to it through eanhquakes. , Soon after the eanh had tremble4 an Indian was silting in his house in deep thought, his children were lying sick in front of the fire. ...a tall man appe~ clothed entirely in the foliage of ihe trees, with a wrca1b on his head. ..carrying a small child in his ami.~ and had a larger child by the hand. "The small child on my arm is the s ClJC:it Spirit. l am not able to tell you whether the Great Spirit will soon destroy the earth or not. 1be Great Spirit is not pleased that tbc lndillll$. have sold so 111uch land to the white man. :rugalo, wl!K:I\ is now possessed by white people, u; the r~t place the Great Spirit created. There in a hill he placed the firs& fire. for all fin: comes from the Great Spirit. . . .the white people have built a house on th3t hill. They should ab:lndon th~ place; on thru hill there ~hould be grass growing. only then will there be ptaee. ...the Indians no longer thank the Great Spirit before they enjoy the fust fruits of the land. They no longer have dances in his honor before they eat the first fruit~. You arc sad because you thin.le your childn:n m ill, they are not renlly ill. but have only taken in a. little dust.~ •.. he gave him two small piece5 of bark from a certain tree ••• and told him to cook them and to give the drink to his children. and from that they became weU right then. 7 ...the residents of one wwn fled into the hills and tried to crawl into hiding in the ho!~ of lhe rocks in order to escape the danger of I.he hail stones, the size of half bushels. which were to full .••.. ...numbers of the aibe.. .abandoned their bees. their orchards, their slaves, and everything else that might have come to them through the white man, and...took up their toilsome march for the mounwns of Carolina. ..•mills. clothes, feather beds and iables - worse still •.. books, and domestic cats! This was not good· theieforc the buffaloes and other game were disappearing. The Great Spirit was angry. and had withdrawn his protection. The Cherokees must return to the customs of their fathers. They must kill their cats, cut shon their frocks, and dress as became Indians and warriors. They must discard all the fashions of the whites, abandon the use of any communication with each other except by word of mouth, and give up their mills. their houses, and all the ans learned from the white people. ~ Oicrokecs arc at this time in a rcmarlc.able manner - occasioned by the late shocks of the eanh ·endeavoring to appease the Anger of the Ore3t Spirit They have revived thcnr religious dances of ancient origin to appease the Anger of the Great Spirit....with 115 much solemnicy as ever was seen in worship In our churches. They then repair to the water, go in and wash. These ablutions arc intended 10 show that their sins are washed away and that they are cleansed from all defilements. These fanatics or prophelS tell them that the Great Spirit is :ingry with them for adopting the manners, customs, and habfo; of the white people who, they think. are very wicked. Some of the females an: mutililting fine muslin drcsses and arc told that they must discontinue dancing n:cls and country dances whieh have become very common ampn~l the young people. . . .!here is llllk ...in the space of 3 months the moon would again become black. and thereafter hail stones as large as hominy blocks would fall, all cattle would die Md soon the earth would come to an end. A sorcerer said uncil then there would be peace; how things would be after thnt he did not know. that a new earth will come into being in the Spring.••.. •• ,it has bc!en revealed by the Great Spirit th:u there would be an intense darkm~ss and that it would last three day~ - during which :lll white people would be snatched away as well as 1111 Indians who had any clothing or household articles of the white man's kind.••• •.• they should put aside everything that i:. similar to the white people and that which they had learned from them, so that in the darkness the Great Spirit might not mistake them and snatch them a~ay. ... many llre doing away with their household articles and clothing.•.• The above ma1trial if parr fJf a /011ger work in progress. Jr is drawn entirelyfrom actual occounLS uf the events ~ntitmed, a.s recorded in ltrrers and diaries from the period, many of wlrich were locared in rhe Mortn•ian lfrchh'es In Winsron·Salem, North Carolina. 5 �Imagine what could happen over, say, the next five years, if similar projects were begun in cities and communities all around the region and beyond.... A Look at the Black Swan Center By C.8. Squire College students encouraging community economic development in the community that surrounds their campus? Thai is exactly what's happening in the Swannanoa River Valley. The effon is being carried out by student-faculty teams from Warren Wilson College working ou1 of the BlacJc Swan Center. The Black Swan Center. named for Black. Mountain and Swnnnanoa, !he two towns in !he Valley it embraces. is currently located on the Wnrrcn Wilson campus and serves as a community resouN:e organization for the entire area. A key ob)ective is to explore how small colleges can "serve as catalysts in their own backyards for community and ce-0nomic development projec ts," according to Black Swan directors Laura Temple Haney and Louise Solomon. Initially funded by grants from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and the Broyhill Family Foundation, the Center operates with a work/study crew made up of students and faculty advisers responsible for various individual projects of the Center. This "work crew". made up of fifteen students majoring in Sociology, Environmental Studies, Social Work, Political Science, and English, meets regularly to review their various projects centered around !he "community economic developmem" concept. The Black Swan Center grew out of lhe Swannanoa Valley Projcc1 (SVP), a land-use planning and economic development study carried out in 1985 by Swannanoa Valley residents and Warren Wilson College Staff, faculty, and students. Funded by the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation and TV A, the SVP found that most project participants wanted the Valley to reverse its downward economic trend "while remaining an essentially rural area wilh a viable economic base." It became apparent thm what wa!"> needed was an ongoing community resource center to serve these needs. Thus, the Black Swan Center was born. The vital importance of a community planning and resource center such as this cannot be overestimated. Tf we wish to preserve and enhance the quality of life here in Kaniah, in ways thar nre ecologically and economically sound, we can no longer allow the haphazard and Shon-sighted type of growth and development that has predominated for decades. The key factor in reversing this trend and in finding truly workable solutions is to encourage local initiative, self-reliance, infonnalion exchange, and cooperative effort. This can be a very powerful grassroots movement, with far-reaching effects, but it demands susmined local commitment and involvement. This k:ind of sustained effon can best be supported JCQti&Qh Journot pc:M)e by citizens and businesspeople acting in concen with local academic institutions. After all, should we not make the mo.st of all of our available local resources, in order to assure the contin ued well-being of our communities? Only in this way can we intelligently deal with the tremendous forces of change that are confronting us. It is now critical !hat we re-learn and re-create the an of community - and projects such as the Black Swan Center arc beginning 10 lay the groundwork for !his crucial renaissance. In fact, this dynamic pilot project has already achieved tangible results. Imagine what could happen over, say, the next five years, if similar projects were begun in cities and communities all around lhe region and beyond. ... A key objective is to explore how small colleges can "serve as catalysts in their own backyards for community and economic development projects" ... In its first year, the Black Swan Center has been focusing on three essential components: (I ) A community economic development class for Warren Wilson students to prepare them to work in the Center; (2) development of a college work crew made up of faculty and students which operates and coordin:ncs Black Swan ruitivitics; and (3) a community-based education course for Valley residents designed to promote new business ventures, develop rural leadership Skills and teach community economic development concepts. AU three components are in place, with the community-based education course starting in March. Organalcd by Lisa Waners, a Sociology mnJOr, the course, "Community Development and the Economy in the Swannanoa Valley,''. is ~imed at .~elpmg Valley residents (l) "gain the leadership skills and ab1hoes that can make positive changes in the lives of the people that live in the Valley; (2) explore the Swunnanoa Valley community and its resources; (3) understand the problems facing the local economy; (4) seek: solutions. and; (5) determine what small businesses might succeed in the Valley." 16 Sprl.n.g, 1989 12 �As Lisa points out. this type of course was designed by the Highlander Center in Tennessee and has been used in such co~uniri~s. as Jellico,_Tennessee, and Dungannon, Virginia. Unlike tradiuonaJ educauon, the course doesn't separate learning from doing, theory from practice and education from work. "When Y?U put 'community' in front of 'economic development'," says Lisa, "it means ordinary citizens revitalizing their communities and stimulating quality economic development from within rather than waiting for the 'expens' to do it, or for outside industries 10 come in and provide jobs." In the long run, "community economic development doesn't only mean jobs. because ic can aJso make the difference in peoples' environments and quality of life." exploring options for municipal structures for the community of Swannanoa. He is also helping to draft a legal document that can be used as pan of an offical petition to the state to incorporate as a township. Christy Allred, an Environmental Studies major, and Katherine Crum, a Social Work major, are working with TV A 10 identify fanners in the Valley who are interested in growing specialty crops such as shiitake mushrooms and baby watennelons. Two workshops are planned, one in May, the other in the fall of 1989, that wiU bring Canners from Buncombe and Madison County together 10 discuss agricultural problems and trends facing the area and how to effectively market specialry crops. The 10.week course will be fnciJiiated by Louise Solomon and Laura Temple Haney, both faculty members at Warren Wilson, and Marilyn Bass, of the YMJ Cultural Center in Asheville. In the second part of this course, they will be joined by Tim Richnrds, of the Small Business Technology Development Center, and Dana Smith, of the Self-Help Credit Union, who will specifically instruct participants on how to work with a business idea. One of the more impn:ssive activities growing out of the Black Swan Center is a waste management center, directed by Melissa Gildersleeve, an lntercultural Studies major. Alrendy in operation on the College campus, the Center includes a processing pavilion for rccycleable items, including a baler for cardboard and specially designed "drop-off' bins for recycling glass, cans and newspapers. The waste management center grew out of a class exercise in an Environmental Policy cl:iss artd has resulted m the recycling of much of the 25,000 lbs/yr. of ttash generated by the collegc--trllSh that had been caned to the county landfill at a cost of up to Sl2,000/yr. Melissa bcheves that within a couple of years the college's waste management costs will be entirely covered by n:venucs from recycling. Her bu.~iness plan includes e~panding the College's program by establishing five more "drop·off' collection sues in the Swannaoa Valley, possibly as early as this spring. While important to carrying out the aims of the Center, the course in communicy economic development th.is spring is by no me~ns ~h~ center's sole: agenda_. A small ~usincss development project is in progress with the rum of "keeping more money in the Valley" by encouraging businesses in the area to buy from each other whenever possible, explained Brad Brock. another Sociology major and one of the Business Development coordinators for the Center. He added that the Black Swan Center and the Swannanoa Valley Ch:tmbcr of Commerce have almost completed a business directory of the Valley with one section made up of chamber members and the other. "the green pages". listing all valley-owned businesses. Brad and his partner. Rebel Bailey, an Environmental Studies 1113jor and owner of a flourishing backpack business. have a!so been working with Nonh Carolina REAL Enterprise (Rural &onomic Alternative Leaming, localed in Raleigh, North Carolina) 10 design a curriculum on developing student-owned enterprises for Wam:n Wilson College. Fffty people attended a five-pan series of workshops called "Business Basics''. Post-workshop follow-up has resulted in consulting sessions with four entrepreneurs with a "good strong prospect" for getting a business up and running in the Valley. Still another project for Brad and Rebel is the Stan-up of a breakfast club, modeled after the Briarpatch program on the west coast, that will provide networking opponunities for local entrepreneurs and owners of small businesses in the Valley. Another Black Swan project, headed by Heidi Erick.son. :in Environmental Studies and Education major, is a literacy program with a new twist-worlting directly with the business community to improve literacy. Heidi explains that those unable to read and write are often reluctant to tell their employers or their lack of reading skills. But one area employer, Charles D. Owen m, has agreed to have a literacy project operating at his plant site, with employees receiving half-pay for the time they spend on learning to read. Heidi's project has already trained 12 people at Warren Wilson College to teach such courses. Still another project of the Center involves working with the Alternative Energy Corporation. based 1n the Research Triangle area, in developing a "Community Energy Campaign~ for the Valley. This project plans to help weatherize non-profit buildings anc,1 to audit heat loss in college and community buildings-including the former Carver Alternative School property in Black Mountain which the county has just acquired from the town's Parks & Recreation DepanmenL Eventually, with this campaign, the Center hopes to help the community save much of the 40 miJlion dollars a year or so lhat leaks out in energy cosrs in the Swannanoa Valley. Dan Scbeuch, a Political Science major, has been working with Swannanoa Valley residents and the Nonh Carolina Department of Natural Resources and Co1TUI1un1ty Development in Sprt.nq. t989 Although all the ~tudents working at the Black Swan Center have different 'main' projects they are working on. they all have one thing in common. Each panicipates in one another's programs... wch as lending the experti~e the1y have gained in desktop publishing, to knocking on doors of local businesses. to picking up the College'!\ waste and recycleablcs from around campus once a week. For the future, chc Black Swan Ccnu;r hopes 10: organize n Swannanoa Valley community work day: perhaps relocate the Center more into the heart of the community: encourage other small colleges in Appalachia to explore setting up a similnr program. and, in general. coordinate the community development projects and courSCS and the starrup of at least one student-run entesprise. One of the most promising aspects of this entire project is for the Black Swan Center to serve as a working model for other insututions in the region. They. too. may want to embark on a similar cooperative program of community development that., in the words of the Center's grant application, "will overcome the 'LOwn-gown' barriers that separate so many colleges from their neighbors." To quote Gnscom Morgan, son of Arthur Morgan who founded the Cclo community in Yancey County. and who bjmself for the last four decades has inspired and assisted the cause of community through his association with Community Service. Inc.; "We need fol,k colleges-people's colleges...not jus1 for intellect.uals or whites, b11t to do what Highlander College (now Clllled Highlander Center) has done for Appalachia and the South. lf we had folk colleges 10 which the working class and rural people from across a region could come and htive association with the intellecruaJs--then rerum to their local communities with the strength and conviction of their own culture--tbese different groups of the common people could reinforce each other.• Morgan's dream is being rcallz.ed by a group of pioneers: so~ fifcecn students with very diverse background.<>, two faculty advisors, and an involved community•..... You are welcome 10 visit this dynamic center or call for more infonnation. The Black Swan Ctn1er, 701 Warren Wilson Road, Swanrwnoa, North Carolina 28778. (704) 299-9306 �wlld lovely days the wild lovely days come with a wind tossed violence they awaken a tantalizing bitterness of memory the spring morning of lilacs the wilting high noon of orange poppies the late afternoon sun of autumn marigolds and now the great wheel of night spins with dazzling circles of blue and gold light �dancer the tender talents of earth swelling with rapture birdsong and blue sky fluttering encore a thousand thousand leaves turning rich dark colors awaiting opulent carnage exalted limbs rising against dark skies crucible answer I who hurried thru lhe years running this way and that sometimes strangely knowing sometimes weeping beside the road spent at last, alone bereft of all I sought you came to me slowly without my knowing you touched me the stream carries me my face is wet I am submerged I will not let fear of drowning darken the bright water all that rs bright and clear filters thru the translucent waves of faith, the ineffable substance that fills the yearning crucible with timeless light endless peace Selections from the book Wifd Lovely Days. portraits of moments In time and nature expressed in complementary words and images. THE POET· THE PHOTOGRAPH:R; Ellmboth Griffin Is an artist, poet, and former lawyer residing in Highlands. Katuah Province. Gii Leebrick is an environmentally concerned falher, husband, mediator, photographer, and director of the Appalachian Environmental Arts Center in Highlands. �.:•····;••·.................................... .,.... .. .... .... .~~· ~ ~ i{ NATURAL \~. : wORLD : ~ ~ ~ ~ ·! i: \. .. :I .. NEWS .. .. ·~. .( .~ .. "!, ·:. .: ~~~~~.·~··· · · ~·.·.·.•.•.•.·.·· · · ....~::::::!: .!· ?· PANTHERTOWN RESTORED! Nllllnl World NCWJ Str-i= In one Inst expression of disdain for Congress and the Appalachian b1orcgion, the Reagan administration m the la.~L days of its reign took away money slated for the pun:hase of the Pa.nthenown tract high in the headwaters of the Tuckasegee River. Through an arrangement with Duke Power Company, which wants to run a high-voltage power line across pan of the Panthenown area, Congress hod appropriated $8 million to buy the remainder of the propeny for inclusion in National Forest Jnnds. Under a rechnicaliry the our-going administration stole away that money. plus $47 million for other land appropriations. to pay the costS of fighting the famous Yellowstone fire and other fires that occurred in the summer of 1988 in drought-soicken western states. On March 13. 1989, however, the Office of Management and Budget reversed the order, and put the money back into the special Land and Water Conservation Fund, where it is once available for land acquisition purposes. It is expected that the Panthcnown purchase will be able to be completed this summer. COLEY CREEK IS SAFE! Systems Research Group, to review the Coley Creelc plan. The study group pointed out that fuel prices would have to escalate considerably lO make the Coley Creek project economically viable. However, cbe consultants' review found that the most economical approach would be to emphasize "demand-side programs." These programs hcreate" extra energy by promoting conservation on the pan of utility customers through steps such as rewarding customers for efficient energy use pancrns and helping to cut down on energy consumption by wealherization programs, promoting energy-efficient appliances, etc. A more careful and judicious use of energy reduces the need for increased energy production. The report showed that through energy conservation Duke could make avnilable the same amount of energy that the Coley Creek pumped storage project would have provided. but at one-third the cost. The repon outlined five different demand-side programs and gave srep-by-srep directions for their implement.arlon. Bill Thomas, co-chair of rhe Jocassee Wate~hed Coalition, said, "h could be very imponant for a company like Duke to stan a series of pilot programs in energy conservation. Even if they weren't completely convinced that this was the best way to go, they should :u least experiment and find out for themselves what programs wo11ld work and what wouldn't." "In September the Nonh Carolina Utilities Commission will hold a series of six hearings at locations across the stare to gather public comment on a proposed least-cost planning rule that will include demand-side management items. A good tum-out by people s~ak.ing on behalf of these measures wouJCI show the COinmission where the public suppon lies." The Jocnssee Watershed has obtained a reprieve from funher depredations by Duke Power, but efforts continue to gain binding legislauve protection for the basin through designation of the Thompson and the \v'hitewater as Wild and Scenic Rivers. (The Horsepasturc River already has protected stntus.) Preliminnry studies have already been completed, and show very definttely that further srudy is justified. "We need to g~t legislacors to press the North Carolina Natural Resoun:es and Community Development Department to complete their sruclies so that the lcgislat.ion can proceed," said Thomas. "We arc asking people interested in the future of the Jocnssee Watershed to contact their state n:presentatives and ask them to get involved with this.'' ...AND NOW CHAITOOGA Duke Power Company has announced that it is postp<>ning indefinitely the Coley Creek Pump Storage Project, which would have done devastating environmental damage in the beautiful Jocassee Watershed area in the foothills of the Blue Ridge. Officially, the company said that a review of fuel prices and the economics of the pumped storage alternative convinced them that providing power by coal plants or combustion turbines was economically more advantageous. What the company did not mention was that they had met stiff resistance to the project every step of the way from the Jocassee Watershed Coalition, a broad-based organization of hikers, hunters. fishermen, and environmental groups. which may also have influenced their decision. With a grant from the Babcock Foundation. the coalition had hired an independent consulting firm, the Energy ~ )o"'nat P • 20 Officials of Rabun County, Georgia and the Associated Consulting Group are conspiring to build a jetpon on a mountaintop in the upper reaches of the Chattooga River, which is designated as a Wild and Scenic River. Preliminary design studies of the site illegally conducted by Associated Cousulting at the request of the Rabun County government have detennined that they would need t.o level the entire mountaintop to make room for the jet planes to land. The jets would take off and land directly over the river and roar over remote wild areas in their flighL The potential impacts on the Chattooga watershed would be devastating. They include massive sedimentation, wildlife habitat destruction, and noise pollution, as well as the fouling of the water and air. The remote and wild character of the Chattooga whitewater run would be severely degraded by the low-altitude overflighcs. The US Forest Service has refused ro talce a position to protect the "wild and scenic" status of the Chattooga despite their legislative mandate under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to do so. The agency has even backed down from an earlier comrninment to require an Environmental Impact Statement for actions affecting any Forest Service site. The American Rivers organization and a coalition of local citizens is working on behalf of the river. They say, ''Since t.be Forest Service has refused to direct the county away from the Chanooga site, citizen voices are essential to prevent the Chattooga site from bemg selected. The county and Associated Consulting are known to have a bias in favor of the Chattooga site, and only overwhelming public sentiment against lhe site can change their minds." Make yourfeelings known! Write: Associated Consulting Group 3 I5 W. Po111::e de Leon Ave. (Suite 125) Decatur, OA 30084 Kenneth Henderson, Forest Supen·i,s()r Cl111ual100d~e National Forest 508 Oak St. NW Gainesville. GA 30501 American Rivers 801 Pennsylvania Ave. SE (Suire 303) Washington. DC 20003 WHAT'S AN EIS? (or JUDGE HALTS VULCAN) There will be no rock quarry in Flat Creek nt least not anytime soon. Vulcan Matenals Company had planned to dig a 58-acre, open-pit quarry near Weaverville despite protests from local residents until Buncombe County Superior Coun Judge Roben D. Lewis voided Vulcan's state permit early this 'd year. Some 450 North Buncom be rest ents snowed up at the last public hearing in October of 1987. Most were against the quarry projecL The group fonned the North Buncombe Association of Concerned Citizens, which filed suit against VuJcan, a Fortune 500 company, and several state officials. Residents claimed in their suitS tha1 the mining permit was issued 10 the company despite evidence from expens that the quarry, which would have been sited about two miles nonh of the town of Weaverville, would deplete and pollute area groundwater. Spri-n9, 1989 �INCINERATORS THREATEN AIR QUALITY Jllmnl World News Service "Cloudy skies" would be the long-term weather forecast for meb'OpoliUUl Knoxville and all points downwind if four new waste incinerators were to come into operation in the area. Three proposed incinerators in the Knoxville area and one that is already constructed 1hrea1en 1he Great Smoky Mounrains National Park, only 40 miles downwind, and the already beleaguered mounrains of the Kan1ah province. Cum:n!ly, air in the Smokies ranks it among the ten most polluted of all the National Parks. It used to be that the Park was only "smokey" during the summer months when natural chemicals from the forest vegetation combined with panicles in the air. Now, even on a clear winter day, the view is noticeably hazy. An estimated 70% of the pall is due to air pollution. The Department of Energy (DOE) has built an incinerator at the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. According to engineer John Patton of the Division of Air Pollution Conttol for the State of Tennessee, it is licensed under the Toxic Substances Control Act to burn radioactively contaminated polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) and other wastes which are generated at the DOE facilities at Oak Ridge, Paducah, and the Ponsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plants. The incinerator bums only propane gas now, but when it goes on line in the summer of 1989, it will burn 3000 pounds of r.idioactive waste every hour. A similar incinerator was defeated in Rocky Flats, Colorado through public opposition. A private company mis-named the Safe Ecology Group is proposing to build another incinerator on Bear Creek Road in Oak Ridge that will bum low-level radioactive waste for volume reduction. According to Lisa Finaldi of the Nonh Carolina Clean Water Fund, this incinerator will take low-level radioactive waste from states that are members of radioactive waste compact agreements, such as North Carolina and New York, reduce the volume of the waste, and then send it back to the states for disposal. The capacity of this incinerator will be 10,000 pounds of radioactive waste per hour. Also in the site selection stage is the East Knoxville mass burn incinerator that will be operated by Foster-Wheeler Power Systems of New Jersey. The proposed incinerator will bum 900 tons of municipal garbage a day. According to a Solid Waste Authority spokesperson in Knoxville, "The incinerator and recycling will be used to decrease landfill dependency.'' Opponents of the incinerator, however, declare that incineration will decrease the recycling incentive, since the operating company has a flat guarantee from the city and the county that it will receive a certain amount of waste to bum 10 produce electricity. Recyclers fear that quota will be filled by waste that would otherwise be potentially recoverable. . Electricity sales will not cover operation and maintenance costs for rhe incineraror facility. A group called CARE in Knoxville claims that the Solid Waste Authority did not compare the cost of incineration, which will come to $370 million over a 20-year period, with the coStS of alternative methods of reducing solid waste, i.e. commercial Sprl.ncj, l989 and household recycling, baling (compressing THE FATE OF THE ROSE garbage), and composting (brush, leaves, etc.). Even with an incinerator, about 40% of from• n;iort by N~ Blmhlrdl solid waste must be landfilled. A new landfill will Years ago the Agriculture Depanment be needed in Knox County whether there is an incincr.1tor or noL Incinerators actually raise the brought the multiflora rose into Virginia for soil cost of disposal, because incinerator a.sh is a conservation and to attTact wildlife. Now the state hazardous waste and must be sto1ed using encourages the eradication of this plant and may be expensive protective techniques in special making a mistake that will tum out to be far more serious than the spread of the shrubby muhiflora landfills. The CARE group also points out that, even bush. Montgomery and Grayson counties have with air pollution conttols, incinerators pose a passed, and Floyd county is considering, risk to public health that carries an incalculable legislation to force landowners to keep the plant cosL The most dangerous chemicals cannot be from scrting seed on their propeny. Farmers say that the roots of this plant arc seen or smelled. hard to lc:ill. Pulling multiflora roots out of the Finally, next door to the proposed site for ground usually causes tbero to start new plants. the Knoxville mass bum incinerator, the Dixie The multiflora grows in too many out-of-the-way Cement Company may bum bai.ardous waste in a places to keep it all cut. Therefore, the st.ate convened cement kiln. recommends herbicides to lcilltbe plant - herbicides that are particularly apt to contaminate groundwater. Dicamba and 2,4-D arc both on the list of pesticides which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers most lillely to leach into groundwater. Piclorfam, which is also on the EPA leaching list, is conrained in the pellets ofTordon, a restricted-use herbicide. SLUDGE ISSUE STILL STEAMING Though 2,4-D is not restricted and is classed only as a "possible carcinogen," it may soon be reclassified, because recent studies by the National Institute of Cancer have shown a link There is a new development in the bat!le between 2,4-D and cenain types of cancer. As over the fate of Buncombe County's sewage 2,4-D breaks down, it can form products of decomposition rhat are more toxic than the original sludge: Advanced Alkaline Stabilization. With encouragment from the Buncombe formulation. Like Tordon and Dicamba, 2,4-0 can County Commissioners, the Buncombe also be contaminated with nitrosamines, which are Metroplltan Sewerage District (MSD) has agreed cancer-causing. or more immediate concern is the stress which pesticides put on rhe kidneys and 10 hold a hearing on this waste treatment process, which mixes sludge with kilned lime dusr other pans of the human body. William (quicklime). ~ng pathogens and raising the pH agronomy at Wes1 Bryon, associate professor of Virginiu University Wiil> quolcd of the mixture, thus binding heavy metals and making the resulting material suitable for in the Roanoke TimtS of January 29, 1988 that herbicides cannot eradicate the multiflora rose and spreading on farm pastures. The hearing is are not wonh using. He also mentions a natural scheduled to be held in Asheville on March 21. rosette disease Foes of che sludge incinerator say that che control called Missouri. Thiswhich is spreading this way from disease, spread by outcome of that hearing will detennine their future a mite, can accomplish what the herbicides can't strategy. "If the MSD continues to favor the and kills the multiflora in a few years. incineration process," said Paul Gallimore of the (conlinucd on next .-ae} Long Branch Environmenral Education Center, "we will push for a review of the Environmental Protection Agency's health risk assessment that OK'd the incinerator proposal. "The EPA assessment is flawed. They looked at only one possible pathway for airbome pollution from the incineraror to enter the body by air inhalation - when actually there are four other possible parhways - through direct contamination of food, food grown in contaminated soils, dermal exposure, and inhalation of contaminared soil or dust. "After some method - any method - of sludge treatment is chosen, the next step is to put pressure on the MSD to righten up industrial pre-ueatrnent standards for wastes. Carcinogens and heavy metals should not be allowed to leave the point of origin regardless of the waste treatment technology selected." The MSD has agreed to institure a pilot operation to tesc the feasibility of composting sewage sludge no mauer what treatment process is used for the bulk of the county's wasre. "This is very positive," said GaJJimore. "Where an incinerator will give out in 20 or 30 years and have to be completely replaced at great expense, a composting operation just keeps turning out the humus. Biological microorganisms just don't quit." �(CQn.tinucd from pag$ 21) MOUNTAIN PEOPLE SAY "CUT THE CLEARCUITING" Nanni Wcxld News Savice The Western Nonh Carolina Alliance (WNCA) bas launched a public campaign to Fuade the US Forest Service (USFS) to change us primary timber management technique, even-aged management. Under that scheme patches of the National Forests up to 40 acres in size an: cut to the ground so that the resulting regrowth is of uniform size and easier 10 harvest. Alliance members held an anti-clearcuuing protest demonstration in front of the Forest Service headquarters in downtown Asheville. Banners and signs proclaiming "Cut the Clearcutting" were hoisted by the protesters who want the Forest Service to adopt a timber management strategy that relics heavily on uneven-aged management, which is based on careful examination of individual siteS and logging prescriptions that call for the thinning of undesirable trees as welJ as the removal of good sawtimbcr. so that future growcb is improved. Uneven-aged management requires greater expertise and auention to detail on the part of foresters, and the Forest Service claims it docs not have the budget to suppon these extra demands on its staff. Demonsttators lined the sidewalks in front of the USPS offices with tree stumps to ~give the flavor of what a forest of stumps looks like," said WNCA member Monroe Gilmour. Also displayed was a 90-foot long petition containing over 1,700 .names of Katuah residents opposed to clearcuning. The campaign was also carried into local ranger districts at several meetings held to give local community members a chance to speak about proposed clearcurs in their immediate areas. Over 100 Clay County residents auended a community meeting in Hayesville to protest planned clearcutting in their county. Retired fores1cr Walton Smith, chair of the WNCA Timber Management Taste Force, told the gathering that since the clcarcuuing method was iniri:ued the qualit) of the timber production had substanrially declined. Smith noted that the growth of sprouted limber, as found in clcarcuis. was substantially faster, but produced trees of poorer quality than trees grown from seed. Sprouts produced a cross-grain growth that created a weakness in the lumber, he said. Smith recently walked scveml clearcuts with USFS Regional Supervisor Bjorn Dahl. Smith said Dahl was "quite surprised'' to see a tract under uncven-:iged management thnt W3S full of young seedling trees. whereas the clearcut areas were full of sprouts. In another meeting with Forest Service personnel and a.ides to legis!Ative representatives, 150 Madison County residents met to protest proposed road construction and clcarcuning at the top of Bearpcn Ridge. The residenis complained that the road and the clearcutting operation would cause sedimentation in Hickey Fork Creek and would destr0y the trout hatchery there. The cold creek waters offer challenging fishing for rainbow and native brook trout The steep. remote forests in the Hickey Fork Creek watershed ~ovide excellent habiiat for bears and other wildlife, and the area is popular with bunters. Many in the assemblage were bear hunters who were concerned that the new roads and the clearcutting would cause bears to shy away &om the area. They were especially alarmed JGcitilah 'o~Ml P • 22 to learn that a stand of large white oalcs on top of Bearpen Ridge were t0 be included in the clearcut The hunters. who were all familiar with the woods and wildlife in the area. agreed that this .stand was one of the most imponant mast-eroducing areas in the region and that it was heavily used by bears. After hearing their concerns, Frank Roth of the USFS indicated that he would set aside an acre of so of the largest trees so that they could continue 10 provide wildlife food. The WNCA is plannning a "Cut the Clearcuuing" rally on April 15 at 11 :00 in the City-County Plaza with music, talks, and presenta1ion of a protest pe1itioo to USFS officials. For copies of the petirion in favor of uneven -aged forest management, or more informt111on on the "CUI the Clearct1tting" campaign, write or aJil: The Wesrern Nonlr Caro/iM Alliance P.O. Box 18087 Asheville, NC 28814 (704) 258- 8737 To win $50 in the "Ugliest Clearcut Photo Contest," send entries 10 tlU! Alliance by April I. Bjorn Dahl, Regional Forester US Porest Service Box 2750 Asheville, NC 28802 (704) 2574200 . ............. PEREGRINE FALCONS FLEDGE While the Natural World News often seems gloomy. here is a linle light: Scott Ball. a temporary eml'loyec of the NC Wildlife Resources Commission's Nongame Program, perched high up on Whiteside Mountain, observed lhe first confinned naturally-bred peregrine falcon to fledge in the Kal\fah province since 1957. With the help of volunteer falcon wa1chers, wildlife biologists found five pairs of peregrine falcons defending territories at mountain cliffs last ycor Three of these pairs made nesting attempts. Two pairs each raised a single chick to fledging age. Wildlife biologists seem cau11ously optimistic. While this level of reproduction will nol sustain 1he newly-established peregrine population, these successful auempts may augur well for the fuwre of this magnificent predator in Karuah. Biologisis will continue releases of young captive-bred peregrines for several more years. but will release a smaller number each year. ln 1988 18 young falcons were released along the Blue Ridge near Mt. Mitchell and on Grandfather Mountain. Biologists have released 63 young peregrine falcons in the mountains since the restoration effort began in 1984. If five breeding pairs can be csmblished in the Southern Appalachians, the program's emphasis will then switch to protection and management of the nesting peregrines. Excerptedfrom a report by John_ Alderman \..: CHEMTRONICS SPEWS POISONS Toe infamous Chemtronics plant in Swannahoa. North Carolina has dumped hundreds of thousands of potinds of a highly toxic industrial solvent into the air over the past several months, despite pleas of a company chemist to install equipment that would h.ave caught 90 percent of the chemical. . The plant has released 256 596 pounds of tetrachloroclhylcne, which is acutely or chronically toxic. according to \he US, Environmental Protection Agency '<EPA). The .solvent i~ also believed to destroy ozone in Jiu; high atmosphere, allowing increased pen~~at1on 9[, l;larmful ultra-viol~t radi;nio.o from ~he sun. Terrachloroethylene is also a suspected carcinogen and contribwes 10 s111o,g and air poJtutfon close to the Eanh's.$urface. .J • , Cbemtronics senior sc1entiSt, John Tylldall. who charted the releases. said a11 9ne.poln1t 'The cnvfronmental . impac~ (<~f the (eleases) is enormous. and wt:. need \o act on this situation immediately." He has since beep laid off by Chemtronics. Plans were approved for the installation of a recovery system to capture the escaping solvent, but Chemtronics' parent company, Halibunon Corporation. never advanced the money to pay for the lnstaUa1ion, according to a ~ll_en;llronics official. rn other recent and' rel~ued news, negotiauons between the companies responsible for dumping toxic industrial wastes at the Chemtronics Supcrfund site in Swnnnanoa have broken down, delaying clean-up of the former military munitions plant there. according to the EPA. Chemtronics, along with former owners Northrop Corporation and Ce~nese Corporaiion cannot agree on who should pay how much. The breakdown in ncgotialions means a delay of months and possibly years in the clean-up operation if the disagreement 1s submiued to litigation. according to EPA official John Bomholm. Celanese Corp. bought the now-polluted propcny in 1959 and made explosive!\, solid propellants, shells, rocket motors, and chemical agents the.re. Northrop Corp. bought 1he facility in 1965 and continued the military contracts. Jn 1971 Ainronics. Inc. leased the site and continued the work through its Cbemtronics division. Chemtronics bought the plant from Northrop in 1978, about the same time the EPA discovered the presence of more than 50 organic chemicals which had leaked into the surrounding soil and groundwater. In another recent corporate shuffle, the Halibl.lrlon Co. has dissolved its Chemtronics branch. and has turned the Swannanoa plant over co its Je1 Research subsidiary "We'rl! going LO be a lot more responsible company environmentally," said Bob King, Jet Research vice-president. "Jct Research makes warheads and other explosives for the military, but the processes will not involve the release of dangerous substances into the air and groundwater, as was the practice at the plant for so long." -SprLnq, 19U �REVIEW: Sacred Land Sacred Sex RapIUTe ofthe Deep: Concerning Deep Ecology and Celebrating Life by Dolores LaOuipelle (Pinn Hill AIU; Silvcncn, CO; 1988) '7n this kind of learni11g, there is no knowledge, in the usual stnse, to process and convey; thert is instead a deepening of anenlion to the pattern ofall lift around you, so tltat you ~gin to /Jw 'JOllT life accordUtg to thal pattern.• - DoWu LaC•Ue "Biorcgion" is a word of power. It encompasses what scientists call an "ecosystem," but goes beyond the mechanistic limitations of scientific nomenclature. A bioregion is clearly a community, a land alive - plants, animals. soil, water, sunlight, all the elements of life womng tOJCther. each sustaining the others. "Bioregion" is a word with the nng of rightness to it. The word "biorcgional" follows. It is descriptive, "panalcing of the qualities of the lioregion," but it is a little longer and the truth that resonates in the original noun is just ever so slightly diminished. But "bioregionalism" is a word that cmies no force whatsoever. Whenever the odious "-ism" is added to an otherwise usefuJ root idea, it completely drains whatever value for powerful communication that original word may previously have possessed. That simple suffix, just three letters, hardens a worthwhile approach to life into a dogmatic school of institutionalized thought, limits flexibility, and rums a life-giving relationship with the natural world into a set of precepts to be debated pro and con in sterile classrooms. "Deep ecology" is an alternative phrase inspired by Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess to define the auth of our individual and collective relationship to the natural world. The phrase has drawbacks. It is based in part on the Greek word meaning ''study," because ecology was developed as an interdisciplinary course of i:nstroction to explain the relationships between the different elements of a place and how they work together to sustain life. Now, however, the word "ecology" has grown beyond the idea of "a course of study" to mean an acrual life community and the web of relationships on which i1 depends. "Deep ecology" lacks the evocative sense of a phrase like "furure primitive," which describes people living in the world. "Future primitive" predicts a technology thar is sophisticated to the point of simplicity. It refers to a people whose culture is beautifully complex rather than needlessly complicated, because it is based on primal values as well as biologically accurate observation. Yet, while the actual choice of words may be somewhat stiff, the definition of "deep ecology" is eloquent. lt is ecology with a difference. The essential tenet of deep ecology is that there is intrinsic value to life in all its fonns. To fully understand deep ecology one must identify one's "self" as "all that lives." This in tum demands perceiving the world with more of our brain than the neo-conex, the seat of the intellect. Sensual and instinctual responses are as valuable for survival as intellectual analysis. It is also assumed that a full realization of the principles of deep ecology requires that one acts on them - it is necessary to defend the Earth and to work at changing our culture. This is what living is all about. This is "bioregionalism" as it should be. "Deep ecology" is useful as a t:ranSitional concept to describe our odysse.Y back into the world. It is not the perfect turn of phrase, but usage ts what lends definition, and those who are maJctng the strongest stance for the Eanh are doing so in the name of deep ecology. It is deep enough to suffice until we simply can say ~being," and other people undersmnd. ~ing, Because that is what it is all about, isn't i1? Being, simply here. Yet in these times that is such a complicated mauer. And it is the hardest of all things to express. The sages have always said, "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.• And that is where Dolores LaChapelle steps in. She has attempted the impossible - and done it valiantly. Her book Sacred Land Sacred Sex Raprure of ti~ Deep oies to communicate in words what can only be known through experience: the essence of deep ecology. Dolores LaChapelle herself is well aware of this paradox, which is faced by anyone who writes. And, like all writers, sbe feels compelled 10 wrestle with iL So in writing about deep ecology she takes another approach. Like a hawk, Dolores circles, circles. She first describes the essential mystery by describing the conditions of itS absence, and tells us the story of how we Lost touch with it. She then directs us 10 teachers who can demonstrate ic our animal relations in their rituals; authentic members of primitive cultures; scientists and psychologists who explore our deeper self And she introduces us to guides who can help us to find our own way: sage, the drum, the gourd rattle, Tai Chi, ritual, and, of course, the mounulins. Sacred land Sacred Sa Raprun of the Deep is a beautiful book - as deep in the telling as in the subject maner - created through a blend of hard scholarship, an unswerving dedication to the sacred, fierce passion, and the life experience of one of the true elders of our clan. (continued on next page) �(continued rrom page 4) (cantinuad fJom ~ 23) It is a difficult book, because I.he closer one approaches lO the essenr:ial truth, the more do ideas become unbound. ~e more do words betray their meanin&. But Doto~ La Chapelle is a_ woman of great intellectual stamma. Th~ stones and observatt.o ns we encounter along this convoluted JOume.Y arc ~th ~mg and wonderful. and each episode of the book is absorbing m itself. But, tnken together, the insights delineate an infonnational fiel~ that conveys a full sense (not mctely a pinned-to-the-board analysis) of what deep ecology is all about Impossible as it is to transmit an experiential stnte through linear type, the book Sacred land. Sacred ~G ROf~"e of tlu! Deep expertly i.rtfoans inclividuaJ cxpenence. It 1s a trauung manual that reaches the reader how to open up to the deepest elements of his or her own life joumey. After reading Dolores LaChapelle's book, we know the danger signals to watch for in our culture and in our own psyche. We know where io look and how to call for instruction. And we know what it feels like when we reach hannony, the center of the world We arc prepared to experience the sacred. Hopefully, the day will come when the concept "deep ecology" is obsolete, books will no longer be needed, and our minds won't be enmeshed in ideas. Then we won't have 10 sacrifice U'CCS to our earnest attempts IO explain the Mystery. Then a story, a night of love, a smile, or the wind moving a leafy branch will be communication enough. But until then we should be glad we have teachers such as Dolores LaChapelle. • reviewtd by David Whultr #' "AFFORDANCES" From Sacred land Sacred Sex Rapture of the Deep phase peoples cultivated most of their food, and supplemented their crops with native foods hunted and gathered from the forest. There was a ceremonial center with room coougb for large gatherings, built on raised earthen mounds. Ther~ wer~ semisubterranean eanh lodges. progenitors or those bwlt dunng the historic Qualia phase by the Cherokee. . . Pisgah phase peoples ma.de cane mats, the 1~prcssions of which were found in graves, even though the actual amcles no longer remained. Graves were dug in the floors or dwellings, and the dead were usually buried in a flexed posicion (lying on their sides in foetal position). They were accompanied by turtle shell rattles, bone neck.laces, tools of srone and bone, and pottery. Support Your Local Ar<:haeologist The Pisgah Village sue in McDowell County has been excavated primarily with volunteer labor, much of on the pan of local residents. Robinson is grateful for such suppon; in fact, it was local interest that made excavation possible in the first place. Archaeologists usually receive funding to conduct retrieval of information only when n site is threatened by development The rather comical image of the archaeologist busily sifting through the din in front of a moving bulldoi.eris all too real Robinson urges everyone who discovers artifacts or a possible archaeological site to contact him at Wam:n Wilson College, or get in touch with any archaeology laboratory. such as those located at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, or Appalachian State University io Boone. Archaeological sites are resources to be preserved, protected, and revered. It is only by careful recovery of the infonnatioo they contain, which often takes many years of study, that we will benefit from these historic resources. At a time when population saturation, disease, and decimation of our narura.I resources threatens our very survival, we cannot afford to desrroy the evidences of our region's past, which might perhaps offer answers for our fu1ure. Persons i111erested in leaniing f11()re abow archaeology can contact the Archaeological Society of Norrh Carolina; Research Laboratories of Archaeology; Universiry of Non/1 Carolina, and the Friends of North Carolina Archaeology, NC Depanmenc of Cu/rural Resources; 109 E. Jones St.; Raleigh, NC 27611. Archaeologist Ken Robinson may~ co111acted by writing him a1 Warren Wilson College, SwannallOQ, NC 28778 or calling (704) 298-3325. ~ "The affordances of the environment are what it offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or ill." "Afford." as a verb, is found in the dictionary, but (James J.) Gibson (of c.ome11 University) made up I.he word ''ajforda.nce." He explains that this word refers to both the environment and the animal (including the human) "in a way that no existing tenn does. It implies the complementarity of the animal and the environment." This is precisely why I think this word is so important In our culture, we tend lO think that humans have discovered all these amazing things; in some ways we believe that these things didn't even exist until humans found them. I've been trying 10 break down this laner presupposition throughout this work; first, by showing how the affordancc we call the gourd gave us agri.culture and later with other examples. Once you begin using this word, you will find that every day you will realize how nature provides affordances for us to use. It's all there before us - it's not dependent on humans to figure it out This is a giant step forward in overcoming our culturallr,-induced split from nature. These affordanccs 'arc the way specific regions of the environment directly address themselves to particular species or individuals. Thus, to a human, a maple tree may afford 'looking at' or 'sitting under,' while 10 a sparrow it affords 'perching,' and '? a squincl it affords 'climbing.' But these values are not found inside the minds of the animals. Rather I.hey are...a reciprocal interchan~e between the living intentions of any animal and the dynamic affordances of its world ...The psyche .. .is a property of the ccosysLCm as a whole." _, - Dolores LoChopelle ' FOR FURTI!ER READING: Dickens, Roy S .. and J(JJ'MS l. McKinley. Frontiers in the Soil: The Archaeology of Georgia (Chapel Hill; Fronriers Pub. Co.; 1979) Hudson, Charles. The Southeastern Indians (Kn<>xville; University o/Tennessu Press: 1978) Keel, Bennie C .. Cherokee Archaeology: A Study of the Appalachian Summit (Knoxville; University of Tennessee Press; 1976) Mathis, Mark A. and Jeffrey J . Crow. The Prehistory of Nonh Carolina: An Archaeological Symposium (Raleigh, NC Div. of ArclUvesandHistory: 1983) McHargue, Georgena and Michael Ro~rrs. A Field Guide to Conservation Archaeology in North America (PhUadelphla: J.B . Uppincorr Co.; 1977) Wetmore. Rwh. First on the Land: The North Carolina Indians (Winston-Sa/em; l<>hn F. Blair, PublishQ; 1977) Wa.m:n Wilsoo College will offer an archaeologic:al f"icld 1thool 1his summer lhnt wdl focus on the Pisgah Village site. SllldclllS will lc4m survey and excavation leehniqucs mid will also be involved in lhe aruilysls of altifact and site da.13. Contact: Kt11 Robinson. Proj«t Dim<:t.or; Box 5277; Warren Wiison College; Swanannanoa. NC 28778 (704) 298-3325. s �Video Review: "Stopping the Coming Ice Age" Dirccled by l.JuTy Ephron Produced by the Institute for a Future (57 minules) Looking back, it ~eems tha1 1988 was ~ ye:ir for important, "new" environmental issues and concerns to surface. ln particular, ibis was the year in which the idc.i or lhe so-called "greenhouse effect" finally gained public acceptance. if not notoriety- a year lhat saw record-breaking drought. hurricanes, and forest fires. Suddenly, the idea of global warming was appearing everywhere in che media, and it seemed that concerned scienliSlS and poliricians were unanimous in their suppon for the global warming scenario. However, this unanimity is an illusion, media coverage to the contrary. ln fact, there is much contr0versy within the scientific community ns to the chmatic effects and socio-polilicctl nunificalions of the greenhouse effect. It is far from cenain that the climate changes we're seeing arc leading to/caused by global warming. In fact, there is ac1ually considerable evidence that points to a very different conclusion: lhn1 1he planet may be teetering on the brink of another Ice Age. One of the foremost proponents of this laner view is John Hamaker, a mechanical engineer who has cx1ensively analyzed clima1e and ecological paucms, and hn.<; developed a comprehensive and holistic approach to understanding global climate change. His lheories, expressed in h.is book The Survival of Civiliza1io11, arc now being supported and dissemina1ed by a foundation called "Institute For A Fu1urc", which re<.-ently created a remarkable video pr~ntation: "Stopping the Coming Jee Age". This video is inspiring, frightening, challenging, and very infonnative, as it takes us around the world in search of answers. While Hamaker agrees that the greenhouse effect is a very real Lhrea1, he believes - and backs this up with hard data and expert opinion - that it will [ll2l.warm ihe Eanh unifonnly, but instead will increase the temperarure differential between the equator and the poles, causing increased thermal convection, atmospheric turbulence, and rapidly shifting and biz:zare weather patterns.Jn this scenario, high winds moving from the equator tow111ds the poles will drop their abundan1 moisture in the h.ighcr latitudes in the form of snow and ice, often creating drought condicions in the temperate regions. He believes that lhe tropical and sub-tropical zones will indeed get hotter, but the tempenue zones arc likely to get cooler and drier. Hamakcr"s understanding of the greenhouse effect talces us far beyond the popularized, watered-down information available Lhrough the mass media because he explores deeper levels of cause and effec1, process and purpose. The mos1 profound information presented in this video concerns the connections beiween lhe greenhouse effect and the development of an ice age, and the importance of understanding long-tmn cycles (100,000 years!) of clima1e change. The video demonstrates the causal connections linking together all the different environmenuil/atmospheric phenomena that combine to bring on an ice age: 1) soil erosion and demineralizntion 2) the subscquem weakening and dying of the forestS 3) the resulting increase in insect inrestations, forest decay, and massive fortst fires 4) I.be dramatic increase in C02 released into the atmosphere by these na1ural causes, which induces the greenhouse effecL 5) and m the 20lh century - as opposed to 100,000 years ago man-made pollution and our destrUCtive tampering with the natural balance of life are intensifying and hastening the process. According 10 Hamaker. an ice age performs a vitally necessary natural function. As tbe glaciers advance and then retreat, they move and grind up immense quantities of roclc,thus spreading gravel and rock dust over much of lhe Lcmperate zones. This process, along with the winds that help distribute lhis rock dust even further, gradually l'Cllllneralizes the soil· which feeds the planis and forests, promoting rapid and healthy growth • during which lime the plants breathe in much of the excess C02 in the atmosphere • wh.ich gradually stops the greenhouse effect! The plants of the world breathe in C0 2, use the carbon, and release the o>cygen back into the air whlch we, and all other animals, breathe! SprLnq, 1989 Thus, n primary function of glaciation i~ to ttminerali1.e and help reforest the Eanh. The reason this video is called "S1oppfng the Coming Ice Age" is that Hamaker thinks we humans can indeed must. if we wanr our cwilization to survive • reminemlizc the Earth oursefres. We ourselves can fulfill the vital rolt pluyed by an ice age, rendering ~uch a geological event obsolete. This means, however. that the government~ and peoples of nil countric:; and regions would need to make it a top priority to remineralize our depleted ~ils, and also to engage in massive reforcs1ation projec1s, planting billions of trees worldwide. Without hc:aJthy forests, we have no chance at all of slowing the ttemendous C02 buildup which fuels the greenhouse effect. As the video pu1s it." The trees of the world are our best friends now. and only they can save us". Obviously, then, we also need 10 i;iop clear-cutting our foresis. both here and in the tropics, and to limit our fossil fuel burning, wh.ich has been accelerating the greenhouse process. Only by doing all these things, says Hamaker, can "e avoid horrific consequences for humani1y in the very near foture. The audacity of this theory and lhis proposal lies in its utter simplicity and common-sense quality. Yet many people may not heed H.ama.ker's message and information because we have become so enamored of "high- tech" solutions and shon-tenn planning, gratification, and profit. Hamaker's plan demands a clear understanding of our planetary dilemma. and a deep comminnent t0 creating a viable future, as well as some sacrifice or comfon and convenience. The video concludes with these questions: "Have we got the guts to do it? How much do we really want to be here?" Whether or not Hamaker's proposal is ever implemented on a large scale, we can all do things individually and collectively to help educate people and help heal the planet. The video pointS out 1hat even if these theories aren't totally "provable", or even completdy accurate, we should X1ill do the things Lhat Hamaker suggests, for 1he sake of ecological balance, conservation, and planetary sanity. rn addition to the ideas discussed in this review, this video explores JDl!.W! other aspects of our ecological and social dilemmas • many more than can be dealt with here. There is so much vital information presented, within such a comprehensive framework, that this video ranks as a definite "must see'· for anyone at all concerned about environmental issues and social change. • "Stopping The Coming Ice Age" is available for $20 from: lnstitue for a Future, 2000 Cenfer St. Berkeley, CA 94704. For info on other offerings of the lnstirutc call 1·800-441-77Cll • To arrange a showing or this video in the Asheville area, or for more information, call Richard Lowenthal ar(704) 251-2526. ~ LOCAL RESOURCE I ACTION INFORMATION • The December t988 issue or "American ForeSIS" m;igirant (published by the American Forcsuy Association) 11 cle110~ almo~1 ent.Ucl)' IO tropical defore.suuion, lhc gJCCnhou.sc effll(:I, and lhc prc.~ng n~ to ref~ the e:inb. II highlights the AlSOCiotion's nx:ently-formcd Olobal Ro-Leaf prognun, which aims to cducaLC Americans aboul Ille vil,DJ 1mpc:111.a11CO of rcfottsuulon. lllld to "cl'Cl!IC a new ruulon31 nctwort. (If c1ti~n aetiv1su· whU:h will, 11 i• hoped, plant at l~t 100,000.000 ll'Ce.$ nntiOCl·wiclc over the ne~1 sc~eral ycatt. For more informalion, wriie to: Amcriciln Forestry Association, PO Box 2000, Washinguin, DC 20013 (202) 667-3300 · WNC Alliance "Cut l.M ~Jng" c.imJiaign (st.o pege22 ! : P.O. Box 18087, A&be\'IUC. NC 28814 (704)2$8-8737 • Forest Voices - •an /;jormatlon netW'Ofk lhat assi.sls citiz.cm m pal'_llcipating in 1hc planning and managcmcmt or the Pisg:ih and Nant.ahala .h'!uional (919j.182-36'33 Fol'CSIS"· P.0 Box 1275. West. lcffttiOn. NC 28694 • Adopl a Tree· a muhi-faceted ~on which "works 10 make the vital connection between (IC(ll>lc 111d ttee•' and wcrts &c!;tly will\ rtfon:St3tion: P.O. Box 144, Supr Gnwc. NC 28679 • The Fctwwy 1989 publ~ "Mounuun ~Al Risk! the FulllTC of the Southern Appalachlari National ~13" )160+ pages, intludina 1ru1ny cxccllentchart$ and appendices). Available on rcqucst from: The Wilderness Society. 1819 Peaclusee Rood N.E. (Suite 714) Atlanlll , OA 30309 Drawing by rob mcJSlc:k (404) 3SS-178l. �What a wondetful journal! - a beanening combination of slwp-eycd icalism and full hearted poetry. I feel rve encountered a true compt111ion. Thanks IO D3ve Albert who passed iL on with your review of my book. J0311na Macy Bctb:ley, CA DRUMMING LETIERS TO KATUAH Friends in Kallia.h - "In the field or opponuni1y, it's plowing lime again.· Those or you working in the cnwonmenllll. public henlth, resource ma.nagcment fields may be questioning (tllllhority?). 1f your profe.~slOllal orienllllion is on the same path as your human development and land~lhie perogntivc. My Friends at Katliah Journal· Your publication is beautiful and 111Spirlng. I n:c:eived a complimentary copy {Auwmn, 1988) conceming the great chcsmul n:vival. and enjoyed lhe entire journal. I visil I.be Kaul.ah bioregion each year (feeling very Sll'Ongly lhat I was and am "born" lheic.) I am so cooccmcd about lhe negative human impact on this n:gion, and would be in~ed in anylh1ng I could do for l'CSIOnllion. rd<Xallll.ion. pl'CllCCUon, eu:.. Blessings. Nancy Llgnitt Olalhe, KS P. S. • Forgive my ignorance-.could you please lei me lmow the correct pronunciation of "Kanlah1" (Sure! Probably o lot of otltu ~pie have b4ie11 woNlerilog, IOO. bul Soy, "lea - TOO • ah.• jiut did11'1 d/Jre IO osk. Reody, fl/JW? Guruu!Mil! • eds.) Dear Kat.Udl • Many friends or mine propose pcrfeclioo (In lhe ronn or intcrpCtS0031 peace) as a .solution 10 Ille llul:aL or wincllOCl. I tell them, "Hey, I don't think we've got Ume.• l think I saw the snmc thing happening In Katli.ah JourMl 22 bul in an opposilC way. Thete the dhugence of individual, corpome. and govtmmcntal behavior from the ideal was plCSClllCd so forcdully as tO make any suggesuon of solutions ou1 or place. i wnnl tO argue lh41 in both lhcsc in.~ ideals malfunction when they an: mnde JWOX}mn1e goals rather !ban guiding beacons. One p;ndox of idealism is lhlli lhe greai.cr the con1ras1 bdWllCll lhc IC.Ill and ldCal behavior of people, the more wfficuh it Is to argue lhal Ille JdcaJ is naturul (to them). the mon: claboralC mast be the explanation as to how they got so aberrant. and lhe tw rusonablc it IS to hope Ibey will Ulkc the 1113Jly.111lUly steps from one to lhe other. Usually the conimst is sortened :wt hope ~by thc stnuch or cenlUries, millenia or aeons presumed 10 inluvcne between ~ and ideal But in the presclll crises the conuast and ~are ui=ased. Wh'fl Wlw I see happcnmg 11 thal lhe apocolyplic p0!>'iibili1y of our cnviroomcn141 and mililllrist trues is malung people shnnk the middle ground bctwcoo rc:il and ideal, mlllung them tlunk the ldeol m1m be nuained right away, u we are to survive. The resuh Is that the I~ ome lhctl) is left for clunge. the mocc of 11 is demanded. We use ideals to get at wlufs trul)' wrong bul then in a cnsis rrusiake lhcm Lo be a pracllcal progTI1111 for se1ung thmgsright. In conuas1. thc closer we appro:ich disaster 1he mote focused should be our analysis, the less suidcnt OU/ Judgcmcnl.s, the more specafte and llmillld our prcscripuons. Out ideals C:tll still gwdc 11$ bu! from a dl$UIJIOC. subonlloate to a goal of swvival as a ~ics w11l1 a 5uswnable OIOde or exislcnc:c. Once that is a,s_'>ll'Cd weC1111 resume lhc ncYCJ endulg wOlt or moving oursclvt$ and the world IOW8td the 1dc;al Respectfully yours. JlcltOwley M:idison County, NC I would like to begin gcncmting plans fora small compt111y of icsponsiblc people co promote land S?ewardsbip lllld conscrvlltion of natural resources. We11 provide professi01131 and 1.CChnico.I consulUttion and CSU!blish bioregi.oJllll criteria for environmerually sensitive site devclopmcnl silviculturc, archiiecturc. fanning. wau:r use. nnd small Cl\C.f&Y production. rm intcreSICd in communicating with others who an: ready with ide:is for lll!lking ~ TRANSmON to perpetual livelihood in a Clll'CCr lh;t1 will reward our f11111ilies as well as our PLANET. Sincetely. Steve Ovcndcn Box;JS Pntmcuo. Ft. 34220 Dear Katllah Friends · I saw the "Sheller" issue of your journal and especially love and use the Invocation (to WlnlU) - k's so beautiful to say. l was CMCCived and born 8lld also love those moun1auJS and tree$ tllld fresh air and flowing creeks. 1banlc you so much- .. the issue I saw wns bcauuful. iruly. Blessings, JUlllUI Forest Octr0it. Ml Docs my dog bite1 Lady. Lhat dog's so old lllat he'd only gum you If he caught you if he even hnd the gumption toehaseyou which he don'L Why do I keep him? Hah! Lady, that'~ the best watehdog ICYCJhad bar none. How do yau mean? Why, he don't chnsc chldtcn• or run hvestoek or keep me awake barking all night. Burgl:!n7 Lady, 1fyou see anylhing around here worlh r.i.cahng point ltOUI and l'll nulc:e )'OU a 11!31 good price on 1L 'Ccpl mlybe my dog. • RonJohnson Spn."9, 11109 �: .. equal "p:lttllCrSlup" with all Olher living entities. I dream of a world whcie long-sllllldmg cu1Lu!'111 tr3d11ions are honored and s upponcd, bolh in hCICIOgcncous groupings of oil kinds of people living 1.ogcthcr and in more isolntcd, sell-conlllined indigenous communities. h 1s being said · and even channeled · lhal we are entering o pcnod of 30 to 50 years of ca1BClysmic changes on the eanh. Some beings will pass on in this ume of purging, while othetS will come in to !like iheir place. Some or us wiU sUllld in the forefront of change and IJUllsmut.ation while others of us wiU follow close behind. Let us begin then LO create the v1s1ons that will ullimaiely provide the blueprints for our future on !his planci., and begin to eultiva1e the liUlc poclu:IS oC mmly and wholeness Lhal will evemually be the models from wrueh the rest of humanity cnn draw msp1r.11ion and duectioo. The time has come_ dear comrades, lei us dream ... together· Jay Joyce Asheville. NC ·. Dear Friends· c.ome. dream 11 liuJe dream with me. As we all sil~ inexornbly tnLO thc not-so-nif1y nmcties. its becoming clearer nnd c:ltlim dial life as we trow it mLISI be draWcally altered if we ait to reverse the lides or ecologic:il desuuction gaihcring fon:e nround the globe. h is clearly ume for us iocn:aie new visions for the rurure. lO look iownrd the 2 lst centW')' with a sense of hope and purpOSe and direction, and OOl just foreboding. And it i.~ in this spirit that I'd like to offer a few personal images far a new bcguming, an altcmru.ive futun: - and LO invite compatriots everywhere to color in these prclimm111Y skcu:hes fwther. Farst of all, I sec a plllce where boclc:ynrd fences have been lOOI down, and neighborhood gmdens, quiet ~cs, play SUUCUUCS. and gathering pl:ices sprawl acro&s the land insicad. Theo l see community ocntcJS blossoming :i.mong the dctri~ of ab:lndoncd school buildmgs nnd agmg warchow.es, where recycling proJCCU, compost dumps, and communru gardens repklce blllciclOp parking lots; and where weekend Ilea mnrkel.nnd bloclt panics. moon celebrotions, and ecology fairs fill those huge l<>nely spaces. where computer nctwolks and refemil scrvtCCS and gallery car~ keep people in touch Greetings Brochers and Sisu:ss of Ka111ah • r love you all and pray with you always, and alwoys my heart is so full wbeo I receive my copy of Ka1Uah JourMl. ll takes me back to the Appalachians and the memories flood m. r thought tha1 if your magazine came OUI be fan: Lbc equinox, you could pnn1 something from • Aoccwoo,• the Maori name f<W" New Zealo.nd. since ii seems 1hc chcslnut arucles (KOJiiah Journol #21 · ed.) cre:it.ed some communicauon. We rue organizing o gaihering on a friend's propeny 111 lhe end of o rood in a Nal.iOlllll Par1t, one or the mos1 beautiful places m lhe world. This is the only gruhcring this year as our annual "Towards 2000" workshop-oriented gathcrin~ wcrcn'1 held this yu.T. The annual nonh island "Tc WaiOU3" glllhcring hosn't happened foe lhc l3Sl two yClll'S or our "Hui Waiata." which is a musical glllhcring. Although there arc loL\ of open-minded folk and mony good things bnppcning here. we are going through a phase of fcwct gnthcrings ond feel the need for folk t0 gel tQgct.hcr to share their ideas and views and feel strong in their commitment to healing lhe Earth along with other brother! and !isters. Hopefully, our pthcring will provide llus opponuru ty, as it's mo progre$$ive area wilh communities. ocgaruc forms. and iCs a long way rrom any ctties or polllllion. so a lOt of naturul beauty along wilh a good growing climiue which has aurnc1ed 1'11311Y ovcneas follt. so we have an opponuouy to share Lbcir visions, as ITIOSl of them come from a vccy comamintued Northern Ht.maspbcrc. As USUllJ, alu:malive folk find 1t hard to deal with local authorities, but this is one of the few areas where people can make the effort ID be pin of local dc:cislon·makmg and help make folk fll01C aware of what is hnppcrung to our Mother and the roles W$ can play IO bcal Her and OUl1iClves. with each other. t look forward also LO a time when we all learn LO lhink about each thing we "tlvow away" long enough to decule how u can be recycled or properly disposed of. I imagine a place· ll Smithsonian of the mind. if you will • whc:re a few old TV's, microwaves, electric am-openers. wa1apiks, air-purifiers, etc. are kept in a museum lO remind us of whal we almost buried ourselves in . .• while the rest oC them ~ no longer nccdcd or wanted. I dlcll!n or a time when we no longer use tars, and freeways a.re no longer necessary eitcept roe skalcboordulg, sledding, skhng, bicycling, and wllldsurfing. I envision a scienlifx: communny thal seeks ou1 ways to gel rid or the nukes, cleanly, lO biodegradc the phlsuc. 10 trunsfOJ111 ihe 10X1e chemicals, IO clean up thc :ur and w.ucr, to cure the diseases, and IO develop stmplincd, life-nunuring ways Cot all ihe criUCIS still 3.m0f18 us LO reinhabil the pbneL I look forwllr<l to a lime when children learn IO love leaming, when they arc iniegmtcd into ihe life of their communities and when !hey Ill'!: openly adcoowlcdged and supponcd ror the grC&l comnbutions they mlllcc to our lives. 1 imagine a ume when people enj()y learning a> much ttbout lheir loctll ccosySlCITI as they now blow about the plol developments of the lalCSI soap opelilS and lhe lifcstyles or lhc rich and famous. I envision a time: when bUIDQll betn.gs 1cam LO QCCepl I.be Cllc:1 lha1 !hey tnhab11 one small niche m the pta& an:le of the eanh's ccosysicm end therefore leam IO uucmct m loving, Drllwmp by Sheli Lodge Love, Pc1ctOay 16 Jarrow Plac;c Christchurch 3 New 7.ea1ruld �Earliest February I begin searching along a neighbor's hedgerow for just a tendril of the coming miracle. Or gatlog as one stricken upon the si Us of morning when the fir'lt dreamy memories of daffodils return. l breathe a wisp of a vast movement stirring and alluring me. Deep in e veins of southern sloping woods. I know beside the coldest laughing waters bubbling and glittering in the soft. buucry sun some rich, mysterious. fragile awakenings unfold. Long before the geese come winding surely homeward, I discover and behold an anicle of r.ransfonnation that by narure disregards mere joy or faith or sorrow, to which uncr defeat or sheer victory remain the same. So even in this old hean of winter full of woes. the barrer1 season ofdui.t and frost is washed clean away. And this, I suppose. is why l wander seeking ccnitudc. ruming a 11one over by the path, or gazing above treetops. or gliding clflike lhfouJh the forest's solemn ~lonnadtli. for in this ~un-goW rime as the eaith starts siirring, c:ven the ~' n dcith of my brother is cased and gree the ve, delicaie, relentless mari:h of Spring. Alt. 1i\U.. ~ '"" 1'4Wah )ournal p«UJe 28 - Mitliattl Hockaday. Sp rlfMJ, l 989 �Planet Art conunucd rrom page 1 Christina then found Leigh Hollowell who had srudied Contact extensively on the West Coast and who was also very interested in seeing Contact happen in this area. Leigh enthusinstically agreed to co-teach a ContAct class with Christina. They knew that if they wanted to have people to do Contact with, they would have to help create a Contact community first. Leigh love:; Contact because "it's natural - it'~ not based on socialized preceptS but on an open exchange with other people in the reality of the present moment." She is aware that for many people dance classes and physical education have been emotionally painful and repressive, because they were not encouraged to learn their own natural movement but to imitate others. Her main goal is "to provide a positive movement experience for people so they can become friends with their bodies and learn to perceive it as a resource of creativity." I asked her how she felt that Contact would affect the larger community, and she said. "Because it is not based on any one culture's movement and is a form naruraJ to all human bodies, it is an effective way to trunscend barriers between people..• it would simply create a more trusting, and therefore more peaceful, community." l have been panicipating in this dance class since November and have been able to experience it "first hand". ln Contact dance, we maintain a ''point of contact" with another person, and it constantly shifts as both move. When we try to control where the movement goes with our minds, it becomes stiff and awkward. When we stop trying to control and simply focus on the point of contact, that point guides us in a flowing way towards movements that are easy and spontaneous. Our minds are shocked at how well we can do without their control. Imagine a society in which we allowed our interactions to come from our point of connection instead of our differences! For more information about Contact Improvisation, call Leigh Hollowell at (704) 252-4475. Art here in Karuah has begun to reflect the reality of our connection wilh the planet.... making art-all fonns of creative expression and ritual-a pan of our daily lives. By acknowledging the sacredness of our co-existence with the rest of ~Water Systems WATER PURIFICATION EQUIPMENT SOLAR PRODUCTS Membar NC Water O~lty AasoclaOon RANDALL C. LANIER 704-293-5912 HWY 107 RT 68 BOX 125 CULLOWHEE, NC 28723 che universe, we are beginning 10 harmonize with it Many of us, though, have closed off our energies to the vision of a hnrmonit.ed planet because it seems so elusive and far away, and we don't like feeling disappointed. Others have refused to sec and accept the truth of the planet as it is because il is painful .. and think that if they "shut their eyes it will go away.• The tnJth 1s that the sooner we open our eyes and accept what is there, the more effectively we will be able to deal with iL In a book called The Path of Ltas1 Resistance, a simple and effective method for manifesting a choice is given. This method can apply lO planetary as well 3S personal mmsfonnation. lt is lO constantly hold in our minds two things ... exactly what our vision is and the full truth of our current reality. It is based on the idea that "in order 10 ge1 where you want to go, you need to know where you are." Since we are all planet anisrs, this technique needs to be widely understood. As we hold our vision firmly in mind and continue to acknowledge what's happening now, new nod unexpected ways of achieving our goals will come to us. Jn order 10 do this, we need co be aware of the deep, undercurrent regenerative processes that exist around and within us that we can tap into. As more and more of us choose to love and accept our planet and all her inhabitanlS no matter what is happening, the easier it will be. A lot is happening in our region, and J'm sure there are many more people here with ideas and enthusiasm to contribute towards a biorcgional program of Planet An. Some suggestions arc... a traveling multi-media show that would tour the region to network and share bioregional idens...communicy rituals for healing the la.ad... restoring our environment with "Clean-Up An" events... synchronizing with planetary peace and art events ... All Species Day with parades and festivals ...Joining in the preparations for Earth Day '90. There is no linu1 to what we can dol...there is no shonage of things to rcharmonizel It's time to find out who we all are as anists and get our networks in place. At the next K.atuah Gathering we can come together and bntinstonn. t can be contacted by wrirtng P.O. Boll: 278, Asheville, North Carolina, KatUah Province 28802 or _,, ~ calling (704) 253-4831. ~ DE.S IGNS by Rob Messick Illustration & Design In Pen & Ink and COiored Pencil Po eox 2eoi • Boone Nt. 28W7 • 171l41r...i 1>0117 WIU> OllU> DESIGNS T-SHIRTS. SWEATSHIRTS For ADULTS and CHILDREN Clothing, Fabric A.rt and Miracles ORIGINAL HAND·PRINTED NATURE DESIGNS A DIVERSE COLLECTION OP WEARABLE ART Peac~ AIDbassador Garm~ats l\ta&icRob6 CALLor WRITE for 'Olousu and Pnothos _A,. ......,., tfubal Bdts THE ALTERNATIVE HEALING HOT-LINE l -800-544-4980 /\ lrtt 10 thl' public rel~rr.&1 servi~ •Ml N•llnn•I wrtlnt"<~ 5..;1chboml. •• J,. n1....1.•., P..,..1 /J., "ATIONAL DIRECTORY OF HOLISTIC PRACTmOSERS. HEALt::RS, SCHOOL<;, CENTERS & RETREATS l'bollt' I~ HOT-UN£ fo Rr>d Cltli how yo1it pr•cti«, s.chool, ~&Jina anter or tt1"'111 nn be Usitd in the N•tloMI Oirttto • Sprl.fMJ, 1989 .u Jler/Jg11J111 eti1tit 'lljaee, 'Ry~r 'Na@r~ FREE COLOR CATALOG e1ti1te1t At11p1Utct11re Drt~PillOW'I Appliqu&I &: Painted Deslgns Fur R/J1111I, ThtalT~, & S11f-&mpow1rmtt11 Send S 2 ror fuU-<:olor caulog/ Custom onlcrs llYlilablc t>en l.se New&oTJI. P.O. Box 178, Asheville, NC 28801 (70-4) 25).431 �POPLAR APPEAL Green City conunucd rrom p.9 cooler in the summer. and it wai. quieter - if you knock on steel and then knock on a soybean, you unders1and the sort of deadening chMIClerislics on the inside of lhat car. The dreams of Henry Ford and the rest of the chemurgy movement were postponed. but they seem to be resurfacing again. Russell Buchanan. a scientist in Maryland, envisions the rise of botano-chemical complexes, as he calls them, rather than pcrro-chemical complcitcs, as we learn to eittract from cellulose the same things that we extract from pcuoch~micals. One ts a hydrocarbon; the other is a carbohydrate. Compare these words and they're basically the same. One of the differences. however, between a botano·chcmical complex and a pcrro-<:hemical complex is that it's easy 10 transport oil over long distances, whereas it's not easy to transport plant mauer over long distances. So botnno·chemical complexes will tend to be locally based and rurally based near their sources of raw material~ and supplies. Local self-reliance can become an economic developmem strntegy, and cities ate the best place to try it out, for several J'C3.'\0llS. Mose of us live in cities. Cities tend to be large enough 10 have an internal market, and can in fact become laboratories. Cities are concentrations of science and technology. They have the ingeouil\', the expertise and the machine toolshops to build prototypes and try them out. Bur what is your nearest city's research and development budget? h's probably zero. The local self-reliance scenario is not inevil3ble nor is it even probable. It depends on political decisions. Economic development must be seen as a means to an end and not an end in itself. Alben Einstein once said that perfection of means and confusion or cods characterize our age. We're so mesmerized by technology and development that we forget to ask, "Technology for what?" and "Development for whom?" We have become consumers of change, bul we don't know the difference between change and ,erogress. To Bertrand Russell progiess is ethical and change ls scientific; change is inevitable, while progress is problematic. In other words. progress is valw:·laden and as we change, we need to ask ourselves, "Will we progress?" We can have a green city within a brown world by moving all or our production and disposal systems for away from our city. But 10 truly embrace the ecological motivation behind a green city, we must ~ome responsible for the wastes that are generated for our convemence. And the only way to do that is 10 begin 10 return that loop of production, use and disposal, b.'ICk to the community. Marcel Proust once said that the voyage of discovery consists nm In seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes. It is in seeing O!Jf communities and our citi~s with new eyes, in pursuing a globe of Vlllag~s and not a global village, that we begin to create a new paradigm. @ lnsli1utc for Local Sclf·Rcli:incc. 2425 Ulm Sucet, t<W WllSbinguin. DC 2000!>. Also w1lh pcnnission fl'Ofll Raise IM Stt1lls. Planet Drum Foun<bLinn, P.O. Box 31251, San fran(isco, CA 94131. This anlclc appc:arcd 1n Winter 19118 issue. M.El>1.CtNE ALLtES 'J-SK1.1t'J tQllUnued from page 11 h wru; always a rare oy~rer mushrooms - that is. und special occasion when I found until I su1J1cd roaming the hills with my older mounuineer buddy Theron. Theron was rai~ed gathering roots and herbs at his grandmother's knee, and he knows the woods well, but he had ulw11ys been wisely hesitant about sampling unidentified wild mushrooms •tllc first few times in our wanderings when we found some oyster mushrooms. Theron would help me gather them and he would carefully examine them, but be always declined to share the harvest nnd rnke some home to em. However. after heming me talk so much about how good they were (and seeing that I was still thriving), he finally tried some. He and his wife enjoyed them immensely, and from then on it seemed that. with Theron's help, I was hardly ever without oyster mushrooms. From Theron I learned 10 visit areas 1ha1 had been logged a few years previosly and look on tulip poplar stumps after a spell of rainy weather. In the$C Meas we could find man)' pounds of the savory mushrooms in any season of the year. We often found enough to dry and store for times when the fresh ones were scarce. When Theron and I sn down together and share a meal of oyster mushrooms and other wild edibles, I think about what a strongc pair we make: me, a naturalist from the Oat land with a university education, and him, a tradjtional mountain wood~man and fanncr who barely finished eighth grade. Yet we both realize that if we hadn't met and been open and receptive 10 each other's knowledge. neither of us would be earing this delicious wild mushroom supper. Traditional knowledge and book learning can go well together. ©1989 by the tlJ.Uhor. Reprl111edfrom Wildlife in North Carolina Magazine. "Ranger Doug" EUiolt, as he is known to rite cltildren i11 the group, is an excellent naJuralist, but is also known as a lively~ storyteller and ''a real nice feller." p A Directory to North Carolina's Natural Areas (published by 1.he NC Natural Heritage Foundation) As pan of its important work in rare and endangered species identification and habitat preservation, the North Carolina Natural Heritage Foundation, a non-profit organization, has compiled the guidebook, A Directory to North Caroli11a's Namral Areas. The compact guidebook features dC!ieripcions of more than 100 natural areas open to the public in the state. The descriptions of each aro:i include infonnntion about natural history, geology. 1111d uuvcl information. To obtain copies of the book, send S5.00 10 the NC Natural Heritage Foundation; Box I I 105; Raleigh, NC 27604 Each is tl1c suongcst power 1n iis own domain. Together !hey lll'C allies: !heir C1111tgics complement each 01hcr m rorm an e\'et1 greater power. As medicine ollics, they rcpre«ent 1he hc;Uing powers of lbC Appalnahian In lhe tr.1d1uonal Cherokee Indian belief, lhe Moun1:11ns. TI111 medicine powers of Kl!uiah Juve been depicted crca!Ure\ in the world lOclay arc only d1minu11.ive forms or the mythic beings who once mlUlbucd the world, but who in o ~1r1l.;ing T-shin design by Ibby Kcn11:t. Printed in now fC$idc in Oal11na'IJ, lite 5pmt world. the highest 5-coloc silksi;irccn by Ridgerunncr Nnwr.ils on top qu:ility, he;ivcn. BuL • few of the ongmal powcr~ broke lhrough !he all-couoo shin.~. 1hcy arc avallnble now in all adul1 shes !!p1riLUAI barrier and exist yet m the world a~ we know il. from KALANU; Boit 282; SylYll, NC 28779. These beings arc called with rcv.:rcncc "grandfalhas" And or tl1cm. the suonges1 arc K.allilti, lhc ligh1mng. thc power Pl~ specify ~ir.t: Sm .• Med., Lg.. X·Lg. or the sky; utsa·nau, 1he r:mlcsn:tke, who pcrsoniries the Prke: S9.SO pOStf131d power of lhc cnnh pL'lllc: lllld Yunwi U!ldi, "I.he li1Llc !Mn". W.98 pns1pa1d for NC re.-i!knts as ginseng is called in I.he S!Crcd ceremonies. who draws up JlOYo er from lhc underwocld. "To .f/ww TU~l"lftx lhlS lll{lctflOllll'DI /Tinily of thl: Miura/ world iJ 10 111 111111 bcc0t1v t111 ally tn thl: con1i11w11g fll'OUS!. of niai111<Un111g harmony and bal1111Ct htrt 111 thl: moll/IJJJJJU of Ka1Uah" Spri.f19. 1969 �Emironmcntol Politics: 11Vlou.nttiln Ug'hl H!!:twork Lessons from the Gras.'>routs. Bob Hall. Editor Mountam Light Network is an eclec1ic, 1n1entionally group of people living in the Kaulah srea. Th<: tntercsts of the group include 3 deep commilnlCnl to 1nd1vidu:il llnd planct:u) peace. and to ecological hannony, with emphasis on coopera1ion between human, animal, plant and mineral kingdom~ . Other areas of interest include subtle energies, h~::iling, and techniques for utilizing new forms of power. Many w11hin t~c: g_oup n:lion::ite wi1h N?tive Indian philosophies and r ;;eek to h~c in ~~c1ous balanl'c ~nh the land. The mu;ority are involved in hohsuc heallh, explonng new paths now developing. Some _ re invot:--ed in the Anciem Wisdom and spiritual a <li-•c1phnes. Survival and food 11toragc are also of interest to many individuals We meet 4 times a year at the Franklin Communitv Center on Sundays. at 2:00 PM near the Sol"iccs and Equino11tes. There iU'C tables for those who wish to 5ell products or promote ideas; many books arc available a!; welt. We feature a speaker at each meeting. We have a directory of names. skiUs and intrn-~1~ Our aim is to provide a time and place for communication and exchange of ideas to become neighbors in a loose-I.nit network of people in our area. Part1c1pauon in meetings is free and open to all people of Like mind. This year our meetings an: on March 19, June 18. September 17. and Dcccmbct 17, 1989. For more anform:uion, call (404} 746-2454. ~structured ln.'itltule for Soul hem Studies, P. 0. Bo>< SJl, Durham. f\C 17702. 1988. ~7.00. 12? pgs. Whal can you do when an our·of·slalc corporation an_nounc~ plans for a hazardouli was1c rrearment facility a few nulc:s from your home. or when stare officials ~ay 1hey wan1 to pave 11 highway through your neighborhood? Where can you mm for help if real esta1e developers wuh close ties 10 local politicians decide to build a condominium or shopping center in a sensitive water;hed are;i? _ How much energy should you devote 10 door-to-door organizing, or seeking auention from the media, or gelling involved in elecrorul pohtics? For rhe past three yc:.m;, lhe lns111u1e for Southern Studies has conducted an investigation of environmental and land·u>e controversies in one state, Nonh Carohna. rn a remarkable number of cases. locnl citizens groups · even lhosc in relatively !solatcd. rural areas • have won s1gnifican1 victories ag:unst 1mpress1ve odds. They h:ive beaten well-endowed corporations and forced state policym:ikcu to change regulations, enforce ex1snng standards, and enact new laws. _Th~y have built ad hoc coalitions and enduring orgamzauons, occas1onally across rucc lines, more often across class and cultural divisions within the white community. And they have moved from crisis-oriented, hit-and-miss organization to sophisticated political lobbying and effective electoral activi~m. The key ingredients of these successful citizen-led camprugns are described in dwlll in the first chapter. The next 10 chapters chronicle the episodic. fragmented, yet growing cnv1rorunental movcmenr in consc.rvwve North Carolirui. The focus h less on the grim threats to life as we know it than on why pe~p~e respond, whar they do to win, and how grassroots acuv1s_m and electoral politics (including lobbying and voter educanon) imersec.1 to produce i.nstitutionru change. The result 1s a storybook of grassroots experiences. a handbook that lets our own past teach us bow to wodc. for a bener future. And while the location may be Nonh Carolina, the common lessons running through these stOrics are plainly uc;cful to people throughout the Soulh Md beyond. - excerpted from tlie preface ,..0 &..ot4(;t" WA.) I " ' ..nw i-c.t t,_f ------ TPC.. two ~Kt H~O M&.L.01.0 AMO I loll', 1' C.111''1 HO!ISf..l SprL119. t 989 JUST RECEIVED' Mountain Treasures at Risk: The Future of lhe Soulh~rn Appala&llian Nalional Fonsts by Laura E. Jackson The N:uional Forests of the Southern App11lachian Mountains are the last remaining habitar area available for many species of pl3Ilts and wildlife. The book Mountain Treasuru ot Risk says that these valuable habitat areas should be managed from a regional viewpoint and offers valuable infonnation tQward rcaliting n new vision for forest management which emphasizes the values of life suppon and ~gional biodiversity. Handsomely bound, profusely documented with photos, tables, and charts. Copies free on requ~t from The Wilderness Society; 1819 Peachm:c Rd NE (Suite 714); Atlanta, GA 30309. ... Katuah Journal is not just lull of Information. It is also full of images, and we appeal to all visual artists interested in ennching lhe pages of this journal, plus some exposure for you, to send us copies of your work Many times we need graphic images that are specific 10 a given article, yet there Is often space to put Images that are not specific You would be surprised the kinds of synchronicities that can happen when you send wori< in• Drawings in Ink. prints, photographs, borders, symbols. and cartoons that you think have some relevance to the journal are all welcome Don't be shy. we need your talent and image·ination to help visual-eyes a clearer relation with Katuah ... �evencs 2-8 BRASSTOWN, NC Spring Music and Dance Week. Music. StOries, dance, nature. John C. Campbell Folk School 28906. 8 BLOWING ROCK, NC Ocan-up of the Glen Burnie Falls Trail . Blue Ridge Group. Sletra Club. Call (704) 264-3931. MARCH 8·9 HIGHLANDS, NC Chiefs from the Native American Elders Circle meet at the Mountain to discuss Ecology and An. ''TIJU care how you place your 17-19 moccasins upon tM Eanh,step with care,for the faces oftM I unve generarions are looking up from Earth waiting their turn for life." $137. The FARNER, TN Leam "Wild Foods and Earth Medicines" with Snow Bear at Pcppcrland Farm Camp: Sw Route: Farner, 37333. (70<!) 494-2353. ™ IJ.16 GATUNBURG, TN Womyn·s Weekend Rctn:at: Spccilll Gu= Grey Cal, Lucinda F1odin. Write 10 P.O. Box 936: Gatlinburg. TN 37738 for more info. Mountain; 841 Highway 106: Highlands, NC 28741 (704) 526- 5838. NEW MARKET, TN sn> (Stop the Poisoning!) School a1 the Hishlander CcnlCf. Learn bow to figllt 1nduslrinl pollution For more info, call (615) 933-3443. 30 UNICOI, GA "Spring Earth Skills Workshop'' with Snow Bear, Darry Wood, Doug Elliott, and Yanna. Leaming the ways of the woods. $65. Comact Bob Slack at (404) 878-2201. 31·1 HENDEltSONVILLF., NC Workshop on Local and Regional Land Trusis. Kanug.a Episcopal Center. For more info call (704) 692-9136. WAYNESVILLE, NC Kanna m Daily Life-A Spiritual Rctrcal, with John Algeo. Stil·Light Tbcosopbieal RCllC41 Cent.er, Rt I, BOA 326: Wayncsy1lle, NC 28786 (70<!) 452-4569. Neighborh ood" confcronce sponsored by Asheville League of Women Votcts. Time and place TBA. Call (704) 258-8223. ASHEVILLE. NC A six-we.:k course. "Finding Your Path with HC3rt", begins a.t the Spiritual Growth Foundation. (sce4/l). The focus will be on finding our "lruC vmce• and expressing Lhc lifc-affinmng energy of l1W" Heart's desire. 17·18 ASHEV l LLE, NC Red Foll/Second ll.311gin', play prcscnltd by I.be Roadside ThcatTC. S)l3rU'lnburg. SC. For ume and location. call (606} 633-0108. nLACK MOUNTAIN, NC Robm Williamson. •a wl1.lltd of words and music:.· "'I h~ hunter ond the hu11ted howl 011e howl.• McDibbs'; S6 tdYanc~ door. 8pm, 119 Cherry Si., Black Mtn., NC 28711: (704)669-2456. ASREVlLLE, NC " Betw"n a Rock and a Hard Place: Westtrn No r th Carolina's Noclur 17 14-16 21-23 IS ASHEVCLLE, NC "Cut lhe Clearcutting!" says WNCA. From 1t am. Music, dancing, speakers. City/County Plaza, Asheville. Write Western North Carolina Alli:lncc; Box 18087; Asheville, NC 28814, orcall 258-8737 15 ASHEVILLE, NC The Enrth First! Road Show wilh Roger Featherstone and Susan Grace Stoltz, audio·visuals, news on EF! issues and actions. Lipinsky Auditorium, UNCA. 7:30 p.m. Students $1. General admission $3. For more info, call (704) 251-6144. 18 31·2 APRD.. 1·30 CHEROKEE, NC William Holland Thomas. "little ASlll-:VlLLE, NC Hum.an Potential Education Foundation Spring 1989 Conference, "Healers and the Healing Proces:~." For regiwation and brochure conw:c Human Poumlial Educlllion Foundation, Inc.: R1. s. 89 Tt1nyrud Rd.: Greenville. SC 29609. white chicr or lhe ChclOkec. cxhibiL OicroJcoe H~14Sc MUNCwn and GaJlcsy. I&8 28-30 ASHEVILLE, NC 'Commumcation and Healing." a lWO·Jllll 28-30 NEW MARKF.1', TN STP (Stop I.he Poisoning!) School Bl the Highlander Ccntcr. Learn how to fight tndu.suial pollution. ~3/21-23. wotlcshop focusing on inner commumon and outer communicauon as Yilal tools for bcaling ourselves Md our rclalionsh1ps. 10-Spm each day. Led by Richard l.owenlhBI. M. A. Spiritual Growth Foundation: 891 Haywood .Rd. (704) 252-3508. 2-5 PISGAH FOREST, NC Rockclimbing clinic for beginners Tedmiques, safely, gear. S28S. Eagle's Nest Camp; 43 Hart Road: Pisgah °Fon:.'ll: NC 28768. (704) 877-4349. X.~.Jo~ pgqe 52 · 29-31 FARNER, TN KATUAH SPRING GATHERTNO. Come celebrate. dance, play, meet. and talk with the family from all over the region (see announcement next page). mustratlons by Jackie Taylor- �JUNE 29 MOUNT AIRY, NC 18th Annual Ml. Airy Fiddler~ Convention. A weekend of lrod1tion:il Appal3chian Music. Bring instruments. tenlS, food. Regiwruion SlO. 2-3 SWANNANOA, NC Environmental Summit '89: Ethics, Economics and the Environment. This 5th annual summit will focus on environmental problems of immediate interest in WNC. and on how environmental and economic realities affect each other. Keynote speaker: David Morris of the Inst. for Local Self-Reliance. Warren Wilson College. 9am-4 pm. $5. For more info or to preregister call (704) 298-3325, ext. 250. 9· 11 CLOUDLAND CANYON Caving weekend w11h Snow Bear as instruc1or and guide. Equipment provided. Call (704) 494-2353 for more info. 9-11 WAYNESVILLE, NC "Mythology - The Modem Search for the Holy Grail" with Joy Mills. Stil-L1ghL See 3/31-4/2. MAY llRASSTOWN, NC June Homecoming Music/Dance Weck. English counuy dancing wi1h Jim Morison. John C. Campbell Folk School, 28906. 11·17 5-7 WAYNESVILLE, NC "Music as Meditation" with Diana Dunningh:un. S20/day. Sul-Light Center: See 3{31-4/2. 21-25 HIGHLANDS, NC Nature Photography Workshop. Prc.rcgisicr. Appalachian Environmental Ans Center. Sec 5/12-14. 6 LINVILLE, NC. Grandfather Mountain Prorilc Trait wildflower hilce. Blue Ridge Group, Sierra Club. Call (704) 2974098. 6-10 PISGAH FOREST, NC Whi1ewa1cr Canoe Clinic for novices and m1crmedia1es. $455. Sec 4/2-5. 12-14 lllGllLANDS, NC Spring Landscape Retreat Photography Workshop. Pre-regisicr: Appalachian Environmental Arts Ccnicr; Drawer S1l0: Highlands. NC 2874 I (704) 526-4303. 19-21 BLACK MOUNTAIN, NC The Black Mouniain Spring Festival. Three days of traditional music and dnnce at Black Mountain College/Camp Rockmont. Brave Combo, The Horsenies, Grandmother, David Wilcox, Phil and Gaye Johnson. For advance tickets call Grey Eagle and friends, (704) , 669-4546 from 2pm- IOpm. o~ ~3. &q o.ncL 3o o± -p e.p~et' la.rd.. ~ t()J\ft'l 7f.n ~ u.a -to ~~N.b..ooY 19·21 flfGllLANDS, NC Wildflower Pho1ogruphy Workshop. Pre-rcg1s1er. Appalachi$ Env1Tonmcnt.al Arts C..:nicr. Sec qy'~ 5/12-14. u.ou.aL I~~ ~ o..cliN~ a.r0.wo¥k shO(:.>s ~ o...d.uJtto 19-21 MILLBORO, VA EARTH FlRST! Appabchian Rendezvous. Talk, drum. s.we au things wild. For more info, write: Box 2(>6; Millboro. VA 2.4460 or call (703) 997-9448. BRASSTOWN, NC May Crafl/l)ance week. John C. Campbell Folk School 28906. 27-29 WHITTIER, NC Cclebralion on lhe land al Union Acres Communuy. All friends of Kauiah welcome. For more Info., ca11: Cynthia and Roy Gallinger, (704) 293-9230. spil.NJ, 1989 µ~~. ~ u.;tl.L ~ -t:hL- NEW MARKET, TN STP (Siop the Poisoning!) School a1 lhe Highlander Ccnier. Leum how IO figh1 indu.~trial poll111Jon. Soc3nl-23. 19-21 21-27 ().rd_ a.rd. ch.U.dA.t.n ' Pre-registration, by April 15: $15.00 adult $10.00 child under 12 After April 15: $17.00 adult $12.00 child under 12 .For mon: infonnalion, write: Snow Bear and Khallsa; Pepperland Farm Camp; Siar Route: Farner. TN 37333 or call: (704) 494-2353 or (704) 586-3146 �vfEBWO~ SEEKING TO JOIN OTHERS m a mlllllally -.upponivc comml.INly. Singl.c mamn: womon. ll'lis1-1eac.htt can offer skills: early childhood education. llU, earth llb111:, wri!Jnl Wn1c Alwyn MosJ., 1007 Turner SL, Blacksburg, V/> 24060: ("10'3) SS2·6331 VAGABOND GUJBETR01TTNG Stale of tlw Art. Revised Edition., by M.L. Endicoll. One of lhc moll compRhensivc insuucticm manua!J ror <yro uavelcrt SUS; Enchlridlon lntemational, Cullowhcc, NC 28723 ASCENSION Beg1111ttr's Mon.uJJ. a self-help boo1t for auaining lhc touchable ruii1y of lhc ASCENDEO <taic. usually lhou&ht to be bt!yood Raeh. By Theodore A lluoody, Ir~ $13.SO pp; &lcctic: Pren, 205 Pigeon SI. Waynesville. NC 28786. WlNCS WAY bttbal products. For pnce list. wme: Box 1477; Old Fon. NC 2.876Z EUSTACE CONWAY- Ou.ide and !Udler of (ll1lnit1ve £arlh Skills wilh cmphasi.t on rue blll1dln,. hide tanning she.Iler. and fongilla. He ILachti at public schools, parks cnvimnmencal oont.en, .and cJuscs ol .all tinds. For tllOl'C informllion coniact lum II' 602 Deerwood Drive, Oastonii. NC 28084 or oall Allcln Sianlcy al (704) 872-7972 FUTONS by Simple Pte.uuru affordably priced. Send SASE for Info io: Sunplc PICU\lrtJ: RL I. Box 1426 Clayton. GA 30S2.S (404) 782·3920. APPAJ..ACHIAN GINSENG CO.• sua.tified seeds. PEPPERLAND ofrcn a variety of ouldoor cdu.eation po,grams for chl.Wdl, school. or cMc gn>Up& ycu· round. Wo will help you ~pl a pogrom for your group. Send for infonnwon J*1c.ct to: Pcppcrland Fum Camp; Sw RoUlA!; Farner, TN 37333. R£AllERS' REACTIONS AND INSIGHTS wanic.d i.ganling lhc "consum«" culun we five in, and lhc idea of "consumaism" u a lifestyle.. Plcue write to Richard Lowenthal, 53 Greely St.. Asheville, NC 28806 (or call seedlings. roots. Send for price li51 io: P.O. Box S47 Dillsboro, NC 28725. M. TR& DESIGNS: UlllSIJlliom and Der;gn • Beyond lhc p!l&CS of lhis journal, I work DI penal. colored ponril. ink. QI\ paper. md t.lik. F'mc and graphk an to cxircu and cnh...,., our livea. Logos, btochuru, boob. ponnl1ure, window and wall h&ng~. Concct Manha Tree (704) 7S-4-«l97. STit.·UGHTTHEOSOPHICAl..RETREATCENTER -a qu1c1 spaeo for JlC'nOnal medilali<m, aniup inc.cractioo lhrough study, and community .-011<. and spintual smiinU$, Contact Leon Frankel; Rt. I. Box 326; Wayncs•ilk. NC 28786 WANTED: LAND 111 WQt.cm NC. Famlly f«b Sor mon: ICtCS. prd"crobly near Cullowhee. IO pr<S<TVC and evcnlll.ally inhllbil. U}'OU have or kno..•of afford.&blc l111d, oonlll:t Bob llld Miry Davis; 213 Wcrunorcland Cc., Ccorgetown. KY 40324 (502) 8634167. MOON DANCE FARM HERBAl..S · herbal salvC$, tinc1111cs. & oil• for b1nh111g a: family health. For bcochure, pt.,,.e wrii.:: Moon Dance Farm; Re. I. Box 726; Harnpcon. TN 37658 FREE t..ABOR • I would like ID learn about beekeeping and building New Ag< Housing Willing to wo1'k for free during summer. All I ask b a pl- for my tcnl and .., occasional muL Con11e1 ClvU Irwin; 1712 Whhc /we.; Knoxville:. TN 37916 (6lS) 673-0653. BUCITT RESISTANT CHESUIUT ·hybrid AmcricanlCluncS 0wman c:hcstnut treea • blight rcsisW\I timl>C!r pc>wth form. productive orchard crop wilh luge. sweet CQily·pcc\ed nuu. Cbutnut Hill l'luncry; RL I, Bo>. 34 l·K: Aadiua, FL 3261.S (904) 462·2820 ORGANTC FERTIUZERS. belts, and arganically-groMI. local produce 11 the> WNC Pannen' Marked Look for the FaiJglcn Fanns slllll. units F and 0 in lhc wholesale 1tU of' lhc F.umcn' Matkrl; 570 BteVud Rd.; Asheville, NC ("104 252-4414 Trudeau Dr.; Mc.Wrc, LA 70003. CENTEJl FOR AWA.KENlNC scck:ing 2 full-time, live.in volunlccn w/ main1cnance and/or n11ural food prep eitpericnce. RmManl. Wri1e; Human Services Allianoc Bo• IS42; WinSIOn.Salcm. NC 27102 (919) 761-874S. APPROPRIATE PASSIVE SOLAR des1111. blueprints and full wor.king dnwings for homes, shopt. and sheds Cr.,•llve dr1fling .....yow- ideas or ours. Harmony Sunbuildets; P.O. Bo• 194; Suiv Grove. NC 28697 SONGS OF LOVE ANO NATURE by Ron Lambe fcawring the voice of Hearuingcr wilh Slcphen Klein, Pi&no. Lavaul<r Lieder Records; R1 I, Box I JS; Bakcnvillc, NC 28705. (704) 6884791. B~c I01J.r111!1 inlo o f«alm of Evolution.ary lodvt:llllD'e by Pauick Clerk. A inu: -=ounl of a bicycle tnp from NATURAL FOOD SlORF. for ulc in Brevard, NC. E•ccllcnt IOCllion. $80,000 CJOS1 sales. Growlh poienti&I Owncn n10ving. mus1 p•U ii on. Call IDiubcth (704) 293·9534 evcnin&J. ORCANlC FOOD PRODUCING CO-OP land. aqwprncnl, apcrienced fannen provided for members The Bioclomc Pannet~lup; Rt. 2. Sox 184; Waynesville.. NC 28786. (704) 926-935$. ECO HELP NEEDED Long 8r111Ch Envlfonmcn1al Education Ccrue:r D«dJ volwileetlN!ICnlS 10 help "'•lh orchards, gardens, farmworl. rainbow 1tou1. cmrgy-efficimc bllild1ng. cnvimnmmtal/wildlifc/pmn1· cul11m issues and organizing. Room and boatd negntiable. Paul Calllmoce; l.BF.EC; RL 2. Box 132; ~icc.icr, NC 28748 YOU CAN CO HOME AGAIN· A Down To &rth JOURNEY INTO THE SLICK.ROCK Wildcmcu Atca Boys. falhu-son. falher-daughter cxpcdttJoN. Learn ob<•rvttion and woodcraft in lhe deep woods. Bun ~gay, upericnced guide Slicktock ElpeditionJ; Box 1214; Cullowhec. NC .28723. AMRITA HERBAL PRODUCTS · Comfrey. EucalyplUS Oii C.olclcn Seal salve. ~mon ar LA•cncler (ICIC ctam. Medo: wilh natural and c=nlial oih and love. Send for brochure Rt I. Box 737; Floyd, VA 24091. HAND.CARVED WOODSPIRITS. ln)"ucal hiking ital~ FINDING OUR "PATH WITH HEART" c.QI be v11al t0 O\lt health Ind ~•lfoxprasion. I offer guidcl<:e lhrou&h courueling, spimual 111uncmm1. ..1rolog1cal rcadings WOJbhops, common·llCJUC ftedbt.ell. For more info or an appoin1mcnl, call Richard Lowenthal , M.A . (704) 2Sl·2526. Sliding scale fcea. ALTERNATIVE COMMUNITY on bcauuful land~ Cbualccc, NC sr<king r1milirs domring gi:c11tt c:oopenlicm and self·sufficlen<:y. Based on Jpiricual Ind ocological valuea. Pcoperty now av11f1ble. Call (404) 77S.S7S4 for info. Wuhinglon, D.C 10 Ille au1boc's native home of Cullowbcc, NC. following muah of lhc Bluc Ridge Parkway. Avai1oblc for $7.95 pose paid from Dandylion Publicatio111. 47 Pmola. Sc., Ashcvillc NC 28801. COMMUNION WITH NATifRA • Long proclauncd to be cclcsual •tan &fOllllding their radiance on Mot.bcr !!viii flowers ""' the rcvcl11ion of lhc plan!. Come •hllfe in NATURA'$ sacred play. moyonunUJe facililJtin&. 3931 Hwy 80 S. Toe River, Bunuvillc. NC 28714 ("104} 6~-4806 CARDE.NERS arc ..-UJated t0 v11u our Parad~ Gardens for insirucuon and inspirauon (!'reel and/or peicmial plan11 sale (cheap). Artisu .re 1nvncd IO c:omtt and c:ru1c 1n tile gllda> • painUng. drawing. and phDioanplty arc cnMunged We oho ba,·• • cabin avtJ.IAblc mcxcrumgc for warlcin& in lhc ganlcn. Mount.m Gardens; 3020 White Oak Creek; Bunuvillc, NC 28714 (704) 67S·S664. and wall hAAgmp by SICVc Dunc111 For broch1... plcuc write Whippoorwill Swctio; llt 4, ~ 981; Manon. NC 28752. MEDITATION CUSHIONS Crom Carolina M<>mUll Do.signs. Troditionll ancl mllwblo 1.afus For free bnx:hurc wrii.e; RL I. Boa 31·8: Hot Spnng1, NC 237<13. HANDMADE RATTI..ES fot the 'JMlual warrnor or hcal~r made wilh maic.rial• provadcd by !he animal ltin1dom. <;:oncact: Jc._ HltnS Bathrict.-; SW Cm.notill AttifilC~ 1307 lvcnon St.: Allmta. GA (404) 588-0296 • INDIAN VAUEY RETREAT· 140 acrci in Blue Ridge mountains wilh faeilitiea available to rent far group1 or individual ll!lra!S. dlha 3J.1ided or unstn1C;1Ul1>d. Send for infom111ion and seasonal c1lo.ndar of h.e aling, transfl>ITil&live evcnlJ lo: lndu111 Vllllcy Holislic Center RL 2. Box S8; Willis, VA 24:180 h.Alld TN! Earth Li•ci /lappity Ever After - .caries from folk lrlditioni all ltOWld the wtidd chosen to help prolt:Ct all living beings by bringing 111'1 world soc1ecy a few steps do5Ct to peace and ~l for 1111 fife. Edited by Floar.ing Eagle Femhcr. $7 .00 ppd. (All profits go IO Clrempacc IJ1A! !he Pcau Museum.) Order &om: Wages of Peace; 309 704.251 ·2526). • MOTHER'S BREATit HERBAL PRODUCTS high quali1y b"fbal c•"'""· oin1ments, and 011J, lov1n1ly aa1cd. Send for free brochure 10 Re . 2. Ro• 251. Vllas. NC2K692 EARTH REACH EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 1cae1Un1 pnmitivc skills 10 children md adulu.. Roben Manin. Jr and JC&1111C Moo!\!'. RL I, Box 178-A. Fcnum, VA 24088. BEAUTIFUL EUCIUOE MOCCASINS Custom aitcd to your f~• AO narural ma1erials. Sof!SOle $2.5/lw<holt SSO. Send tncm& of your fool to Na1ivc American FoQ1wcar, 47 Panola St., Alhevillc NC 2.8801; 7~ 2:Sl·22.SO WEBWORK!NO is &cc 5""J •ubmis.1u1cu to: K01"4Jt J<><1rnal P.O. Bo• 638 ui=ler.NC Kall!ah Pro"incc 28743 SprinlJ, 1999 • �The Kaulah Journal wants to communicate your thoughts and feelings to the other people in the bioregional province. Send them to us as leners. poems, stories. articles. drawings, or photographs, etc. Please send your comnbutions to us at: Katuah Journal; P. 0. Box 638; Leicester, NC; Karuah Province 28748. • The summer issue of lhc Ka11iah Jo11.rlllll will deal with the meaning of the word "Pence" as a dynamic process lhal can replace cxisung SU"Uctures of donunation with vibrant new relarionships. Please send us descriptions and contact infonnarion for individuals and groups in your pan of the province that are doing lhings that are helping co create peace Ill the world. We would also Hke to know what is your definition of pence. We would like to get a collection of the mo.~t interesting and accurate definitions of that elusive idea. BACK ISSUES OF KATUAH AV All.ABLE $1.50 -·· ISSUE FIFTEEN Sprin& 1987 Coverlets - Woman Porcsler - Susie McMdwl Midwife . Alternative Conlncqmon • Bio>CJtualily - 81orcgionalism ~ Women Good Mtdic:inc: MmWdlal Clll~ ,_, WWJ[fl~- ISSUE THREE SPRJN(l 1984 Sustain.thlc Agriculture . SunOowas Human lmpac1 on lhc: Forut - Childrcns' Ed11c111ion Vct0nlca Nicholu·Woman in Politics Llitlc tsSUESIXTE:EN-Summerl987 Helen Wauc: Poem: Visions 111 • O~ . Vision Que,r1 - Fim Flow - ln11ia1ion • 1.umina in lhc Wildemeu • Cherokee Cllallcngc "Valuing T,_. People. Mcdlrinc Allies • ISSUE FOUR - SUMMER 198'1 W11c1 !>nun Water Quably Kudtu Solar Ecli~c Ctc:arcuttin& T1out • C.omg IO W111r1 Ram PllmP" • Mic:rohydro - Pocnu: Bennie l...ec Sinclair, Jim Wrync Mnlcr ISSUE EIGITTE.EN WUUO' 1987 88 VcmacuIIT Atchiittl\ITC - Dl'c;ams an Wood Q! Sione - Mount&Jll Home - E.Ulh l!ncrJi.. • Eanh-S!u:hcrcd Livmg • Mcmbr- Houses Brush Shchci - Poems· Ot:to«r Du.d • C'oOOd ModX:.nc: "Sheller" ISSLF. FIVE - FALL 191!4 llarv1:11 • Old Ways in Chc1ok"" GinKng Nuclear Waste: • Our Cchic Hcri1•ge Biorcgionalism: Put. Ptuc:nt. and Fu1ure Jahn Wilnol)' • Healing Dlltkness Politics or ISSUE NINETEe.N -Sll'Ulg. 19811 Pcrloandra Cltdtn Spring Tonics · Blueberries WUdOo11>cr O•rdcns Granny Hcrbalis1 • Flll"'l:r Es.cncea • lho Origin of lhe Animal : Stoty -Good Malicmo: "Po.. cr" • Be ATroe Paructp:iliDn ISSLIE SIX. WTNTER 1984-85 Wini.:r Soi.ti« Eanh Ceremony· H0<scpiu1u;i, ISSUE TWENTY · S11m1na. 19811 l'reM!rve App.alathilll WildcnlU.J • Hi,ghbnll of ltoan - Cel<1 Community - L.nd Trun • Arthur Miqan School • Zoning 'Wuc • ·'"The Ridgo" - Fanncrs Ind lhe Fann Bill • Cood Mcdir.:lnc! ''Lind" · Acid Rain · Duke"• Po..,cr Play Chaoic< Microhydro ProJCCI Rt\CT Com1111 ol lhc Llshl • Log Clbm Roo1a- MoUlll&in Apicullurc: Tho Righi Crop - W11l1am Tayl11< The Fuiun: of lhc: Forc.t ISSUE SEVEN SPRING 1985 Su.'ll&JA•blc Ec:onomic:J Hot Srrinp - Worlte; Ownership - The Great &onomy - Self Help Crccjj1 Union Wiid Turlt.cy - Rcsponslbl• lnvuting Workitlg in Ilic Web of Lite JSSUE EIGtrr - SUMMER 1985 Celebra11on: A Way of Life - Kat\Wl 18.000 Ye&l'J Ago • Sacred Sil.Cl - Follc Ans in lhc School& - Sun Cyc:l~oon Cycle • Powu: Hilda Downer Chcsolcu Heritage Caw:r • Who Owns Appaladlhl? ISSUENTNE- FALL 1985 The Wal~ Forest - Thi> Tfl'cS Spc:alt • Milf&llng Foruts • llcme Logging - Stanmg a Treci Crop Urb&n Trees · l\oom Btc«I - Mylh Tane ~- ISSUE Et.EVEN SPRINO 1986 Community Planning - Cities and the: Biotcgional Vision - Roc:yclmg Community Gardening- Floyd County, VA - Ouoliol Two Biottgional Views • Nuclear Suj)plema11 FoiU= Oarne.s. Good MtdldM: Visions Box - The Wake - TI1c Raven Moclcor Woodslorc and WildwoodJ Wildom Oood tsSUETWEHTY-ONE · Fall, 1988 Chc:stnu~ A 1~i.1ura.1 Hl11ory • Rostoring w Cheiulut. ·p~ orl'rcs<!rvation Uld Praise" Canunuing the Quesl Farella and Wildlife Chos1ru111 in Regional 011~1 Chcsuuu Ruoun:u - Hctb Noic - Good Mcdn:mc: "Changes 10 C<!me" • Rev~ Wkr# le&~Nls Medicine: The Sweat lodge ISSUETBN ·WINTER 19l!S-86 Ka1c Rogas • Circles of Slone • lnicmal Mylhmalcing - Holl•lic: Healing on Trial Poem$: Sieve Knaulh • My1Juc Pbc:c:s The Uklona's Talc: Cry11al Magic - Li~ ISSUE FOURTEEN - W-mi« 1986.t7 Uoyd Cul Owlc. Boogers and Mwnmcn - All !SSUETWENTY TWOWin1ct", l9S8-89 Cilobal Wmnaig and Kat4ah .irire This T~ • Thom.u Deny on "Biorcgsons" - Eanh E.xcrase Ko~ Loy McWluru:r • All Abundance oI l'..mplincSJ - LETS • Chninicl.. or Flo)'d - o.ry Wood lnlcrf!ICW The 9.,.., Clan ISSUE THIRTEEN · Fall 1986 Ccnlcr For Awakening - Elinbc:th Callari A Clc:n1lc Dca1h • Hosp>CA! Eincsl Morgan Dealing Crcalivcly with Dcalh Home Bunal Species Day - Cabin Fcve1 Uni•aaity • Homelcu !JI Kaiuah • Homcinadc Hos Wiler S1ovanJtkCf'5 Narrauvc • Good Meche.inc:: lntmpcci.. Conununication - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - ,, ~UA~ QURNAL 0 -- - - - - ~ -------- For more info: call Mamie Muller (704) 683-1414 Boie 638; Leicester, NC; KatUah Province 28748 Regular Membership........ $10/yr. Sponsor........................$20/yr. Contributor.....................$50/yr. Name Enc/Med is$ Address City Area COde Sprl.nq, 1989 ro give this ejforr an extra boost State Phone Number Zip l can be a local contact person for my area Back [ssues Issue#-_@$2.50= $_ _ Issue#_@ $2.50 = $_ _ Issue# _@ $2.50 = S_ _ Issue#_@ $2.50 = $_ _ Issue# __@ S2.50 = $ _ _ Choose any 5 issues: SIO.OO=S_ _ Complete Set (3-11, 13-16, 18-22) @ $35.00 = $_ _ XAwaf1 Jou~ncit Pt«J~ ~s � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records Description An account of the resource <em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal</em>,&nbsp;was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. <br /><br /><span>The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name,&nbsp;</span><em>Katúah</em><span>, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant.&nbsp;</span><br /><span><br />The <em>Katúah Journal</em> was co-founded by Marnie Muller, David Wheeler, Thomas Rain Crowe, Martha Tree and others who served as co-publishers and co-editors. Other key team members included Chip Smith, David Reed, Jay Mackey, Rob Messick and many others.</span><br /><br />This digital collection is only a portion of the <em>Katúah</em>-related materials in the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection in Special Collections at Appalachian State University. The items in AC.870 Katúah Journal records cover the production history of the <em>Katúah Journal</em>. Contained within the records are correspondence, publication information, article submissions, and financial information. The editorial layouts for issues 12 through 39 are included as are a full run of the Journal spanning nearly a decade. Also included are photographs of events related to the Journal and a film on the publication. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived This resource is part of the&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal Records </em>collection. For a description of the entire collection, see <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Katúah Journal Records (AC. 870)</a>. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The images and information in this collection are protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. C.) and are intended only for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes, provided proper citation is used – i.e., Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records, 1980-2013 (AC.870), W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. Researchers are responsible for securing permissions from the copyright holder for any reproduction, publication, or commercial use of these materials. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1983-1993 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource journals (periodicals) Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Katúah Journal</em>, Issue 23, Spring 1989 Description An account of the resource The twenty-third issue of the <em>Katúah Journal</em> focuses on varied topics such as the ancient ways of the first people groups in Appalachia; "Planet Art;" tulip poplar trees; the Black Swan Center; and environmentally-friendly economics. Authors and artists in this issue include: Kim Sandland, Denise Newbourne, David Morris, Doug Elliott, James Rhea, Jerry Trivette, C.B. Squire, Elizabeth Griffin, Gil Leebrick, Michael Hockaday, Sheli Lodge, Rob Messick, David Wheeler, Dolores LaChapelle, Martha Tree, Laura E. Jackson, and Jackie Taylor. <br><br><em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to <em>Katúah Journal</em>, was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name, Katúah, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1989 Table Of Contents A list of subunits of the resource. Pisgah Village: A Window into Ancient Ways by Kim Sandland.......1<br /><br />Planet Art in Katúah by Denise Newbourne.......5<br /><br />The Green City as Thriving City by David Morris.......8<br /><br />Poplar Appeal by Doug Elliott.......10<br /><br />Clear Sky: A Composite Portrait by James Rhea.......13<br /><br />"A New Earth" by Jerry Trivette.......14<br /><br />College as Community Resource by C. B. Squire.......16<br /><br />Wild Lovely Days: Poems by Elizabeth Griffin | Photographs by Gil Leebrick.......18<br /><br />Natural World News.......20<br /><br />Reviews: Sacred Land  Sacred Sex  Rapture of the Deep.......23   Stopping the Coming Ice Age.......25<br /><br />Drumming: Letters to Katúah.......26<br /><br />"Sudden Tendrils" a poem by Michael Hockaday.......28<br /><br />Events Calendar.......32<br /><br />Webworking.......34<br /><br /><em>Note: This table of contents corresponds to the original document, not the Document Viewer.</em> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <em>Katúah Journal</em>, printed by The <em>Waynesville Mountaineer</em> Press Subject The topic of the resource Bioregionalism--Appalachian Region, Southern Sustainable living--Appalachian Region, Southern Cherokee Indians--History Excavations (Archaeology)--North Carolina, Western Mixed economy--Appalachian Region, Southern Poplar--North Carolina, Western Community development--North Carolina--Swannanoa River Valley Human ecology in art North Carolina, Western Blue Ridge Mountains Appalachian Region, Southern North Carolina--Periodicals Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937"> AC.870 Katúah Journal records</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a title="In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted" href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/?language=en 8" target="_blank"> In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted </a> Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Appalachian Region, Southern Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. <a title="Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians" href="https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/collections/show/79" target="_blank"> Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians </a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Journals (Periodicals) Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1980s Appalachian History Appalachian Mountains Appalachian Studies Book Reviews Cherokees Community Earth Energies Ecological Peril Economic Alternatives Education Electric Power Companies Folklore and Ceremony Forest History Forest Issues Geography Habitat Hazardous Chemicals Katúah Poems Politics Reading Resources Recycling Shelter Turtle Island Villages Water Quality Western North Carolina Alliance https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/598a93ab849d56cc32fb22505a37f177.pdf 35ca04365bb9bc976cdc8ee253cc5a52 PDF Text Text ISSUE 30 SPRING 1991 $1.50 �=· - · = • Drawing by D.avid Opalccky ~UAt1 JOURNAL P.O. Box 638 Leicesler, NC Postage Paid Bulk Mail Permit #18 Leicester, NC Katuah Province 28748 ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED 28748 �lONTENT5 Econorny/Ecology...................... " .............. l by David Whulu Avoiding Lhe Passive/Helpless Approach to Economic Developmcnt.........................4 by TlwmllS Power Ways 10 a Regener:uive Economy.............5 by Rob Messick Sacred Oconomy........................................6 by Will ~c Bason "Money Is 1he Lowest Form of Wealth": lnt.crv1cw wilb lvo Bnllcn1ine Bnd Robin Capc.....7 by Rodm:y Webb and llcnry EcJJcr The Clarksville "Miracle".......... ........................................ ]O by Gri.rcom Morgan Self-Help Crt!dit Union............................ IO The Village......................................." ...... 11 by Snow Bear "1hrough dreams, through magic''............ 12 Poc,m by Gary l;awler.t Food \-1overs.............................." .. .......... 13 b) DU!lul II hul.-r Poems hy Jim CJark.. ..... " ........................14 Life\Vork .................................................. 15 by Ernr.rt Wom1c.l; and Mtlflt. Sundstrom Green Spirit,;: "Kntuah Pl:inting Calendor".................................................. 19 by I.Le Barnt.S Good Medicine: "Villogc Economy".......20 On Eco-cconomics...................................21 by David llaellke Thoughts on Work, Productivity, and Development.....................................22 by Richard Lowenthal Natural World News................................23 Shelton Laurel. .........................................25 byRodneyWeJx, Off The Grid: ''Regional Fuels"...............26 by Jim Houser LETS..........................................." ...........27 Rtsources................................................. 27 Drumming................................................28 Eanh Energies: 'The Great Lover"...................................................... 31 by Cha.rlo11e llomsMr Events.......................................................33 Webworking.............................................34 Sprtng, 1991 by David Wheeler "Economy" means the basic, natural processes lhaLsupport life in the world. This is where we begin. The wind in the trees rain dripping through the leaves, mounrain~ silen1and tal.11 the moon sailing 1hrough the sky - these are basic factors of life in Lhe mountains. These elemental powers are refined and individuali~ed int~ a~oms ~nd whirling poplor seeds, lwmnous cnlhums, insect larva crawling un?:r strea~ rocks, a .grouse thrumming in the twilight - beings 1hat live and die, eat and are eaten, closely bound to the web of existence. Thi~ is the living economy of lhe Soulhem Appalachian Mount.ains. The human "economy" is how we live in 1he W?rl~. It is simply an accounting of how we live within the greater economy and utilize itS energies to support our own existence. Tn conversation, human economy is of1en contraI?Osed to the natuml ecology, as if they were dtfferent and antagonistic 10 each other. But both words share a common root from the Greek word oikos, ·•household." This is not a coincidence; this is observation of a fundamenral ~ity. The two conceplS are simply clifferent views of lhe same system seen from diffcren1 perspectives and on a differem scale. The first principle of Lhe human economy is "preserve the system that gives life to all." The human economy. being a smaU er segment of the natural economy and working through the same laws, mirrors the health of the greater economy. Once human economies were dependen1 on the health of the regional ecosystems from which they grew. Then some humans learned to expand their sphere of infl_uence, so lhat by drawing energy from other regions they were able to maintain artificially healthy economies in the midst of failed environments. The Southern Appalachian Mountains know this process well. The human economy we know as the industrial growth system has not been good ro the mountains. The relatlonship of the ~ rull? Province lo the central economy has histo~cally been tha1of a colonized territory, exploucd for raw materials and cheap labor; always for the benefit of the same urban elites who rule the economies of Uruguay and Indonesia, Nigeria and the Philippines - and all the other miliLarily weaker and technologically less-developed countries. 1n the Soulhem Appalachians, the timber boom of the early pan of the nineteeolh century is the clearcs1example of the "rape and run" mentality of resource extraction. And though lbe tech niques nave been refined, there is little difference between the mentali1 of the old-time y timber barons and the current-day land developer. But the industrial growth society has reached rhe end of ils rope - or, more aptly, the bollom of the barrel. There are no new bioregions to conquer, and any funher expansion and growth only weakens lhe condition of the already-stressed global ecology. The industrial growth sysLem has taken a terrible toll on !he world - !he ecologicnl collopse is underway, the economic collapse follows. The planetary economy of human hobitation i~ once again a retlection of Lhe planet's natural ll.fe suppon system. We are now going lO have to give attention 10 the first principle of human economy and make a rcaJ commitment 10 "preserve the system that gives life to all." Change is happening. Ahhough waning govemmenrs srill dominate the headline news their struggles over the dregs of ao obsolete ' energy source are only the dea1h agonies of the industrial grow1h system. The recent war, recessions, and depressions are ~e symptoms of change. Like continenLS in moo?n, me forces actuaUy driving this change are moving slowly, ponderously, deep beneath the surface - jusl as powerful and jus1 as inexorable. The planetary life system is moving lo preserve iLSelf. While we can see the shadow of the approaching change, we cannot see i1s shape, and we know only that the future will be like nothing that has gone before. We need to prepare. That we are aware this transition is coming does noLmean that it will be easy or comfortable for us; in fact just !he opposile appears more likely to be the case. It will help to rell1CIIlber thai we are in the midst of a monumental transfonnacion, and although it will be diffi.cuJ1, it offers an opponuni1y for us to supplant the old ioduslrial growth system with one much more suilable - one that is ecologically viable and more spiritually fulfilling. During the throes of tra.nsi rion we need 10 remember that the second principle of eoonomy is "the survivaJ of species." This refers not only to the human species, although our kind is included as well, but the survival of all species - each constantly growing, changing, making its own conoibution to the continually creative process we call evolution. "Survival of the species•· also does not require the survival of every individual of a species, for that would in fact be counter-productive. It refers instead to the life (conlinucd on ~ 3) :l(.Qtuah Jotu"nm pa'}& �i<eLlAHjOURNAL EDITORIAL STAFF THIS ISSUE: Susan Adam Patrick Clark Oiarlotte Homsher Lorraine Kaliher Rob Messick Jeff Smith Rodney Webb Lee Barnes Andy Half-baker Jim Houser Richard Lowenthal Mamie Muller Manha Tree David Wheeler COVER: by Rob Messick © 1991 PUBLISHED BY: Ka1ualr Jo1unal STATEMENT OF PURPOSE PRINTRD BY: The Waynesville Mountaineer Press EDITORIAL OFFICE Il::0$ JSSUE: The Globe Valley WRITE US AT: Kat(I/Jh Journal Box 638; Leicester, NC; Karuah Province 28748 TELEPHONE: (704) 754-6097 Katuah Joiu110I is on Skyland BBS, Asheville, NC. For information, call (704) 254-6700. Diversity is an important element or bioregional ecology, both natural and social. In line wilh this principle, lhe Katuah Journal tries 10 serve os a forum for the discussion of regional issues. Signed articles express only the opinion of lhc authors and are not necessarily the opinions of the Kat~Jaurnal edil0!'$ or ~taff. The lnlCmlll Revenue Serviu h:is declared Ka1dah Journal a non-profil organization under section 50l(cX3) of the tn1emal Revenue Code. All conliibutions 10 Katitah Journal are deductible from personal income tax. Articles appearing in Katuah Journal may be reprinted ill olher publications with permission from the Katuah Journal slaff. Contocl the journal in writing or call (704) 154-f:,(1}1 or (704) 683-1414. Here, in the Karuah Province of these ancient Appalachian mountains where once the Cherokee Nation lived in freedom between th.e Tennessee River Valley and the Eastern Piedmont between the Valley of the Roanoke and the Southern Plain on this Turtle Island continent of Mother Ela, the Earth Here, In this place we dedicate ourselves to remembering our deep connection to the spirit of the land. We bring this connection into the being and the doing of our daily lives When the land speaks, we listen and we act We tune our lives to the changes, to the seasons We respect the limits of the land We preserve, defend, and restore the land We give thanks for all that is good Harmony with the land is no longer an ideal; it is an imperative. The land is a living being. She is sacred. As the land lives, so do we. As the spirit of the land is diminished, our spirits are diminished as well. 'LNVOCA.T LON In a house of bones we call down the spirits. and the plants grow. and the animals move freely. We light candles, calling for the return, and the flame of life burns through the buildings, nothing but ash, and the plants grow, and the animals move freely. The Katiwh Journal sends a voice... with articles, stories, poems, and artwork we speak to the spirit of all the living, breathing inhabitants of these mountains in hopes that we, the human beings, may find our place in this Great Life. - Gary Lawless The Ka16ah Journal wants to communicate your thoughts and feelings to the other people in the bioregional province. Send them 10 us as le11ers, poems, stories, articles, drawings, or photographs, etc. Please send your contributions to us at: Katuah Journal; P. 0. Box 638; Leicester, NC; Kattuih Province 28748. ,. ,i - The Editors The summer issue of 1he Katuah Journal will feature stories about the sub1le energies of the Appalachians and the Eanh - those invisible forces that, whether we choose 10 be aware of them or not, exert such a powerful influence on our lives. Please send in .your stories, drawings, or poems of dowsing, eanh changes, sacred sites and their legends, vonexes, and other accounts of encounters with the pulsing heartbeat of the world by April 30 to Ka11wh Jotunal; Box 638; Leicester, NC 28748. Spr tmJ, 1991 �(COminued &om pqe I) and health ot the species as an organism unto itself. Pictured as an individual organism, our own species, at this point in time, is in deplorable health. We an: gluuonous and grossly far, physically soft and out of shape, ridden with cancer and other degenerative diseases, subject 10 numerous natural resource addictions, beset by a severe attitude problem. and (among the more advanced sectors in panicular) badly neurotic. One of the side effects of the transition now underway appears to be that Mother Gain as drill sergeant is about to shape us up. In order to maintain its place in the world, the human species and the human economy of the future will necessarily be lighter, quicker on its feet, more alert, and more aware of its surroundings. Technology will not be able to effect this change for us. In fact an increased dependence on fancy technology would be n debilitating influence at this point. This change is going to be made inside our collective psyche - in our mental condition and our spiritual values. Because the third principle of economy is: ''Do it well." Consequent to redefining our idea of "economy" is redefining our criteria for the success of that economy in maintafoing its place in the biosphere. For one example: the phrase "quality of life" as used in these mountains at one rime referred to the health of the streams, the health and number of the animals, the health of the forest But today, even as the world about us is being degraded and destroyed, we are constantly told that our "quality of life" is improving For a second example: what is meant by "living well?" At one time "living wcll" meant the manner in which a person carried himself or herself in the world • what a person said, what a person did, in other words, the quality of their actions. In these days "living well" means what and how much a person eats, drinks, and owns • in other words, the quality of their consumption. ln order to correctly judge the success of our economy, we need to revise the standards by which we detennine our basic needs - not in terms of goods, services, and the medium of their exchange, but in terms of the purpose of our daily transactions: health, satisfaction, fulfillment, and happiness. Here m the Southern Appalachians we are lucky: we have a model for change. For as long as humans have inhabited these mountains, the removed from a time when people lived by hunting, gathering, and small-scale agriculture. One hundred yCtlrS ago the majority of the people here lived a pastoral, self-sufficient lifestyle. The Appalachian culture of that time gave rise to the image of the "independent mountaineer." That stereotype is still cherished today. but it is a joke in these rimes when we buy our food from supermnrketS, borrow money from urban banking canels 10 buy vehicles from Detroit or Yokohama, are dependent on job wages, send "It's a sad situation whe11 humans in a society like ours find thnt they can survive only by destroying the basis of existence. ''The basic goal of our economy is to take the greatest possible amount of natural materials as quickly as possible through the consumer economy to the junk heap. The main idea is to mnke junk. All our jobs are keyed to making junk... ''I'd like to say just a word about jobs: we don't need jobs! We need food, we need clothing, we need housing, we need education, we need health care, we need all these things. Now my proposal for the Southern A7JPD.laclriat1s is to get out of the whole consumer economy and establish 014r own internal economy based in bioregion. "There's no reason why we can't build an economy here and a culture here independent of bringing all this extravagant consumer economy and technology and productivity into this region. We don't need those! All we need are food and clothing and fun and celebration and necessities like that. That's wl1at we need, and there's no reasorr why Katuah Province can't provide it." - Thomas Berry, tu the 1990 "Em·ironmtntal Summit Confertntt," UNC Ashtvilfe monthly insurance premiums to Hanford, power our commerce on fuel that is carried halfway around the world, and absorb our culture from TV programs that come to us from big-city broadcasting stations through giant satellite receivers. Our regional economy presently is flaccid, lame, and unsmble. To be independent means t0 take responsibility for one's self. We need to re-examine our situation literally "from the ground up." How are we going to provide the clean air we need every minute, the pure water and good food we need every day, shelter, healing, education, nns and entertainment that are enriching and fun, and a spirituality that recognize:. our place in the Creation? We will provide for these needs by getting together with friends and community, doing for ourselves, and trusting in the land. We will restructure our economy by methods that will be sustainable in the mountains for many generations to come in a variety of different living situations. And we will renegotiate our economic contract with the land, the foundation of all our existence. If our relations with the land are not in order, then we will not survive to see what the next era will bring. In the rimes to come, although conditions may seem hard and the shadow of oppression may loom large, it is important that we keep our spiritS up and do not give in to fear or depression. We cannot wait for someone else to give the orders or someone else to fund the budget We have to worlc together for our communities and for the life of our region. There will be a strong temptation tO "simply survive," "get by." or "muddle through." But we have a responsibility 10 the future and to those who will follow us to "do it well," for we are at a · cusp in the planet's history, and the techniques we use to bring ourselves through the maelstrom of transition will be the foundation for the regional economy to come. We need to keep compassion - that our knowledge might be used to better understand this world and find our place in it. We need to be guided by wisdom - that our technology more closely mimic the biological than the mechanical. We need 10 keep our spiritual center - that our vital drive be directed to care for our community (human and natural), rather than strive to place the individual above all. This is a rich land. lf we embody the real values of the natural ecology in the economy of today, Kauiah will provide well for the needs of a lean and healthy human population. r.8" fact of Appalachia as a region has dominated the local economy. We are not two hundred years Rob Messic~ Sprttig, 1991 Xat.i«ih Jouma( Pa«Je 3 �Avoiding the Passive/Helpless Approach to Economic Development Advocates of extractive uses of the national forests have defined an approach to economic development that has become widely accepted. In fact, advocates of preservation have largely accepted the developers' view of the mechanism of economic development. The approach I am concerned about might be called the "pass.ive-helpless" approach. According to lhis view, we and our fellow citizens follow passively and helplessly the geographic pattern of job creation provided by commercial businesses. The commercial business community, in tum, is seen as an outSide force over which we have linle control and of which we are not a pan except as passive employees or consumers. This should all sound familiar: In this widely held view of the economy, the business community creates jobs for us and we lhankfuUy, even gratefully, take them. Once this view is accepted. the primary economic question raised by the conflict between extractive development and the preservation of environmental quality on national forest lands is simply one of figuring out which businesses create the "most" and/or the "besl" jobs. The advocates of ongoing extraction tell us that it is the timber or mining industries, while advocates of preserving environmental quality insist !hat it is me tourisr/recreation industry. 1.r:11Howeven thit•oppmnclr.mi~\arleau .,,rr half of the economic reality. Moreover, it may miss more than half of the political and social reality that we ought to be trying 10 create. To explain lhis, let me present four basic principles or facts about the economies we live in. First, people care about where they live. The quality of the natural and social environment is a dominant force in determining where people locate. The evidence for this is all around us. Consider the move to the suburbs. to the deserts of the Southwest, to the Sunbelt, or to the hill country of the South. Initially these mass movements of millions of people represented movements away from both jobs and commert;ial centers. They also represented movements from high wage areas to relatively low wage ar~ People took significant risks and made :.ignificruit sacrifices to obtain the living environments they wanted. Second, most jobs involve "taking in each others' wash" or "scratching each others' backs". not scratching at the Earth to extract and make valuable lhings which are then exponed 10 the rest of the world. In recent years, 70 to 80 pen:ent of American jobs are in locally-oriented (as opposed to export-oriented) service jobi;, no1 manufacwring. There has been a long term, ongoing trend which constantly increases the dominance of this type of economic activity. The third principle is tha1 people can and do crea1e jobs for themselves and their neighbors by engaging in small-scale entrepreneurial activity. In fact, this has been one of the primary so~ of job creation in some of the states most heavily hit by the recessions of the 1980's. In Montana. for instance, during the first half of the l 980's wage and salary jobs shrank by tens of thousands Xotiulh )ournat pO<JC 4 by Thomas Power while total employment increased. All net new not be available. Passive communities of jobs were self-employment jobs. In North helpless people who do what large corporations Dakota. small new businesses were also the tell them to do don't survive the inevitable dominant source of job creation. decline that accompanies shifting business The final principle is that 40 10 50 percent winds. "Company towns" are never dynamic, prosperous places. of all personal income flowing into our Finally, it must be kept in mind that a communities doesn't come in the form of growing number of residents are "foot-loose" in wages, salaries, or profits. It comes from return the sense that a substantial source of income on past investments. including pension and follows them no matter where they choose to retirement plans, and from transfer payments live. Retirees are the most obvious group. Their from government programs such as social residential choices can be guided almost entirely ~urity. This flow of income into our local by their preferences for natural and social ~nomies is far larger than any single industry or combination of industries, but is NOT caused environments. They bring with them major 0ows of income that support the economic by current employment. activities of others. In dollar terms, a single This is a dramatically different picture of retiree who chooses a panicular community as the local economy than the one we are usually his or her new home is worth hundreds of given. People choose to live in places they like, tourists streaming lhrough the community. In where they support themselves through jobs addition, rather than disrupting the community they, themselves, create. These jobs primarily as tourists do, the new resident's productive serve the needs of their neighbors, much of activities are likely to make a contribution 10 the whose incomes are not tied to local jobs. Taken vitality of the community. together, these factS have imponant implications Based on these ideas. T would suggest a for how we view local economic development. few rules for those concerned about both For instance, maintaining and creating an attractive social and natural environment for preserving environmental quality and enhancing residents is critical to the future of our the economic well-being of their communities. "forest-dependent" communities. Butcher the narural environment, and we lose the qualities Firs1, don't give away the store to ~ that draw and hold people and economic activity outsiders, whether those outsiders be extractive here. This iuffltical poim: we-protect the u ' industry or tourists. That will only destroy lh~ natural environment nor for 1ouris1s and outside things we have going for us. r1• recrearionalists but for us. the people who live here. We do it so that we and others will find Second. siop talking about tourists. lhis an attractive place to live, work, and do Nobody loves a touris1, no1 even tourists, and business. The natural environmem created by no one looks forward to cleaning up after our forested mountains contributes to our 1ourists. We do 001 impress our fellow citizens ecomomic well-being first and foremost by \\ith talk about putting them to work making being available for us to enjoy directly. motel beds, cleaning toilets, and washing dishes. Talk instead about ourselves. why we If we are interested in attracting more are here, and what is imponant 10 us. people, we have to ask what we have to offer that sou them California or the eastern megalopoli do not. We clearly are not going to Finally, as we work co protect the nationaJ. compete by providing stripped and rdvaged forests, Ice's take back the economic argument from those who see our forested landscape only mountainsides. silted streams and polluted as a source of raw material for shipment to the rivers, and noisy, dirty plants belching res1 of the world. In taking back the economic foul-smelling gases into the air. It is the general argument. we must be careful not to buy into the ugliness and pollution of our largest population centers from which people are seeking to vision of ours~lves as passive. helpless folks completely ckpcndent upon outside forces. That escape. Our economic development stra1egy position is dangerous to 1he spec1acular beauty muse be built around asking what it is that we of our region, as well as destructive of the have that is special and attractive. Our forested political and social fabric of our states and our mountains and the environmental quality they comrnunjties. provide cenai.nly are central 10 answering that Instead we should view ourselves as question. creative entrepreneurs, contributing 10 the There are important implications here, economic resources and the well-being of our 100, for what a good "business climate'' is. communities. We all have co find a living, and Since we largely create our own jobs rather than forest protection rather 1han forest extraction wrutirig passively for gifts from benevolent outside corporations, the business climate that may be the best way for many. ~ counts is that faced by local, small Thomas Power is professor of eco11t>mics entrepreneurs. A productive business climate is and chaiml(lll of the Eco,wmics Department at not one tha1 gives outside businesses anything the Universiry ofMomona ill Missoulo. His they ask of the community! Rather. it is one that recent book, The Economic Pursujt of Quality encourages and supporlS residents as they create (ME. Sharpe,1988) develops ill more detail rlre economic opportunities for themselves and their ideas presented here. neighbors by pursuing opportunities 10 provide goods or services to their neighbors chat This artu:/e is reprintedfrom the Ottober 1989 otherwise would have to be imponed or would issUL of Forest Watch, which is available from Box 3479: Eugene, OR 97403. Spr L119, 1991 J ,i"'-'i �, ... WAYS TOA REGENERATIVE REGIONAL ECONOMY Nature does not require that any of its intercomplmrmting mmrbers ·ear-n a /it,ing·. R Buckmlnstcr FullC!I' We all eat from the Earth, brea th from the Earth, drink from the Earth, and exchange energy on the way to rclurning it in augmented molecular forms to the Earth. The movements of energy through the many organismic forms of the biosphere creates a kind of metabolism, a kind of economy, that is both ancient and alive as we participate in its elaborate ways of clean-burning combustion. Micro-organisms first found ways to perpetuate themselves on compounds like methane and sulfur. As different cellular forms engulfed and rejected each other the pattern of using solar energy emerged as a strong and usefu I means of tapping into the flows of energy coming to the Earth from the Sun. This photosynthesizing ability came about through millions of years of evolution, and the oxygen it produced eventuaUy led to the creation of a protective ozone layer· enabling life to lnhabil the continents. It also came as a great shock to the ancient anaerobic bacteria, who cannot exist in the A Region Regen • crativc Primer. Involved in each of these basic requirements are questions about Values and Ufostyles, which tend to tran,ccnd the mere fulfillment of material needs (•.. In nonlinear order). presence of gaseous oxygen. As dynamic plant forms began concentrating their energy in fruits from pollinating flowers, and edible (and inedible) seeds, along with developing cellulose to incre~ lhe strength of their cell walls, they began to take on more of an energy harvesting role on the continents. Converting radiant energy to chemical energy, they also began to aid In regulating the flows of water, the contents of air, and the distribution of some minerals. Animal cells which thrived on the energy flow created by the existence of plants also began to flourish and diversify into multicellular forms. Through millenia this ever renewing. turbulent, and resilient cycle of energy, being used and reused through the lives and deaths of uncountable organisms and whole species of organisms, has continued despite the catastrophic impacts of asteroids hurlllng in from the solar system. The visceral movements of volcanoes and plate-shiftings have also been a major factor In lhe ability of this planet to mend from such great events. Until human beings came along, there seemed to be no multicellular form or life that could interrupt these magnificent biotically guided cycles or radiant and molecular energy as drastically as meteors, volcanoos, and plate tectonics have. When our coordination of social activity began we had neither the numbers nor the skill to drastically interfere with the vital regenerative nature of the Biosphere. We simply participated in the flows of energy that were swarming around us and inside us. Particularly since an ice age was coming to an end, there were other regions and habitats we and related primates could move into and explore if need be, to find food, shelter, and waler. We burned wood, ate the plants and animals that were herding, mcadowing, and foresting around us, expressed ourselves though various languages and spiritual practices, and found cures for some infections. Many of these infections are due largely to the great ancestral microbes and viruses who arc still doing much of the most basic work of the Biosphere. Our immune systems exist as an attempt to maintain identity in the "sea" of microbes and viruses we live prlng, 199 1 in. As our social systems became more complex, and the basis for human technology and industry began to be discovered, we eventually eame to a critical phase. The control of major regional energy Aows that human beings hlld contact with were being maintained less and less by a naturally diverse Biosphere, and were co-opted more and more into our own growing tribal intellect and infrastructure. Much has come from our early inluitive grasps for wisdom. However, these were relatively inexperienced guesses al how natural systems work. The fine details of recording and mapping our experiences soon began lo open our species into realms or knowledge thllt were as unexpected as they were at times frightening. As the experiences of our species with natural systems expanded, so did our methods of control. This was true not only of energy flows outside the core of human culture, but also with the basic internal relationships of gender, spirituality, and the introducing of children to the dynamics of a Universe at large. Conflict among various cultures (or infragroups) within our species. over the economic Aows of food, know-how, tools, minerals, and power etc, soon inflamed into t he existence of hostile sovereign states. One form of human cul lure would try to assert its dominance over another (due perhaps to its mihtary rrught at a given time) and a process of intimidation would spread like a dlscase. Delusions of a different culture being viewed as a completely "evil other· only added to the turbulence. Unfortunately, this kind of projection often fails to recognize the evil that exists in all dominator societies. There have been m.1ny human cultures that have exhausted the biodi verstty of lh!! ecosystems surrounding them. A$ the life-cycle of some of these cultures came to an end they somctimc!S paid the price for this exhaustion with their survival. Early ht.UlW\ hunting and agricultural practices could deplete the carrying capacity for human beings in a given region. This is supported by evidence from a number of early human cultures that turned forests into meadows and croplands, w hich in him could become infertile deserts in some areas of the world. The effects of sucll. practices however; extracted far less from the whole Biosphcric Context than do relatively fast changing industrial societies. For much of the span of human existence there was abundant habitat for other large multicellular organisms lilce ourselves to con tinue in the Great Energy Cycles of the Earth. As we extracted some seeds and animals, domesticating and breeding them for greater yield, a process began that infringed further into forest, prairie, and coastal ecosystems. By the lime some human cultures began pushing their way into a dominating posture toward other human cultures, and toward the uncountable millions of species that were continuing to evolve, we were not only losing these habitats· we were also beginning to lose contact with deeper mysteries within ourselves. As we found ways to use lhe petrified remains or life from eons gone by (le; coal, oil, and ear thly Aatult?nce) as add itional sources of fuel, the virtu.-illy clean-burning fuel cycles of microbes, fungi, plants, and animals were infused with a differmt kind of pervasive combustion. The eicplosive introduction of fossil fuel burning engines which arc inefficient relative to the organic (or more readily recyclable) combustion of living systems meant that human beings were developing a potential for by-passing many of lhe limits that existed earlier in the Biospheric Context. Such a context, of energy exchange bet ween organismic and molecular fonns that created fossil fuels from marshes over vast spans of geolog,c time, 1s now able to be *burned" by human beings in the span of centuries. The effects of this wave of fossilized-.?nCrgy-dcpendence and the consequent existence of elaborate technologies and populabon increases. has created a new kind of threat not only to our human cultures but also to the very existence of larger multicellular organ communities llke ourselves. As we release more greenhouse and ozoneOraw111g by Rob M cmclt (cominuod on aut p1ge) xatuah Journot ~ 5 �(continlllOd &om page S) depleting gases than the Great Energy Cycles of the Earth can accommodate, produce myriad synthesized chemistries derived primaril>· from "cooking" oil in petrochemical refineries, interrupt the now of vital habitats, and till away topsoil at an alarming rate, we can sec the evidence or an economy that has strayed from the roots of its existence. It could be said that when a species of multicellular organisms grows too fast, outpacing the rate of energy now created by millions of years of conflict and conflict resolutions between the needs of a species and the needs of the overall integrity or ecosystems in a bioregion, then some feedback in the whole system might seep in to correct the flow. Perhaps we as a species will recognize in time that "fooling around" with systems this large and complex can lead to a partial or contagious collapse of many types of biosystcms. By using methods of accounting that do not regard the subtle nature of whole systems, and their inability to susla.in themselves when 'broken down' into incommurucable parts, we open ourselves further to such risks. Ignorance of these kinds of feedback processes became evident in Katuah when disastrous floods occured as a result or excessive rainfall after large areas of forest were felled. The qualities of soil structure that could move and absorb water through the work of vegetation, earthworm, and microbe scale organisms was lost in this method of industrial extraction. A Regenerative Economy for human beings would involve a recognition of some of the ancient patterns of microbial relationships that have been worked out over eons of geologic time. Huge consequences have come from some of those relatively "small" decisions or adaptations. In developing co-operative and predatory behaviors, biosystems have come to live within limits of scale and tolerance that are 1mplicit to being abve in the context of the Great Energy Flows of the l3iosphere. It has now become an essential aim of humnn beings to hve within the population and resource limits of such solar initiated regenerative flows. SACRED 0CONOMY ., There's a huge old apple 1ree on the fann we live on that gave over a dozen bushels of apples this year. The apples made good applesauce and we put up about a hundred quans of iL Thick, yellow and brown, sticky sweet summer in Mason jars on the pantry shelves. When the apples fell faster than we could handle them, we called up Ed and Randye and their family came over and picked up four bushel~ to make themselves some sauce 100. This was what the land afforded us, it was what was freely offered and though it was a busy time of the year, it felt like something of a sacred duty to see that the apples were put lO good use, to accept the offering of this place and our place in the magic transfonnation of Sun and Rain and Soil into Tree and into growing Human children. The tree was planted and probably grafted by an African-American fanner a half century ago or more in the fertile Little River bottomland. Its apples have become a lot of children over the years, and I feel like we honor the fanner as well as the place when we use these apples. When we lived at Travianna there were a lot of wild grapevines that grew next to the creeks, using the alders and willows there for a natural arbor. Most years there would be a couple of bushels of fragrant wild grapes for the easy picking. Going 10 pick the grapes really XQti&afl Jourtiai pa9e 6 Efforts such as energy conservation through more efficient technologies that require less of the dreaded noxious belching of fossil fuel engines will be of great service. However, the invention and practice of human systems that tap into regenerative energy flows - such as solar ovens, heaters, collectors and batteries, along with hydrogen and possibly alcohol fuels, bioshelters, composters, wind generators, and microhydro - will aid more clearly in healing our relationship wilh the Sacred Flows of the Earth. Many primal skills of living in balance with local habitats and being able to flll many human needs from healthy forests and mrodows will also be important to this effon. Reforestation, good husbandry, and soil conservation could be seen as a form of "currency" in allowmg these potentially heallhy ecosystems to sustain themselves. Such a renewing economy could also explore ways or integrating sustainable agricultural sysll.'l'T\S into homes, offices, ponds, gardens, villages, and counties within the Biorcgional Ptovincc. A rcgen1?rative economy would guide us into concentrating more on the local qualities of supply, demand, and re-use of provisions, and less on the push to generate more and more products without regard to the effects on children, landfills, and overall costs to the environment. Instead of insisting on "continual growth" (a.k.a. greed) for the human economy, a regenerative perspective would manifest as more of a Steady State Economy; one in which the now of energy and provisions would be used and regulated for the good of the whole society and local environments by councils of members living within a given Shire, or county, of a Bioregion. Qualities of durability, thrift, and attention to the needs of systems larger than the human economy would be a major focus of this approach. I The just involvement of other life forms in the human economy would also be encburagcd. An example or this can be found in the process of Biorcmediation, in which microbes and other organisms are used in specific ways to digest and disintegrate many forms of organic and metallic activates the hunter/gather memory banks and it is sometimes a very good thing to do with kids. It is sometimes a very good thing to do alone. The chinquapins ripen about the same rime as the grapes and we would find these and gently pry them from their prick Iy husks and eat them on the spot, spitting out their thin shells and swallowing the sweet mini-chestnuts. This land is so generous. In our present lifestyle, the gathering of the offerings of the wild is mostly symbolic, but I think we long for a return 10 a more basic level of relationship with our local environment lt is sad I think, for the offerings of so many blackberry thickets, grapevines, and apple trees to go disrespected. ft is sad for busy humanity that can no longer find the time to enjoy the natural fruits of the place we live. r think we kick ourselves out of Eden every morning. I think we can walk back in any time we will. r thank this planet and these mountains, the Little River and an apple tree for the life they generously and patiently afford. This place is sacred. This place is beautiful. This place is home.... So, how do we get to this place and stay there? We can look at the examples of Native People everywhere for an answer. We see that native people are a whole lot simpler in their lifestyles. We have become a nation of the needy, needing all sorts of things that we would be better off without. We can also see that we need to cooperate with each-other more fully. Tribes, extended families, bands and villages are much more stable and powerful than our nuclear contaminants in water systems. A regenerative economy would act In ways to stop the now of such contamin:iting agents at their source. This could be done by using non-toxic replacement chemistries, or bioremcdiation, or dehydrating techniques to de-toxify or prevent some specific compounds from being released into water, soil, biotic, or atmospheric systems. However, the best way to stop contamination is lo not produce it in the first place. Better sbll, embody less of a need to use toxic agenl5 in creating proviSiqns. Monitoring flows such as those of minerals, nutrients, and re-usable wastes through settlements, forests, living soil, and life-giving waters would become a basis for this circulatory economy. Involvement in these geological movements can engender a kind or respect through familiarity, similar to that which potentially exists in the qualities of our own customs, know-how, emotions, and mediations. Both of these living patterns are necessary for human culture to sur,tivc. Hopefully it will become possible for us to envision the material form of a complexedly regenerative human society. Perhaps it would live and grow as a squash plant: keeping information in the seeds and feeding them with the "meat" of our hearts and minds; creating structures on which to extend energy collectors with the sun, soil, waters. and winds; diversifying enough so that each cell phlys a specific role in contributing to the survival of the plant, yet working together enough that.these cells are sustained by the s tructure of the whole plant. One thing aboul squash plants, though, is that they need ''rich" soil. The price to be paid is providing a kind of compost - a compost that tends not to equate well with the way most human beings think about and account wealth. Wealth comes from partidpaling in lhe sustenance of the Great Cycles of Energy of the Earth. To maim this source is to maim the source of our own economy. One has no life without the other. Rob Messick families and much better in touch with location than our governments and bureaucracies which can't deal with blackberry picking or anything near that level of real. Our families arc hard pressed to "cover all the bases" in this game we are playing now, driving kids around and driving ourselves around trying to earn enough dollars to keep driving kids around. We forget the sacredness of the place we rush through. We let our share of Eanh's sacred gifts go 10 brown rot and yellow jackets. A tribe is seldom this wasteful, even an extended family has members who are free to put up food and fuel from the local environment. Real cooperation on a local level brings the focus of the community home 10 here and now and reintegrates us into the web of life. Sacred economy is local 8conomy. This is certainly not to imply that there is anything wrong with trade, just that we will profit by looking closer to home for the basic elements of our sustenance. A collapse of the present world economic "order" would necessitate a return to local economy all over the planeL We can envision a new world 8conomic order in which communities trade directly with each other from aJI pans of the Eanh, assisted by a UPS, a global, reality based 1rading system without money or middlemen ..... These are good things a person can dream about while making apple.~uce. .,,. ~ fr - Will'Asbe 811.~on Sprlnq, 1991 �Robin Cape and lvo Ballentine are literally buildir,g a life for themselves from the waste generated by our society. Tire pair mah! a living salvaging, recycling, and finding creative uses for "refuse'' - literally, those things t/rarsociery /ras refused. Using mostly salvaged materials. they restored a small, mndown lwuse near the end of a small street in the city of As/reville, where they live with their infant son Django. This family is nor just surviving - they are living well. They /rave found a richness in the goods t/rat others have discarded: a life filled with love, well-being, and a sense of meaning and purpose. As a result of their unique perspective, tl,ey have valuable insights on our society and a clear sense ofpriorities t/rat most people overlook in the /rustle and bustle of accumulation. "Money is the Lowest Form of Wealth" An Interview with lvo Ballentine and Robin Cap e Kat(iah : How do you go about your work? Robin: It's just keeping our eyes open and finding a place to put lhe things lhat come. In a sense, it's a matter of doing what you can with what you have. We go out and see what we can find, and then we think of the best uses for the things we have found. With practice. we have gotten better at it. Ivo: It's awo.reness, and stepping out of our way a little bit to ask, "Hey, is that thing gonna get thrown away?" My route is my day, and what I come up with is whatever I find along the way. I just look in on my streets, and it's new every day. Somebody else has thrown something else away that we can find a use for. that somebody would buy, or somebody somewhere else would want. We think of ourselves as "re-routers," because recycle has gotten so overused. Robin: And recycling isn't necessarily the best use for an item. Re-using is the best use, because that saves the most energy, and geis away from the idea that 1f we just throw something away, it's somebody ebe·s job to recycle iL We have 10 be responsible for our own stuff. We can't just throw it away. When we re-use an item, or we re-route it to a person who wiU re-use it, we are saving the object iiself and also countering the whole concept of this thing as "trash," That action says. "This isn't LrnSh. This still has value." lvo: [ think everyone should start a relationship with "the mill": che paper processing plant. the metal processing plant, or even giving their cans to the fire depanment. When you take stuff to the mill, you learn about what's going on. You start 10 think about the transmission of the goods. Kat(llll1: 'The mill" being the existing reclamation system. and "transmission" meaning moving stuff 10 where it belongs. lvo: Yeah. Kar1iah: Your equipment is basically a pickup truck and some trailers. lvo: We pull the trailers w11h an old 1929 Model A Ford, but not with the pickup. l did this with my Model A when I didn't have a Lr.tiler, and the Model A did fine for me. We don't have a junkyard, so "IT3llsmission" to us means keeping things organiLed and keeping things moving. We have trailers for metal, aluminum, and glass, and we ,. Spr,-n41 ,l99 I have to be caretul about not ovenoawiit ourselves. We don't gather any more than we can put right back into the system. We don't go out of our way. either. When we are going to the grocery store. we're looking out for things we might be able to pick up along !he way. We wou!9,n't hav~ a warehol§e way~ut m the county to sllish aU this stuff, because that would just be a waste. Our warehouse is right in the same liule central area. Katua/r: And stuff always turns up? Roblll: We teamed a lot gathering the materials 10 build our house. first, you get the idea and make the plans. Then you have to get out and get started on the work. By actively looking for the things, we've found that often what you want comes to you. Like windows. We knew we needed $Orne windows, and just when we needed them. we were asked to clean up n remodeling job at a church, and they were throwing away all these old-style, hand-le.-idcd windows that you now see in the house. These and man}' more. A lot had been broken before we could reach them, and a 101 more we have sold or given away. Now we have more windows than we could ever want. Robin: If you make a clear enough plan in your mind, oftentimes you are going to materialize it. Bue then you al~ have 10 be able to build your house or complete your plan using whnt comes, rather than having to have everything custom-mndc. Looking for this propeny, we looked and looked and looked, and I kept having the feeling that what we were looking for was out there. The action of looking helped us 10 clarify in our minds what we really v.antcd to find. Kar1iali: So being flexible helps when you are doing n:cydmg and salvage. You get an idea. but tl1en when you get the stufT you change the idea. too. Rohin: Yes. ll's t.TI;alivc. AWtlUII. l'\JIUUlel pan OJ tnat creativity is being able to make stuff out of things that people have already discarded. Robin: We have such fun making our "Compost Cards." They are postcards that we make using pjctw-cs from mag\\7,ines we ij.uipl the dumpsters backco v.ith cardboard from cereal boxes. They're not production cards. They arc each one-of-a-kind cards. We don't make any money on them 10 spe3.k of. We figured out that we might make $4.00 an hour for the time spent. Ivo: That's lhe whole thing, though: we find other profits. There are so many profiis other than money. Jreally think that money is one of the lowest forms of wealth. With the cards, there is the fun and there is the togetherness of doing it. beyond any money involved. And when people see them. the cards get everybody talking. Robin: And I make jewelry out of old linoleum 0ooring. It looki. very nice after il's been refinished and hung with beads, I buy some beads at lhe nea market, but l also make long beads out of the insulation on electrical wires. The jewelry sells very well in the citie.s. l call it "composite materials," because ritzy ladies don't like 10 think about hanging old floors from their ears. I used to make an. I used 10 do ceramic:!' and weaving, and I was always buying expensive materials trying to make my an. A lot or my worli. was about the Earth, but at the same time I was using energy to keep an incredibly hot kiln going for days at a nme to produce my l>tatcments about the Earth. For me, it's a bcucr statement to make :irt out of smff that ii. already here. It's fun, .and people go, ''Ohl You made thh is from that old stuff1 l \\Ould never have seen that." It rcqu~ looking a1 something th:11 may seem to have no value and then changmg it to make it into something of beauty and worth. I Phoio by ltodncy \\ cbb (. ontinued oq D<,\l 1'"4") c D ,Wt\lpfi J o \ t ~ 7 �(conunucd from page 7) have more fun now making linoleum jewelry than 1 had creating my art before. Kauwh: lt is interesting what you said earlier about "materializing," bocause our society is very materialistic. Even though they have so much, people are always wanting something else and putting aside what they already have in order to get it. It feels like you are crearing the life you want our of the discarded fragments of the American Dream. Robin: From time 10 time. of course, we have to take a load 10 the dump. We always bring recyclables along with the garbage. That saves us the tipping fee, and we can get in for free. Once we're in there. we can poke a.round. We find aluminum, copper. batteries. antiques...it's amazing how much valuable stuff is just being tossed away. Lately it"s been slimmer pickings, but for awhile we'd be coming out of there with $50 worth of stuff almost every time. I hope that the new dump is going 10 be more efficient. They say that they are going 10 call it a Robin: Last year 1 picked up a book by Alan WattS. He made the point that although we constantly talk about America as a materialist society, that is not what America is at all. We are a concepmal society. Americans in general don't take care of their material goods. They say, "Oh if I just could have that, then everything would be great." But it's not actually the thing they want, h's the striving for something. As often as not, when !hey actually obtain an object, it goes out in the back yard until it rusts, and then they throw it away. Americans don't take care of material things, and I've come to think that really being materialistic may not be so bad. If we were really materialistic, we would take care of our material things better. We're symbolistic. The symbol of good taste is imitation cheese. It's not the good taste. IL's the symbol of good taste. Kattwh: When we buy stuff, we think "I'm ,uying mushrooms," not "I'm buying nushrooms, and I'm buying a mushroom .ontainer." Some things are garbage even before ve buy them. Ka11wh: So a lot of recycling has to do with being able to tell when something is valuable. Ivo: To my mind, everything has value. There is not much that is nOt worth something in some way. We just haven't figured it out yet. The whole process is figuring it out. For instance, our bathroom floor is made of solid mahogany. A lumber company in town getS plywood from Honduras. It is packed in crates made of mahogany wood. They take the plywood out and throw the crates away. We picked up the crates, took all the nails out of them, and now we have a mahogany floor. All that tongue-and-groove siding on the gazebo was given to us at the lumber yard - right on the day we needed it. It's being in those alleyways that puts you in touch with those goodies. That wood was going to get wasted, even though it was very valuable. Now look at it! Robin: We have a small warehouse where we store things, and we find after making the rounds of the flea markets that then: is some stuff that we cannot seem to put back into society. It may be because the person out there who wantS it probably lives in Colombia, and we can't get the stuff to the places where people would take the time 10 take the screws out and re-use them someplace where people would see these items as goods rather than as waste. Ivo: When there's something in our warehouse that we don't know what 10 do with, we just look at it in a different way. We sec it as pans and strip it down. Maybe there's lots of screws or nuts and bolts in it that are perfectly useable, or maybe there's a piece of wood that could be used for something else. A lot of what we do is 10 strip things down. We don't have 10 go shopping for hard wan:, for one thing. We just go down to our bins and boxes and find ii. "4tiulh JoumaL rm9c 8 belong. One thing we c-0uld easily live without is ~e "throwa~ay society" concept that says. "I'll JUSt throw this away and forger the other five and one half billion people's opinion on it." We all need a metal pile, a glass pile, and a paper pile, and we all need to take care of them be talking about them, and getting stuff to whe~ it belongs. One might not make much money from it, bur it's a mauer of tucking it in, of taking care of the future. The best thing would be to change our a1ticude about things from the instant we acquire them. We need to think, "Now I'm the steward of this. How am I going 10 take care of this? What am I going to do with this?" And then follow it through. When we buy something, do we think about where it came from? Do we think about what it ?Ontains? Do we think ~bout what it is packaged tn? Maybe we shouldn t buy the mushrooms in a ,tyrofoam container, for instance, unless we have 1 specific use for that styrofoam container. Even hough the styrofoam container of mushrooms is mly 89¢ and unbagged mushrooms are 99¢, the ost of the container · the living cost - has to be dded in, even if it doesn't come directly out of ,ur pockets. Photn by Rodney Webb "Reclamation Center." 1 hope that means that we're not going to throw away something like $30,000 wonh of ready recyclables per day, which is what they say is happening now. Thar's why someone can go in there now and find $100 wonh of stuff in one visit - and that's just ready recyclables: metals, glass, and paper. That's not even mentioning antiques. lvo: Some things are garbage, and some llings are just difficult 10 use - like aluminum ;creen doors. We get 10 of them a month at least, all different sizes, all custom-made for different houses. There are no real Standards. Aluminum windows are the same way. There's very little chance that we'd find another space that would exactly fit them. so we strip them down and recycle them. We wish that someone would Stan a small forge that would take aluminum and make some worthwhile thing out of it. We could make a little money selling to them, and they could save a whole lot of money. Kar1lah: That's a good idea: spin-off indusrnes. 100? Robin: The Smith and Hawken Company sells aluminum cast benches, very small benches. for $795. They contain maybe 50. maybe 100, pounds of aluminum. We sell 50 pounds of aluminum for $14. rf we could provide their stock, we could get maybe $20 out of it, and the company would keep a lot more of tl1at $795. lvo: I've hauled things to the dumpster for people, and they've said "If you see any hinges around, I'll buy them from you." Several times I've stripped pans off items they have given me and sold those parts back to the same people. Once they see stuff as "tra.Sh," they're blind 10 what might be in there. But if we're hauling aluminum and there's a piece of steel in there. even though 1 may not need that piece of steel, I take it anyway and throw it on my steel pile. which is continually going to the scmpyard. I call the steelyard the "the no-pay mill," because they recycle it, but they don't pay me anything for it. In the meantime, though, I get to use it if 1need it. This is an example of "dumpster karma." It's not only a mauer of making a li\'ing. It's trying to take care of things and putting them where they Ivo: We've been doing building salvage and demolition clean-up work. It's really helped us while we were working on our house, but more and more people doing building projects an: calling us because they need these goods, 100. Now thnc we're finishing up our own place. I want 10 put together a crew that's made up of people who want wood and other building materials to take over these jobs. And t want 10 learn more about wood thi~ year, because people who really know wood are telling me that the wood being thrown away i$ a thousand times better than the wood wl! are able to buy today. We need to save that old wood. We are completely into the practice of cutting down more and more trees and driving the price up. whereas what we really need to do is to go back and have a new understancling of wood and Kattlah: Do you sell things from your stash, Spri.f\9, 1991 �figure out that this is really wonh something. These old boards remind us of our grandparents' lives. Our grandfather might have cut this tree. This is the tree, the wood, wood like this doesn't grow anymore. This is something really, really imponant Old joists can be new furniture. It doesn't matter what we make out of iL It just matters that the wood's not wasted, and that it is used over and over. It's a renewable resource, but not in a way that we can waste it disrurbs me that some people look at re-routers and recyclers as n-ash, like "Oh, you're in the dumpster? You're trash." There are several responses when people come on us at work. One response is, "Alright!" and the other is, "Uggghhhh." And it huns sometimes when people look at me and go "Ewww, you're trash." I have to keep reminding myself, 'Tm not" It's easy 10 buy into that when you're climbing in and out of dumpsters. lvo: Once I was going from one litter barrel Robin: Several times while doing salvage, we've run into a situation that bothers us greatly. That's when the person in charge of a building demands a payment to allow us 10 retrieve stuff. That's fine as long as those people are willing to salvage what they can, because if they set the value on it, then they are responsible for getting it out. But it's not right for good materials to be wasted. It would be better for the people in charge ro honestly embrace the idea that a building is coming down, get out what they can, then let go of the rest, and be joyous about other people going in and getting what they could. We have to be more honest about our commitment to our own labor. If people are not willing to do what needs to be done, then they need 10 move out of the way and open those opportunities for others. Robin: Part of it is 10 release and acknowledge and hope that there are other people out there who arc doing the work, too, and that people will pick up what they can use. For awhile we were feeling like it wasn't getting picked up, and maybe we'd beu.cr eick ilup, so that when someone's ready for it. it's here. Well.'wc can·1 do that for everything. Everybody has to help. Katuah: It is kind of underground. It's a sub-culture. Robin: I suppose it's inevitable, but it Sprlnq, 1991 Ivo: Or that's going to break and they're going to throw it away'! But moving metal the way we do. and thinking about everything in this way, that can get real hlll'd, too. It's not easy work. Help would be great. To know that more people are doing it would be real good, because we could feel like, "OK, maybe I can't get that particular item. but it's going to get taken care of." lvo: It drove us nuts, because there is so much waste and it really hurt us, seeing it. Robin: The flea market is one. It's a great place • kind of like an underground marketplace, except that it's not underground - where people rrade stuff off: "Iley, rm not using this any more, can you use this?" ''Yeah, I can use that" lvo: The world slows down a bit, and you make friends with it. It's a different way. Robin: And who wants to worlc a job 10 hours a day to get this stuff that they don't know what they are going to do with? Robin: For awhile we did try 10 do everything. But we can't do everyrlting. Like one pc11ion can't save the world. You can try but you'd blow out in the process. We're having to learn that. Living in the city, it's pretty mind-blowing how much gets thrown away, and for awhile we were just all the ume husding, hu.srling, lmstling! Karuah: Precisely. That's another case when the symbol of value has come into conflict with real value. It comes down 10 the question of where our commitments really are. I'd like to know if there other options for re-routi ng items. Robin: lt is. And a lot of people our age disdain the flea market and look down on that class of people. That seems funny 10 me. because the flea market is a place where people value this old scuff and seek it out The flea market, the mill - they are there. and there are real people working those places. We've become very good friends with the people at the metal mill in town. They give us Christmas gifts, and they gave us baby gift~. They're our friends. We see each other regularly; we have a relationship with those people. They're part of our community. Living in a community includes alt the people we come in contact with, whether they are our groovy friend~ or not Living in community involves knowing the names of I.he people in the stores or the lumber yard we go 10 and letting those people know who we are. If we are friendly to those people and accept them into our community, then they're more open to sharing with us the stuff that would otherwise get wasted. Ivo: We try to be non-consumers. We try to offset the waste in this country. We're trying to do more with less, and use what people throw away, and a lot of times we find that those goods arc better than what we can buy. Phoio by Rodney Webb to another with my bag, and a homeless person came to me and asked to borrow money. I just said, "Hey, it's laying everywhere!" And he said, "I'm not going to pick up irash." Where did he think my money came from?! All l do is trade my trash for money, so my money must be rrash too. People never seem to think of money as being dirty. We never even think about that We play with our money, and then we sit down to cat. Robin: Someone asked me one day what we do for a living. I said that what we do is try to keep a low overhead. That's a big pan of being in the salvage business: keeping a low overhead. That's sometimes hard to believe when the bills come due. Then l am reminded that I am still tapped into this modem-day society. But for the most pan we do pretty well at staying out of the monetary now. We don't garden as much as we want to, but we've been working on our house and preparing the gardens. I saw a video recently about some tribal people in Africa. All the women do most of the day is pound millet 10 feed their families. They don't have much, but their needs are very small. lt made me wish I could discover the joy in such a simple life. lvo: We want to change the way we can change. The way we can change is not stopping and staning up again. It's working slowly and in truth and in power with what we have and what we know, in the spirit of trying to let it occur. All we can do is work at it. We all need 10 suut by asking what we can do. We hear all the rime about what's bad and what's killing us, but people need to know about what we can do and what ideas are working what heals. People tend to think that they are basically helpless and that because the world's so big that their little pan doesn't matter. This is death. We want 10 teach people that the little pan that we each play is what mancrs; that those little pieces add up in a big way. and that is all there is. It empowers us. That's life. lnien,iew recorded by Rodney Webb and llenry Eckler Robin and /vo's "Compos, Cards" and Robin's "Collaborations" jewelry are/or sale ar 1he "What Do You \Vant?" store on Luingu,n A~·e. m Asheville. Tlae two also have a boo1h 01 the Asheville Antique Mall at the corner of \Valnw Sr. and lexing1on Ave. where they sell valuable pieces that 1hey J,avefound in their salvaging. �THE CLARKSVILLE "MIRACLE" by Griscom Morgan Once we undersl.'.llld the cause of the decline of rural communities, many opponunities and resources are at hand for canying out corrective action. One example is the story of William Bailey, who was the president of the First National Bank of Clarksville, Tennessee during the Great Depression of the l 930's. Bailey made a habit of visiting local farmers to stay in touch and to check on the condition of their operations. During one of these visits a local fanner named Peter Barker spoke frankly to the b:inker saying, "I am a good fanner and have plenty of food in production, but I can't sell the food, because you have all the money, inste:id of it being the hands of the people who need to buy what I can grow. "You won't lend the money, except at an in1e~t rate which is higher than the people of lhis county can afford. Since the local people can't afford to borrow it, you're investing your bank's money outside the county. Because of this. the whole economy of our coun1y is at a Sl.'.llldsrilJ!" William Bailey saw the point. Agricultur>!, labor, and enterprise were quite sufficient for a successful economy in Mon1gomery County. lie saw the county was suffering because it had little money in circulation. He saw that he had been acting on a banker's first impulse, which was 10 follow the highest interest rates and invest where they could be found. Bailey cared about the people in his community, and he saw that if the county's economic woes were 10 be solved. there would have to be a good supply of money in continual circulation. He knew if he offered low-interest loans, the local people would borrow the capital and keep it circulating. He also knew that he could guide lhe loans to see that they were invested where they were needed in the community. But it would be up to the people themselves 10 mount a campaign 10 buy locally 10 keep that money from leaving the county. Bailey began loaning the bank's available capital as low interest loans to the people of the county, and borrowed money from outside the county 10 augment 1he available capital. He analyzed the county economy and suggested ways to shore up the weak points, as well as responding 10 people who came 10 him asking for loans. Always his main emphasis was 10 keep money circulating in the county. Money in an economy is like the blood circulating in the body: if it bleeds out, then the body dies. One reason Bailey was successful was his ability to make the local people realize that finance was like the crucial role of the blood, and that everybody in the community. nor just the bankers, must feel responsible for it. !he morale of the community was very tmportant. But the crux of the whole mauer was that William Bailey was not just looking out for his institution and for his own individual profit. Ile saw his firs1 responsibility as being 10 the community. His policies met with success. Mon1gomery County rose from being one of the 10 poorest counties in Tennessee to become one of 1he IO most prosperous counties in the state. What happened in Montgomery County became widely known at the time. Some thought Xotuah JoumaL pa!JC 10 that what happened in Clarksville was close to the miraculous. Later, William Bailey was the first small-town banker to be chosen president of the American Banker.; Association. He always said, however, that he was never able to convince American bankers or American businessmen to accept the basic perspective of their social responsibility as bankers. The Clarksville "miracle" was no miracle. It was just common sense. What happened in Clarksville, Tennessee was very similar to wha1 happened in a small town in Austria at about the same rime. Austna was aJso suffering from the Depression of the 1930's. The small mountain town of Woergl was in economic collapse. and its people were starving. The mayor of the town remembered that 100 years earlier, when the town had been without roads and was isolated from the rest of Europe, it had been prosperous. It therefore seemed absurd that they should be starving when they clearly possessed the conditions necessary for full employmenc and prosperity. Work needed 10 be done, and they had in the local area aJI the resources necessary to feed and clothe themselves. The mayor persuaded the people of his community to exchange their Austrian currency for a local currency, which would be subject 10 an annual tax 10 discourage people from hoarding it out of circulation. Three monihs after the)'. began circulating the taxed money, lhey had full employment in the community, in comparison 10 the desperate unemployment they had been suffering earlier. By the end of the yeauhe town was once again prosperous. and the mayors of other Austrian towns began to follow suiL But the Bank of Austria had the government prohibit the practice because it was driving the national currency out of circulation. In both these cases, although the actions taken wen: different, the end results were similar. When money becomes the medium of savings instead of the medium of exchange. people suffer, and damage is done to the whole economy. When money migra1es from an area, then that area sinks into depression and the economy stagnates. Communities can take steps lo ensure the health of their local economies. Self-Help Credit Union In 1980, the Center ror Communi1y Stir· Help was founded in Durham, NC m order IO help low-income people in !.he area gain ownership of lheir jobs and their homes. The CCSH provided tcehnical nssislance to worker-owned nnd othcT cooperative businesses. In 1984. the Cemer saw need t0 start !.he SelC-Help Crcdu Union ( SHCU) in order 10 provide loans to these businesses nnd IO encourage the building or low-income housing. The SHCU is a bona fuk credit union, a regulated, fcdcrally insured depo~tory insti1ution. The Center also. in 1984, began 1hc Self-Help Ventures Fund, a non-profit revolving loan Cund (RLF). In 1988, lhe SHCU opened an office in Asheville IO scrvc the mounuin region. This past ye.ir, the WNC office provided more than 5700,000 in l(Xllls, including eight business loans. fi\'e home mortgages, six 103lls from iL\ Working Women's Fund, and one loan through iL~ Self-Help Ventures Fund It also made 13 loans worth over $50,000 through the NC Rural Center's Microcnl.Ctpri~ Loon Program. In lhis program, business spccialiru; at WarTCII Wilson College's Black Swan Center and at McDowell, Mayland, and Isothcnnal Communily Colleges work wilh emerging cnireprcncurs who need small loans nnd technical assistance in ordct 10 get their businesses going. The SHCU provides the loans from a pool or runds set up by the NC Rural Center. Unfortun:ucly, the interest r:ue is quite high. In the WNC area, lhe SHCU has helped finance Stone Soup ResL1uran1, Nnntahal:i Outdoor Center, Asheville Monicssori School, YMJ Cuhural Center, ABC Recycling, and other small business \'Cnturcs. Self Help Credit Union 12 1/2-A Wall Street P. O. Box 3192 Ashe~ille, r-.c 28802 (704) 253.5251 Mountain Microtnterprise Fund do Chris Just 701 Warren WIison Rond Swannano:i, NC 28778 (704) 298-3325 Working Women's Fund do nVCA Women's Re.source Center Asheville, NC 28801 (704) 254-7209 Griscom Morgan worked closely with his father, Arthur Morgan. the visionary engineer and rite first director ofthe Tennes.fee \'alley Amltoriry. At his father's request Griscom traveled 10 The S0111/iem Appalachians to find a location for an in1en1io11al community. Griscom found a beautiful spot in the meadows along the Somlt Fork of the Toe River where the Celo Comm1111iry still prospers today. Bur Griscom could not .Hay in the mountains. He fell there was work to be dnne ill /tis native town of Yellow Springs, Ohio were he rewrneti and with his wife, Jane.founded Community Services, Inc., a "think tank" and resource tenter for comnuu,iry living i11 ntral area.r. Commiuzin· Services can be contacted tlt Box 243; Ye/lo"; Springs, OH 4538i., Drawinc by Rab Meuidl: Sprtn<J, 1991 �The Village by Snow Bear Tlze village lzums witlz activity, all cenJeri11g on providing for the basic luunan and material needs of ics inhabitants ... A circle ofartisans, including some childreri. sit coiling. molding, and pressing wee gray clay into fonns offunction and beauty that wiff later be tempered in the open fire. Others skin and butcher the carcass of a you11g whitetail doe that han9s from a chokecherry, using flakes offlint picked up by the lodge where theflintknappers sit. The rhythmic clacking ofthe toolmakers' Juunmerstones striking theflilll cores is as soothing as distant drums. In the warmth of the spring sun, deer hides are being scraped, rubbed with mashed brains, stretched, pulled, and then smoked over smoldering fires until ,heir traTLeformation imo a soft, srrong fabric is complete. Skilled hands thenfashio11 the buckskin into moccasins and shirts. The remnants go into the making of po11clzes and lacing. emphasizing the preciousness of every scrap ofthe deer's skin a11d every moment ofthe labor that cransfom1ed it. One man sits spinning a carrail stalk between his pabns,pressing it downward into the yucca stalkfireboard a11chored beneath /us feet. Smoke curfs II{) in a thin plume. and in a surprisingly slwrt time, he tenderly places a small glowing coal 011to the cauail down and cedarbark tinder. His breath brings the glow into flame, and a group of young men begin working with this gift offire, /,eating and s1raigl11e11ing rivercane into bfowg1111s. Older, patient, steady hands fletch yellow locust darr slzafcs with thistledown. Nearby, a wizened grandmother, with uncanny deftness, peels and splits riverca11efor her double-weave basket. She internvines splits briglzcened with the orange juice ofbloodroot with contrasting lengths dyed dark brown with walnut bark. looking up, the old woman smiles at the children pounding dark red dent corn imo meal. They use a hickory log that has been burned and scraped inro a 11wrcar and a hickory sapling char has been stripped and scrapt•d into a pestle. At the cooking fire, a growrdlwg is smjfcd with cornbread dough. wild ginger, and peppcroot, wrapped in wet clay 011d covered with hot coals to bake with cornbread ashcakes. SpriWJ, 199 I The cooks drop hot rocks into a rawhide pot hanging from a tripod to bail a ve11iso11 stew comaini11g wild leeks, choran greens, and solomon seal tubers. In the wooded coves above the riverbonom village, a small, quiet scouri11g parry lopes along at wolf-trot, sca11ning the mo11nrai11sides for the gifts of namre 1h01 supply their people with food, medicille, and row mmerials that defi11e a cult11re. The J,erbman wlw leads the scowing party scops, drops t0 the ground, looks up to the sky, and makes a prayer to ack11owledge with thanks the awesome forces that have united to bring healing and sustenance u, the people. He ties together a twist of tobacco and a lock of his own hair 1h01 he mighr make a gift ro the world, before his people gather anything on this journey. The scours res11me their wolf-trot, but stop to examine every discernible sign. the mushrooms that have bee11 nibbled by whitefoot mouse and box wrrle; the core of a white pi,re cone that has been neatly stripped ofits scales and seeds by a gray squirrel; the greenbrier shoocs browsed by a whitetail buck; rhe meucufously picked a11d stacked crayfish shells 011 the rock next to the deep raccoon hind-tracks in the creek.sand. This is a world 10 be see11, heard, u,uched, and smelled, a gift ofthe Earth Mother and the Spirit-/11.-All-Things. To move through it any other way seems 1mgratef11l. The scowing parry remrns laden with the Mother's bo1mcy: poplar bark to be twined imo cordoge; pitch scraped from wounded pines/or a waterproof glue made with powdered charcoal; resinous pine/or starting fires in wet weather; cucwnber root, solomon's seal, and bluff mustard, sassafras, ginger, and sweet birch: a deer skull and mrkey feathers - bur above all, kMwledge. Knowledge of where to/ind the freshest spring water, where the deer have been bedding down, wlzere the turkeys have bee11 scratching and roosting, where the large rro,u gather under boulders in deep, shimmering pools. Knowledge: that the people may live ... This picture of village life is not, as it might seem, ancient history. These were scenes from the daily life of the Riverc;ine Rendezvous held at Unicoi State Park in I lelen, Georgia in April, 1990. This rendezvous was an outgrowth Drawing b)- Manha Tree of the Eanhskills Workshops held in the same riverbonom meadow each spring and fall for the last six years. Darry Wood, Bob Slack, Jr., and myself have had the privilege of hosting and instructing these workshops with the help of talented, accomplished guest insiructo!'1>. The The 1990 Rendezvous, however, brought together over 15 instructors and almost 50 participanis, many of whom we have i;r!!V.1l 10 know closely over the years. One shared perception is that these gatherings are much more than an educational event. The skills shared there are of the eye and hand, but just as imponantly, of the mind and hean: knowledge and intuiriveness complemented by patience and detennination, a feeling of harmony with the things we shape, and a vision of beauty, all blended into a balanced whole. Some aspects of che sacred work accomplished there can be described and communicated; some of what happens there must be felt and experienced. One becomes pan of a small, temporary village, but in another sense, we become part of a more pennanent village of the ancients of all cultures, who lived by these ways for thousands of years. These skills can be used 10 create a sustainable economy at iis purest - a wealth that will last as long as the natural world lasts, as long as the village is sensitive 10 the rhythm and flow of the life of the land. A nature-based economy knows both bounty and shonage, but nature rarely produces true poveny. Blue tongue disease may cause a decline in the deer population, but the wild turkey, also feeding on white oak acorns, will probably increase. A decline in hard mast can reduce the number of deer, bear, and turkey, bUl the trout and beaver will probably be unaffected. Of course, human beings arc capable of bringing it all 10 an end; but there is a tremendous feeling of security in knowing tha1 when the oil runs om, when the money-ba.--ed economy collapses of its own weight. one possesses Lhe knowledge 10 create and sustain a rich life, full of beauty and bounty. The essence of this life, the element that makes it fulfilling. is the village: people of (IXll\linuod.., pai;e 12) '.Kattmh Journal pn9c 11 �(cootinucd from page 11) like mind gathering to pursue common endeavors within the comforting security of nature. People return 10 the Eanhskills gatherings as much for the village experience as for the potential to increase their knowledge. It is a basic human need often denied by our individualistic, companmentalized society. In the village created by the EanhskiUs gatherings. we Ullce responsibility for creating our own material culture, music, an, stories and legends. rather than having i1 spoon-fed 10 us by an industrial society that refuses 10 base itself on respect for the One Great Life. In doing so, our minds, hearts, and spirits grow stronger. I know of no one who has not been touched by the plaintive cry of the Lakota flute in the pre-&.wn mist; no one who is not deeply enriched by the stories absorbed while gazing into the hean of the campfire; no one whose heart does not know a pure joy when they have worked the magic of calling fire from the bow and drill. As one whose life is controlled by the pursuit of money, my return to this (and other) villages is always revivifying; it feels like I reclaim, for a shon rime, my true place in this world. As h~mankind develops. this will come: a life in which our "economic" pursuits wi.11 not deny our need for communal contact, spiritual growth. cultural stimulation, and artistic endeavor. Snow Bear is an herbalist, n.awralist, eanhskills instructor, and storyrcller. He is a staffteam supervisor at tlze 0111ckxJr Tlu:rapeutic Program i11 C/e-.,eland, Georgia and co-director with his ll'ifc Khalisa of the Pepper/and Fann Camp. Snow Bear can be comacted by writing c/o Pepper/and Farm Camp; Rt. 4, Box 255-8; Murphy, NC 28906 or calling (7{},1)494-2353. The 1991 RnvcOM Rentfewo11s will rake pl&e on April 16-21121 Vnu:r)I Suue Parle, /Iden. Georgia. Pre-rcgwr=n isSl.15 and includes campzng, instrucrion. ond two meals per day. Chew urt PtJy,able lQ "Earrhskills ll'orJ:sl:op." For more informmion, call or wriu:: Bob Sloe.Ir.. Jr.: Unicoi Sratc Par.Ir.: Box 1029; lfeltn, GA 30J45 (4()4) 878-220/ (£.rt , 282). Insrructor Darry Wood with Eva Bigwirch "through dreams, through magic" she says !ihe can fly. says she can fly feathen; and wings. bones and Lhings, says she can fly she says lhe eanh feels like her body sky feels like her home she moves out over the water but she always goes alone says she can fly, yeah she says she can fly feathers and wings, bones and things lisLen to the songs that the spirits sing she says she can fly well once I knew a woman now she's more than that she flies up lo 1he scm at night but she keeps on coming back i;he says she can fly, says she can fly bones and wings, feathers and lhingr., listen to the songs that the spirits sing the ~now owl guides her journey and the hawk knows where she goes the eagle gives her life and light but she travels with the crows oh she says she can fly, says she can fly feathers and wings, bones and things listen to the song that the dark bird ~ings feathers and wings. bones and things. listen to the song that the spirit sings, the spirit sings "-atuals Journot J'"'J0 1:i poems by Gary Lawless drawing by Stephen Petroff they read their stories in our bones, heated by flame, cracks, sharp ridges, fingers tracing futures etched by fire. we carry your life in our blood, the p~se of story begins in our marrow, a deep, nch red. you read its traces in our bones. hands in the fire: "for the marrow is known to be the dwelling place of souls" when they wish to find us they call to us in their dreams. we answer them through bone, through fire. (from "Ice Tattoo•) When the animals come to us, asking for our help. . will we know what they are saymg? When the plants speak to us in their delicate, beautiful language, will we be able to answer them? When the planet herself sings to us in our dreams, will we be able to wake ourselves, and act? Por:ms and drawing from the book FITTI Sight of Land by Gary Law/us, published /9')() by 8/aclt.btrr, Boou. Aw1ilablefor $7.50 plus shippmgfrom the publishtr at: RJl. I, Box 228; Nobleboro. ME; Gulfof Maint Bioregion 04555 6prln(J: 1991 �FOOD MOVERS: Ron Ainspan and Mountain Food Products not show up in time. Theo, although a company may be doing a great business, at the same time it's bouncing checks all over the place or it's running out of funds 10 do what needs to be done. It's in trouble I like being small. We've sacrificed some of the closeness that we had. Personally I think that it makes sense 10 grow slowly, so we can maintain the kind or environment in which people can keep a connection with each other. We hold staff meetings every week to involve all the employees in the operation of the business, 10 talk about personal relationships · whatever comes up. It's like a family; we have our quarrels, and we try to work stuff out, either at staff meetings or in smaller personal talks in the course of the day's work. For years local food growers have said that the lack of a developed market for organic and locally-grown produce was holding back alrerflQ/ive agricu/mrefrom raking itS riglefu/ place in our regional economy. Ron Ainspan was one of those growers. Seeing the problem clearly, he built a local food distriblllion network thaJ now stands ready 10 meet the needs of those w/w produce and those who wish to buy wlwlesome and m11ri1io11s nwumain-grownfruit and vegetables. The Mow11ain Foods plan is now nwving into its second stage. With rite network secure, Ron is now actively helping growers to organize and to produce the food thaJ will fill the niche the Mouruain Food Products Company has created. Ron is an enabler. He is one who can bring a vision inro physical manifestation. This calling requires special skills.· patience, dedication, a genius/or strategic maneuvering, and a clear sense of purpose. And, as Ron re/ls us in the following interview, those who set out to realize their dream must walk the narrow tightrope of inregril)' . keeping their principles while creating a vessel that will stay a/u)OJ in the currents of physical reality. Katuah: Can workers participate financially in the company? Ron Ainspan: We started a profiL-sharing plan that we made up ourselves. People get a check every three months based on how the company is doing, and on how much they work. Full-time workers are eligible to receive a half-share six months after they start and a full share after a year. Part-time workers are eligible for a half-share after their first year. It is an incentive for people to stick around. Kat(Ulh How did you get the idea that being a food distributor was a meaningful avenue for social change? Ron Alnspan: I've been involved in encouraging the local agricultural market for quite awhile. During the early '80's 1 was growing produce to sell 10 local markets, and during that time, I helped to set up the Tailgate Market in Asheville, which is a growers' market now locared on Merrimon Avenue. It was in 1984 when a small group of local producer:; called some meetings, and we talked about the idea of working toge1her to distribu1e our producL\ • bakery goods, sprou1s, tofu, and produce. l "as finishing my gardening for the season. so I staned 10 coordinate the whole thing and began deliveries. Mounta.in food Products hns been doing it ever since, although now we focus on produce almost exclusively. After we had been going for two or three months. I met a woman who was working in produce at The Fresh Market, Debbie Thomas. We became a pannership, and stancd LO contacr restaurants and some grocery stores 10 notify them that we were distributing produce. The business really took off, and we have become a good-:;ized purveyor of produce, selling primarily 10 restaurants, but also to some retail stores. Karuah : How big is the company'! Ron Ainspan: We have 16 or 17 people and five trucks. We sell wholesale only, making deliveries 10 Asheville, Hendersonville, and as far west as Bryson City. Only one truck is refrigerated; the rest are small delivery vehicles, from Mandard cargo vans up 10 pa.reel-type trucks. We do a lot of shon routes. We shuttle food in and out of here from 6 or 6:30 in the morning to four o'clock in the afternoon. The little intersection out~ide the office is a traffic jam in the mornings · with people rushing back and forth with pallet jacks and hand ltllCkli for several Sptit1CJ, 19!.lt Phoco by Rodney Webb hours. It's a scene of half-organized confusion ...trucks going out and coming in ... people pulling food out of the coolers. Panicularly during the summer season, it's a constant hustle to get the food out to the people the way they want it. when they wan, 11. But it's fun. Kattiali: How many coolers are there? Ron Ainspan: We've got two walk-in coolers. One is 12 feet by 30 feet. and the other is a couple of feet longer, nnd then we have dry storage space in the rooms. We're going 10 have 10 expand the smaller cooler. tx.-causc we've been busring the scams out ofit this year. We have had 10 buy at least one vehicle every year and do some kind of cooler e:,.pansion every other year since we ~tarted. It doesn't seem 10 stop. I would like ii if our rate of growth did slow down. If a company grows too big 100 fast, then it has 10 incorporate systematized relationships 10 maintain standards of quality and 10 keep clear accountability for evcl)•body's activities. It begins to involve very bureaucratic systems, and everybody become:. subject 10 rules that don't make sense to anybody except the people at the lOp. everybody else becomes a puppet 10 to the rules. But if a company growl> slowly. and tries, as we've tried 10 do, 10 involve everybody in a lot of the aspects of the business, then people can maintain a connection 10 the whole operation, even as it changes. Kau,ah : The finance~ change 100. don't they? Ron Ainspan: Yes. Under condi1ions of fasL-paccd growth iL':. easy Lo run up large bills for receivables, and the necessary cash just may K01t'loli: How is all this helping 10 build markets for locally-grown food? Ron Ainspan: My concept. even as we were growing, has been 10 provide a reliable supply 10 the customers. Because l supply the market all year round, we are keeping a market open for the local produce when it comes in. That gets us outside the regional economy 10 some extent. because to keep up a consistent supply we have 10 make runs 10 Atlanta. There we buy produce that comes in from everywhere, but we also take mountain-grown bibb lettuce, shiit.'.lke mushrooms, sprouts, and produce in season to be sold in the city. It'~ a two-way exchange, but overall it works out well for the local growers, because, locally or in the city, we are always ttying 10 move local produce. We've been able 10 be useful to local growers as an outlet. There arc s1x or seven people that we deal with all the time, some of them year-round because more people: arc getting into greenhouse production. Two regional growers arc cultivating hydroponic bibb lenucc, and Ed Mills of Sunshine Makers Sprouts in Fairview is producing organically-grown alfalfa and mung bean sprouts. A basic operating principle of our company is 10 buy our stock locally whenever we can. Our original goals when we siarted Mountain Food Products were to suppon the local economy, to encourage small-scale production, and to keep things on a pen;onal level. We still keep that commiunent. Kat1iah: Do you emphasize organically produced food? Ron Ainspan: We are just getting strong enough 10 move into that. As I said, our first priority was moving local produce. We learned that in order to be effective in doing that, we hod (eontinll<d on next 114ge) Xntilnfi Jburnn(, r1QCJIS 1 3 �(c:auinu<:d fninl page 13) to provide produce of top quality all year. As we built that capability, helping the local growers actually diminished in imponance, because we were growing so fa~1 overall. Now we sell to over 100 different accounts, and we have enough rumover that we can mke the time and the energy 10 seek out local growers. Now we can confidently say, "Grow food for us and we can sell it." We can help people ge1 going. It's puuing 1he two together: !hose who need the food, and those who have it Righi now we aze helping to organize a cooperative of local organic growers. A group of six to 1en local growers from the area around Asheville is meeting every iwo weeks. Mountain Food Products bas been able to sell all the produce that has been offered to us by the local growers we aze working with, but we have not been able to sell ii as "organic produce." We have often bad 10 mix it with conventionallygrown produce and sell u at the same price. So we are banding together 10 promote the organic concept and reach out more to the remil market. We are offering supermarkets a package deal ~hereby, if we can get a small "organic" section m the produce department, we will stock it and promote it ourselves by pmting up signs and making a lot of personal connections. We have seen some interest in this among the local chain stores. Initially the co-op is going to work through Mountain Food Products. I don't know what will work best in the long run, but right now we can offer !he trucks and the cooler space. For the last two years - especially since the Alar scare - more organic produce has become available. More people are handling it, and more people are asking for it, so we have been able to carry it. We can get supplies reliably and we have customers who want it We can now support organics in the same way that we suppon conventional local produce. q,as.c; productio~ that-it'$ difficuh_ to compete as a ,... small gro~er with most oflhe things that_ arc grown: Its largely a qu~snon. of economies of scale: if you can sys1em1ze th10gs, you can produce them more cheaply. It's not as human a syscem. because it forces people to do very routine, monotonous jobs without much say-so about what they're doing, and not much control over their working conditions. And with transportation being fairly cheap, a company C30 economically move a product great distances from one place to another. There's another reason, too. As the whole system has gonen more centralized. it has become harder 10 break into the distribution chain. Kan1ah: What do you think needs to happen to get the local market going? Ron Ainspan: It's an on-going process of making people aware of the importance of keeping it close 10 home. Mass media advcnising barrages and other market forces tend to make people expect a product that is mass-marketed It could be anything - from Big Macs 10 cars to electronics. I was talking to some people about the idea of opening a "brew pub" here, a place that actually brews its own beers. But a venture like that would have 10 buck Michelob and Coors and companies of that size. Another of those market forces is access 10 capital - somethings take a lot of money to get started. That's certainly another aspect that tends to propel large-scale operations, operations that make a product one place and distribute it everywhere. r think that the advantages of keeping Kamah: It sounds like the whole time you've been building the company, you've been thinking of developing a regional agriculture. Ron Ainspan: My guiding philosophy has a lot 10 do with keeping things local and maintaining personal relationships. I don't like the coipOrate mentality and standardi7.ed ways of doing things. Individual initiative is very important, and that's something that in many cases is threatened by the way the economy functions. The corporate mentality is lifeless. People need to be alive and thinking. Then, even if they screw up, at least they're trying and putting themselves into what they arc doing. That has always been important to me. Ka11wh: Why do you think that there are not more people growing food for sale? Ron Ainspan: It's a lot of work and n fairly low pay-off. So much of farming is large-scale ,c.aiuah Journal plUJc 14 Kar(tah: What are some of the reasons that local production is advantageo\lS? Ron Ainspan: To me the most important thing is having a personal connection 10 what }'Ou do jn your dnily life. Too many people just put in their work hours so that they can play when they are not working. Our work-life is the biggest pan of our life, and we should do something that's innately satisfying. We need 10 be able to give our own personal input, to put our own personal stamp on what we do. I think that's really the thing. There is also the whole question of some geographic areas taking advantage of others, and the dollars that are lost from a local area. If your beer is coming from Colorado, 1hen your beer dollars are going to Colorado. 1f your produce is coming from western Nonh Carolina, then your money is being kepi in the local economy. That kind of concept is in contrast to the prevailing "trickle-down" concept that says it's efficient to produce on a large scale somewhere far away and distribute over a wide area, and the wealth that is created from doing that will evenrually work its way down to everybody. That kind of system creates an imbalance between the people who are very wealthy and the people who get just a triclcle. Karualr: The reason we are able to dunk and act that way is because of our tremendous (continued Cll'I page 30) POEMS by Jim Clark Katuah: Secure that market and then plug in the local goods. Ron Ainspan: However, the growth potential for local production is still greater than the growth potential of the local market There's the possibility of growing more produce in western North Carolina than the market could handle, at least right now. thing! focal, small, andpel'sonal nud"to bet''~._ continually put in front of the public. People tend to go along with whatever the trend or the lates1 marketing campaign is. LIGHTS i This is the body's land at home here or nowhere. Through deep-welled air the magne1 moon orients the singing skin's cardinal points. ii In cedar hung silence, through camp smoke and wave lap, shards of stunned brighmess speak a language of light iii As from a great distance patterns are seen to shiver suddenly into focus, so these lights flashing at the body's perimeter connect and in the vibmting darkness chart our every step. MOUNTAIN WALKING SONGS i Always the ancient air finds its home in our lungs and goes on ii AJways our feet move lightly over the charged ea.nh iii Always we are walking in the mountains singing Spri.n9, 1991 �Going about the Business of Building a Regional Economy These are profiles. shorr sketches of what some people are doing and how they are dcing it. These are only aJew examples showing different facets of a possible regional economy. Many other enterprises and projects have appeared in the pages ofKa1uah Journal, in both the ads and the feature sections - parricular/y in issue #7, the first time the jo1unal touched specifically on the question of a regional eco,wmy COUNTRY WORKSHOPS (Drew Langsner) 90 Mill Creek Rd Marshall, NC 28753 (704) 656-2280 When I.hey first bought their farm in the nonheas1em c?mer of Madison County in 1974, Drew and LoU1Se Langsner hope.cl 10 make their living close to the land, doing the things I.hat they loved. Foremost among these were farming and woodworking. The couple was already well-versed in traditional woodworking and other folk skills largely as a result of a trip to Europe taken during the early 1970's. However, they spent "four lean years" of minimum wage work interspersed with some magazine writing and some craft projcccs as they gradually figured out how to put their skills 10 work. In 1978 Drew and Louise hi l on the idea of a woodcrafts school called Country Workshops. The school would offer students seven-day courses on the Langsner fann to teach some of the skills Drew and Louise had garnered in their travels and studies. The Langsners saw the school as a way 10 earn income by sharing skills they knew well and loved 10 practice. With $500 of their personal cash, Drew and Louise set up the first session of Country Workshops. Enough people attended 10 encourage them 10 continue the idea, and the workshops have happened every summer since. It was mostly love of the work and a belief in the potential of the idea that kept the Langsners at it for the first years. "Only recently," said Drew, "have the ~eip½~ shown anything appro,dmating even a pan-nme mcome." To round out support for their famHy, ~rew farms, producing cows and hay, and sells his excellent ladderback and Windsor chairs on order. The fann emphasizes Red Devon cows an historical breed that came over 10 Plymouth with some of the first white seulers from England. Sprl.ng, 1991 The businesses presented here must be viewed from two perspectives: the economy as it is now, and the economy as it could be.for tliese are businesses that are working within borh of these contextS simultaneously. They are working enterprises within 01u present economic sen'{), b111 they are also the inspiration and the infrasrrucnue for a new, mtJre appropriate economy - although in some cases the operators miglu deny that as their intent. To fwiction within 01u present economic system requires compromise, and the businesses presented are evaluated honestly in terms of Louise grows excellent vegetables in her gardens and prepares them for their guests during the workshop season. They are also occasional authors. Together they wrote a book on European craftwork, and Drew has also written three instructional books: A logbuilder's llandbook. Country Woodcraft, and Green Woodworking, all well-known and well- respected in their fields. "We're not even close to middle class," sars D~w, "but we've moved away from being poised nght on the edge. Our car died a few months ago, and I was able 10 purchase a used car without it being the major crisis it once would have been." At first the workshops taught only two courses: Scandinavian woodcarving with old hand tools, and log cabin building. Now the curriculum also includes Swiss coopering, Japanese woodworking, ladderback and Windsor chair-mnking, and basketry. Drew at first spent muc~ ?f th~ time teaching, but recently ~dm1m~trauve tasks have been occupying an mcreasmg percentage of his time. "Wilh seven 10 twelve people here and the needs of the students and teachers to attend 10. it wa,; difficult and sometim~ impossibl<:; 10 see to everything while I was teaching as well Drew also allows up to two students to live with their family for extended winter tutoriaV apprenriccship programs. The students sleep in a building on the property and Louise prepares meals for all. "The food is excellent, but the sleeping arrangements are still somewhat primitive," says Drew. "Still only a few people have minded at all." "While we don't teach saictly Appalachian crafts per se, I think the surroundings here are imponant to the people and contribute a lot to their appreciation of the experience. Many of the people who take the courses are folks who get a two-week vacation each year and decide 10 spend one _w~ek of it here at a workshop. That is very gra11fy1ng to me. "People get more out of the experience than just 1he skills of woodworlcing. Students write back to say that they have learned something here ecological a11d economic impact and s1istain.abiliry. Their collective experience is a report card, indicating ro /IS as a region how we are doing at this business ofb[tilding a land-based economy. Admiuedly, we have a long way1ogo Bw rhe most impanant message rha1 these people and these projects bring UJ u.r is that there are things we can do, tlllll we can begin now, even if conditio,rs are not perfect, even if rite deck is stacked against 11s in the shon nm. Profiles compl/i,d by Ernest Womlck and Millie Sundstrom about what is imponant to them." The same might be said of Drew and Louise, two talented people who are clear about the life they wane and have found a way to live it Their fann and their skills are important to them. Rather tlJaP. move;c;>.the urban marj(!!IP!ace to.sci.~ ~ ineir ~k.ills foi: me higltest price, th~y Jiav• found>n.e:> a way to balance their abilities to provide a satisfying life in the countryside. BRIGHT HORIZONS, BRIGHT MOUNTAIN BOOKS (Eric and Cynthia Bright) 138 Springside Rd Fairview, NC 28730 Bright Mountain Books is a publishing house specializing in Appalachio.n regional material. Bright Horizons is a regional book distributor. Boch companies arc the creations and the present passion of Eric and Cynthia Bright Says Eric Bright, "We wanted to strut a publishing company. but to publish books you have to sell them, so we first began distributing books 10 make a marketing network." Today their first ambition is still largely unfulfilled. Most of I.heir business and most of their income still comes from book distribution sa!e~. Bri~ht Mountain Books has published four onginal ntles, however: Keep 'Em loughing by Bob Terrell, Disorder in the C()llrt by Bob Terrell and Marcellus Buchanan, Two on the Square by Bob Moore, and Poper Mansions by Bob PadgeR They have also reprinted other works that were out of print and would have been lost, like Moun1ai11 SpiritS and More Mountain Spirils, well-read books about the Appalachian moonshining culture. The couple has jusc invesccd in new computer equipment and a laser printer that will be reserved strictly for publishing work. They hope that the new tools will launch them more deeply into the publishing side of their business. Or.win& by Rob Missick (conlirwed on pege 16) Xatl'.mh Journat PCMJC 15 �(CCII\UIIUOd &om page IS) • create our own markeL We've done that. 'There has been a ground swell in interest Bright Horizons is highly successful. The in herbaceous native plants. The interest company sold one-third more books in 1990 than continues t0 grow, and we arc optimistic, but I it had any other year in the pasL !he o'Yncrs, suppose I should have done a ~arket ~e)'. I while feeling that their comp~y lS malcing a would have sought outside capital and Just bitten contribution to the understanding and . the bullcL appreciation of the Appalac~s and. Appalachian ~we can see clearly in hind.sight that we culture, see some weaknesses tn their sue~. "We are very dependent on the tounst ll'ade should have been harder-nosed businesspeople initially. If I could start over again, l would righi now," says Eric. "That means that we have educate myself to good business practices to malce concessions to the demands of the beforehand, because that end of the operation is market and offer some books that we may not not anractive to either Meredith or me, yet we particuiarty like, but which are good sellers and can't avoid iL I would say that we are right now are important to our retail store customers. . "I saw a book called White Trash Coobng, making the tranSition from be~g dedica~ed hobbyists to becoming professional busmess and my first reaction was that I didn't want t? people." carry that book at all, but customers kept calling The two are confirmed plant-lovers, and and asking for it. and so finally I gave in and put they started their business from a desire tO spend it in stock. We sold 2,000 copies in the firstfour time doing what they love to.do the most ~oth months it was available." are knowledgeable about nanve plants. Ed ts a Are they living well? "No," they say. "We professor of botany at the University of haven't had a family vacation in ten years. We Tennessee at Knoxville. It is hard 10 imagine two haven't made our material goals, but we feel we people more qualified for this work, yet Ed says. a.re following out our p!an, and we ar~ firmly "if we were dependent on the business for our committed to the direcuon we are taking. livelihood, we would be in the poor house. . . "When we get our daughters through We're going 10 give it a few more years, and if ll college, we will think more about our own doesn't become more profitable, we probably lifestyle." will get om of it." They see the greatest problem wi~ ~cir Some of the plants growing in the Native work being that they spend much of !hCU' nme . doing mundane chores that they don ~ n~e~y Gardens have commercial uses as herbal medicines or botanicals. Ed would like 10 develop enjoy, but which are necessary to maintaining that trade because botanicals are growing in their business at this stage. They are, however! popularity and commerc!al harvesting in the _ wild satisfied with their present progress toward their would put 100 much stra.tn on the plant spec1es, goals. many of which are endemic or rare. "I don't subscribe to the idea that "Producing botanicals probably has greater companies have to necessarily grow and grow potential than the straight production of , . . and grow," says Eric. "When a company gets to wildflowers for gardening,'' Ed figures. This lS a manageable siz.e !hat fulfills the needs of the already a big business in the Southern_ owners, then it is quite alright t0 ease off and Appalachians, but it is not developed m the way maintain it at that level." that it could be. As it stands now, a few large And the Brights agree c~mpletely ah?ut companies pretty much control the market. They one thing: "People have to rcaliz.c that i:unnmg a contt0l the price, they control w~at_ they buy: and business takes l 50% of your efforL It is a very the guy out there on the mounl8lns1de doesn t demanding task." have any choice." Ed and Meredith are conscientious in their work. They started out with ~ highest stan~ds of purity. Now they use pesuc1des and fungicides "only if we have to, or if there are legal requirementS for them." That was another le~on learned. "If somebody is going to g~t into this business and thinks that they are going 10 totally avoid chemical pesticides, they're naive," says NATIVE GARDENS (Meredith Bradford-Clcbsch and Ed Clebsch) Ed. . d al.i.n There are other issues of concern in e g Rt. 1, Box 494 with native plants. Greenback.TN 37742 "We ask questions about whether the plants we buy have been propaga~ed in th~ Native Gardens, the creation of Ed and nursery or if they have been du~ in the w)ld. For Meredith Bradford-Qebsch, offers herbaceous the first four years of our operauon, we simply plantS almost entirely of native varieties and all didn't deal in materials that were dug from the propagated from seed and cunings, for wholesale wild. Lately we have bought rescued plants from and retail sale. Most of the plants are sold m situations where their destruction is absolutely containers, although they sell some field pl~ntS 10 certain. But we are not yet at a point where we landscape architects. Much ~f the company s would tum around and sell those materials business is mail orders obtamed through directly. We use them for propagation pufJ>?SCS. Meredith's tastefully-designed catalog. . "I am also concerned that we are creanng a Personnel consists of Ed and Mered1th an~ considerable mixing of genetic material, because two part-rime helpers and another worker, who lS we often buy plants from other pl~es '.111d grow full-time except for the winter months. them out 10 maturity for sale. The dilunng of Ed and Meredith started Native Gardens genetic purity is something that ~onccrns 11s, and with their own money. we think it will become an issue m the next "If we had paid for a pre-opening market decade." survey, we never would have opened," said Ed. Ed urges people not to be idealistic when "We inruitively knew that we were on the staning a business. , . beginning of what we were confident was a "We run into people who say, fd like to rising trend, but we knew that we would have to do that. It looks like so much fun.' It is, if you Xatuah Journ.at pCMJe 16 .. are willing to work 16-18 hours per ~Y"The market is there. I wouldn t discourage anyone from getting started, but I would encourage them 10 go into it with their eyes open. It is an enormous amount of work, and it takes some knowledge up fronL The . starry-eyed ideal of growing plants and having them sell themselves automatically is not true. If a person has that idea, then they would do better not to get into the business at all." FRENCH BROAD FOOD CO-OP (Barb Acker) 90 Biltmore Ave. Asheville, NC 28801 The French Broad Food Co-op. the member-owned food co-op in Asheville, NC has made a move - a big move. Not just from ~cold cramped quaners in the Old Chesterfield Mill on West Haywood Street to a new address on Biltmore Avenue, but a shift in policy that involved borrowing $100,000 to change their location and to expand the store, so the co-op could serve the general public as well as the co-op membership. The co-op is run by a 7-person board of directors elected by the membership at an annual membership meeting. The board hires the store manager and it was the board that decided to undenak~ the $100,000 debL To raise that capital $42 000 was borrowed from individual mem~rs a~d another $60,000 was obtained through the Self-Help Credit Union. Barb Acker is the co-op manager, in charge of supervising the day~t<Hlay OJ?Cration o~ the store and its four full-ume and CJght pan-tune staff people. She is encouraged by the response to the move and feels it has revitalized the co-op. 'We are in the mainstream financial market right now, deeply in debt., but. we fel~ that it was necessary in order to make this leap in growth. We are finding it to be money well-spent, and we arc starting to pay back the loans on schedule." "For the five years prior to November, 1990 while we were at the Chesterfield Mill, we had a'bout 800 people from 400 families who sustained the business. In the two and one-half months since we've moved, our membership base has increased to 1200." Co-ops are different than most o~cr • economic instirutions in that their goal 1s SCMCC mher than profiL Co-ops depend heavily on volunteer help; they keep a small rnar&;in of overhead with which to run the operanon, but they are not in the business of accumulating wealth or making anyone rich. Co-ops generally define their goals in terms of filling basic needs, rather than using people's needs to reap pe!Sonal and material benefits. Some co-ops see their purpose as simply providing a cenain product, but there are others that see themselves as pan of an oo-going, overall social change. The French Broad Food Co-op sees itself as having a role in the changes ~at are happening in the Asheville area and the region. Barb, speaking of the grour 's long-range goals, pointed out that "a trade magazine caJJ;d . Cooperarive Grocer ran a quote back m the spnng Sprt.nq, 1991 �i~) l._ 't ' Jlt) :i :11 '"\) I ~ O I t \~ If "' ..•ll of 1990 that impressed me. (t reads, 'Food co-ops n~ to be quality, profitable groceries, but also pan of a larger social transformation.• "1 think that's the essence of the cooperative movement and also of the French Broad Food Co-:op. Socilll change is very much a p:ut of the C(),,()p's n1essnge in that we arc trying to bring something different to people that is better for all of us, beuer for the whole." The co-op's first task is providing quality food, but living in this world means making choices and finding a workable balance. Barb says, "We are providing the best physical nourishment that we can in the food products we offer, and we try 10 make equitable choices on everything we buy to make sure that they have the least environmental impact possible. However, 95% of the food lhat we sell comes in from outside the region. "Produce is one area where we might be able to change that Produce is 16% of our total stock. Most of that presently comes from outside the region. But it is a high priority for the co-op to suppon local farmers, and we are now talking with farmers to help them plan whar they plant for the next growing season, knowing that the co-op now is a much bigger market for them. "We definitely do encourage our buyers to buy locally whenever they can, but the reality of the situation is that very little of our food is locally-produced at this point. You just can't get cashews from the Appalachians. One of the realities of food distribution is 1ha1 it is world-wide, and we have to provide what people are u$ed to getting if we are going to stay in business. We realize that shipping food all across the world has a major environmental impact. But I suppose things have to be W(;ighed in the ., balance, and we see oun;elvcs as trying to 1 educate more people as to how they can eat bener for less money." The emphasis on eduC.'.lcion is another imponant way that co-op members see their business taking pan in social change. According to Barb, "the next step we have to take, now that we are settled down in our new loca1ion, and the dust is settling from the transition, is that we have to stan education right away. Folks are coming in and saying. 'I want to switch from eating so much meat, but I don't know what to do with this tofu sruff.' "People are more interested in eating food that hasn't been poisoned. Even chain supermarkets arc s1aning to carry organic food, and it's making an impact on the everyday person's consciousne.~s. We arc staning co see that what we eat makes a difference in how we feel, and how that makes a difference in the health of the community and the health of the world as a result People are wanting to cat bener, and realizing tha1 eating good food fuels the body much better." "If we can't help people make that transition, we aren't going to be here very long. But the co-op staff people are qui1e ready 10 help with that. They have been doing this work for the last 15 years, and now they have a better opportunity lo help 1he public learn how to use good food. "People are catching on about doing things cooperatively, too. Thal':; another thing that we have to teach. Worker-members have doubled in number since we have moved here. Members feel a real sense of belonging and contributing 10 some1hing: supplying decent food that they want 10 buy and are proud to offer 10 01hers.'' The co-op members arc also aware their Sprtn(J, l 991 I ,fj O!J -,.// 1,11, fl f /.., •,.t.. r) 4 J,. business is making c.onlributions on tither levels. "It's a physical sus1enance that we offer," says Barb, "but it's also a social sus1cnance as well. We want to promote a feeling of community. We have one room that has been designated as the community room, and we have a bench made out of a rree that is just inside the door where people can sit around and visit. That essence of community is very central to the reality of the co-op. "We have a.water cooler, one of the old-fashioned ceramic ones, that is filled with spring water from up in the mountains, so the co-op is also the watering hole." The co-op also took a concrete step to help people get through the recession. In line with their policy of providing oosic foodstuffs at the cheapest possible prices, the co-op in January cut the mark-up on all the beans and grains in the store to just above cost. Again, It was a question of finding a balance. , "Right now in this co-op and in many n:llural food stores and co-ops around the country there arc a lot of packaged. fluffy foods that none of us really need. but which we have become used to," said Barb. "It's the fluffy alternative to the products the supcnnarkets have. We have 10 answer that, so we stock them. "People can choose whether or not they want those expensive items. But the things they need to live on will be here, and they will be affordable." But the co-op has also made a commitment to quality. "Most of our produce is organic. so it is somewhat higher-priced than produce a, the supermarket," Bnrb explained. "We are adamant about maintaining our support of the organic fanning industry, so that it can c90tinue 10 grow and flourish. To Mthdrawoursllpport ts&ause I conventional food is cheaper would oo 10 compromise our commitment 10 pure food.'' The co-op is moving forward. The group is excited about the changes enabling them to better carry out their original purposes. tl'ltS . .ts,-it . GREG OLSON 211 Stoney Knob Rd. Weaverville, NC 28787 (704) 658-0834 "In designing environmental homes, I am basicaUy looking at three levels of impact," says Greg Olson. "I try 10 minimize impacts on the environment by designing homes that are energy-efficient and rely heavily on alternative energy sources. I try to look out for the environment by using materials that have as linle negative impact as possible in their production and use. And then I pay attention to the health impacts, which include things like electricity, water quality, and how different spaces wi1hm the house nre going to be used." · Greg is an al1em:uive home designer who is presently doing a brisk business planning and overseeing the construction of environmentallyconscious shelters in 1he Katuah Province. "My sole criteria for taking on work is whether the people want an energy-efficient home." he says. ''l don't look at the size of 1he project, the money involved, or the building f "!i , r • , ..... , ~le. Jt could be an exciting project, btlt if it looks like its not geared toward energy efficiency I refer them 10 someone else. 'rrhe work I've been doing has varied widely depending on the conditions of the site, and the budget and desires of the people who arc building the house. I have done passive solar homes with solar water heating lhat is backed up by power from the grid. I have done a middleground system that utilizes a solar-and-wood system for healing and cooling. Right now I'm working on a large house now that is completely off the grid. All the electticity is produced by phocovoltaic panels. "lam constantly looking for materials that are environmentally benign. That type of question is constantly coming up: in doing the plumbing should we use polybutylene or copper? Polybucylene is a plastics product; but making metal; whether it's siccl, a.lumitium, or copper, is also nn intenseprocess;, • J J;tf "We've dealt some \\ith the effect of electromagnetic fields created by house wiring. Where people want it, we've staned using shielded cable lo neutralize that effect. "We have also gotten to the point that we don't use any plywood or any materials with urethane binders unless it's absolutely nece.~sary. "Contradictions are always coming up between the levels of impact Insulation, for instnnce, fulfills a very important function in the house. But for a long time the best foams were extruded or impregnated with air by CFC's in the manufacturing process. Now one company has a foam that they say is not a CFC, but which is probably something else equally bad. "Right now we are investigating setting up a d~ership io the .area for air-enttaine.d.coocn::1e, Vthicti ~s concn:te thal is,ini.vlaced.b>'.h.lvioa air forced through it. That will llCl as a Sll'Ucrural material and an insulating material at the same time. ''The solar products are another example. They are extremely helpful in their operation, but as far as their original materials, they all have their setbacks. Photovoltaic panels or copper collector plates have a ttcmendous manufacturing impact While the copper in a solar collector is never going to return all the energy lhat was put into it during the manufacturing process, it's still better than just burning the energy. "We're pursuing it all the time, but there is also the cost factor: how much can we do on the owners' budget?" Greg says that there seems to be an increasing concern about energy-efficient building, perhaps generated by the war in the l\1iddle F.ast. "My business all comes by word of mouth; I don't advertise. Thar helps, because people that seek me out are already thinking in a certain way. It helps to filter my work out, Nevenheless, I've been extremely busy. "It's really picked up in the last year. We are a culture that responds 10 crisis, and I thinlc recent evenlS have been staning people to wonder where their energy is going to come from." Greg also teaches n class at UNCA called "Environment, Design, and Solar Energy." His business (and the rock-reggae band he played wilb) was originally called "One Straw." He doesn't use the name anymore, but he says that be is still drawn to the quo1e in the book by Masanobu Fukuoka from which lhe name originated: "With this single straw, I, by myself, will begin a revolution." . �wltich are often indistinguishable, all are closely clustered around the Gorge. It is a vigorous athletic and cultural life they share. In the same week on the Nantahrua aaasoBElB oooosa BB BBB BeooBooooo 0 River, after wearing one's self out rafting, c biking, hiking, or rock-climbing, one could spend the everting at a poetry reading, a loud rock O Of Success and the River c 'n roll pnrty, a modern dance workshop, a lecture ~ o by a prominent nature writer, dining at a fancy o g restawant, or .auending a friendly get-t0gether in o The river staned it all. When Horace c one of the Center's private cabins. gHolden bought the isolated motel on the c ln Payson's view of that enlightened o Nantahala Falls, it had no profits and no future, g community, it would be unfair to the Staff and the o only a good location on the river. Holden and c company alike to have anytlting less than full Payson Kennedy provided the vision the location c participation - economic and political, as well as o needed; they turned the location into a thriving g professional and social. He first proposed the o business and the NOC into a recreation industry o employee stock ownership plan at a staff meeting g legend. c in January, 1987. The plan was at first rejected o The best tribute to success is imitation, and g by the employees. "'I now 15 rafting companies crowd the banks of the o 0 Why would workers initially cum down a g Nantnhala. There would be more if the Forest share in the profits and policy management of o Service bnd not stepped in to limit the burgeoning g their company and a greater measure of control of o whitewater industry on the river. ~ their day-to-day lives? The answer lies to a great ~ Whereas a total of 1.200 people rode the g extent in the nature of the NOC and its staff. o river in the NOCs first season, now more than 0 The raft-guiding and recreational work in o 6,000 people run the Nantahala on one good o which the Outdoor Center specializes requires Saturday. In the 1990 season over 200,000 great expertise that comes from rigorous training o people took the river trip. The Nantahala is g and long practice - especially at the NOC. which o known as the most crowded rafting river in the o rakes great pride in the excellence of its gcountry. o programs. Thus. many of the Outdoor Center o The river continues to now along, g employees are highly skilled athletes, who could o seemingly unpenurbcd by all this uproar. But the o easily find a job in other pans of the country. g high rate of traffic is affecting the river. John and often do. Recreational work is seasonal and o Burton, the president of the Nanw.hala Ourdoor g is traditionally low-paying. Those who are c; Center, says, "Up until five or six years ago, c attracted to it are willing to accept the lower g resource degradation wasn't a serious concern in wages because of their love for the work and the o my mind, but now it is. Human traffic along the free-wheeling lifestyle it affords. Although the o banks has been degrading the banks and wearing o Outdoor Center is fortunate in having a strong them away. People are trampling vegetanon that core group of more than 70 people who have o is needed to st0p erosion and exposing the roots 0 been on the staff for more than JO of the c of trees. And there is the inevitable liner from the o crowd and the cars that pass by on the two-lane company's 18-year history (an unusual percentage in that demanding business), many of o road that runs alongside the river." 0 0 the NOC employees are young and transient, And surely the constant disturbance caused c coming for one summer or only during cenain by the high rate of river traffic is affecting the times of the year. Even of the employees wbo o aquatic habitat 0 consider the Nantahala area t!ieir ho~. a good . g . c number rake several months m the winter to "ski O Ten years ago the NOC, aware of their g bum" or cravel. o effect on the river, tried unilaterally to limit their c O company's growth. As a result, many of the Nantahala staff did o not want to risk their small salaries on stock "All we did," said John Burton, "was to investment and were wary of the long-tellll o put a couple of competitors in business real fast, o commitment and responsibility to the company and we didn't do anything to limit the growth of a that ownership requires. They were completely O the rafting business. Therefore, we felt we were g happy to do what they did best and leave the o undermining our own purposes, and we haven't c hassles of management to the businesspeople g tried that again." o hired for that job. Being such a mnjor player, the NOC g 0 Company president John Bunoo said, ''To o cannot suggest overall limitations on river us~ it o many of these people, 'commitment' meant doing ~ would seem as if they were trying to monopolize c the best job possible while they were here. To O their own strong position on the river. Control is Payson, it meant a long-term commitment 10 the o left up to the Forest Service, which limits only o company. That was essentially the gap I h:id to g the number of companies that can operate on the o bridge." 0 river each season and mruces no attempt to Burton was fonnerly a securities analyst o regulate the size of those companies. o for the Philadelphia National Bank, as well as a g "It's not the number of people who use the o dedicated canoeist and one-time member of the O river," said Ranger Bill Lea, ''it's the kind of US Olympic canoe team. He understood the o people who use the river that makes the o g difference." o problem from both sides. The KSOP compi:omise was ms ~rainchild. 1ne plan's mix O But o~ summer Sarurdays, the rafts come g !)f opt!onaJ membership, and the handsome o down, one nght after the other. River rafts are o mcennve offered, seems to have met the needs of g not as deadly as dioxin, but the "invisible hand" 0 the NOC staff; 70% of those eligible are now g O of free enterprise is slowly choking the member stockholders. o NantahaJa. o O Because of the closeness of the a community, the Outdoor Center's KSOP plan is necessarily a social experiment as well. The NOC au sos uo oeeaeeeonooo Bes noooooa is more like a rambunctious tribe than a corporation, but in practical tenns that means that g THENANTAHALAOUTDOOR CENTER 41 US Highway 19 West Bryson City, NC 28713 (704) 488-6737 Rural Swain County is an unlikely place for a phenomenon. But it is here, beside a low waterfall on the Nantahala River, that a wildly diverse crew runs the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC), purveyor of rafting and outing adventures and the corporate headquarters for an operation that grossed $8 million in 1990. The NOC is well-known in business circles as a recreation-business success story. In 1972 when Payson and Aurelia Kennedy first started the operation, everyone was waslting dishes, and Saturday's profitS were spent Monday morning for new paddles or life preservers. The Center now comprises a sprawling complex of three restal!Illnts, cabins, an outfitter's store, and a fleet of buses, plus outposts on four other rivers in the region. The NOC employs 350 staff people at the height of the summer rafting season and even sends voyagers to exotic places such as Nepal, the Grand Canyon, and New 2.ealand on an Adventure Travel tour program. But one of the most outstanding features of the NOC is not noticeable 10 visitors coming 10 ride the river: the company is in the process of transferring ownership into t.he bands of an association of its workers. It is a difficult process, and NOC staff people are candid in speaking of its benefits and t~ drawbacks. On paper what is happening is this: the employees of the company are carrying out a gradual and friendly buy-out of the outside investors' interest in the NOC. An Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) now owns 50% of the shares of the company stock. Workers are gradually buying into the plan through what is called a "40l(k) provision," which gives them the opuon of deferring 5 to 8% of their salary 10 buy stock. Whatever they set aside, the company will match at a rate of 50 ccntS on the dollar for stock purchase. Because of the 40 I(k) provision, the NOC employees cal1 their hybrid stock ownership plan a "KSOP." According to the plan, the KSOP will have vinually complete control of the company by 1998. The KSOP is a compromise plan, the result of several years of often intense discussions. The idea that the Outdoor Center should be employee-owned came first from founder Payson Kennedy. From the beginning, Payson conceived the ~antahala Outdoor Center, not solely as a ~usme;,s venture, but as a community of like-mmded people. That community is alive and ~ppeniog _in once-isolated Swain County. River-running and the outdoor life are the community's Stock in trade, but more i!flponantly, they are the foundation of a way of life that the Outdoor Center shares with its paying guests. The staff live closely together. More than 100 NOC employees consider the environs of the NantahaJa River as home, and the Cen1cr provides ~bin space for the summer employees, so that durmg both working and leisure times, xawah Journm J>CUJC 18 g g g ° ° ° g g g g g g g g g 5 g g g g g (continuod on psgc 19) 8pri.tUJ, 1991 �the KSOP member/staff have to hve with the results of their decisions as a company day in and day OUI. The NOC executive officers worked hard 10 be sure that the decision for cooperative ownership was made by consensus. But the idea came from the top and the transition is being managed by the company officers. The plan is 10 gradually tum political as well as financial control over 10 the KSOP members. "We want it to mean that the KSOP members on the staff are actively involved in policy decisions, big picture kinds of decisions, directional decisions... " said John Bunon. The KSOP's power to vote in board of directors' elections is allocated democratically on the basis of "one member. one vote" (rather than on the economic basis of one vote per share). The KSOP controls half of the company's 16,000 shares of stock. That block of 8,000 shares is voted proportionally according to the wishes of the people in the KSOP. "We seek consensus at every tum, if we can. We take it as far as possible in that direction," said John. "What the people in the KSOP are learning is that it is in their interest to be unanimous. lf they act as a unit they can control the board of directors. We have board ~ectio~s every year. The politics are getting very interesnng." But beyond participation in the election of the Board of Direccors, the traditional function of stockholders in any corporation, the KSOP is not set up to participate in policy decisions. The group has no structure and no independent leadership. Meetings are still called by the top-level management in the company hieran:hy. With characteristic candor, John said, "It's up to the leaders of the company to nunure the leadership of the KSOP, whether that means putting together a social council or actively calling meetings that are run by different folks. "The lesson we've learned this first year is that it takes active effort to get this KSOP group involvcd...lt takes someone 10 call the meeting. If the meeting doesn'c get called, then the issue doesn't get discussed. It's a demanding process, and we have a lot 10 learn about how to do iL" The Nantahala Outdoor Center is a dynamic place, and the transition to worker ownership is dynamic as well. It is closely scrutinized and widely discussed in very practical and non-idealistic terms, signs of a healthy democracy. John Bunon thinks that the KSOP will be able to develop its own identiry and rise to the challenges of leadership. "If for no other reason," he said, "the employees are beginning to come around to it beca~se they are wondering why they have been working as hard as they have for someone else's profit." GREEN SPIRITS: KATUAH PROVINCE VEGETABLE PLANTING CALENDAR Developed by Lee Barnes (1/10/91) Based on an a"crnge 160day frost-free period a~ adapled from Jeavons et aL 1983, NCAES 1978 and others. For high elevation or shoner frost-free period, start two to three weeks later for spring planting and two to three weeks earlier for late plantings. START INDOORS February I Cool season plants - broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale Wann season plants - tomato, pepper, eggplant SEED IN GROUND TRANSPLANT TO SOIL Win~er Chores - Soil ccsc, lime, prune trees and berries, 1urn compost, IUm in cover crops one month prior to planting. March 1 Most annual herbs, spinach, annual flowers. mosc perennial seeds April 1 <or when ground tl'mpernturcs are greater than 40-45° F. at 4 inches in depth) Cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, squash, leaf INtuce Beets, chard, po1a1oes, peas, turnips, radishes, lenuce, bare-root fruit trees and berries Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, mustard, spinach, onions Beans, carrots, corn, potatoes, radishes, beets, turnips, squash, Cucumbers, Swiss chard (Best after soil temperature is 65° F. at four inchesdup) Cucumbers, eggplant, melons, okra, peppers, squash, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins Beans, corn, field peas, potatoes, New Zealand spinach, radishes, cucumbers Cucumbers, melons, squash, tomatoes Beans carrots, corn, potatoes. squash, cucumbers, collard greens Cucumbers, late t0ID3tocs May 1 '(or when ground temperatures are greater than 60" F. at 4 inches in depth) (wail for soil lo warm, tra11splants require 2-6 weeks to grow to s11fficic11t siu) June 1 July 1 Brussels sproutS July 15 Broccoli, spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, Mustard August IS Fall greens, radishes, lenuce, turnips, rutabagas Radishes, letruce Fall cover crops - winier rye, clover, buckwheat Broccoli. Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, leuuce, kale, mustard cabbage, Fall _Chores - Soil 1es1, plant clover crops. remove and compost garden refuse, lime (if needed), tum m phosphorous and rock phospha1e/granitc sands. Spn!UJ, 1991 Jeatu(lf1 Journnt J>G9C 19 �(These nre the wolds oC n tt:ldition:il Cherokee medicine person.) "Vll,LAGE ECONOMY" It was like the whole tribe was the torso of the body of the people, and the clans were like the extremities. The extremities did everything they could to suppon the torso. :That was their purpose. If the Wolf Oan was like the right hand, !he Twisted Hairs would be the left hand But the purpose of each of them was to suppon. 1 the torso, and the torso's purpose as a collective body was to suppon the Grea1 Life. The old pe0ple saw themselves as caretakers. They used to say that they were the first people on the Earth, and they were plnced here to be caretakers - to keep the spiritual, natural balance. We have the abiliry with our ~onsciousness to hook into the Great One, which 1s...l don't know what it is, maybe it's the spirits of _all living things put together...and 1hey felt that being caretakers was pan of our purpose, Like a bcar's purpose is one thing, a deer's purpose is another, and an oak tree's purpose is another ~ch_ thing is put here for a purpose. The Gre~t Llf~ IS made up of trillion.s of beings, great treesl • tu,tmy oolls, fllld; the .function of encll of those individual llves.isto suppontheUfe:\lach in its! own way. . . The human way of supporting the Great Life JS through our spiritual consciousness. We were spiritually conscious of other living spirits Like ~imals_. birds, and trees. No1 all the people' were lake this, of course, bu1 people in general were, and the people who weren't, understood it. We we~n't domestica1ed by individualism and all those things that are pan of the dominant culture today. '!bat's why this society has a problem. It's so mulu-<:ultured, that people don't have the same h~ and the same mind. Everybody's doing thetr own damn thing. I During those times, life was village life and everyone saw lhe people they lived with every day. ~hen visitors came through, they would stay tn the town-house, and there would be a big pot of food out there. Everybody would contnbute to ?1at pot of food, so that strangers or anybody connng through could have something to eat. That was the people's attitude: their culture was an extended family. Generally, anybody in the tribe could go alone out in the woods and take care of themselves. The younger ones might have some tr0uble, bur most people could. The women were exi><:n at gathering; they probably were beuer survtvors than the men. And then a family, an extended family would also take care of itself. The old peopte' who raised the children. The uncles taught the children. And while the old ones and maybe some of the n:iother's clan ~le were taking cnre _of the _c~ildrert, th~ mamed couple would be making a livmg, fanning and hunting. They had individual gardens, also clan Xatuah ,aurnaL pnge 20 gardens, and there was a community garden. They had storage places in the village to keep food for those who needed it. Some of the storage bins were built up on poles. Another kind ~ a small pole log structure that was sealed ~th mud to keep the rodents out. Com was put 10 there, and people were assigned 10 check it ~m. time to time to see if the critters were getting IOIO ll The white man Henry Timberlake when he first came into the village of Echota the early 1700's! estimated a population of close to 2,000, and said there w_ere something like 6(). to 70,000 bushels of com 1n storage. That was his estimate. That was western attitude. Even if it wasn't that much, it obviously was considerable. i; Most o_f th~ time every pan of the tribe, as well as the mbe ttself, was self-sufficient But if a family got in trouble, if they had their crops washed out by a flood or something, 1hey would first appeal 10 their clan for help, and then other clans would ju~t naturally volu~teer to help, beca~se the philosophy at that ume, which has drasnc/¾P.-.r,pb,qn'i¢. w~ ~U)~ 'YI;~, !,!le helpless. 1,1µ1d !he ~1a firsi.. -l3ack,qi.c11 spjlii11g e.ni:I .giviµg sniff' away was well 1ooked upon. Those people who were the most generous showed their commi~ment to the tribe and were given power. The chief was the poorest person in the tribe, but the smanest. However, that doesn't exist any more. In today's society hoarding sruff and amassing wealth is well looked upon. The old way was son of nice, but it doesn't deal very well with capitalism. Food wasn't bought or sold inside the tribe. Food or hides may have been offered in exchange to people who could make beautiful craflS or weapon-makers who knew how to make really good arrows or blow guns, but no one had 10 buy food to keep from going hungry. ~ei:i. someone ,creates something, they put power mto ll. h doesn t mancr what ii is. At the very lcas1, one puts in their life/time. U someone makes a flu1e, their intent is for the flme to play and to free you up inside. You may not get that out of the flute, but at the very least you get six hours of their life • they put that much of the11 power into t~t object. They have put their full 10tent, all their experience, everything. into that flute. Thar flute has power, and we recogni:ze that. . . We put power into everything we do. If we do _11 _10 a bad heart, then .ii has bad power If we do 11 1~ a good hean and 1n a loving way. maybe say a httl~ prayer, then the power is a good thing. If~ are Just neutral, if we just do it without pumng anything into it, then it's not a craft it's not a skill, it's just a repetitive motion. ' . . Bae¥ then people saw that giving a gift was g1v10g their power, so they didn't wait around for admiration. They'd drop off a flute at someone's front door, and that would be it. It was obvious when a gift was given. Some people were more skilled than others, and it was a fine thing to get a gift from someone who was very skilled. But the gift that was the best was one into which some person ~ad put all their ~can. It _di~'t have to be good, tf they put all their heart 10to u, then it was a highly prized gift and would probably miss the gambling exchange. Betting and gambling was a wonderful way of exchange. The men would play the chunky game. It was definitely a macho game probably the only macho game we had. One ' person would roll a round chunky stone and two other men would be standing on either side with spears with little red marks on them. They would throw the spears underhanded and sec who could ger the red mark closest to the stone. It required a Lot of skill. They would play right in the village ~uarc, big old males strun.ing around downtown in front of the court.house. It was kind of like the pool haIJ where the men could get 10gether and talk rough. They wouldn't bet food, just possessions: crafts, weapons, things that they had taken from other Indians, or trade goods. They would stand there and throw down their bows and arrows their loincloths. They would stand there naked betting, and then try to calk a guy into betting ~o or three days work in the cornfield. They would always pay off, 100, because back then a person's word was everything. In lhe tribe auention was most important. ~e. cullu:e was built that way. Our way of ra.1smg children wasn't to hit them, but to praise ~em when ther did well, and lO ignore them or give them nothmg when they did wrong. So if you were good in the chunky game or were a " w81l}ol'1and did ~ t deeds, tllen you we~ admiicd lf you were a good fanm:r then you ~ere admired. But if you messed up, you were ignored. The worst punishment was to be thrown out of the tribe. Many people committed suicide when that happened to them, when they lost that connection with the tribe. Although the tribe was self-sufficient, the Chero~ees loved 10 trade. Some people think of the Indian tribes as being isolated. but that isn't true. The Cherokees could trade with anybody from New York all the way to Florida and all along the Mississippi and all the way along the coast Everybody spoke the same trade language. h was ~I~ the Choctaw trade language, and it was a p1dgm version of Choctaw. All tl1e Indians spoke it instead of using a sign language. The P,crokee never actually used a ~ncy, like money. Everything was done stnctly by baner. They used to make a lot of trips to the coast to get "black drink" (a decoction made from the leaves of yaupon holly - ed.), shells, feathers and items like that, but what they really loved was the dried root of the Venus fly-trap, because it was considered an incredible fishing chann, and all the fishermen would use it. And then maybe they'd bent up a few Tuscaroras on the way back from the beach, because that's just the way the Cherokees were. We had good flint deposits over in Tennessee. and we may have carried that for trade. We might have done some business with soapsrone. We had soapstone here to trade. We would trade mica to ihe northern Indians. The Cherokee might have gouen turquoise and stuff like that from the Chociaws and the Chickasaws to the west. We traded horses with the Chickasaws, who lived along the Mississippi Sprtm.,, I 991 �On Eco-economics by David Haenke Instead of endwing a meaningless job to gei the money IO buy necessities, real work should involve our efliciClll production or bllSIC needs, or our dilcct involvement in their procurement - e.g., by J)311icipaling as wor.ting members or cooperatives. In an ccocconomy, the formal "work weclc" wherein we labor for money might drop IO 20 hours or less. The ec:o-«onomy would run as much as possible on solar energy, just IIS cco-sysu:ms run entirdy on solar gain. Jt would mnke judicious use of "capital" ~ources. such as fossil fuels, which are used according 10 lhcir most efficient application as in Ille "soft energy path.• Basic cco-«onomics means doing the following 10 the giealCSl extent possible: River around Memphis, because the Chickasaws were lhe great eastern horsepeople - like the Sioux or the Plains Inruans. They were absolutely incredible horsemen, and 11\~y w~re great allies of the Cherokee. The two tnbes Just loved each other, God knows why. A whole village of Cherokees would move over and live by a Chickasaw village for a year. Then 11\e Cherokees would go back home, and the next year the Chickasaws would show up and live by the Olerokee village for a year. ArchaeologistS have discovered things in Cherokee mcdjcine bundles that were found only in South America. That shows 1he extent of their trade and their communication. They weren't isolated from one anoilier. When 11\e white people moved in and m.fluenced the Cherokee, they staned trading for productS. They would trade bushels of com, He jusL didn't fit in. The couple left for two weeks. While they were gone, their house burned down, a.nd it was rumored that someone had done it on purpose to get nd of him. They came back, and his wife was so sad 1ha1 they had lost their house, that the community got together and built them a new one nnd just put up with the man. That's an old Labor Brigade story. The tribe was self-sufficient in every way. The tribe satisfied the basic needs of human beings. One of those needs is community. We have a need for community that comes from tribalism. On the intimate level people filled that need through the extended family; on another level, it was fulfilled through communal ecrcmony, which was one of the foundations of their culture. dried pumpkin, deerskins, probably chestnuts, They had feast days or holy days at and ginseng to the western people, and 11\ey got important times during the year. The feast days teehnology in return. The clan system gradually were held to celebrate the blessing of the com or turned into a capitalistic system, but they sill! ceremonial occasions Like lighting the fire or maintained the community gardens for a long putting the fire out, bu1 they were also a time, until (Chief John) Ross created an elaborate connection people made with each other. The central government that could tell someone what people would get together, there would be betting to do, and the government started a tribal fund and gambling, the exchange of goods. and people money, y'know. IL son of worked its way over would undoubtedly share some genes around at from the baner system to capitalism, but at the those big gatherings, and at the same time they same time the Cherokees have always felt loyal to shared the spirit around the tribe. "the torso," the body of the tribe, although It was the cement that held the culture ·occasionally it's been pretty sick. Today the together. When that started crumbling, it was real tribe's like everything else in the world tough. But remnan1s of it still exist. You can still everything's got cancer. see it here and there: the Labor Brigades, people The Cherokee Labor Brigade, which was helping each other out, or sometime you might going strong up into this generation, was a hear somebody talking ihe old way. things like remnant of the time when everybody lived in the that. village, and the clans were like the extremities of Today we have less ceremony in our lives. the body supponing the torso. The people of the We need certain kinds of ceremonies. If we don't Labor Brigade would get together on Saturdays have them. we create them, because ceremonies and go to the house of somebody who needed are very imponant to human beings. help, like an old person who needed firewood Everything's a fonnula. When you're split or someone who needed their roof fixed. making a little cake. you go by the formula. You they would all pitch in nnd do the job and then need some flour from the field, eggs from a have a big pot-luck. Nowadays it's only some of chicken, some honey, and then the last thing is the older men who still do it, but it's a part of that' some heat, which makes it change from five culture, maybe it'll come back. different things into this one sweet little brown J beard a story once. There was a thing, a cake. It's no longer an egg and some half-breed married to a full-blooded woman. flour - but it is. h 's made up of a!J those partS. They lived in Birdtown a long time ago, like in Everything's formulistic. There is a my grandfather's time. He was a drunk and lived fonnula for our way of living. We need the com, in this community where nobody drank. Whether we need the honey, we need the ceremonies, they they were Baptist or traditional or what, they are all the raw materials. The fire is our didn't believe in his drinking. They thought it spirituality, which heats il and makes our cultuIC was a bad thing. He was a rowdy person, too. the way it is. ~ ' Sprtng, 1991 ..... Drawing by Rob Lcvcrcu •Participate In, invest in, and support local, ecologically responsible production by locally owned. opcralCd, and con1.rol1ed entctprises. •Buy, trade, and consume locally/ regionally produced goods and services. •Keep resources, capital, and energy at home; plug leaks. •Use solar energy and other •renewable" energies and resources.. •Be radically efficient in the use or nonrenewable resources. •Practice intense cooscrvat.ion and efficiency in oil sectors. •Do full-scale -- 90 to 1ooi.. -- recycling, utilitiog local/regional enlelpriscs. •Pay true. CCQlogically audited costs: intemalizc "externalities". It may hurt now. but it will pay off lalu. •Wodt coward a fonnol or informal local/n:giona1 trading sy~tem o.r cumney. •Support a humane and socially responsible economy. •Do not support businesses that pollute Ot destroy the cnvironmcnl. •Wherever humanly possible. do not buy from national or multinational corporations or their subsidiaries. Each localily, region, biorcgion oc stnte should have an up-to-daie dat.nbase on what is being sold and the ownership of the company selling, within its bounds. This infonnation should be furnished IO the public so lhat people can choose a tocallrcgional allCmlllive where possible. Development of economic altem:uivcs 10 national and l18nSrultional companies should be a focus oC each regioru Lee every economic act be ecologically conscious. �THOUGHTS ON WORK, PRODUCTIVITY, AND DEVELOPMENT: UNRAYELLING THE MYTH OF 'THE FREE MARKET" The refrain has become all too familiar. environmental proiection means loss of jobs. we are told, and if we would only let the corporate "£tee market" [unction without interference. lhen everylhing would magically work out for lite best. The "invistble band" of lhe market •aulOJ'llatically" mainlllins economic balance, we arc assured, and competition keeps prices low and SWldards high, as well as providing mucb·occdcd "jobs." Our economic difficulties :uc lhcrefore lhe result of lOO much regulation, not 100 liu!c; we are simply not letting the system function properly... Of course, !hero is some trulh to lhese assertions but not very much. If "mnrlcet fon:es• are reaUy th:11 benevolent, lhen why are lhey (we) creating many lecllnologics and coosumption pauems which are bolh socially and ecologically destructive. Why is energy conservation seen as somehow benealh us? Why is our society fallmg apan at lhe seams? (Wasn·1 it largely lhe DE-regulation of lhc 80's lhat led to outrageous financial excesses of every description - !he • gxced is good" memality which, we're now learning, we're going to be P3ying for over seveml dcc:ldes?) Why do most peoples' "jobs" consist of boring, unfulfiUing work which, more often Lhan 1101, has a dctrirnenlal effect . ranging from slight to tremendous - on our world and our lives? We need onJr /l)Fk ~l.!!Jc,P.:_9Jl:l~.w01"Jna in ~Pll!l~ indUSlry, Or ~.. "!9rkiria \lfilh~Jhcu U~_.,_, JU\j I J "military-industrial complex· and ilS off!hoots, or all !he common household products - solvenlS, painis, delClgel\b, aerosols, polishes, etc. - whose creation simulUlllcou.~ly createS a multitude of toxic industrial by-products, and which are oflCII luu:ardous or toxic themselves... Oearly, theie is something very wrong with a socio-economic system which rapidly undermines social cohesiveness ond destroys the very resources upon which our supposed "prospctity" depends! The manic. or mMliacal - functioning of our present economy reminds meofthoseold canoons III which lhc "hero" is silting on a high tree branch nnd is vigorously sawing lhrough it on lhe side closer to the trceJ Or lhttc's the classic comedy routine in which the "hero" is sawing a circle wound hunsclf in the !loor and soon completes it - only to fall through to the !loor below. In both c:iscs, lhc end result of all that hard work is 1111 unforsocn disaster though anyone eV\:11 remotely aware of reality could !rive forcsccn iL These comedy routines arc funny precisely because !he coming dis:ister IS so complctcly obvious yet when we promoo:: an economy that is leading 10 immincm social ond ecological disasw. we seem oblivious to !he danger. Laughably, not only is it NOT obvious 10 us, but most of u.~ mightily defend our "right" 10continue on the same "prolil:lblc" palh! But here we should learn something from lhe C3rl00ns • or we will continue sawing away until we and our environment are dcsu'Oyai. 9f ··········· All around our nation and !he world, the struggle 10 save our environment and our societies is moving into high ge3r • and the issue of'jobi' and ·productivity' occupies a central pl.ice m this S11Uggle. In the Pacific Nonhwes1, environmentlllists rue desperately trying to save 111e spoucd owl and its habitat, lhe rcmnantS of once-huge old-growth foresb, while angry loggers cloim lh:u TIIEY are now •an endangered species", and logging Xatuan JoumaL page 22 I II comp:inies claim to be patriotically serving vital socio-economic needs. And in Norlh Carolina and many other stales, obsessive road-building and "development" are Cervenlly supponed by businessmen, cconom,stS, and politicians (and, of course. !he developers}, on the assumption lhat economic prosperity and job availability depend on more roads and more rapid "growlh.• This trend continues unsb:ued despirestrong evidence that lhc prosperity thus gained is very shon-lived, if tndced the •standard of living' for the locals - the actual inhabitants - ever DOES rise appreciably. The reality behind the dream of qu,ck, bsung prosperity 1s this: once lhe p~pcrity boom accomp:1nying !he initial devel0pmcnt and eonsuuclion is o~r. the local inhabitanlS IISUa.lly tl1ld up getting shafted. Most of lhc big money - from mnnufoc1uriog, rCJuals, chain depatunent sl.OreS and superm:irkcls, and lhe glut of fast-food rcslllUl'8lllS - is funnelled out of lhe kx:aJ area and into lhe bank accoun1S oC distant corporations and developers, while "!he locals" are left to race the tong-term prospect of menial "setVice jobs" and socially and ocologicatly disrupted lives. TREND #1: Dcspitc intensive "development" and an influx of new tcehnologics and induslrics over lhc Jr.ISi IS yc.ars, Lhe "standard of livmg" of lhc average American has ran,n durin9 that,J,lmc pi:\iOd, and feal income has been steadily faJliog. ~p.y.is iltis l)CCwril)g? TRF.ND 112: During' th,s same period lhe richest (and smallest) segment of the American populllcc has go11C11 much richer, while lhe middle class and the poor have goucn poorer. 11 ,swell.known lhat lhe reign of "Frcc.-markct Rc:lg:inomics" (and its sequel, "Bushonomics") has created more millionaires lhan any previous "growlh decade.· The trouble is. II also created mounlllins of debt. a horrendous banking crisis, many more families and children living in povcny, and legions or homeless and hopclc.ss pcoplc... lhc grim "dart. side" of lhe supposedly unbiased, accessible. and soctally-rcsponsive "free markcL • QUESTION: Is the market rc3Uy "value- free." as us proponents claim. and docs it really encourage dcmocrauc paruc,pation and bcallhy socio-economic divcr~i1y . or does its implicit value-prefcscnce for proli1 ;it any price drhc the market (panicula.rly 111duj;Uy} to be free of ethical considerations and compassion, free to abusr the public lrUJ,I, and rree to lgnort as many !IOCiRI and ecological consequences :is po5.<>ible? QUESTION: b it po:;s1ble I.hat the TRUTII underlying lhe "free marke1" is I.hat it suppons a very small. scff.3ppo1n1ed elite in ransacking our environment, exploiting oilier people. and raking in vastly disproportion:ue monetary rewaril'i? Docli our society actually reward those who can most convincingly con lite public 1010 bclieviog th!lt all lhi$ cxplo1tation :ind "development" 15 for lheirown good and lhc good of lhe country? ......•••.•.•....•••..•....... The qucsuon or cnYIJ'Ollmenl:1.1 prcscrvauon vs. "development" and jobs is without doubl a thorny one and it IS made even lhom,cr hy a multitude of dangCl'OU$ and unquc:suoned assumptions about the n31ure oC our economic/ ecological re31ily. Such assumptions include: I) lhc belief lhat environmellllll prot.ection IS the prilll3J'}' factor behind job loss in industries such as lhc by Richaro Lowenthal wood produclS indllSlry, clcij>ite lhc fact that lhc true culprits in MOST job loss are managerial greed and callousness. industrial automation, corporate "strcamliniog." and poor "resource managcmcnL • 2) !he belief th:lt endless extraction and consumption of resoun:es is good for jobs and lhe local economy, despite lhe fact th:lt when these resources are dcple1ed !here me then NO rc1alCd jobs left m that area and the exuactors simply move on, leaving behind a legacy or heightened monetaty ~tations and the bitterness of a 'boom-tumcd-busL' 3} lhc belief lhat wori( and productivity must be ~ SOL.ELY hy amounts of Dlllterials e:ctraeted, ~ . and sold, and NEVER in terms of conscrvar.ion or restoration of vital h:lbil:us. Due to lhis belief, we are still reluctant to commit ourselves • and our money - to ecologically-sound economic practices, and we stubbornly refuse to fac10r into our economic accountmg lhe true social and ecological cosu of our vaunted "free mar1ce1• system. 4} lltebclieflhat pcoplearedcpendcnton the "gcnerosil}'" of industry fa their jobs, :ind not on themselves. the value of their own labor, or personal involvement in lhcir communities. S) the belief that del>-pite meaningless and mcchanic:ll work. worker's "productivity" cnn be increased solely by mtre3Slng 'll'agcs, WlTHOUT anyfac- in workers' intete..u. involvcmcn1. or sntisfacuon. ......•.•................ The deeper problem th.at we a.re just beginning 10 confront is lhat we have crcrucd a 'cuhwc" based on mass consumption and "!he consumer mentality.' When maximum profit and consumption are our highest goals. we of course seek only SHORT-TERM "efficiency" in our extraction, production. and dlslribulion processes.. Under lhe prime direcuvo or maximum profit and consumpuon, ·emcicm productivi1y• MUST mean producing the grcaics1 amount of good.~ m lhe least possible time ot the least possible cost • and lhen selling lhem al lhe gn:atcsl price lhc market will bear, This kind of "productivity" would more approprinlcly be called "dC5tructivity"; it ignores long-term consequences. create.~ "needs" where there were oonc, and trc.ats both naLUre and human beings as objocL~ to be e:cptoilcd, u.,;cd up, and !hen forgo1tcn. For most worlccrs, lhis ovat cxploillltion is 111en ·compensated" via insulllngly low monetary rewn.rds. which nevcnheless enable~ to consume more goods· which requires 111at we produce more, of course. The end resuh • our REAL •gross 113lional product" - is a vic:ious downw:ird spirnl of producc-scll-consume-lhrow away, produce-sell-ronsumc-lhrow nway.• and n never-ending "need" toc~ploit ond "develop" new areas once the old ones :ue ei1haustcd or become "unproliwhle" in lhc eyes of our Glorious God. the marketplace. But now we have nowhere to move on 10, and our 113bnual ·rron1.1er· mcnlali1y no longer makes even economic sense (ii NEVER mode sense ecologically). The biosphere we live m is suddenly changmg - ,n our human awareness - from a lim,tlc.s~ collection or exploi1abte ·resources· 10 a fragile and endangered ecosystem w1lh limited "resource avnilabtlny." So now something has 10 give, somclhing has to change in our way of RELATING to lhe Earlh and all her divctSC hfc.forms. (conlinued on pegc 30) Spr tng, 199 1 �.. • • t . \ t ,!:\~ . " .. , & •• ... ' APPEAL HELPS BEE TREE OUTSTANDING RESOURCE WATERS Nawn! World Ne..-. Service Nanni World News Sc,vicc The NC Division of Environmental Management has reclassified 14 bodies of water in the mountain region as OutStanding Resource Waters (0RW). putting them under special protection to maintain their high water quality. The newly-listed 0RW's are: South Toe River (Yancey County), Gipp Creek (Cherokee County). Fires Creek (Clay County), Cacaloochee Oeek (Haywood County). Upper Nantahala River (Swain County). Chattooga River (Macon County), Henry Fork (Burke County). the Mitchell River (Surrey County), Elk Creek (Watauga County), the upper South Fork of lhe Mills River (Henderson County). Wilson Creek (Avery and Caldwell Counties). Jacob Fork (Burke County). Upper Creek (Burke County), and Steels Creek (Burke County). Nominated for possible future 0RW designation are Bearwallow Creek (Transylvania County). the New River and its South Fork (Waiauga and Ashe Counties), Panthertown Creek (Jackson County), Garden Creek (Wilkes County), and Bullhead Oeek (Wilkes County). After a bitter fight, Alarka Creek (Swain County) has been classified as a High Quality Water (HQW), a body of water that is somewhat protected. allhough not as stringently as the 0RW's (see KaJuah Journal #26). Toe Nonh Fork of the Catawba River (McDowell County) has been nominated for future inclusion as a HQW. Although 0RW status is supposed to be strictly a matter of biological criteria, experience has shown that designations are often swayed by political considerations, so it would help classification of creeks nominated for 0RW status if interested people would write letters on the behalf of the water bodies. Any state resident can also request reclassification of a water body as an 0RW or HQW. The Division of Environmental Management requires a detailed description of the area suggested. an indication of the water's quality, and a list of the special resources that need prorection. The agency will send a list of .the standards and regulations on request. Call or write Suzanne Keene at the NC Division of Environmental Management: Box 27687; Raleigh, NC 276ll (919) 733-5083. "SOMETHING STINKS" N,nnl World New, Savice Development is the first priority for the town government of Highlands, NC. And if the town government gets its way, Highlands will spur development with a 500,000 gallon-pcrlU!Y sewage treatment plant along the Cullasaja River. Spri.n9, 1991 The Cullasaja is a Class B trout stream and a spectacular scenic attraction. Toe river and its unique attributes would be th.reatened by presence of the plant. Presently a treatment plant half the size of the proposed plant is dumping effiuent into lakes below Highlands. Toe lakes help somewhat to maintain the river, but the quality of the Cullasaja is srill deteriorating, according to aquatic biologist Dr. William Mclarney. Toe new $5 million plant would discharge below the lake druns and would severely compromise the water quality downstream. The town of Highlands is cager to install the plant - so cager that they were ready to begin construction without an environmental assessment or an environmental iropacr statement. They publicized the project with notices in the local Highlands paper and the Asheville paper, but not in the Franklin Press which might be read by county residents downstream who would be affected by the plant. Highlands Mayor John Cleaveland explained their actions, saying that Highlands has been paying more than its share of the county taxes, and they should get to do what they want with the river. The NC Division of Environmental Management (DEM) seemed to be abening the move to rush construction of the plant: they refused to hold a public hearing on the matter until confronted by a petition bearing 2,082 signatures collected by county residents organi7.cd by Peg Jones of CuJlasaja Community. Resident Lee Hollins summed up the community's feelings about the way they had been treated when he said, "Sewage stinks, but in this case I smell something a lot worse, and that's rotten politics." The new treatment plant is much larger than the present needs of the town of Highlands require. Residents downstream know that a new treatment plant would be an open door to more development in the reson town. They arc not willing to let the Cullasaja be polluted for the sake of mon: condos, second homes, and golf courses. Those who want to speak out on behalf of the Cullasaja River can write to the DEM at: Boit 27687; Raleigh, NC 27611. To help the river preservation effon or offer support, call Peg Jones of Save Our Rivers, Inc. at: (704) 369-7877 In response to an administrative appeal by the WeStcm Nonh Carolina Alliance (WNCA), Regional Forester John Alcock of the US Forest Service ruled that the proposed Bee Tree timber sale in the Pisgah National Forest was in violation of the Endangered Species Act and ordered the Ranger district to make a complete biological evaluation of the area. The appeal victory will delay cutting on Bee Tree and, the Alliance hopes. will compel the Forest Service to gather complete information about stands slated to be cut before beginning logging. The Regional Forester, however. denied other arguments the Alliance tiad with the sale: that the Forest Service was not considering a full range of cutting alternatives, that they had not made a complete analysis of the true cost of the timber sale. that they were not ensuring safe use of herbicides, and that the sale plan did not follow the principles of sustainable management MAKING STUMPAGE Nanni World News Savice The US Forest Service National ForestS in Nonh Carolina has announced that it is raising its timber targets 18% for 1991 - from 63 million board feet to 75 million board feet for the year. This announcement came shortly after a much-publicized declaration from the same office to the effect that there would be less clearcutting in the National Forests. When asked how the Forest Service planned to cut back on clcarcutting while simulatancously raising timber targets, Forest Service environmental planner Pat Cook said, "we will try to maintain our trend towards less clcarcuning in proportion to the total harvest." Translated into ignorant (they hope) lay people's terms, Cook's statement reads, "we're not going to to do any less clca.rcutting, but we are going to keep raising quotas so that it seems like we'll be doing less clcarcutting." Any other questions? Onwlnc by Jim HOUS('r A(atuah Journn! JXl9C 23 �SMOKEY EATS APPEAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS Nawnl World News Se,,,icc HEARINGS 1990 TIMBER LOSSES REPORTED Nanni World NcWJ Scrvlce After a four year wait US Forest Service Chief Dale Robenson finally responded to objections lodged by the Wilderness Society to the Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP} for the Cherokee National Forest. The LRMP is supposed co guide agency management practices for a 15 year period. The objections were pr~ntcd as an. administrative appeal. The Wtldemess Society stated that the Forest Service was not fulfilling its responsibility to maintain biological diversity the Cherokee Nauonal Forest, was selling timber below cost, and was not providing visual beauty. Under the National Forest Management Act of 1976 the Forest Service is charged with maintaining populations of native ~ies in .the national forests. Many of these species reqUlre old growth habitat. Forest Service plans to log 58 percent of the cove forest habitat in the Cherokee would drastically reduce the amount of old growth remaining and would also cut into the supply of acorn mast that is vital to the survival of many species of wildlife. The Wilderness Society appeal also pointed to the fact that below-cost timber sales amounted to a public subsidy of the deforestation of the Cherokee forestlands. Tennessee senators Albert Gore and Jim Sasser supported the point, saying in a Jetter to Robertson that, "It makes little sense to subsidize timber production on public lands in the Southeast when the private lands provide far and away the vast bulk of the timber used in the region." The Wilderness Society plans to pursue its objections to the Cherokee Forest plan in coun, as a civil lawsuit. Narunl World News Service What would you say if the government asked you if you wanted nuclear weapons? Well, for the first time in history, they're asking...kind of. The Department of Energy (DOE) is sponsoring hearings to gather opinions on their plans for building nuclear wenpons in the 21st century. However. they are disguising the hearings as "Programmntic Environmental Impact Statement Scoping Hearings on the Reconfiguration of the Nuclear Weapons Complex." And, although the hearings are supposed co be open to the public, the DOE is not disclosing the dates. But sometime between March 20 and July 31 hearings will be held in the 13 locations where nuclear weapons are produced, including Oak Ridge, TN. They will constitute the first national referendum on nuclear weapons production, and it is imponant that. despite the obstacles, people make themselves heard. For more infonnation and updates on the times and locations of the hearings, write or call Ralph Hutchison of the Oak Ridge Environmental and Peace Alliance: Box l 101; Knoxville, TN 37901 (615) 524-4771. The US Forest Service (USFS) has reponed the 1990 losses from its timber extraction program in the Southern Appalachians. As well as destr0ying the old-growth forest habitat, the timber sales accually cost the agency more money to set up and carry out than they recoup from the price of the stumpage. The difference is paid br t~e taxpayers in what amounts to a roadbwlding and habitat desttuction subsidy for the limber industry. In the national forests in North Carolina the Forest SeTVice reponcd a loss of $2.0 I million for the year. Georgia's national forests came out slightly in the black, bringing in a total profit of $233 thousand in the state, due to profit made on the Ocoee National Forest. The Chattahoochee National forest lost money. However, in North Carolina and Georgia the Forest Service keeps its tallies on a state-wide basis and refuses to disclose totals for the individual forests, so that the more profitable national forests in the piedmont cancel out somewhat the losses in the Appalachian national forests. In 1990 the USFS timber program in Tennessee's Cherokee National Forest cost taxpayers $654 thousand, and in Virginia's Jefferson National Forest the timber program lost $969 thousand last year. "YOUR GOOSE IS COOKED" ...Then there are the hot geese of Oak Ridge. According to the August (1990) Scientific American, geese on the 35,000-acre Oak Ridge Reservation have been detected wuh up 103,950 picocuries of cesium-137 per gram of breast meat. "In tenns of Christmas dinner, just one pound would deliver almost 100 millircms, which is the generally accepted standard for nnnual exposure." Rrprinirdfrom IM Watrrn ,Vu.-tlt Carolina Alttatlt!c Acc:mt. Foll.l9'm. FI:'\E WITH ~lE Nmir•I World Jl:ewi Sef\'1cc Draw111g by Rodney Webb The J.L. Todd Auction C.Ompany, a Georgia-b;tSed lnnd developer, has nccn fined S206.400 for violations of the NC Scd1men1a1ion Pollution Control Act. "lbi~ is a landmark penalty, the biggest sedimentation pollution line in the history of North Carolina, " said Don Follner of the :-;c Depanmen1 of Environment, I lealth, and Natural Resources (DEHNR). The company was fined $103,200 for violating the sedimentation act on a site in Jackson County five miles north of the Qualia Bound.iry on Route 19, and J.L. Todd, as owner of the property and director of the company was assessed an additional $103,200. According lhe state DEHNR officials, the violations occurred \\hen Todd built access roads on a 10 acre tract (part of 1,000 acres he owns in the area) that had been ;1uc1ioned off in small parcels for residential development. Richard Phillips of the DEi INR office in Asheville said, "h's fairly serious due to the large tract involved and the proximity Lo !itrcams." "I DON'T WANT TO SEE NO ORV" The US Forest Service (USFS) is proposing a five-mile extension to an Off-R_oad Vehicle (ORV) trail in the Nolichucky D1stnct of the Cherokee National Forest near Greeneville, TN. The extension would tie the area into an "extensive net\,ork." of ORV trails, according to a USFS spokesperson. Other forest users feel that there is already entirely too much ORV traffic in the area and that the noisy vehicles are a grave thrc:u to habitat. There have nlready been c.ornplaints about the OR V's from hikers on the Appalachian Trail and residents of the Shelton Laurel area . just over the Slate line. As planned, the extension w~ld pas~ between two bear preserves, greatly increasing access and rcsulting disturbance: in an atCfi . where building up the black bear populauon is supposedly a t0p priority. Bears ~hy away from human intrusion. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has already voiced objections to the proposed trail. ·,:·he more activity ~nd the more access you have m there, the less likely you are to have a good bear population," said Ron Saunders, a biologist with the agency. C.Omments on the potential threat of ORV's 10 wild habitat in the Cherokee National Forest can be addressed to the forest headquarters at: Box 2010; Oeveland, TN 37320. Contpil,:d 111por1frqm a rcp(JII III lhe A!hc•illc C,ti1en. Spn119. 1991 �SHELTON LAUREL Natural World News SPECIAL REPORT "The trees are so high so the legend goes They grow all the way to the sky. And they were here before you were born And they'll be here the day that you die." Waltzing with the Mountains Shelton Laurel is situated in nonhem Madison county, near the Nonh Carolina-Tennessee state line. Shaped by the high ridges and cascading slopes, gently forested and filled with the sounds of rumbling branches and streams, it is a beautiful and rich land, special to the people of the community. Things have come a long way since the first white settler in the Shelton Laurel area lived in a hollowed-out poplar for a season until he got his cabin built. The forests have changed: the people, the streami;, the wildlife, the way of life have all undergone tremendous change. But it is still evidem that there are people living here who love these mountains and don't want to see things change too fast or change for the worse. There a.re recreational areas used for fishing, and hunting as well as rugged wild places in the portion of the Shelton Laurel watershed that is overseen by the US Forest Service (USPS). Although these areas seem serene, they are the subject of controversy· a controversy between two different interest groups: those who want to extract the wealth of the forest and those who a.re interested in having it remain whole. This difference of interests goes back many years, and it currently centers on the evolving role of the Forest Service. The Forest Service once was seen as the protector of the woods. Now it is now seen as an agency protecting a financial invesanent A life-long resident of Shelton Laurel, Haze Landers, remembers a time when the Forest Service wouldn't let anyone take so much as a single tree for firewood . "I thought they were set up to protect the forest.", Haze said. Now, after years of poor logging pmctices and below-cost sales, he sees the Forest Service in a different light: "They don't love these mountains. If they did, they wouldn't treat 'em this a'way." The folks in Shelton Laurel have plenty of other reasons besides poor timbering practices 10 dislke the Forc:.t Service. Back in the late l 970's, when the RARE !I surveys were being conducted, residents were told by Forest Service employees that if the national forest in their area were designated as "wilderness." they would no longer be allowed 10 hunt, fish, or camp on the land. However, this is patently untrue. and some of the folks in Shelton Laurel wish they could have another opponunity to designate the area as a wilderness, because now the forest faces clearcuning. roadbuilding. and herbicide poisoning - all the atroeities that accompany timber harvesting. -Sp ri.t,9·, t9 9 l A CONSTITUENT'S LETTER ~anuary 24, 199· Representative Charles Taylor Dear Mr. Taylor: I hate roadbuilding on Federal Forest Service land. I hate clearcutting. I hate below-cost timber sales. I want all of these things to stop. Yours truly, Haze Landers Marshall, NC On January 24th the community held a meeting in L'\urel School to discuss concerns about preliminary plans for four timber sale projects in Shelton Laurel. The meeting was hosted by the French Broad Forest Walch (FBFW). a citizens' group established two years ago to panicipate in dialogue with the Forest Service and make suggestions for the management of the French Broad Ranger District rn attendance that evening were about 50 people from the community, Forest Service personnel, and Congressional aides. Mary Kelly, Phd., ecologist, coordinator for the Western Nonh Carolina Alliance, a member of the FBFW, and a Shelton Laurel resident. explained the four proposed timber sales in Brigman Hollow, Little Prong, Sugarloaf, and White Oak Flats in plaiin terms. The Forest Service plans to cut 11 million board feet of timber and build 6.8 miles of new road. As the primary method of "harvest" would be clcarcutting, that would translate into 805 acres of cleared and roaded land in Shelton Laurel in the course of the next three years. The new District Ranger for the French Broad District, Kimberly Brandel, said that she is interested in listening to the concerns of the people and is planning to do an "area analysis" to look at the entire area as a whole instead of as separate timber sales. She also stated that "no decisions" had been made and thal the four sales in question are "not even being considered at this time." Meanwhile, the figures still reflect the board feet quotas, the survey tape still flaps in the breeze from the trees, and long-rime residents remember, "We've been lied to by the Forest Service before." Pat Cook. a planner for the Forest Service. tried for more than half an hour to explain the need for management in the forest and how the Forest Service is presently revising and re-evaluating their views of timbering methods such as clearcutting. But Mary Kelly pointed out that the projected ASQ (Allowable Sale Quantity for timber) for the French Broad District for fiscal year 1991 is expected to be 6.5 million board feet (mbO. This is up from 5 mbf in 1990. And now more recent infonnation indicates that lhe ASQ for the French Broad could go as high as 8.5 mbf. One local farmer spoke out saying, ''If she's got to tum out six and a half million feet, that seems to be it." But Ranger Brandel answered that no matter what her ASQ, she was first and foremost "committed 10 stewardship" and that she W3S \'\1lling to "listen to what the people want." At that point, one member of the FBFW called for a show of hands. "How mnny people want to see Shelton Laurel preserved the way it is?" The response was almost unanimous. "Well, that ought 10 tell you what we, the people of this community, want." Obviously the folks of Shelton Lautcl are not interested in seeing the forest health "restored" through resource management They prefer seeing the land in its present healthy state. As Haze Landers secs it, ''They say it'll grow back to its original state in 250 years. So why wait? It'll stay ihat way for the next 250 years if they don't cut it down. We got generations of kids between now and then who'll never know what it was like if they cul it down." The citizens making up the French Broad Forest Watch can be proud of their effons in staying ahead of the game with the Forest SCIVice and infonning the community of what is to come in their ranger district They are definitely setting a precedent for what needs to happen throughout the entire bioregion. Their neighbors in the Cherokee National Forest could learn much about the type of recreation and forest activities that are life-sustaining and non-desbllctive. Just over the ridge, across the state line. in the Cherokee National Forest, roads and ORV (off-road vehicle) trails are being cxccnded deeper into the bean of the forest. This is a matter of concern to FBFW members, as they see the ecosystem as a whole, and do not wish to see the habitat disturbed. When people in communities such as Shelton Laurel take a stand and hold their ground, it is like a breath of fresh mountain air in the polluted wind.,; of change. Such effons will take hard work. the kind of work that people of the mountains know well. But the effons to save these mountains do not go unrewarded. As Haze put it, "There ain' nothin', nothin' nowhei:c. that the Lord ever created, I don't think, that can beat the looks of these mountains...with the water in the streams a'comin down betwixt 'em. I don't think He built anything any better. Honestly, Tdon't believe He cou1d'vc. I figure Ile thought we'd be so poor, He'd have to give us somethin'." - by Rodney Webb �(H20). and carbon dioxide (CO2). This is why t OFF THE GRID REGIONAL FUELS by Jim Houser - In Nownber and December I logged abo111 50 milts driving my van around Boone on ethanol. - Last issue, I said I would delve deeper into the question of water power. Since !hat time, however, there have been certain major tragic events which pcnain directly to our dependence on grid energy, in this case oil. Seventy percent of all the oil used in this country is used by the transportation sector, as anyone, who has had the misfortune of driving a car in downtown Boone on Friday afternoon, is probably aware. We all depend a great deal on our automobiles. They are essentially a necessity if we want to get to and from work everyday, especially in this region where mass transit is so scarce. The consequences of this dependence are now painfully obvious. As a nation, a people, we in the United States like to think we are in control of our own destiny. But now, if you believe our leaders. the actions of a single individual (and his anny). left us with absolutely no alternative but to fight an extremely costly and deadly war. Docs this have 10 be so? Do we in lhc Katuah region have recourse 10 other fuels besides gasoline to drive our vehicles? Is it possible for us to develop a regional supply of fuel which would suengthen our regional economy while at the same time free us from being economically dependent on a bunch of countries many of us would have been hard pre.~sed to find on a map just a few monrhs ago? The leader in the use of alternatives to gasoline in this area is the Rural Public Transponation Authority (otherwise known as AppalCART}, headquancrcd in Boone, NC. According to Chris Turner, director of AppalCART, In and of itself, public 1111nsponation, even when 11 uses gasoline. is a way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. A bus carrying 50 people uses a lot less gas than 50 separate catS, as well as reducing traffic congestion and air pollution, two problems which Boone i.~ beginning to ex pcricncc. AppalCART carries the conservative role of public 1ranspona1ion one step funher by actively experimenting with fuel aJtcma1ives. They have eight vehicles which use propane as a fuel. Being a fossil fuel like gasoline, propane is also a grid fuel delivered to this area from Texas. via a single pipeline. Nevenhclcss, it is a much cleaner burning fuel than gasoline, due to 1he fact lha1 it enters the engine as a true gas. ralher than an atomii.ed liquid like gasoline. Liquids bum (instead of exploding like gases), leaving behind carbon deposits which foul oil and lead 10 the deterioration of an engine. The complete combustion of a hydrocarbon gas like propane (C2H6) produces nothing more than water Xntunfl Journot pmic 26 vehicles which must operate indoors. like forklifts. use propane as a fuel. Propane, however, is still a fossil fuel and, clean as it may be, the carbon dioxide its combustion produces adds to the Greenhouse Effect, underscoring the reason why all fossil fuel use must eventually be cunailed. Propane would be a good vehicle fuel for the coming transition period when we will have ro switch to a non-fossil fuel trnnsponation system. Its use would reduce smog, and it would introduce society at large to the concept that vehicles do run on something else besides gasoline. In addition. a propane fuel system could easily be modified 10 accept melhanc (since they are both gases), and methane is a tested vehicle fuel. The East Ohio Gas Company of Nonh-East Ohio runs an of their company vehicles on natural gas. The advamoge of methane is that it can be of non-fossil fuel origin. Methane (CH4), more commonly known as natural gas, comes from oil wells, but it is also found in swamps (swamp gas), septic tanks, landfills, and biogas digesters (technology specifically designed 10 harvest methane). Actually, it is found anywhere organic matter has been cut-off from oxygen. Bacteria which can only live in the absence of oxygen (anaerobic), consume the organic matter and "breath" Cll4, instead of CO2 like oxygen (aerobic) organisms. Non-fossil methane can be made in a few weeks in a biogas digester or landfill. Biogas digesters are very common in some countries. China has an estimated 7 million diges1ers. Communities are already required to vent their landfills in order to prevent methane explosions. Enlightened communities are capturing and using that gas. Bio-fuel, like non-fossil methane, is energy harvested from a currently active and ongoing biological process. Therefore, as long as there are there are plants growing to replace the ones harvested for fuel, the combustion of biofucls does no1 add to the Greenhouse Effecr. Another common biofuel is ethanol or ethyl alcohol (com squeezens). Ethanol is harvested from the fermentation cycle (yeast consuming glucose and excreting alcohol). We can utilize lhe energy in alcohol by completing the combustion process begun by the yeast - turning alcohol into carbon dioxide and water. This process does not necessarily destroy the food cycle, as many people contend The organic remains left in the fermentation 1ank (stillagc) arc a high protein foodstuff. Essentially all the com grown in this nation's "com belt," goes through the fermentation cycle at large industrial plants (Archer Daniel Midland, and Staley). The alcohol is sold to oil companies, the carbon dioxide to soda companies, and the stillagc to livestoek owners. Dunng the 1980's AppalCART was actively producing and using ethanol, thonks to a Department of Energy grant from the Caner administration's Alternative Energy Small Grants program. They have on-site a working still capable of producing I0,000 gallons of ethanol fuel ( 180 proof) per year. The program is not currently active for a number of political reasons. and because they had difficulty converting a vehicle to run satisfactorily on their alcohol. 1l1is docs not mean that alcohol is not a good fuel. Over half the vehicles in brazil run on pure ethanol harvested from sugar cane, and their vehicles are ma.de by the Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen. In this country manufacturl!rs are just beginning to introduce flexible fuel vehicles which will run on a variety of liquid fuels, including alcohol. Since AppalCART experienced some difficulties converting vehicles. I decided to srudy up and do a conversion of my own. so that I could beuer understand the difficulties they encountered_ Fonunately, Talready had an old 1966 Ford Econoline Supervan with a 240, in-line six cylinder engine, which, luckily enough, was essentially the same kind of engine AppalCART had worked with. l found that, as fuels, the essential difference between alcohol and gasoline is that gasoline requires a 15/1 air-to-fuel ratio for good combustion while alcohol only requires a 9/1 air-to-fuel ratio. This ratio can be changed in the carburetor by adding more fuel or decreasing the air. For a number of reasons, the main one being simplicity, I chose the air restriction method. Appa!CART. and most conversions in the literature. pursued the route of adding more fuel. Mother Earth's 1979 Mother's Alcolwl Fu.el Seminar is probably one of the best explanations of this conversion scheme. However, a manual from the State Fair Community College in Sedalia, Missouri (816/826-7100 ext 220) entitled Conversion of Gasoline Engines to Use Ethanol as rhe Sole Fu.el points out that the liquid systems in a carburetor arc precisely calibrat~ and independent of the operator. while the arr flow, through the use of a manual choke. is under the control of the driver and can be varied for a wide range of speed and load requirements. They install a metal sleeve in the carburetor venturi to reduce the amount of air. So I spliced a five gallon plastic gas can into my fuel line before the fuel pump (plastic is necessary because alcohol will rust metal). With the simple rum of a valve r could switch from gas to alcohol. This way l could start on gasoline (1he way all Brazilian cars do). and then switch to alcohol when 1he engine got hot. At the end of my trip I would switch back to gasoline in preparation for my next stan. Even without the addition of a venturi sleeve this system worked quite well. By simply closing my choke a bit l was able to drive all over Boone. My only real problem was speed on _lhe big hills, which might be alleviated by advancmg the timing and adding lhe venturi sleeve. The best thing about the 50 miles J drove on alcohol was they were relatively clean. With the help of Bob Chandler who runs the power lab. r checked my emmissions on an exhaust gas analyzer at Watauga lligh School. On alcohol my carbon monoxide emissions were reduced to 0.2% from the 6.5% of gasoline. Hydrocarbons were reduced from 100 ppm 10 27 ppm. These alcohol exhaust emissions are well within the current guidelines. The possibility or small farms generating . their own fuel for on-fann purposes could easily be a reality. This combined with the use of subsidized energy crops for public transponation could be the beginning of a truly regional energy economy, helping 10 bring meaningful work and economic security to our local communiti1/ A.nyoN 1nttrated"' a,,.,,,, "' <kpth look at the A.ppalCA.RT a/£olwlf~I protram ~"" smd SS.00 to, OFF 11/E GRID. Rt I , Bux J OO. 8/u,w,g Rod , NC 28605 f<>r a ror, of my rrport A.ppalCART Alrohol ,..u~l l'rogrom ,hu~•mrnl Mis 20,0()() word rq,ort tlioroughly ro,·,rs tliL: ph) ,u:aJ and admirustrotrw a.<per:u cf the program as "ell as the baclrwnd rcwvdt I did an vehick ~on··~rstnrt Spn tUJ , I !l9 I �LETS What is LETS? LETS Network 1s a Locru Economic Trading System which helps people trade their goods and services so they can get what they need without using cash. LETS is an information exchange which through a computer or bookkeeping keeps track of account holdcts' trading ll1lllsactions. The benefits of LETS arc: I) Encourages sclf-confid;:ncc and initiative among its u~. People who have previously valued themselves on lhe employment market discover Ihm they ha,·e olher skills and ways in which they earn money 2) Stimulates local trading activity, as the currency Clln only circulate locally. In order to cam "emcmld dollars" (the community currency), people must tr.we with local p:ople 3) Transactions strengthen personal relationships and goodwill w11hin a community, as trading always involves a personru one.10-onc arrangement. How did LETS begin? LETS was established in 1983 by Michael Lin1on, who was concerned about the high unemployment rat.e in Vancouver, BC. He observed that while many local people had ~kills and products to offer, their lack of money prevcnt.ed them from trading with each other. By 1987, e do,en LETSystems were opcr:uing in Canadn. Who can join LETS? AU members or the community can join. LETS docs not discriminate on lhe basis of r.ice. sex, nationruity. age, sexual preference, lilUlllcial staws, or political orientation. RESOURCES Books •Berry. Thomas The Dream of the Earth (Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, 1989) •Berry, Wendell /Jome Economics (North Point Press. San Francisco. 1987) •Daly. Herman and John Cobb For lhe Common Good. Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, the Environmenl, and a Sustainable Furure (Beacon Press, Boston. 1989) How is LETS organized? LETS Network has a Membership directory which lisLS 311 its members alphabetically. as well as their goods C1nd services. Members needing goods or scr.·1ccs conLXt other members who offer what they netd. Aftcr a tr.msac1ion has been agreed upon and complcccd, :1 roccipt su11ing the amount u-ansact.ed 1s scm 10 lhe LETS Network. The network keeps track of lhe tmnsactions. Traansactions are accounted for in ·emerald dolm" (the community currency) which equals cash • dollar for dollat. Exchanges can occur in a combination of emeralds or cash. Members choose who they wish ID trnllsac1 with and for what amounts. How does LETS work? The account holders of LETSysLCm lis1 what their wan&s are and what they have 10 offer in a directory. for eimmple: 068-·StMPLE CAR MECHANIC Rosie ~53773 069-·LA WN MOWINO Dave 339-990S 07S··BUJLDING WORK Andrew 442-9878 086-FRESH VEGETABLES Jtll 776·2024 •Morrison, Roy Building the Road as We Travel: Mondragon's CooperaJivt Society (New Society Publishers, 1990) •Power, Thomas The EcofllJmic Pursuit of Quality (M.E. Shnrpc, 1988) •de Romana. Alfredo, Tht Autonomous Economy: An Emuging A/Juna1ive to Industrial Society (Monchanin Cross-Cultural Centre, 4917. Rue St. Urbain, Monucal. Quebec, C:tnada H2T 2\VI; 1989) •Schumacher, E.F. Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Ma11ered (Harper and Row, New York, 1989) •Eller, Ronald Mintrs. Mil/hands, and Mountaineers (University of Tennessee Press. 1982) •Elgm, Duane. Voluntary Simplicity: An Ecological liftsryle tha1 Promotts Personal and Social Renewal (Ban&am, 1982) •Hacnke, David. Ecological Politics and Bioregionalism. (The Biorcgional Projccr, New Life Farm, Box 3, Brixey. MO 65618) •Hau de no sau nee Nation, A Basic Call 10 Consciousness (Akwcsasnc Not.es. Mohawk Nation, Periodicals •Catalyst. Investing in Sot:ial Change P.O. Box 364; Worcest.er, VT 0S682 •In Busintss Box 323; Emmaus, PA 18049 •Katuah Journal (particularly Issue 7; Spring, 1985) Audio Tape Rooscvch., NY 13683; 1978) •Philosophy and Economics in the Ecozoic Era Conftrence with Al/rt.do dt Romana and Tlwmas Berry, Tapes available from: Center for Reflection •Hawken, Paul, Tht Nut EcofllJmy on the Second Law: 8420 Camellia Dnvc; Raleigh. NC 27612. •Henderson, Hale! 11:e Policies of the Solar Agt' •McRobic, Ocorgc, Small is Po.rsible Projects & Organi,.ations •Morgan, Oriscom I/ope for tht Future (Community Setvicc, Box 243. Yellow Springs, OH 4S387; 1987) •Allernathe Economic Development Idea~, MCED; University o( MO (628 Clark Hall); Columbia, MO 6S21 I. Strategics. tools, case studies for communily-ba.'iCd planning. Spnm,J, 1991 ++means "to offer" and - means "Wlllllcd.• People get in touch with each other and negotiate a Lradt. Rosie agr~ to pay Bob SO emerald dollar.; for five hours of car mcchrulics, so Bob's emerald account goes up by SSO and Rosie's account goes clown by SS0. No money is exchanged. Bob sends a receipt to LETS which is rcgi!;tcrcd in lhe books. The sum total or "acdits" in !he system always balances ei,;actly lhe sum iolal of the "debits." Account holders am take out "I0311S" simply by spending cmemld dolllll'$ and running up a debit accounL If a member leaves town. the sys1.em as a whole absorbs the loss, ns shareholders and customers do with normal banking losses. (This has never happened.) The more account-holders there ore, the grcau:r the variety of tmde ts possible. The LETSyst.em is a non-profit system. No int.crest is charged on "ovcitlrafts.• and no interest given on pos1 li vc account balances. This inform111wn was exurptedfrom 1he "LE'fSNEWS~ article by Sarah F1111Sle.r itr News Crom Aprovocho. Drawing by Rob M_,..jck · Coalition for J obs and the F.m ironment Working ror environmental quality and economic ju.slice in NE Tennessee and SW Virginia. • Bi-monthly newsleucr from CJE: 114 Court Street; P.O. Box 64S; Abingdon, VA 24210 (703) 628-8996. • E. F. Schumacher Society Box 76, RD 3: Great Barrington. MA 01230 lnformauon on SHARE (Sclf·Hclp Association for a Regional Economy) end "berksharcs•, an alternative regionru currency. •lnstilutl' ror Community Eco nomics ISi Montague City Road; Greenfield, l\fA 01301 A wealth of ideas and information including The Community Loan Fund Manual and revolving loan funds. •Institu te ror Local SeJf.Reliance 242S l8lh Street NW: Washington, DC 20009; (202) 232-4108. Provides ~ h , information, and direct I.C(hnieal essisuince 10 citie.~ and towns. V:iricty of pubbshcd papers available. • LETS (Local Em p loyme n t Trad ing System) Find out about lhis dynamic approach 10 regional currency. LETS; 37S Johnson Avenue; Coutc03y, BC V9N 2Y2 Canada •Rcgtneration Project Rodalc Press; 33 E. Minor Street; Emmaw.. PA 18049, Promotes community regeneration, particularly in the area of health, ctonomy. and agriculture. Also publi.•,hes Regmeration magazine. •School or LMng RD I, Boit 1508 AA: Spring Orovc, PA 17362. r-ocuscs on al1cma1ivc economic sy~1cms and concepts: publi.~hcli Grun Revolution ncwslcucr. Xaumr, Jo\&nmt paqe z:, �.. We must come to Ille understanding that the amount of production possible is limited, llS the canh is lim1ted in the amount of rcsowtes it is able to yield. We should not treat Ille earth os a commodity, bul rather as a community. Adam Smith's concept oC the "Invisible Hand,• which he claimed wiU guide our selftSh pursuiis of supply and derrumd lO a 1111wral economic order, is (lawed. As World Baok economist HetmM D31y says: ShD11Td tltue IIO/ al lm1' be a mini"""" ,t~a,dsJ11p of DRUMMI N G To &he EditorS of KOJ@h Journal 1 read wilh inlCrCSt your Summer, 1990 number oo "Canying Cap:lcity.• Very inlCrCSting matcrilll lhcrc, and some very powerful ideas. I was particularly intrigued by the graph oC population coordinated wilh thc evcnJS or regional history. Thal graph lod me into an interesting uain of lhought. Once iribal societies that lived off lhe land regulated their populotions to what lhcir defined ICl'ritories could provide. The economy of each group was relaled to the available n:sowccs of !heir regioos. and because lhe balance of population was aucial to survival, it was a tnbal maucr, not a question of individual preference. Things were very clear back lhen. As was pointed out in lhe "Carrying Capacity• issue, !he bioregion is sliU the n:uuml unil or human hJbiution, however much we may au.empt to conceal that by victimizing workers in other regions. importing scarce resources, etc. tr we over-strcsS our bioregioru, then that stress will only be passed on to other regions, until lhe whole planet feels the suain. as is happening now. Like those LribaJ people of yore, we once again have to live within the economic limits of our bioregion.~. The humM population still has to be balanced to the re1,'10n's ability to provide,~ it was then, which makc.s popufation conlli)I an ecological question as well as a quc;;tion oS individual choice. It is up to lhe people of each region to n:cognize how many people !heir region could mainiain wuh external suppons, and then accept !hat level as a goal to approach - gradually. Bccnusc we over-consume so much, every irutividual in this country counts for more in tenns of rc,,()W'CCS, TI!en:fore, llS well as reducing our consumption, wc must be very responsible about keeping our number.. under control. Regional population goots clccided by the people of the 111gion based on lhe limiis of their regional economies seem like a necessary ecological policy, b111 also one lhlll would grc:uly 11lCJ'C3Se the prosperity and wdl-bcing of the people or each biorcgion. Thanks co Ka1uah Journal for the insight! Sincerely, Hoyt Wilhelm N. Wilkesboro. NC Dc.irKatUDh, It is with sadness that l inform you that my husband. Jack Combes, died of ()3llCre®C cancer in Tampa, Florida on May 2 ISi, 1990. The world has lost n long time dediaucd informed environmcnraliSI. Jack supported your programs and your publication, bu1 now you may n:move his name from your mailing lisL Wishing you continued WCCC.51; Sancerely, Nina C.Ombcs De.Ir Ka1uah, I read in the last issue that Ka1@h is going lhrough difficult times. I wi.~h you all well - Ille jOurnal is a bright $J)Ol in my life. 1M land. raJJiu tlian ltaving 1M •invisib/1/o«• nu, by theprofil tJo, only t:onlrolling /1JC1or. The invisible fooc in this case would be the aftermath of poorly managed land. Daly poinlS out the sukiJit "111vulbk liands", k Dear Friends, The Unil.Cd Swc.s oC America has a unique and amazing culuue. It has provided a great many things 10 large numbers of ilS pOpublion. M:lss production has produced not only large quMtiues of J¥0(lucts, but has done so cheaply, due in pan 10 11 readily available soun:e of cheap fuel, namely oil. What is our rcutionship 10 Ille production of oil? Clearly we are dcpcndem on ii, but 10 what extcnt? With oil we run our ua111,-ponauon sySICms, communications, heating and electricity. Oil and its products enable us to produce linoleum tiles, latex and acrylic paints, clothes, dyes, plnstic bottle.\ toys, etc. Needless lO say, oil and ourculwre arc ine~tricably in tenwined. Problems arose when we bcgM 10 131c.e llus resource for granlCd, conducting business as though there were a constant and readily available supply. Oil is a finite resource, and we arc using u at a ru1e fa.~tcr lhlln natw-c is able to produce iL Evenwally we are going to run out of it. and we are going to have to SUJ'l thinking about 1C11ewablc fuels. Our society has become addicted to instant gratification and Ille quiclc fut, plummeting headlong into the fuaure wit.bout much forcthooght or plnnning. Many of us have not truly considered Ille fact 1h31 the cycle of rcnewability with oil is hundreds of millions of years. Oil dates back m time to a period 300 million 10 S00 million years ogo. As Jim Houser wri!Cl; m l\fom~ntwn, I do not wnnt to sec our society, "Bum as brightly as the sun only 10 fmd lhat we "[grew) while the growing was good, wid oow must die as Ille dying is proved.· As Ille laws or lhetmodynamics Leach us, "The star which burns twice as brightly only bums half as long." Due 10 our dependency on 011, wc have lost toUCh with ourselves, our culture and the earth cycles which ultimately suppon us. No longer have we an understanding of the mechanisms, l.bcories and soences which have produced our cultural anifaas, and we begin to ta.kc !hem for grunted. We rely almost entirely on oil to run our "Cree mnrkct" economy. This "Cree mnrtct• ecooomy leads to an overproduciton of goods. In ordct to com()CIC and still mainiain a profit, priCC$ must drop and sales must increase along with an maeasc Ill production. C.Omp:inies are look.ing for low wage wortcers. which help add lO their overall profits. A company may even threaten 10 take ils business elsewhere (pcrtiaps to o lhinl world country where the wages arc really low), unless union concessions arc made. The employed worker must worlc longer hours to make Lhe same amount of money and maintain the same standard of living. Nevcrthelcs.~. leisure ume and quality of life is sacrific:c:d, as wdl as an understanding of the eanh S}'Slcrns which would ultimately bring them security. We would be well advised to listen 10 the word.~ of David Brandon in the book Zt.ia in the Art of Helping, wherein ll is stal.Cd: can: COSl to our environment: MUJtw•fortM .~ of1<nl11niudincreasuofwclJllll and pop11/a,ion, atirpal, great """'1¥n ofsp«w ofrar, p/anls and onimals and resources. When wW our psychic incomes be satisfied? Perhaps never. We an: IOO caught up in Ille economic paradigm to be able to see past our.;clvcs. Rachel Summas Boone.NC Fnends- After reading more about tl1e matriarchal Ooddess religions in The GrcOJ Cosmic Mothu of All, lltis sacred symbol came lO me. I was thinldng how all the art and symbols of pre-history were in honor of the Mother-female-woman's body. While I am in reverence of that, l also felt a lack of powerful male symbols in reverence of lhnt aspect of mutu31 creation. C.Ombining the spiral of life, often associated wilh women/birlh, wilh the pointed arrow (obviously Phallic), lhis symbol came to me and felt powerfully whole. When I showed it to my lover, he immediately said, "Tum ii around." Suddenly it was a sacred female symbol complete wilh fallopian tube spiral, birth canal, and VI - a mirror image • in balance - inner and outer - so different, yet so much alike. It seemed appropriate, in this ca~. 1h31 the female would see the male fertility in the symbol, and mnle would see the female, honoring each other through o unique humnlriarchlll symbol. C.SacRcd Only""""' who Is IIO/ itr.pr~d by IM Wbthl of his po1.susions, and Jd not pcs~,sed wuli 1h• Med cQfllilwo,,sly 10 fwl.food and s~/1u ow, tu.l:oNJ live°"' vnporuw qlJtstibM '11'1,o"'" 11 ll'Jiae""' I IOUlt? \\'hat u IM ll<JJIVC of life?' Erika Schneider Xatuafi JoumaC page 28 Spring, 1991 �Dc:itK01riah, Enclosed is my check for S10.00 to renew my subscription for anolhcr year. I have debated and waited 10 renew wilh a reason. For most of its publication lifetime, I have bought Ka11ioh Journal over the counter. and subscribed when I moved west a year and a hlllf ago. It saddens me !hat Katuah Cor some 1.1me has spoken wilh G voice increasingly shrill. I do not want anolhcr cnvironmcntnl activist news organ-I have access to many or lhese. What I want IO read more of in Katuah Journal are aniclc..~ on the people, the h&Storie.~, !he Native Ameriellns, spirituality (eitpecially NMive Amenc:m and alternative), humor. poetry, music, nature, self-sufficiency. rural living, cooking and n:cipcs, special (and obscure) pl3ccs and events. the uniqueness. the peculiarities, the gentleness, the quiet goodness, !he sense of family and community so common 10 my kin in Kauiah Province. To me, there's plenty of "diversity" in !he abo\'C, both "natural and social" and intenclatcd. Through !he years Kauiah has often l.OUChed my soul ,n small ways, and to me !hat's the best kind of "education·_ Having lived in Kauiah Province for 47 years before depaning, and with family "rOOIS" going b.1ck to !he t 700's there in my Christian relations and even longer in my ChocUlw relations, my heart remains in K:miah as surely as my body will return 10 join it when my Sedona sorjoum is completed- Now that I'm away Crom "home." those words above speak of wh:ll I miss most of all. If Kauiah is headed toward a more angry. confronUllional tone, or more "what's wrong• instead of "what's right.• just send my check back, please. Thanks for !cuing me have my say. Judy Elizabeth Love All of the elements /Ml you mention which rn.tJU Ka1uah a bl'auliful and unique place, we all hold dear and will conrinue 10 write about because they are a part of our Ifft, bur so is the habitat which makes /his way of life possible, and it is thrcattn.cd. We live in the midst of the greatest evolurionary catasrropl~ since the end of the Cretauou.t Period. 65 •million years ago. For those of u.s who liw: in and cart Qbout Ka11ioh it would be irrespormble not to say somcllWlg. Yt'/. we are aware tlwl when you livfl in the midst of rhe .wciery largely resp0nsible/or the catastrophe, whar you Junv: 10 say probably will ,wl sound plcasa111 10 their cars. • The Editors Dc.itKatua/1, Encl~ please find S40.00 for !he complete set or b.xl.: issues. Also, please lind an addi1io113J S10.00 for a foture subscription (after thi.~ one expucs). We love you. The Kattiah Journal is a work or spirit and artt I trust we'll answer your uppcal with enough v!gor to give you new Ufe. Warmly, Ste\·e Qubcck Or.wing by Rob Levcmt Dear Ka1uah, I love your journal and always look forward 10 it. then treasure it until the neitL I really think it's exceptional in many wayi;, but for me, thc spirituality or !he Joumal 10uches my heart so deeply. I hope you continue forever; and if you would ever need assistance from someone outside !he Province physically but lhcrc in spirit every day, I hope you will let me know. Bless each or yoo. Nancy LignilZ DcarKa1uah, Thank you for sending issues of Katuah Journal IO me, we've found them very interesting and informative with beautiful art and open accessible layout. I'm so glad we've discovered you! I'm including a check to cover a subscription, but rn give you !he mailing information 'below so I do noc have to cut up the b.xlc: of one of my issues. David and Cindy Ort To Katuah Journal: Dear People. I am a member of a Sydney-based group that until recently was bioregional repn:sentative in an Australian bio-rcgional network lcnown as Austtulian Association for Sus1ainable Communities (AASC). Though this network is no longer formally alive, the groups of rural and urb.,n communities the bio-regional mtsS11ge "stained" after cuuings Crom such publications as Planet Drum Review and Akwas:isnc Notes were circulated (via an AASC press cuuing network) around thc countryside. are numerous and mostly all locally active. Recently in Sydney l met with Peter Berg and friend Judy. Judy showed us many CJtamples or bio-regionally inspired publications and pnnted creations, one of which was your Mag37.inc Kotuah JourllOJ. l was very unpressed wilh the breadlh in one article or the Spring 1989 Edition by David Morris. Could you please send me a copy of that edition or that article if the.re arc none left? Or word of where I might get a copy locally if my failure to enclose/forward any money with this no1c discourages you? I would be happy to send you wluucver the cost is in rc1um ma.ii if you can get me a copy. I look forward to hearing from your pan or the plancL Over here il is (once again) mysteriously 100 hot, and then just as mysteriously coo abruptly cold, then again jUSt ~ radically windy without v.aming. Too much change, 100 many extremes. all too often, to feel comfonablc talking about !he wcalher - and the sun huns your eyes and neck. Right now it's I !pm night. and well away from banks and money currency exchange venues, so I hope you can bill me in the rewm mml. Hope thi:. !cu.er finds Someone... Regards, Sieve Ward . Sprim.,, 190 I '.J((lfuofl Journal J)O(JC 29 �(coruinued limn page 14) fossil fuel draw. We may not be able to think that way for tOO much longer. As the oil supplies diminish, the gas is going to be getting more and more expensive and it's going 10 be less and less efficient to produce everything in one place and ship it all over the world. Our assumption that the fossil fuel supply is infinite dislons the price of what is being made. DW: What do you think the next step is for local agrlouhlil'e? What's some of the stuff that wt need to work on? Ron Alnspan: We need to work together, suppon each other, and promote the idea of the regional economy. This involves on-going education of the public. I don't think I have any ideas that haven't been said before, but it's imponam 10 raise the issue to the people, to make the public conscious of the cosLS of gerring things from far away. That way people can pull each other up and build suppon for one another, so they have the stamina 10 carry on. My attitude about social change is summed up in the idea that "you do what you can." I don't know that ·we can ever expect to overcome all the mon:: regressive or more reactionary forces, but ic's imponant for everybody to live by their principles and do what they can. Whenever we win a battle, we can feel good about it, but then we go_ on and continue the struggle. It's an on-going proctl>s. / Ron Ainspan: If we were acting slI'ictly from of our consciousness of global issues. Mountain Food Products might not carry products like Mexican tomatoes or O.ilcan raspbenies in the wintertime because that encourages the long-distance production and disaibution system. Kantah: That would definitely hurt your business. Ron Ainspan: Even though cantaloupes. for instance. cost $30 a case in the wintertime, whereas they go for $6 or $7 a case when they are in season during the summer, people have this seemingly insane need to be able to buy anything they want whenever they want iL I don't know what causes that, but it flies in the face of efficient use of the world's resources. For our pan, we push local produce and try to raise the issues whenever we can, but we try co be practical • I guess that would be the word • and do what's necessary 10 be successful and hope that we are getting some of our principles across to our customers while maintaining our own integrity. (ca,linu':iS ~ 113i• 27} lnttrvitw recorded and tdittd by David Whulu Photo by Rodney Webb ~ . Growers or retailers who are interested in ?anicipating in the organic produce co-op can call Wountain Food Producis at (704 J 255-7630, or .1isit their location in rite Old Chesterfield Mill at 121 Wesr Haywood Street; Asheville, NC. . truer toilay. We do indeed need. despcrn1cly . to "step back Yet our economic system is structured to pro1CC1 big Md have a new look" at the world we are~ busily creating business more than Individuals, so it's quilC likely that • and the world we are destroying. But here's the rub: In lllXJ)ayers will soon be asked - or ruther, told • 10 f00t the order to ~,, cnvironmcntaVsocial preservation as bill, as is already occurring wilh the mushrooming S&L "productive work." we must stop relating producuvity SC:lndal and other looming socio-economic disasters. If we, only to shon-tcrm profits nnd mruumal consumption. The the worl.crs, lllllpayers, and citizens wish to a"oid this fate, ideA of "production for sale and con~umption" must be we must rccogniz.e that a suong environmental sunax for augmented by the vision of "productive prcscmumn for a these nnd similar mdustrics is both necc.'IS.lry and jusL This sUSUlinablc FUTURE." nx:ognition must in tum be followed by social action, if 11 What will such a shift m emphasis mCM? In is to have any effect • und then we'll face the long and pr:ictical terms. it means that we mu.~l cre:itc new criteria arduous UISk of bringing industry into line with ecological for producuvity. and will have to pay people to preserve our and economic reality. Aficr all, the money to pay for environment evtn though their work does not long-term productivity and prc_~ervation hos 10 come from create,, a "product" for imminent sate, and thus some\\ h,re • :ind it should come from those who profit brin~s in NO money In the short term. On this the most from the rape of lhc Eartll. Equally imparuint, most pracllcal level, it's obvious that the money needed to our concept of ·work" simply HAS 10 shift into a more IXIY these people will have to be justified by an cntin:ly future-oriented and truly produclhe mode, a mode in diflcrent rnuonale lhan that usually subscribed to by which our finMci3J sul'\'i\'OI no longer depends on industry ond by ~om1sts. This type of wort will have personally, socially, and planet.1nly deadening "JObs." or on to be e,•alumed and ,·ntued differently tlun work producing incomes deriving directly or indirectly from ecological and imrned1.1tc n:sults and profiis, and the woflcCl"S' P3Y will social destruction. ha,·e 10 come from olhcr public or private :,ource,-, since their wurk involves on outlay of funds rJthcr 1h1111 producing immcduic income. The logic:il source of such funds is the corporations We now have the opportunity to refrnme our and businesses which have been profiwng the most from economy and our society so that they can be a the cxploitntion and/or destruction of our environment • source of pride and fulfillment ins1ead of shame e,;pocmlly such COtJ)Ol'ate giants a, the trans-national 01I, and despair... so that we can regain a sense of banking, chemical, pla.5tics, beef, and wood products identity beyond our roles as exploitive "consumindustries. THEY should be the ones 10 pay for In I977, on the day before his de:uh, E.F ers" and profiteers. There is so much more 10 the cnv,ronmenUll prouXtion, not the beleaguered W<JXl)'Cl'S, Schumacher h:ld this to :..iy ubow Wcstem lnduslrial "American Dream" 1han we·ve been seeing, so suicc nlOst of lhcse corporatioM have been allowed to •get society: "Narurc canllOl Sl!lnd 1t, the resource cndowm~t or a11,-ay with (ecological) murder" for decades - in return r« much we've apparently forgotten. The time has the 11,orJd cannot stand it, and lhc human being c:innot sland the m30y ·benefits" they suPJX)Se(lly bring us. As come to revi1alize that dream, 10 renew the vision iL,.. lt 1, a kind of fruud. And so it c; necessary for us 10 Schumochcr put 11. we've boughL into •3 kind of fr.iud." and of a truly just and humane society... and to create a step baclc and ha,e a new look_" livable, sus1ainable future. Let's "seize the day"! have been conned into supporting 3 fraudulent and It is now 199 I, :ind Shunm,hcr'~ wool.~ nng even disastrous economic systcm, This has got to stop; we simply HA VE to redesign our economy if we wi~h to ~urvivc. X.nti1ofi JounmC poqc30 n t '"- J1 ,1u, r ,1u. •nx Oar response to this need for change has been slow, but we arc sUll'ting to REDEFINE productivity to Ulcludc lhe pr~rvation/ rtstoration of ecological sysiems and "n:rourccs; since such prcser"auon alone c.in guarnmoe a contmuing supply of valu:ible "products• (as well as a functioning planet!). Eventu:llly, we will have to recogniz.c lhat pro1CCting and n:smring nmurul ecosySICms is ·productive work" wonhy of great financi:11 "COJnpcnsruion.• Thi~ essential mind-shift CIIII Blreooy be o;cen in action in progr.ims such as the Federal ConSCNntion Reserve Program, which pays furmen; to NOT plant crops on eroded fields, and to pLlnt uces and grow a forest iru.t.C3d. Th= farmers ·are paid to take the land out of producuon fo,- IO years," and though the IJ'CCS can be "han·ested" afier that time, "90% or the acres planted m trees under the ooil bank programs of the SO's and 60's have remained fore:;tcd • .Similar illCCllll, c progrnmi nre being utiliz.cd m lhe SIJ"Usglc to save the nun forests: for example, the SO<lllled "dcbt-for-ll3tUIC swap~· . in which C011strvat.ion groups or governmental ugencies ·buy' pan of a trOpical ll3tion's debt food in exchange for the preservation of a s«:tion of rmn forest. These programs, and Olhcrs hke lhem, ~nainly desctvc IO be viewed :is "productive." Indeed, lhe work. they provide could be called the MOST producUvc work, for u cn::itcs ecological health and economic SU"'31nability, Md is NOT based on the economic.~ of profit through ~pto,1a11on and destruction. ••••••••••• ··········· , �EARTH ENERGIES The Great Lover by Charlotte Homsher ~ /~ ' ~• A t the deepest level we are all lovers of the eanh and we are here on this planet to discover this love relationship. It is like walking through the woods, feeling the rhythm, feeling tuned in ' ~ and stepping lightly on the leaf cover, then ~ c:; ,J~ Drawing b)' Susan Adam suddenly kneeling down and picking _up a leaf to discover the marvelous, previously hidden world underneath. The first time I recall feeling the eanh energy as a distinct sensation, which literalJy entered my body, was three years ago in the Joyce Kilmer MemoriaJ Forest. I have aJways loved big trees and I have attempted to communicate with trees for years. Some of my experiences with trees have included seeing flashes of colored lightS and hearing sounds within trees which I suppose to be the tree elementals. Sometimes I received "messages" from treeS. Any time interspecies con_imunication is happening via words, thoughts or images, there is translation going on. The tree doesn't use words to experience life, therefore the energy of the tree must be transformed into a cerebraJ energy which we can understand. At Joyce Kilmer, I chose the biggest, oldest poplar I couJd find, grounded myself firmly and put my paJms on the tree. 1did not expect anything in particular except that I wanted 10 express affection and gratitude for the life of the tree. I quickJy became aware of the tree as a very powerful being. The energy came up the roots of the tree from the eanh and emered my body just as though I were attached to the tree as a sucker root. The energy entered through the soles of my feet. traveled up both legs, up my back on either side of the spine and into my head. At the same time it entered from where my paJms touched the bark, traveling up my arms. The sensation was pleasurable to say the least, and riveting. For that quiet moment I was part of an ancient tree; I knew cxactJy what it was like to be alive as a poplar hundreds of years old. I stayed with the experience as long as I could I noticed that the energy which came form the canh into the roots of the tree and into my rootS (my feet), came in surges or waves of energy. Others have called this energy pulses, or even feeling the rhythm of the breath of the earth. In India, visceral energy, when it travels up the spine, is called kundalini. In any case, the knowledge of earth energy as VJSCeral and real, a force to be reckoned with, is a worldwide, if arcane, study. Witness the worldwide distribution of sacred sites. Someone or ones had co recognize the places of power and then understand what effect these special energy places would have on the people. One theory now in vogue and mentioned in the book~ flaw by James A. Swan, is that the sacred sites correlate to the chalaa system of man. For instance, we go to a heart chalaa place and our heart is heaJed or opened as our vibratory energy harmonizes with the energy in that place. I nearly always recognize vortexes as . vibrations in visceral rushes of energy Wlthin my own body. The intensity of energy might vary with the power of the vortex or wilh my ability or inability 10 be receptive at the time. For me. the receiving of the energy, which of course is really an energy exchange, is reason enough 10 pursue the study of earth energy; it proves to me that our relationship to the earth is not a static thing, but creative and sensuaJ. Many of the most powerfuJ vonexes in Karuah are on public access. We flock en massc to these places of pristine beauty ignorant of why we feel so invigorated, why we wish to return again and again. When you consider the awesome power of the earth compared 10 the puny life energy of a single human being. you may wonder why the earth would bother to respond to us at aJl The :t-nswer to t~is, in m_y_ opinion, is 1ha1 the earth 1s a lover with exqu1s11e sensitivity. ~ GIRL'S SUMMER CAMP 'TURTLE ISLAND IS LOOKING FOR A FEW TOUCH GIRLS" NATIONAL lNDlAN FESTIVAL JULY 7-13 1991 ACES 11-17 If you enjoy the challenge of adventure then Turtle Island ls the place for you, 100¾ Cotton Futons & Covers No Rain Forest Wood Used (615) 929-8622 Batik Clothing, Jewelry, Artwork ... 414 s . Roan St, Downtown Johnson City. TN 37601 For mon: infonnation write; Turtle 1'1.Jnd Pre..erve. Rt. I Box 249-8 Deep Cap, NC 28618 (704) 265-2267 "CELEBRATING OUR MOTI-IER EARTH" MAY 17, 18, 19 1991 Highlights of Events: • Native American Dancers • Floyd Westerman ("Dances with Wolves") • Thomas Banyacya - Hopi Elder • Javier Alarcon - Aztec Fire Dancer • Native American Flute Music Concert • Demonstrations • Native American Crafts & Skills • Traditional Indian Foods Thi$ cvl?J\t will be the l.lrg~ of its kind to date in the Southeastern Unit-cd States! Camping is available for the public al Chcllilw Parle Albany, ~rgla. $4.()() • adults - S3.00 children. For More information call Velaric Spratlin - Festival Coordinator, (704) 265- 1063. Spri.ntJ, 1991 Union Acres An Alternative i - - Acrtagt for Salt - Smoky Mounlmn Liuing with o focus on spiritlllll 011d ecologiall wluts For more information: Contact C. Grant at Routt 1. Box 61] WhiHitr, NC 28789 (704) 497-4964 Progrorrw to enco1.Xoge sell aid Earth O\N0r808$$. celetxol1on. klmhlp and hope. • Yovfl Cempl • School ProgfWl!s • Femily CemP* • Toachet Trumg • Commurwty Progren,1 •~Stell Tr1lMQ • Outdoot Prog111m Consulting NATURAL MARKET P0. 8al 1306 823 Blow,ng Roel<. Rd . Gannwo. Teme- 3n3a 615-436-6203 265-2700 Boone. NC 28607 �----------------, Floyd Co. Envitonmental Council The Aoyd County Environmental Council was formed out of a successful struggle to prevent the county's participation in a potentially expensive and dangerous regional landfill. It is currently involved in trying to prcvent massive clean:utting in an environmentallysensitive area of the county known as "The Free State," where many people believe that cougars survive. People who want to get in touch with the Floyd County Environmental Council or help in their efforts can contact them via Donna Whitmarsh at (703) 651-4747. Staging a Bioregional Event: The Piedmont's Haw River Festival Beginning on April 19 and running for four weeks, a volunteer crew of educa10rs, performers, and river lovers will travel the length of the Haw River, stopping 10 meet with school children in each of the five counties the river connects. At approximately seven different riverfront sites, the festival crew will put on a colorful learning celebration that will look at the river from the perspectives of science, nature. history, and fun. A main goal for the Festival is to give children a direct, hands-on experience that will leave them with a greater awareness of the place where they live, and how human choices affect the natural world. Also along the way, the festival will involve many other citizens within the Haw River basin through scheduled events in riverside towns. In all, approximately 3000 srudentS are expected to participate, accompanied by 300 parents and teachers. When children arrive at the site, they will be clustered into small groups, which will rotate among these teaching stations: Animals, People Along the River, Good Allematives, Riverwalk, Music & Stories, and Games. The Animals Station, for example, will feature live animals from the river and riverbanks and let the children get to know these finned, furry, and scaly neighbors - their relationship to each other (food chains), to the place (habi1a1). and to us (environmental issues). To contact the Festival, write Haw River Assembly; P.O. Box 187; Bynum, NC 27228 or call Louise Kessel at (919) 542-5599. ., ' RECEIVED Elwiro~n1al Ad'IIOCacy: Concepis, Issues, and Dilemmas by Bunyan Bryant (Caddo Gap Press, Ann Arbor. MJ, 1990) Communitits 1n Economic Crisis: Appalachia and tht Sowh edilcd by John Gaventa, Barbara Ellen Smith, and Alex Willingham (Temple University Press, Philadelphia. 1990) Audio Tape Light ,n tht Wind a cappella chanis and circle songs by Bob Avery.(irubel and lhe Celcbnuion Singers (Tribuia,y Records, Aoyd. VA, 1990) - Spirited songs for holi<bys. campfires, swcais. or whenever lho CltClc gathers. REVIEW From Walden Pond to Muir Woods: Alternative Way.r Aero.rs America Mary Dymond Davis (1990); Foreword by Ernest Callenbach Order from: ASPI Publications; Rt. 5, Box 423: Livingston, KY 40445 For those who travel, Mary Davis' book From \Vaiden Pond u, Muir Woods is an ecological ttavel guide. For those who stay at home, it is a local resource listing. Mary Davis has compiled descriptions of a variety of ecological loci throughout the continen1 that would be worthwhile for a traveler to visit or for a potential local activist to link up with. Her descriptions cover a broad spectrum of interests: groups and communities promoting alternative and ecological ways of living, natural areas, environmental education, recreation spots and suppliers, and transponation help. Her profiles are infonnative and her introductory explanations show clearly the pan each caiegory plays in the ongoing process of ecological recovery on Tunle Island. This is a book 10 have and to pass around, a great resource for alternative folk or those who want to find out "where it's at" on Turtle Island. .ow PLANTING CHESTNUTS A very detennined woman, Dorothy Dickson, has a vision of establishing an American chestnut tree seed farm that could supply viable seed to someday re-establish the American chestnut in the wild. She is looking for land and money to help with the idea. Write her at: 113 Autumn Lane; Harrisburg, NC 28075, or call (704) 455-1027. Paul Gallimore of The Long Branch Environmental F.ducation Center has initiated a project to plant hybrid American-Oriental chestnut seedlings in the wild to provide a short-term hard mast source for black bears and other creatures who will soon face mast shonages from the oak tree decline and the imminent depredations of the gypsy moth. Membership in the project, including two hybrid trees for planting, costS $25 to Paul Gallimo~; RL 2, Box 132; Leicester, NC 28748 NATIVE FLUTES Two styles made of cedar or walnut woods in the traditional manner Hawk Littlejohn Sourwood Farm RL 1, Box 172-L Prospect Hill, NC 27314 (919) 562·3073 r/ r:rf.u ~ Saru}JMush Htrb Nurse_y , WHOLE FOODS VITAMINS ORGANIC PRODUCE 160 Broadway Asheville, North Carolina Open 7 Days a Week Monday - Friday 9 am - 8 pm Saturday 9 am - 6:30 pm Sunday 12 pm - 5 pm WREATHS • POTPOURRI • HERBS • TOPIARY Complete Herb CataliJg - $4 Describes more tlum 800 plants from Aloe to Yam,w Rt 2, Surrett Cove Road Leicester, North Carolina 28748 P1ione for appointment to visit A.I.A., Resource Information Analysis Neil Thomas and Andy Feinstein (704) 683-2014 305 Westover, Asheville, NC (704) 252-6816 Sprl.ng. 1991 �MARCH 20 "Oh, the May, the jolly, jolly May; The leaves they spring so green." SPRING EQUINOX :8:ELT~:E SWANNANOA, NC Baba Olatunji Drum & Dance Weekend. Spuitual teacher and cultural diplomat from West Africa via the drum. Performance 8 pm, 3/22, Kinn:dgc Auditorium, Wanen Wilson College, S 10. Call 004) 645-391 I for mon: info. Sponsored by Rhythm Alive! 22-24 and APRIL Katuah Spring Gathering at Morningstar Fann on the Tanasi Ridge 5-7 AS II EVILLE, NC Seminar on solar technology and a tour of solar homes sponsored by the Buncombe County Solar Communities Program. More info, 004) 255-5522. 30 FULL MOON - PASSOVER 30 WESSER, NC "Cheoah Council" to talk stm1.egies and tactics for the defense of the Cheoah Bald area, the largest unprotected roaclless area in the region, now threatened by logging and roadbuilding. Bring food and camping gear, be prepared to walk in along the Appalachian Trail. For more info, write SouthPAW; Box 3141; Asheville. NC 28802 or call (704) 586-3146. April 26-28 5-7 22-23 Bring camping gear and food for yourselves and to share. The site is at high clevnlion, so be prepared for changeable weather. Bring colorful dress, musicm insuuments, toys, mask matcn:ils, and other celcbl1\lory tools. • .• t 11, I , NEW MARKET, TN ST? (Stop the Poisoning! or Save the Planet!) environmental acuon school at the Highlander Center. Call or write for mfo: 1959 HighlMdcr Way: New Market, 1N 37820 (615) 933-3443. VALl,.Ef llEAD, AL , "Masculinity: Native Tcachmgs. Earth consciousne.ss• workshop. Cieorgc Goodstrikcr (Blackfoot elder), An Hom, Tarwater. Pn:-rcgisier. S I75, includes 4 meals and camping. Hawkwind Earth Renewal Cooperative: Box 11: Valleyhcad, AL 35989. ASHEVILLE, NC "Re-Thinking Democracy: Citizenship in the Age of Mass Media," A Symposium for Tcac.hcrs, PurcnlS, and Concerned CitiJ.cns. Speakers include: Walter Trucu Anderson. Kathleen Hall Jrunieson, Marie Crispin Miller. Free. University of North Carolina at AsheV1Uc. For more mfonnation, (704) 251-6526. 1 •• , n, ~ .( •, This is a bcnef4 celebration IO help ~ve sacri!d land: SS d0113tion per pcison requesled For 1r1vd din,clio115 and more info.rmJJlcm, call (704)293-7013 or (70,1) SU-3146 11-13 28 FULL MOON MAY 13 NEW MOON NEW MARKET. TN STP environmenl:ll action school for young people! at the Highlander Center. See 4/5-7. 24-26 31 EASTER 13 SWANNANOA, NC Dedication of the World ~ u n d Oiamber ru. the Earth CcnlCI led by Beautiful Painl.Cd Arrow (Josoph Rael). 30'1 Old Pdlo10sl11j, Rd.\• ,, •,110-x 24-27 14 NEW MOON Spiritual Hcaltll." lnteyal yoga taught by Swami' Vidynnanda. $145. Southern Dharmn Rcueat Center. Sec 4/19-21. 28 Home! A Bioregional Reader llome! A Bioregional Rt.adt.r, just published by New Society Publishers, offers ·an CJtciting vision and ~tn11egy for creating ccologicmly suswinable communities and cultures in h:umony with the limits and regenerative powers of the Earth.· It has gathered articles, stories. and poems of over forty writers and activists who hnve comribuled both to defining bioregionalism as a political philosophy and to lhc practice or "living in place.• Contributor.. include: G4ry Snyder, Peter Berg. Caroline Estes, Wendell Berry, as well as Mamie Muller of the Kmuah Journal. Graphics in lhc book include the worlt of Kmuah'.r Rob M~ick:. The book Is a large-format paperback with 192 pages. including resources and a reading lisL Copies are available by mail for $15.70 from: RM Designs: Box UiOt: Boone, NC 28007. Pri~ of Rob Mcssick's illustrations from the book are also available from the same address. Sprt ng, 1991 ''"'. jZ 16-21 HELEN, GA Rive~ane Rendel.Yous with Snow Bear, Darry Wood, and Bob Slack. Jr. plus visiting instructors. "Ancient arts and skills for the mind, hean, and hand..." including fire by friction, making stone and bone tools, tanning buckskin, plant identification and use, basketry. blowguns, and more. Pre-register: $135, includes camping and two meals per day. For more info, contact: Bob Slack. Jr.; Unicoi State Parle; Box 1029; Helen. GA 30545 (404) 878-2201 (Ext. 282?· . \., HOT SllRINGS,rN<:'. h.'11~:Ktx·, am ~lri'I ,UI?. ........~~:M~~~.f9r ~1!,Yi;ic:il. Meot;i!J\~ •.., __ Sw:11\MnOa, NC .28nS.c31l.(704) 2!l8Tl!l3S. ~ FULL MOON JUNE 11-15 JOHNSON CITY, TN Changes, a play by The Road Company at Down Home. Tickets 58.00 during week, $10.00 weekend. For details call (615) 926-TI26. 19-21 HOT SPRrNGS, NC "Hca\'en on the Mountain: Nine at !he Top," divinauon with lhe I Ching taught by Jay Dunbar. 'Through subtle movement and discussion we will excn:isc the intuition and explore the language of energy.• S75. Southern Dharma Re1Ica1 Center; RL I, Box 34-H; Hot Springs. NC 28743 (7~) 622-7112. 21 25-26 EART H OAY CELfBRATIONS II ENDERSONVlLLE, NC Into the Heart of Healing" IC\'etsing hcan discas.c wilh vegetarian dict, cxe.tt:ise and su-cs:; m.lllngement taught by Steven Oreer. MD Md Lynn DcLuca. Shambala Institute. For more info, write 118 Cumberland Ave: Asheville, NC 28801 or call (704) 25.3-0509. NATURAL ALTERNATIVES FOR HEALTHFUL LIVING p.o. box 1092 • winery square gatlinburg, tenne.,sce 37738 615-436-6967 X.Otiw:lh Journot pa«Je a3 l ~ lQn,uor t Q.UnJl �BUSINESS PAR1NER WANTED· Must have some cspiLill IO help CSUlblish nn herb, orgnnic foods, and 0 possibly ecological and solar equipment business. Large new building, half ac.re, in Ellijay Mt'ns. area. Please call (~) 635-7009 or wri1e io: Wall Klimowiez; Rt. 5, Box 30-t: Ellijay. GA 30540. omusu~ !:~ ~ challenge, of advenuue, lhe beauty and inspiration or nature, the fellow~ip and sharing of lcindered spirilll, lhcn Turtle Island is the pince for youl This one week camp is open 10 gills 11-17, and runs from July 71h IO July 13th. Tow cost iS $300.00. For information and application call (704) 265-2267, or write: Valarie SpraUin c/o Tun le lsl!lnd Pre:;ctve; RL I, Box 249-B: Deep Gap (near Boone), NC 28618. LAND FOR SALB • 32 acics, all or pan. 3 private coves; 2 large organic fields; sm311 solar ~lrUCture; 1906 rustic fannhouse: barn. If interested, please wnic: Vicki Baker and Tom Graves; Rt. 2, Box 108-A: Whittier, NC 28789 or call (704) 586-8221. PIEDMONT BIOREGIONAL INSTITIJTE • For those who live in the Piedmont ruca, lherc's a bioregional effon well underway. Join us! We would appreciate any donation or time or money to help mcel operating c:Jtpcnses. For a gift of $2.5 or more. we will send you a copy of John Lawson's joumru. A New Voyagt' 10 Carolina. Also, come find out about the Lawson ProjecL PBI; 412 W. Rosemary Strcci; Chapel Hill, NC 27516; Uwharria Province. (919) 942-2581. 1WO FAMll.IES seeking neighborly folks 10 buy inco 130 acres of bcautlful mountru11S1de bnd near Weavcsville, N.C. We are involved in org:inic gnnlening, homeschooling, n:11.uml healing and spiritu:ility. 20 acre share for $24,000. eau (704) 658-2676 or 645-7954. LOO CABIN BUILDING CAMP· a three week. hands-on, edueational retreat building a log house. Live as an American pioneer and learn the ways of wood. Magnificcnl involvement wilh hi.5tory and self· sufficiency in na~ Towly hand-built Crom U'OCS cut on lhe sice in the beautiful wilderness setting ofTunle Island Presesve. A uniqueopp0nuni1y. June 23- July 13, 1991. For more information call (704) 265-2267. or wrice Turtle Island Prescrvo; RL I Box 249-B; Deep Gop (near Boone), NC 28618. HAWKWIND EARTH RENEW AL CO-OPERATIVE is an 87 acre primitive l'CU'Cal. and wocking community farm. Located in the Northern Alabama mountruns, just 115 miles northwest of Allan ta. Classes on a!J.ernative lifestyles and Native American philosophies rue available on a regular basis. For inforrruuion or callllog of Native crafts & products, call (1.0S)63S-6304. MUSIC BY BOB AVERY.ORUBa available on lhrec cassew:s. Treasures in the Stream and Circles Re1urni11g a recent release of original chan1s and songs. Ughl i11 the \Vind, is a cappella. Lyric sheets included. Send $10 for each cape or S26 for o.ll lhlee co Bob Avery-Grubel; RL I, Box 735; Floyd, VA 24091, aie folk/roclt-jazz. and GOOD STEW ARDS WAN"ffiD for rcmoce land. Approx. IS acres for sale w/ house (2 bdrm., I bath). Organic3lly fanned for 1.0 years, gravity feed spring water. High on Tanasi Ridge, views. Raven and ~ Walker, Box 23: Lake Toxaway, NC 28747 (704} 293-7013. MOCCASINS, handcmfl.ed of clkhlde in the traditlonal Plains Indian style. WaJet rcsisUlnt. rcsolable, and rugged great for hiking! Children's and infant sizes available. Write: Eanh Dance Moccasins; RL 5. Box 341-B, Burnsville, NC 28714 or call 675-594 I. WICKER WORKER • Wicker fumitW"e reslortd. Cane. rusb, lllld reed SC3IS woven - basJcets rcp:wcd. Expcricnced scat weavu. "lf you ean'L we cane.· Andita Cwkc; 27 Mrut SL; Asheville, NC 28801 (704)2.53-6241. SKYLAND • log on co the computer bulletin board of the Smokies. Networking, plus news on lhe environment. natwe phocography, games, computer utilities, much more. Con1.aet Michael Havclin, sysop, (704} 2.54-6700. HlGHLANDER CEN1eR • is a community-based cducalional organization whose purpose is co provide space for people co learn from each other, and co develop solutions co environmcmal problems based on their own values, experiences and aspirations. They also put OUl a quarterly newslcucr, Hlghlandu Reporu. For more infonnation contact Highlander Cci11er; 1959 Highbnder Way; New Market.. 1N 37820 (615) 933-3443. ADULT CAMP· a nawra1 living experience 1eJ1Cbing primitive Eanh Skills and rughterung participants spirilU3l awareness lllrough riwal This renewal rwe:11 olTers five days of living in a teepee at Tunle Tsland Preserve wilh master woodsman nnd &eaehu Eustace Conway. June 8 12. 1991 or Scpiember I • 5 arc the dates. For more information call (704) 265-2267, or write TurUe Island Preserve; RL I, Box 249-B: Deep Gap (near Boone). NC 28618. EARTH SKILLS, NATURE AW ARE1''ESS WORKSHOP • Reconoo:t wtlh the Earth • bow drill fire, cordage, shelters, lOOlmaking. medicinal and edible plants. nature observation, and much more. See and fed the Eanh duough primal C)CS and primal :.kills Write: Dr. Guy Jaconis; RL 4, Box 92: Beaufon. NC 28516 (9 I9) 728-2959. BODY RIIYTJJMS from Pbnetary Molhcrs - a beautiful and practical calendar for women 10 chart lhcir ·moonlhly" cycles. Send S3.00 plus S 1.00 p0stagc 10: Planetary Modicn Collective (c/oNancie Yonker): 5231 Riverwood Ave.; Sarasot:i. A. 3423 I. WISE WOMAN TRADmON APPRENTICE WEEKwith Whitewolf, near Asheville. July 25-31 (Weekend opuon, 26-28). Foraging, wildcrafting, communicating wilh plants, herb gardening. llllditional remedies, Eanhkccping, woman's heallh care. women's wisdom circles, Moonlodge, mllSSllgc, movement. and music. Donation or work Exchange. Comfortable dorm, camping, meals. Concacl Lcivan; Box 576; Asheville. NC 28802. 1990/91 DIRECTORY OF IN1'ENTIONAL COMMUNfTIP.S • Just released, over 2 y~ in the making. Names, addresses. phone nwnbets, and descriptions of31.0 Norlh American communities, and over 250 rcsourcc groups, plus 40 nniclcs. Maps, cross-reference chruts, fully indexed. $13.50 postpaid from Sandhill Fann; ROUIC I, Box 155-R: Rutledge. MO 63563. 40% discount available on orders o! 10 or more. I am looking for land suitable for small scale farming wilh a good source of war.er, preferably northwest Rulherfocd or soulhW$ McDowell Counties. I am also open to ocher areas within 45 min. of Asheville. Also looking for people who would like IO develop a rural community in lhc Kan1ah region wilh intereslS in org1111ic gardening, environmental issues, lllld education. Contact Frank Holzman: 537 Seminole Avenue; Atlanlll, GA 30307 (404} 688-4016. RECYCLED PAPER! • Dll'CCtory of products sources for the Southcas1. Suggested donation S 1.00 to Western Norlh Carolina Alliance; PO Box 18087: Asheville, NC 28814 (704) 2.58-8737. • 1Vebworkil1g hasclumgt>df There is nowafuof S2.50 per entry of50 words or less. Send 10: Rob Messick; P.O. Boz 2601; BooM, NC 28f,/)7. "The area's oldc,;t and largest natural food< grorery" 811fk Herbs, Spices, & Grains Vitamins & Supplements Wheat, Salt & Yeast-Free Foods Dairy S11~titutes Hair & Skin Care Products Beer & Wi11e Mnki11g S11pplies 200 W. King St, Boone, ~C 28607 • PrCll'ulmg I fealll:y Food Sitree 1975 • COMMITTED To COMMUNITY AND Gooo Fooo 255-7650 ~ 90 Biltmore Avenue Asheville, :-.:c 2 Blocks South of Dov,mtown (70,l) 26-t-5220 Sprlt19, 1991 �BACK ISSUES OF KATUAH JOURNAL AVAILABLE ISSUE THIRTEEN • FALi.. 1986 Cenn:r FOT Awakening - Elizabclh Callari - A Gentle Dcmh • Hospice - Emes1 Morgan • Dealing Creatively wilh Death • Home Burial Box • The Wake • The Raven Moelter. Woodslore and Wildwoods Wisdom· Good Medicine: The Sweat Lodge ISSUE THREE • SPRING 1984 Susminable Agriculture - Sunflowers - Human Impact on lhe Foe-est - Childrcns· Edu01tion • Veronicn Nicholas: Woman in Politics - Lillie People - Medicine Allies ISSUE FOUR • SUMMER 1984 Walef Drum • Waier Quali1y • Kudzu - Solar Eclipse • Oca.«:ulling - Trou1 - Going to Waier • Ram Pumps· J\.1icrohydro - Poems: Bennie Lte Sinclair. Jim Wayne Miller ISSUE TWENTY-TWO -WINTER '88-89 Global Wanning. Fire This Time· Thomas Berry on "Bioregions" • Earth Exercise - Kort Loy McWhirter - An Abundance of Emptiness - LETS - Chronicles of Floyd Darry Wood • The Bear Clan ISSUE FIVE • FAU.. 1984 Harvest. Old Ways in Cherokee. Ginseng - Nuclcor Waste - Our Ccluc Hcrimgc • Biorcgionalism: Past. Prcscn1, and Fu1ure - John WUno1y - Healing Darkness· Politics of Participauon ISSUE TWENTY-THREE - SPRING 1989 Pisgah Village - Plane1 An - Green City • Poplor Appeal • "Clear Sky". "A New Earth" • Black Swan • Wild Lovely Days • Reviews: Sacred Land Sacred Su, Ice Age • Poem: "Sudden Tendrils" ISSUE SIX • WINTER 1984-85 Winter Solstice Enrlh Ceremony • HorsepaslurC3 River Coming of the Ligh1 • Log Cabin Root • Mouniain Agricuhure: The Righi Crop - William Taylor· The Future of I.he Forest ISSUE SEVEN • SPRING 1985 Susl3.i0llble Economics· Ho1 Springs - Worker Ownership • The G~1 Economy - Self Help Credit Union - Wild Turkey. Responsible Investing. Working in lhe Web of Life ISSUE EIGHT- SUMMER 1985 Celebrauon: A Way of Life - Katuah 18.000 Years AgoSacred Si1es - Folk Arts in the Schools - Sun Cycle/Moon Cycle - Poems: Hild.:! Downer • Cherokee Heri1age Cemcr • Who Owns Appalachia? ISSUE NINE • PALI.. 1985 The Waldcc Foccs1 - The Trees Speak. Migraung Forests · Horse Logging • Slorting a Tree Crop - Urban Trees • Acom Bread - Myth Time ISSUE TEN • WINTER 1985-86 Ka1e Rogers - Circles of S1one - Internal Mylhmaking Holistic Healing on Trial - Poems: Steve Knauth • Mythic Places • The Uktcna·s Tale - CrySUIJ Magic "Drcamspcaking• ISSUE ELEVEN- SPRING 1986 Communi1y Planning - Cities and lhe Biorcgional Vision - Recycling - Community Gardening- Floyd Coomy. VA· Gasohol • Two Bioregionnl Views • Nuclear Supplcmenl • Foxrll'C Games - Good Medicine: Visions ISSUE 1WENTY-ONE • FALi.. 1988 Chestnuts: A Nalwal His10ry - Restoring !he Chestnut "Poem or Preservation and Praise" - COlllinuing lhe Qucs1 - Forests and Wildlife - ChCSllluts in Regional Diel • Chestnu1 Resources • Herb N01e - Good Medicine: "Changes lO Come•. Review: Where Ltgends Li-.e ISSUE FOURTEEN • WINTER 1986-87 Lloyd Corl Owle - Boogcrs and Mummers - All Species Day • Cabin Fever Universi1y • Homeless in Kaubh • Romcmade Hot Water - Stovemaker's Narrative • Good Medicine: Interspecies Communication ISSUE FIFTEEN • SPRJNG 1987 Coverlets . Woman Forester· Susie McMahan: Midwife • Alternative Contraception - Biosexuali1y - Bioregionalism and Women - Good J\,tcdicine: Malriarchal Culture - Pearl ISSUE SIXTEEN • SUMMER 1987 Hcfon Waiie. Poem: Visions in a Garden - Vision Quest· F°l!SI Flow - µti1iation - Lc;iming in !he W i t ~ "Cherokee Challenge. "Valuing Trees" ISSUE EIGHTEEN • WINTER 1987·88 Vernacular ArchilCCturc - D~s in Wood and Stone Mountrun Home - Eanh Energies - Eanh-Shellcred Living • Membrane Houses - Brush Shcl1cr - Poems: October Dusk - Good Medicine: "ShellCr" ISSUE NINETEEN • SPRING 1988 Pcrclandra Garden • Spring Tonics - Blueberries Wildflower Gardens - Granny Herbalist • Flower Essences - "The Origin or lhe Animals:" S1ory • Good Medicine: "Power" - Be A Tree ISSUE TWENTY • SUMMER 1988 Preserve Appalachian Wilderness - Highlands or Roan • Cclo Communi1y - Land Trust· Arlhur Morgan School Z.Oning Issue - "The Ridge" - Farmers and !he Fann Btu· Good Medicine: "Land" - Acid Rain - Ouke·s Power Play· Cherokee Microhydro Projec1 ISSUE TWENTY·FOUR • SUMMER •39 Deep Listening • Ufc in AlOmic City - Direc1 Action! Tree of Peace - Communily Building· Peacemakers· Elhnic Survival - Pairing Project - "Bnnlcsong• Growing Peace in Culwn:s - Review: The Chalice and the Blode fSSUE TWENTY-SIX • WINTER, 1989·'90 Coming of Age in lhe Ecozoic Era - Kids Saving Rainfores1 - Kids Treecycling Company· ConOic1 Resolution. Developing lhe Creative Spirit - Birth Power • Birth Bonding • The Magic of Puppetry - Home Schooling - Naming Ceremony - Molher Eanh•s Classroom - Gardening for Children ISSUE TWENTY-SEVEN • SPRING. 1990 Transformation • Healing Power - Peace to Their Ashes Healing in Katuah • Poem: "When Left to Grow· - Poems: Stephen Wing • The Belly • Food from lhe Ancient Forest ISSUE 'TWENTY·EIGHT - SUMMER 1990 Carrying Capaci1y • Selling LimitS IO Growth - What is Ovcrpopulntion? • The Road Gnng • The Highway to Nowhere. The J.26 Project - "Curing Capacity" - Poople and Habillll • Designing lhe Whole Life Community Steady Staie - Poems: Will Ashe Bason Ttansporte.rnativcs - Review: Cohausing ISSUE TWENTY -NINE • FALL/WINTER 1990 From the Mounlains lO lhe Sea • Profile of The Lillie Tennessee River - Headwaters Ecology and High Quali1y Habitat - "l1 All Comes Down lO WBJN Quality· Wa1er Power. Action for Aquatic HabilatS - Dawn Waichcrs • Good Medicine: The Long Human Being • The North Shore Road • Kalliah Sells Ou1 • W81erShed Map of lhe Kalllah Province - - -- - - - - - - - - -- - - --- - - - - - --- -- - - - ~UAt1 JOURNAL Issue 30 Box 638; Leicester, NC; Katuah Province For more info: call Rob Messick at (704) 754-6097 Name Regular Membership........ $10/yr. Sponsor.........................$20/yr. Contributor.....................$50/yr. Address City Area Code Sprlnq, 1991 Stale Phone Number Zip Enclosed is$_ __ to give this ejfon an exrra boos/ I can be a local contact person for my area 28748 Back Issues Issue# _ _@ $2.50 = $_ _ Issue# _ _@ $2.50 = $ _ _ Issue# __@ $2.50 = $_ _ Issue H_ _@ $2.50 - $ _ _ Issue# __@ $2.50 = $_ _ Complete Set (3-11, 13-16, 18-24, 2~29) @ $40.00 = $_ _ posiage paid ( � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records Description An account of the resource <em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal</em>,&nbsp;was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. <br /><br /><span>The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name,&nbsp;</span><em>Katúah</em><span>, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant.&nbsp;</span><br /><span><br />The <em>Katúah Journal</em> was co-founded by Marnie Muller, David Wheeler, Thomas Rain Crowe, Martha Tree and others who served as co-publishers and co-editors. Other key team members included Chip Smith, David Reed, Jay Mackey, Rob Messick and many others.</span><br /><br />This digital collection is only a portion of the <em>Katúah</em>-related materials in the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection in Special Collections at Appalachian State University. The items in AC.870 Katúah Journal records cover the production history of the <em>Katúah Journal</em>. Contained within the records are correspondence, publication information, article submissions, and financial information. The editorial layouts for issues 12 through 39 are included as are a full run of the Journal spanning nearly a decade. Also included are photographs of events related to the Journal and a film on the publication. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived This resource is part of the&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal Records </em>collection. For a description of the entire collection, see <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Katúah Journal Records (AC. 870)</a>. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The images and information in this collection are protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. C.) and are intended only for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes, provided proper citation is used – i.e., Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records, 1980-2013 (AC.870), W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. Researchers are responsible for securing permissions from the copyright holder for any reproduction, publication, or commercial use of these materials. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1983-1993 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource journals (periodicals) Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Katúah Journal</em>, Issue 30, Spring 1991 Description An account of the resource The thirtieth issue of the<em> Katúah Journal</em> focuses on regional economics, development, and ecology. Authors and artists in this issue include: David Wheeler, Thomas Power, Rob Messick, Will Ashe Bason, Rodney Webb, Henry Eckler, Griscom Morgan, Snow Bear, Gary Lawless, Jim Clark, Ernest Womick, Millie Sundstrom, Lee Barnes, David Haenke, Richard Lowenthal, Rodney Web, Jim Houser, Charlotte Homsher, Martha Tree, Stephen Petroff, and Rob Leverett. <br><br><em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to <em>Katúah Journal</em>, was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name, Katúah, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991 Table Of Contents A list of subunits of the resource. Economy/Ecology by David Wheeler.......1<br /><br />Avoiding the Passive/Helpless Approach to Economic Development by Thomas Power.......4<br /><br />Ways to a Regenerative Economy by Rob Messick.......5<br /><br />Sacred Oconomy by Will Ashe Bason.......6<br /><br />"Money Is the Lowest Form of Wealth": Interview with Ivo Ballentine and Robin Cape by Rodney Webb and Henry Eckler.......7<br /><br />The Clarksville "Miracle" by Griscom Morgan.......10<br /><br />Self-Help Credit Union.......10<br /><br />The Village by Snow Bear.......11<br /><br />"through dreams, through magic": Poems by Gary Lawless.......12<br /><br />Food Movers by David Wheeler.......13<br /><br />Poems by Jim Clark.......14<br /><br />LifeWork by Ernest Womick and Millie Sandstrom.......15<br /><br />Green Spirits: "Katúah Planting Calendar" by Lee Barnes.......19<br /><br />Good Medicine: "Village Economy".......20<br /><br />On Eco-economics by David Haenke.......21<br /><br />Thoughts on Work, Productivity, and Development by Richard Lowenthal.......22<br /><br />Natural World News.......23<br /><br />Shelton Laurel by Rodney Webb.......25<br /><br />Off the Grid: "Regional Fuels" by Jim Houser.......26<br /><br />LETS........27<br /><br />Resources........27<br /><br />Drumming.......28<br /><br />Earth Energies: "The Great Lover" by Charlotte Homsher.......31<br /><br />Events.......33<br /><br />Webworking.......34<br /><br /><em>Note: This table of contents corresponds to the original document, not the Document Viewer.</em> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <em>Katúah Journal</em>, printed by The <em>Waynesville Mountaineer</em> Press Subject The topic of the resource Bioregionalism--Appalachian Region, Southern Sustainable living--Appalachian Region, Southern Economic development--Environmental aspects Mixed economy--Appalachian Region, Southern Regional economics Ecology--Economic aspects--Appalachian Region, Southern Salvage (Waste, etc.)--North Carolina--Asheville North Carolina, Western Blue Ridge Mountains Appalachian Region, Southern North Carolina--Periodicals Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937"> AC.870 Katúah Journal records</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a title="In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted" href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/?language=en 8" target="_blank"> In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted </a> Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Appalachian Region, Southern Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. <a title="Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians" href="https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/collections/show/79" target="_blank"> Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians </a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Journals (Periodicals) Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1990s Agriculture Alternative Energy Appalachian History Appalachian Mountains Appalachian Studies Bioregional Definitions Community Earth Energies Economic Alternatives Education Forest Issues Good Medicine Habitat Katúah Poems Politics Radioactive Waste Reading Resources Recycling Stories Turtle Island Villages Water Quality Western North Carolina Alliance Wilderness https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/78d9246223be9d0574b3bd2b5063d495.pdf dd9e0daeaf638e3c9c89f1668668b7b7 PDF Text Text ISSUE 31 SUMMER 1991 $1.50 �Drawing by Rob Messick ~UAt1 JOURNAL P.O. Box 638 Leicester, NC Katuah Province 28748 :ic.\e 0 " () @ ~ Postage Paid Bulk Mail Permit #18 Leicester, NC 28748 .,. (I Printed on recycled paper ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED �Oowsing..................................................... 3 by David Wheeler The Responsibilities of Dowsing: An Interview with Tom Hendricks............5 by Madeline H. Dean Ceremonies of the Moment: An Interview with Joyce Holbrook...........6 "Jack-o-Lantems," Acid Rain, and the Electrical Life of the Eanh............8 by Clyde Hollifield Poem: "Old Houses".......... ,..................... 10 by Richard Nesrer Kaufah and the Eanh Grid ....................... ! 1 by Charlotte Homsher The Call of rhe Ancient Ones.................. 13 by Page Bryaru "If the Eanh Is to HeaJ, Our Heans Musr Be Broken".................. 15 by Richard lowenrlial Good Medicine: On Aggression.............. 17 THE EARTH - SHE LIVES! Poems by James Proffirt.......................... 18 Green Spirits: Sacred Forests.................. 19 by Lee Barnes Off rhe Grid.............................................20 by Jim Houser Natural World News................................21 "Jusr Doing Their Job"............................ 23 by Emmel/ Greendigger Time to Take the Time to Take the Time...................................... 25 by/vo Drumming............. " .................................26 Whole Science......................................... 29 by Rob Messick Tuning ln................................................. 29 by Charlotte Homsher Review· Light in rhe Wind........... .. - ....... 30 Chestnut Grafting Project........................ .31 by David McGrew Events......................................................32 \Vebworking............................................34 Su11u11cr, 199 1 Tradirional cultures around the world have always had a close relationship to the world around them. Dependent as they were on their immediate environment to meet all their needs, it is not surprising that they were closely attuned to the rhythms of their surroundings and the messages that came from the landscape. The foundation of their spiritual belief was that the world is alive. TI1ey saw the Earth as a being, a Great Mother who provided for all her children's needs. With ritual, music, and dancing, they conversed with the Earth and with all the aspects of her power. Here in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, the native Cherokee inhabitants accepted the forces of the world as living beings and addressed thern in their prayers and ceremonies. They saw the mountains as great beings of awe and grandeur, isolated and imposing. At times of spiritual transition, they went to sacred sites, places of extraordinary power, to do their fasting, praying, and divining, or to make a vision quest. As humanity turned toward civilization and sought security by insulating ourselves from our environment, our former connection to the world and the awareness that it engendered slowly dissipated. Skills that were once necessary for survival came to be considered "folk customs" and superstitions. In our minds the Eanh died. As we relied more on our intellectual brain and its offspring, science, for our survival, we began to see our world as a "system" under the rule of "laws" that were mechanical, linear, and absolute. However, in the "backwater.. areas, like 1.he rugged Appalachians, white settlers from Europe kept alive customs that dated back to pre-Christian times in the Old World. They used the power of wild roots for healing. They planted their crops by the signs of the moon. They would call on a "water witch," or dowser, with a forked stick to find an underground waler source. These practices are with us even today. (c:ontinucd on page 3) Xatuoh Journat p09e I �EDlTORlAL STAFF Tl ITS ISSUE: Maria Abbruzzi Lee Barnes Christopher Davis Charloue Homsher Jim Houser Lorraine Kaliher Emmeu Grecndiggcr Richard Lowenthal Rob Messick Mamie Muller Rodney Webb David Wheeler We'd like 10 offer special thanks for the inspiration of Mounlllin Gnrdcns. Thanks and fare well 10 John Creech. Happy trails, compadre! COVER: by Rob Messick © 1991 PUBLISHED BY: Kau,ah Journal PRINTED BY: The Waynesville Mo11111aineer Press EDITORIAL OFFTCE THlS JS SUE: The Globe Valley CONTACT US AT: Ka111ahJ011rnal Box 638; Leicester, NC; Ka1uah Province 28748 (704) 754-6097 Diversity is an impon.am elemcm of bioregionnl ecology. both nawral and socinl. In line will1 this principle. the Katuah Journal tries 10 serve as II fomm for the discu&;ion of rcgion:il issues. Signed rulicks express only the opinion of the nuthors and arc not ncccss:irity the opinions or lhe Katuah Journal editors or staff. The Internal Revenue Scn•1ce has declared K a1uah Jo1u11al a non.profit orgnniz.:ition under section 501(c){3) or Lhc lntemnl Revenue Code. All contributions to K,uuah Journal are dcducublc from pcr!IOn:il income wx. Aruclcs appcnnng in Katuah Journal may be reprimcd in olher publications with permission from the Katuah Journal sulf. Com:ict the journal in writing or call (704) 7S4-6097 or (704) 683-1414. ApOW<Jlj ~ STATEMENT OF PURPOSE Here, in the Katuah Province of these ancient Appalachian mountains where once the Cherokee Nation lived in freedom between the Tennessee River Valley and the Eastern Piedmont between the VaJley of the Roanoke and U1e Southern PJain on this Turtle Island continent of Mother Ela, the Earth Here, In this place we dedicate ourselves to remembering our deep connection to the spirit of the land. We bring this connection into the being and the doing of our daily lives When the land speaks, we listen and we act We tune our lives to the changes, to the seasons We respect the limits of the land We preserve, defend, and restore the land We give thanks for all that is good The photo of Darry Wood and Eva Bigwitch at Lhe R1vcrc;mc Rendezvous on page 12 of Kauiah Jourl\ill #30 should hove been credited 10Jim Riggs. Jim is a photogrnphcrand 1c:ichcrofprimitive skills "ho was also n guest insLructor at Lile cvcnL 'L'.NVOCA.'TW'.N Ancient Mother, Ancient Mother, You who have waited so long. You who have waited so long for your children to return, Your children are returned. Here we arc. -Swait lodge song Ham1ony with the land is no longer an ideal; it is an imperative. The land is a living being. She is sacred. As tl1e land lives, so do we. As the spirit of the land is diminished, our spirits are diminished as well. The Ka111ah Journal sends a voice... with articles, stories, poems, and artwork we speak to the spirit of all the living, breathing inhabitants of these mountains in hopes that we, the human beings, may find our place in this Great Life. - The Editors Xatimh Journot pngc 2 .... �(continued from page I) Bui as the urban commercial cuhure penetrated even the isolation of the Appalachians, for many people the moumains lost their magic. They could see the old hills only as another collection of available resources to be taken out, totalled up, and rung into the cash register. That unbroken connection 10 the life of the mountains, the life of the Earth, has in the last 100 years faded and almost died ... But it is not gone. When the astronauts took the photos of the Earth from outer space, it became suddenly obvious that our planet is a fragile round ball suspended in the vastness of space. From tha1 new perspecrivc we can see that the Earth is whole. comple1e, an organism unto herself· and beautiful. II is also obvious that she is part of an even grander scheme - a cosmic ecology. We hove a place in the universe: an alignment with the stars, planets. and galaxies: a relationship 10 the cosmos. When we touch the Earth here in Katuah Province on this Tunic Island continent, we mp into an in1erlocking web of energies 1hat extends out into the fanhcst star galaxies. Scientific breakthroughs like "the Gaia theory" and the "new physics" seem revelatory to our jaded intellcccs. The Gaia theory states scientifically that the Earth breathes through ils atmosphere and regula1cs its own respirarion not only is the Earth a living, breathing organism, but ii is also conscious on some level! The "new physics" theory sets fonh a conception of the world radicallydivergen1 from Newtonian physics - one that seems almost more metaphysical than physical, closer to a study of consciousness than of matter. But t11cse scientific concepts are acrually not new. They were in the prayer of a Cherokee medicine man standing with anns uplifted by a waterfall. They were what an old woman could feel through her forked dowsing stick as :;he walked the land. Tho medicine people and the dowsers knew the geology of the mountains. They knew the depth of the fault lines and 1hc deep waterveins. They also could perceive the web of energy encircling the Earth. But they were not scientistS. They worked from their intuition; their practice was handed down from reacher to srudent as pans of long-standing traditions. The Gaia theory, the new physics, and the other recent departures from onhodox scien1ilic thinking offer scientific evidence of the life and consciousness of the world 1hat these old ones felt so clearly, so long :igo. There is still much mystery in this round globe that looks so vulnerable and beautiful from ou1er space. In this issue of the Ka11uihlournal we invite the reader to learn. to speculate, to begin to think of a whole world mind, a unifying world energy that connects us 10 every other place, 10 every other being on the Earth, and 10 the s1ars. The Eanh 1ums, we tum; everywhere we look we are one world. -The Editors Sl11t11ncr, 1991 DOWSING A Briefe Treatise or Digression Concerni11g the Long Historic a11d Practice of tlu• Art a11d Erstwhile Scie11ce of Rliabdo111a11cy by David Wheeler "All alike grasp tire forks of the twig witIr tlreir hands, clenching tlreir fi.rts, it being necessary tlrat tire clenclredjingers slumld be held wward tire sky i11 order tlrat tire twig should be raised at tlUJJ end wlrere the two branches meet Then they wander hither and tlritlrer at random through mountainous regions It is said that tire moment tlrey place their feet on a vein the twig immediately mrns and nvists, and so by its action discloses the vein: when tlrey nwve their feet agaill and go away from tlUJJ spot the Mig becomes once more immobile." • from De,~ metallica. one of lhc ftN wnucn rcrcrcnces 10 dowsing. by Ocorg,u, Agricola. 1556 This is the commonly conceived pic1urc of the dowser, or "water witcht walking the land looking for underground veins of water. However. to be a dowser a person does not have to walk the land, use a forked s1ick, or even be searching for water. Dowsers come in more flavors than ice cream • they e>.hibit many different attitudes, abilities. and mind states. In ilS purest form, dowsing might be defined as the perception of intangible or spiritual energies. Usunlly dowsers use their ability in looking for some1hing. In his paper "The Divining Rod: A His1ory of Water Wi1ching," written in 1917, Anhur J. Ellis says. "In tracing the history of the subject it is found that divining rods have been used for all of the following purposes: (I) To locate ore Drawing b) Rob Meu1<k deposits, (2) 10 discover buried or hidden ucasure. (3) 10 find lost landmarks and reestablish propcny boundaries, (4) 10 de1ect criminals, (5) to analyze personal character, (6) to cure diseases, (7) to tmce lost or strayed domestic animal~. (8) 10 insure immunity against ill fonunc when preserved as a fetish. (9) 10 locate well sites. { I0) 10 trace the courses of underground streams, {11) to determine the amount of water available by drilling at a given spot, ( I2) to determine the deplh at which wa1erorores occur, (13) 10 determine the direction of cardinal pointS. (14) to determine the heights of crecs, and ( 15) 10 analyze ores and w111ers." Dowsers today also search for the answers to questions; negative and positive Earth energies; missing persons; and waywan:1 spirits. They da1e archaeological finds and contac1 UFO's. As well as the tr3ditional forked stick. dowsers use a straight stick; L-shaped mcl41 rods; wire; a dangling pendulum (usually made of me1al or s1one but possibly of other m:uerials); their hands; or pure perception 10 find the object of their search. Dowsers do not have to be on the site but can make contact through maps, photographs, or a person's possessions. Clearly. the general category of "dowsing" covers a wide variety of experiences and abilities. But how does it work? Dowsing is clearly an e,cuasensory experience that draws (ccntmuodonnc,tpAJ:C) JCatud, Jounuat P°'JS 3 �(c:crnmuai Crom pai;o J) on a different pan of the brain than our intellect and our everyday awareness. Walter D.1le. a yeteran dowser in his eigh1ies Yiho hvcs outside Ashevilk, NC, ~ayi. lh:11 there is encrg)' evervwhere and that, "We are able tu iocus in on iiin much the same v.ny that you might tune in to channels on your TV ~r. Do\\:.eri. can do very remarkable things, and v.e can prove it. 1 don't know how 1t's done, but II depcnds on our abil1ty to use this energy thm is everywhere - even though we don't ~ee it. We don't sec radio waves, we don't see TV trnnsmis.\ions. It's very much the same." Ano1hcr dowser, Vern Peter.;on. says, "Dowsing is puuing out an idea or a question of what you want. and 1hb v.ill set up u vibration. If you are looking tor water, for insmnce, the vibration will correspond to water under the ground that you can fed when you get over it with the dowsing rod. "It leads 10 an advancement of consciousness., There's no end 10 where you can go. The longer you smy in dowsing, the more you learn. and the more that you learn how much 1here is to kn6w." Other dowsers speak of spiri1ual influences, a direct channel 10 higher intelligences or 10 the Supreme Intelligence, as explanation of their abilities. Dowsing is nor a new phenomenon. tr seems 10 be an innate pan of the human mind, and many practitioners maintain that dowsing was at one time one of our ba.~ic sense perceptions, and that ii is only with the advent of civilization that this ability has atr0phied in our brain. Animals seem to have the nbili1y to find water, and it seems logical thm in more primitive times we would have relied more on this type of awareness to locate food and water and be alen to dnnger. There is tangible evidence that S1one Age humans in Europe and the British Isles had dowsing abilities. Modem-day dowsers are finding 1ha1 the megaliths or "standing s1ones," However. as anything 1h01 can be deeply veiled in mystery affords a good opportunity/or swindlers, there can be no reasonable doubr that many of rhe large group ofprofessio,wl finders of water. oil, or other minera/J who take pay/or their "service'' or for the sale of their "instruments" are cleliberatt>ly defrauding the people, and that 1/te total amount of nwney rhar 1hey obtain is large. - 0. £. Meinwr. Uniwtl Staies Geological Sur\'c)', 1917 giam rock formmions erected by prehl!>toric humans, are aligned with underground wutercourscs or 1he 1;rid lines of the Eanh's energies. There nn: pictures of ancient Eg, pti:.i.ns holding what appear to be forked divining rods. There nrc various Biblical references, such as to Aaron's rod, 1hn1 dowsers claim a~ evidence of their crafL In 1882 R.W. Raymond wrote: "'1ti1nh JournnC pnl).C ·l Drawing by Ocorgc Agricola. I 556 'The Scyrhians, Persians, and Medes used them. Herodotus says 1ha1 the Scythians de1ec1ed perjurers by means of rods. The word rhabdomancy, originated by the Greeks, shows 1ha1 they practiced this an; and 1he magic power of the rods of Minerva, Circe, and Hermes or Mercury is familiar 10 classical students. The lituus of the Romans, with which the augurs divined, was apparently an arched rod ... Marco Polo reports the use of rods or arrows for divination throughout the Orient, and a later traveler describes it among the Turks. Taci1us says that the ancient Germans used for this purpose branches of fruit trees." During the Middle Ages, when me1al-working became common and widespread. miners ~ought veins of ore by digging trenches by hand. The amount of labor involved mnde any shortcuts extremely valuable, and, while there were physical indications of the presence of ore, divining came to be intel-'1"311)' associa11.-d with prospecting, panicularly in the mining districts of Germany. Divining rods came 10 England with German miners brought in by Queen Elizabe1h I to develop the languishing mining industry in Comwnll, and they spread from there throughout the Bri1ish Isles. Dowsing has been controversial thmughou1 the his1ory of civilized rimes. Since it was often involved with the production of weahh, there w-as alwavs the likelihood of charl:11anrv and fraud. And since ii is conceme<l with the deeper realms of the human mind. dowsing holds 1he possibility of transcendent consc1ousncss, but is olso fraught with mystery, contradtction. and tear. The church became interested in d0\\Sing · some S3Y through jealousy, others say through fear - and, although ecclesiastical ,1ttitudes and interpretauons were ne\er con~istcnt, at least initi:illy the l'hurch e;,;hibitcd an umbiv-.ilcnt auitudc toward the divining rod: it was considered dangerous and discouraged among the geneml populace, but its use Y.,ts widely practiced as a priestly function within the church. Church ti1uals and prarer;; were superimposed on wha1 was obviously a very pagan pracrice - partly 1 strengthen the di vine 0 influence, and panly 10 protect against eanhly persecution, ii is supposed. During the time of 1he Inquisition, dowsing was associated with witchcraft and in some areas became justification for torture and a capital crime. There yer remains a legacy of fear and secrecy lingering from that p.-iriod. Practicing dowser John Shisler says, "Even today, if I go b:1ck into certain areas of the mountains, I'm a 'water witch.' A lot of your traditional Bap1is1s will still say that 'witching' is the work of the devil." Dowsing came 10 Turtle Island with the earliest colonists, where i1 met a people who apparently still retained a basic anunemenr to the land as evidenced by 1he eanhworks 1hey created, 1heir many sacred sites, and the vivid They call it psychic. I call it a gif1, sir. I use it for /lis glorv anti mankind's purpose. I do11'1 charge to go find water, I'll ask 'em 10 come after me and bring me back - if they want to donate a penny, I appreciate it; if 1hey do11'1, well, I'll go anyway. I use it/or what I feel in my heart. and I re.\{'L'Ct it for what it is. - J.C. Ga::mvay, dowser legends assoc1:i1ed with them. From the beginning ~Willer witching" was p:111 of the colonists' folk culture. Many of the wells still used in New England were located through the abilities of dm.. seri.. Early European immigrants brought dowsing imo the Southern Appalachians. At first, it was not necessary 10 locate underground water because of the abundant springs, bur when people began to need wells, they sough1 help from those v.ho had kepi alive the traditional "witching"· (continued gn page 28) S1Un111cr, 199 1 �THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF DOWSING: An Interview with Tom Hendricks OK. But if they can't, then 1 don't think they ought to do iL Ka11ial1: People seem 10 be amazed that they have the power 10 do these things. 111: It's a major responsibility. 1 1hink that regaining power is OK. so long as there is a balance. an understanding. Asking permission is very imponant. I've always had a strong intuition. J developed it in my dowsing. Intuition tells us c,cactly what we need 10 know. Kat(,ah · When did you stan dowsing? Tom Hendricks: About ten years ago. A man T knew in Madison County at the time was president of the Appalachian Chapter of the American Society of Dowsers. I learned techniques from the society. I slowly got to meet everybody. I met hundreds of dowsers from around the country and from across the seas. J sroned off with the pendulum and L-rods. l would use the pendulum 10 ask yes and no questions, L-rods to find a water source or whatever else l was looking for. At some point. I started realizing l was getting the feeling before either one of those tools worked I started paying anention to lhe feeling and didn't much rely on the tools. l preferred to deal with the energy itself. Kan11Jh: You could have the feeling of where water was, for instance? TH: Yes. Most dowsers hang onto the tool forever. Some people have real elaborate pendulums. When l was still using a pendulum. I picked up whatever I had around 10 make one, a piece of suing and a rock. l met an old guy from Tennessee who didn't necessarily use tools. He just felt iL A real good dowser told me how he was bringing him back from Tennessee on interstate 40. The old guy said that they had just driven over a major fault. So they Mopped and checked with their dowsing rods. He had felt a major fault under a moving car. He was real sensitive. But dowsing itself is filtering into all kinds of things these days. It has been incorporated into the whole new age movement. I've noticed, not a total lack of auunement, but only panial auuncment. K01uah: From the dowsers themselves? TH: Not all dowsers. A lot of dowsers were being real exact with what they were doing. But a few dowsers were into playing with the energies, talcing things out or context. ln the dowser's society we were never taught to be concerned with looking at the whole picture. I was clearing our someone's house 1ha1 had a lot of weird energy lines running through iL.. KalJJIJh: From the Earth? TH: Yes. You can get negative energy from water, from fault lines and other ways. These energies arc disruptive to the human system. In dowsing that panicul:ir situation. 11 seemed to be OK to move the energy. We moved it around the house. Bue it staned me asking questions: "Should this energy be moved? Do I have the right 10 move this energy?" K01uah: Would it be a question of why the cnerijy is being vented at that pan.icular location. And what the reason is for it? Summer, 199 1 Kam.ah: That requires a different lifestyle than most people have. TH: The energy needs venting, but docs It need to be vented in this particular place? ls it OK to move it? Katuah: The Earth has allowed a lot of manipulation. TH: The Earth has allowed abuse. She is regaining her will, yet we continue to abuse her. Something l have learned is that when we dowse, we should ask whether it is OK on all levels. One time l was out dowsing with an old timer and his daughter and all of us came to this tremendous flow, a major vein of water. Yet, when they went to drill it, nothing happened. Another dowser came over and said, "Don't you sec the Indian spirits?" Native American spirits were still protecting the area and 1hey had interfered. They were angry at white people for all the abuse we have done, and so they were mixing signals. That got to be another question to consider: "Are there any entities here that may interfere?" With me it went further. I asked, 'Why would they interfere? What arc their reasons?" I ta.kc it as far as 1can. There are plenty of eanhbound spirits that are wandering around Josi. That is another aspect of dowsing, sending eanhbound spirits on their way. Dealing with spirits is tricky business. You don't always know why they arc there or what they are doing. There are so many things involved in life and death that arc beyond our understanding. I haven't been dowsing in years. I'm even beginning to question dowsing for a well. Do l want to dowse for someone to punch a hole? There are enough holes being punched into the Earth. The idea of mining crystals really bothers me. I think people ought to leave crystals where they arc unless those people arc 1otally in tune, can sec or feel the energy, know where it comes from, where it's going and why the energy is moving. Crystals take on energy 1hcy need to be cleaned I know a man who planted a garden with crystals. He put in a center crystal, and then he planted other crystals equidistantly all the way around it at the pyramid angles and generated heat. This guy was preuy tuned in, but I'm not sure whether even he asked if he was interfering with any other energies. I think if people can contact all levels of Ufe and be sure that nothing else is disrupted, then it would be Orawu,g by Rob Messick TH: Our culrurc is very sick. I've come to rcali:ze that a 101 of dowsing that is done just feeds the sickness. I know people who arc on payrolls for oil companies. They dowse for oil and gas. They are making money by telling oil companies where to go punch the holes. When l backed off from dowsing, 1 began a healing for the will. As I understand ir. the will is the female energy, the mother energy. It is the pan of the godhead that moves, that feels, thm gives life. The masculine energy is the spirit. The will has been so far removed from human understanding and consciousness that it is barely there. To my understanding, it is because of the loss of will that we are so out of balance. The w ill, the female energy is thal which feels, that which gives birth. I need to use my will in order 10 understand. Developing intuition is listening 10 the will. Ka1uah.: Is this your self-healing? Or are you trying to manifest this outside yourself in your environment? 11 I: 1 believe that the personal healing musr come first. The disharmony is within ourselves. We need 10 get in 1ouch with our own dilemmas and fears. There are lost emotions that we deny. I also think that b) our own dishannony, we allow things to hun us. If we were in harmony with ourselves, the negative energies from the Earth could pass through us without finding a place to collect. I think emotions cause blockages and tl"llp whatever wants to be trapped in us. So lately I have been focusing on self-healing, rather than manipulating negative eanh energies. We humans feel we have a right 10 do anything that we want to do. We have got to realize our shoncomings. We have responsibilities 10 ourselves. Ka1uah: Are you going to get back to dowsing? Tii: A friend of mine wants me to dowse for a well and I should do it for him. The healing I'm doing is leading me through places I've never experienced before. pans of myself that 1have never experienced before. So l don't know what is going to happen. I feel, in a sense, that I am still dowsing by healing my will and strengthening my intuition. I listen more, not with my cars nccel>S3rily. but with my whole being. ;, Ruorlkd by Madl!llrw II Dean Xat ua h ) oun\Ot ~ 5 �CEREMONIES OF THE MOMENT An Interview with Joyce Holbrook by Charlotte Homsher Joyce was born and raised on a/am, in Wilkes Co11111y, NC. She taught in midwestem co//ege.f/or 17 years before remrning u, the mountai,is. She ,ww smdies and teaches Earth energies throu1:ho111 tlie Southeast. • Kat(iah: What is the nature of the energy grid on Eanh? JH: There are many ideas abou1 chis. The similarity in the ideas is tha1 the Eanh is surrounded by nee working lines of energy in 1hc shape of a dodecahedron, a three-dimensional figure enclosed by twelve sides. Looking at the grid on a smaller scale, it would seem to be divided into uiangles. The triangle is fundamental to so many things; it is the basic geometry of life. l would imagine that . in accord with the hermetic principal of "as above, so below" · there is triangulation involved in the energetics. not only of the human body, but in subsystems of the body, even at the cellular level and probably at the molecular level. It is my opinion that it is the life force energy, whatever that may be, that powers the grid. Katt'iah: What happens when the cosmic energy hits the Eanh grid? JH: When it hits the grid, i1 runs along the lines of the grid. Kacuah: The lines of the grid sometimes being called the "Icy lines"? JH: Yes, the Icy lines. We know that there 1s cosmic energy coming into the Eanh. Th.is has been verified scientifically. However, as far as r know, it has not been verified scicn1ifically that the Earth is surrounded by an energy grid or that this cosmic energy runs along it. These are theories of more recent times. Karual1: Does any of thi$ energy originate from inside the Eanh, or is it all cosmic energy? JH: I think it is cosmic, bu1 it docs have an aspect tha1 comes from inside the Earth. If I stand on a vonex point, a high energy point. I can feel an energy that comes up through my body from the ground and then goes back down in a spiral fashion. I also feel thllt whatever hum:in consciousness does affects the grid. So, obviously, this war-like consciousness impinges on the communication network of the planet and goes out and affects the whole planet Katualr: Can you comment on what is happening with the Appalachian ~Ids and ridge1ops in relation to Eanb energies? "My whole approach to working with Earth energies is to get away from ritual and recipes, to enter into the spo11ta11eity of life." J.H. spiral. That I am sure of, because I have felt it. In the newer theories of physics, the though1 is that matter itself spirals in on a vortex inio mamfestation out of pure consciousness. You could say that vortices exist on every level, even down 10 atoms. And they exist, perhaps, within our own bodies nnd in the Eanh itself. JH: My personal experience with energy comes from the fact that I sense it and see it. I see auras over mountains in the same way that some people see auras around people, and I feel the energy. The Appalachians arc the Grandparents of the planet. They are gentle. old, wise, and loving. These things can not be measured scientifically. This is sensing through the heart and by feeling the energy of nature, rather than through the ra1ional mind. Love can be felt from nature, i1 truly can, when a person's heart is open. And lhe Appalachians embrace you very much like wise old grandparents. There is a certain quality that grandparents lent 10 society, and there is a certain quality th:11 grm1dparent energy lends to the Eanh. The Rocky Mountains have a youthful, vibrant, rather masculine energy. There are many people who feel that the energy of the Appalachians is essentially feminine. But I have also felt mountains within the Appalachians tha1 feel very masculine. For instance, the Black Mountains are masculine. My cabin is on a flank of a mountain that is ma~culine in essence. Pyramidal mountains essentially feel masculine. The balds :-.re round and smooth, and those feel feminine. They are very healing. They wi II raise your energy. I often see golden lines of energy over balds. JH: It could, although r have seem a similarity. 1 had a whole group of people 001 by the Missouri River at a location that wa.~ both in a vortex and on a grid line. The people all felt the line, and everyone had the same response as 10 how they needed to align their bodies in order to feel best in respect to the line. Ka11ialr. Could you explain about the different kinds of voncxes? Kauiah: How is Katuah affected by wh3t happens in another place on the Earth? JH: They arc as different as people are different. The dowsers repon that they see· ·o exist where grid lines cross. They are definitely associated with water activity, flowing water, lakes. oceans, and underground water. There arc people who say that there are male and female vortices. There are also people who describe them as either electric or magnetic or electtomagnetic, which is balanced between male and female. l'm not real sure about that. Bui I have felt energy move in a vortex. It does JH: Before the San Francisco eanhquakc m 1989, I was driving with my sister, and I Katuah: How can we beuer auune ourselves to the Eanh? JI(: By exploring feeling. Find particular places, either by direct sensing or by using dowsing tools, and then simply stand in those places until you can sense with your body how they feel. Your magnetic orientation is imponant - whether you face north, east. sou1h, or west. Kariiah: Would this differ from person 10 person? looked at the mountains. The mountains looked like they were in so much pain. I 1 my sistc:r c!d that something was happening, and the quake occurred within a few hours. Katuah: So all the Eanh is feeling what is happening in any one place? JH: Right. But canhquakes are also a part of nature, and so they arc not an anomaly. Slfmmcr, t991 �w #=fj They are ad-jusanents in nature itself. I think, in particular, mountains are antennae to register what the Eanh is doing. Also streams will register the Earth's pulse, attitude, and vibrations in the same sense that your bloodstream is going to register what is going on in your body, the energetics of your body. Ka11iah: How do you do Earth healing? JH: Places call to me. Roan Mountain has called me many times, and Chimney Rock as well. Killian Mountain has called me recently. r believe narurc is a conscious being and communicates wilh us. There is a thing called the spirit of a place. there is an essence to Roan Mountain, or essence to Table Rocle. that has a consciousness to iL And consciousness communicates with consciousness. When I go 10 a place, I try to humble myself and tune into just "being." I don't go purposefully like some doctor or technician trying 10 ''fix something." I just go there, and I tune into the essence of the place. I always pray in these places. I think it is very imponanL l always pray for inner guidance in any particular moment or situation. And then I may begin to chant, a chant that is not a recipe. 1don't do recipes. I do chanting, toning, and movement for the moment. My whole approach to working with Earth energies is 10 get away from ritual and recipes, to enter into the spontaneity of life. Life has its magic for the moment, has its light for the moment, has its peace for the momenL And that becomes an experience that involves the movement of the body, the voice, the bean, and the feelings. If we allow these aspects of ourselves to blend with the pince and the moment. then we can unlock our bodies, unlock our voices, and unlock our hearts. This is allowing divine love to flow through us. from the place to us, and from us to the place. Once connected, we network out over the grid, over the pathways that are, into the whole system, into the universe itself, nnd into every other person on the planet. Aod this is the healing. The real healing in life is to relax, let go, and allow love to flow, because love is, it is of God and it simply is. We do not have 10 create it. Ka11'iah: Do you go to places where the Earth has been desecrated by humans? JH: Yes. I have been led to places where people have damaged the Eanh. I did this at a whole workshop once in Kentucky. Several people felt led to go this place where for years people had dumped tmsh off the side of the road, and it had fallen into a ravine. The essence of that ravine was speaking to us, and it seemed to be choking and poisoned. We held hands in a circle, we prayed, and then we moved 10 places where we felt comfonablc alongside the ravine. We then entered into silence. One of us began to tone, and then another began to tone, and as it turned out, there was a triad. There were three women, including myself, coning in what became a triangle. This was all spontaneous. And the energy staned to flow down the ravine. Another woman had visions, very powerful visions, of an old medicine man who came up and spoke to her. It was such a - powerful experience that many of us began to cry. We could feel the Eanh saying thank you. That particular day, there was no wind whatsoever, yet single leaves on the trees would just flutter, even though there was no wind to flutter them. We were amazed at what we saw in terms of narure physically communicating with us. And she really does, but people don't notice that. This is my philosophy of healing. It is love that heals. In the process of working with an area, I may end up using some stones to build a wheel, if I feel led 10 do this. But again, I do not have a recipe where I say, 'Take x amount of stones... '' I just go there and allow myself to be pan of the totality of the experience. In doing this with nature, we learn how to beuer do that with each other. Instead of building rigid ways of interacting in families, we learn to flow with the spontaneity of the moment. ,. ,. - JH: Yes, I think the time has come that we have to reconnect with the Earth. We have lost touch with her, and in doing so we have lost touch with ourselves. To reconnect with her is to reconnect with our own individual souls and with each other. I sec it as the answer to bringing love to the planet and to bringing healing. If you go out and lie on the ground, you will be comforted and the problems which disturbed you wiJI just seem to go away. I know some very powerful places that will just wash away your troubles. For information abo111 Earth Energy workshops with Joyce Holbrook, write her at Box 1095: Burnsville, NC 28714. K(ll1iali: Could you say something about the vision you had about making your own medicine wheel? JH: The vision was shown to me to make it of olivine, but at that time l had not seen olivine in nature. A friend told me about an outcropping near an abandoned olivine mine. When I went there. I did not just go in and take rocks without asking permission. I was given these rocks, and I took 12 home and made a wheel, and they turned out lookingjust like I saw 1n the vision. It is on my property. and I go sit in it. Tt is very powerful, and it has taught me that we are a wheel within a wheel. The wounds in our lives which are not healed are broken circles. Medicine wheels help us sec what we need to release to come to full circle again. In going to power places, we can find within ourselves what is s1ill wounded. If we work with these places, things may come up in our memory, emotions mny come fonh, which can snow us what needs healing. Nature is of God. Nature is full of healing, hannoniling forces, just as we are. if we can come to see thaL h is a spiritual experience when I work with the Earth. 1 go out by myself a lot. I do this to bring harmony into my own life. If l have not gone out for three or four days, l just have 10 re tum to the Eanh. 1 was down in Stone Mountain, Georgia recently. Stone Mountain is a very powerful place. It has been contaminated with a lot of materialistic consciousness. but there still are places there that ~ very powerful, and local people could use these places to :ttt!lne and align themselves. Stone Mount,un 1s a power point for the whole Southeast. lf we were not so numb to feeling and sensing energies, people would be able to sense these things. My sister and I have done a lot of work together in the mountains. One of us will say that we should go to a cenain place. and we will go and tone and sing and pray toge~hcr. This has been very powerful for us as sisters. It is a wonderful thing to do with members of your family. It brings harmony into a family. Go inside a stone That would be my way. Let somebody else become a dove Or gnash with a tiger's tooth. I am hnppy to be a stone. I From the outside the stone is a riddle: No one knows how LO answer it. Yet within, it must be cool and quiet Even though a cow steps on it full weight, Even though a child throws it in a river. The stone sinks, slow, unpenurbed To the river bottom Where the fishes come 10 knock on it And listen. I have seen sparks fly out When two stones are rubbed, So perhaps it is not dark inside after all; Perhaps there is a moon shining From somewhere, as though behind a hill Just enough light to make out The strange ,1tritings. the s1nr-chans On the inner walls. -CS Karuoh. Do you have a vision of humans and the Eanh hving together in a more harmonious way? Drav.,in& by RobMcmck Sum nu:< , 1991 JCotimn )ournot pQ(JI!- 7 �"Jack-o-lanterns," Acid Rain, and the Electrical Life of the Earth by Clyde I follifield The lights do not stay strictly on Brown Mountain, but seem 10 occur throughout the whole area. I have seen them in Linville Gorge. We once saw a light on Hawk~bill Mountain, which is the next hill beyond Brown Mountain. It was cruising up and down lhc mountain, circling lhe hill, moving at abouL treetop level. It was moving a too fast to be someone walking with a light, and it was not a vehicle, for there is no road over !here on which a vehicle could travel. S rown Mountain lies southeas1 of Grandfather Mountain near the Linville Gorge Wilderness Arca in Avery County II is an unimpressive, nondescript mountain, little more than a tong low ridge, but it is a focus of curiosity because of strange phenomena known as the Brown Mountain LightS. There arc a lot of different ideas about what the lights look like. Some people say they arc a bright light. Olhcrs 53y that they arc a faint glow. Some say they arc diMinct; others say that they are diffu~c. Some people have seen them in the summcnime; others say that they see them best in the winter. I believe that there are ns mnny different opinions as there arc people who say that they've seen them. And a lot of people have seen them. The Brown Mountain Lights have been known in that area for generations. There arc old folk tales about them. The local inhabit:ints call them "jack-o-lantcms." I have been interested in the Brown Mountain Lights since I was a teen-ager. Friends and I would camp out on Table Rock on summer weekends and were sometimes rewarded by a sight of the lights at the foot of the mountain or drifting up the ridges. They appeared ns Huie lights above the treetops. They were not diffuse or blurry, but were rather small, brig.ht ligh1s, usually about the color of a mercury vapor lamp nnd shining as brightly as n streetlight. They usually ap~d late in the evening nnd in the very early morning. On one occasion about eight or ten years ago, I snw little flashes of light all over Brown Mountain, as if somebody hnd set off thousands of flashbulbs all at once. It was like ligh1ning, outlining the top of the ridge. II only hs1ed for several seconcl~. and then it was gone, bu1 it occurred three or four times that night. It was like elcctricnJ discharges popping off all over the mountain. Other times the lights are long-hvcd. They may appear, move around up on the ridge for several minutes, maybe go behind Xotunh Journat pm.JC 8 the hill, and then come back out again. Today it is hard to pick out Brown Mountain from 1hc background of anificinl lighis. If you arc looking at Brown Mountain, you arc just as likely to sec something beyond it, like Lenoir or Morganton, or houses built on Grandfather Mountain, Blowing Rock, or Boone. My criteria are. first, 1h01 the lights have to be against the side of 1hc mountain where I know there's no habitation, and secondly, that they have 10 be acting strangely • moving too fast. shooting lilce a skyrocket. or coming up over the ridge. Scientists have initiated some smdies on the Brown Mountain LighlS. but they have found the tights to be elusive. Many times when they have tried 10 make observations. the lightS have not appeared. Some of the studies that were carried out tried 10 dismiss 1he occurrences as swamp gas or other easily explainable events. However. I personally have seen two lights n~proach each other from opposite dm:ctions. Sometimes they bump together, sometimes they move apan. but when they nrc moving in opposite dircc1ions, one of them has 10 be moving against the wind. Gases \\OUld have to move in the same direction as the wind, so it is apparent that the lights arc not gaseous in nature They look like a specific object, rather than a blurry. windy-blown name. Even when they arc moving rapidly. they rc1:1in their sh:tpc. A fast-moving gas cloud would tend to diffuse. 1 think 1hat the lights arc simply something that we don·t underMand. They arc a natuntl phenomenon that is outside our knowledge of physics. I have spent whole weekends watching for the lights and been rewarded by only one sighting, or somcumcs even none. The lights seem 10 appear randomly. However, I have a feeling that they arc excited by electrical :.tonns. When I went "light-hunting" with my friends, we would ay to go in August, on an evening after a big_ electncal s1onn. Also, the Brown Mountain Lights are no1 the only electrical phenomena in 1ha1 area. One cold night in November LWO years ago, some friends and I were up on Tobie Rock looking for the Brown Mountain Lights, and I kept seeing little flashes of light nickering around the edge of my vision. They were dim, but I could sec lhcm moving, panicularly when l brushed against a bush. It was subtle, but when I opened the blanket Lhat I had wrapped around me, I saw that the inside of lhe blanket was sparkling with light. I jumped up and called the olhers over, and we examined it. Little sparlcs of light would appear when I dragged the blanket on the ground or rubbed i1 against the bushes. The sparks did not seem like static electricity. They did not give us electrical shock:.. They did not jump or crackle or make any sound. They were just there. We never saw any Brown Mountain Lights that night, but this amazing new sigh1 gave us plenty 10 think about. We joked about how we had come looking for lhc Brown Mountain Lights. and they had been around us all the time. Maybe there is some connection between the electrical sparks and the Brown Mountain Lights. I did not know. but I decided 10 check it ou1. A few weeks laLer some friends and I went to Grandfather Mountain, and we saw a lot more of th:tt same kind of electrical spark. The lights were in our blankets, on our clothing, on the bushes. The Grandfather Mountain swinging bridge was sparkling. It looked like what is known as St. Elmo's fire, which appears frequently in sea stories. It was a cold. clear night, and the "'ind was blo"' ing hard. Our clothes were tlapping in the wind, and the lights would appear on the trailing edge of our co:tts. If I stretched out my finger near another person's coat, the fire would jump to the end of my finger. Jt was uncanhly. We saw a great deal of activity there 1ha1 night. My old blanket. which was made of some blend of wool and acrylic, was lighting up more than our other clothing. and J got the idea that we could use it ns an electrical indicator. Later that month. I took that blanket up 10 the top of Mt. Mitchell. It was another cold December night, nnd the blanket lit up. I experimented as Jtame Drawma by Rob Mcssicl S111nn1cr, 1991 �down th': Parkway by stopping periodically as I descended in elevation and trying the blanket each time. The sparks diminished until I got down to about 3,500 feet, below which they did not reappear. I theorized that the phenomenon was connected somehow to cold nights and high elevation. I went out on several other cold expeditions that winter to different locations, and we tried some other experiments. I had heard that fluorescent light bulbs would sometimes light up under high-voltage power lines because of the electrical emissions. So one time we carried some fluorescent bulbs lO the top of Mt. Mitchell. When we opened the trunk to get them out, we saw lights nickering up and down the shafts of the bulbs. They would light up when we whirled them through the air, touched them 10 bushes or to the ground, or even when we passed them back and fonh among ourselves. We didn't see much of the St. directly from the air. He said that they receive as much as 11 % of their nitr0gen, not through the roots, but through their leaves. These specially adapted nonhem plants are built so that high levels of elecuicity in the in the air around them induces what Professor Aurela calls a "coronal discharge" at their edges or needle tips, which ionizes (or adds an extra electrical charge 10) chemical compounds containing nitrogen, so that the ionized ourogen atoms can be fixed into the plant tissues. The coronal discharge happens often, but it only breaks over into a visible state five or ten percent of the time. However, because the air today also contains sulfur and niuogen pollutants (which we know as "acid rain"), these too arc ionized, and the plants fix them into their tissues as well, causing great damage. Because the air is poisoned, this process which was once vital for their survival is Cl.08'1L ELECIIIICAL CIRCUIT or Schematic various electrical proc:csin O,c global clcc:lnc:11 circu,t Sowce: the Earth', Ekctrical r:.n,iroMIUII by E. Philip Kinl,r and Raymond G. Roble Elmo's fire that night, and we thought that what we were experiencing was some type of static electricity. 1decided that I would find out. Rather than continunlly freezing on mountaintops, l went over to the National Oimatic Data Center office in Asheville, which is pan of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the US Department of Commerce. I was passed around between six different offices and never found anyone who had heard of these occurrences. I corresponded with experts in Washington, DC: Boulder, Colorado: and Fairbanks, Alaska before someone directed my attention to Professor Asko Aurela at the Wihuri Physical Laboratory of the University of Turku in Finland. This man knew all about iL fie amazed me when he told me that the electrical phenomena we had been seeing was connected with acid min! He explained that in the nonhem latitudes, because of the poor, thin soils, and the short growing season, some varieties of plants - like Norway spruce, Scotch pines, and lichens have evolved the ability to absorb nitrogen Summer, 10!1I now speeding these plant species toward destruction. Professor Aurela told me that coron.il discharge is similar in nature to what he called "the luminous pillar," a wide shaft of light going straight up into the sky, and another phenomenon named "low aurom." The fascinating thing about these occurrences, as he exrlained, is that they are all natural parts o the: Earth's electrical environmenL Thundel'5tom1s arc like big generators pumping high voltages of electrical current into the Earth's electrical circuit. There arc thousands of thunderstorms active around the planet at any one time. sending 50-100 bolts of lightning down 10 the Eanh's surface every second. Thunderstorms do not occur everywhere; it requires heat to produce a thunderstorm. 11terefore, on each side of the Equator arc thunderstorm belts that extend from the tr0pics up to the middle Latitudes. The other side of this electrical system is several hundred feel under the surface of the Earth where there runs an energy flow known as the Telluric current. Sometimes the Telluric current disrupts transmissions through oceanic cables, because it gets so strong that it produces static on the wire. Because the seasons in the Nonhem and Southern Hemispheres are reversed, during the winter, when we are seeing electrical phenomena on ML Mitchell and Grandfather Mountain, thunderstorms are playing over the Amawn basin and in South America. They send energy currents up into the ionosphere, a layer of the Earth's upper atmosphere. Thunderstorms are instrumental in keeping an electrical potential difference of about 200,000600,000 volts between the Earth and the ionosphere. The ionospheric current flows north across the Equator and comes back down, 001 at the North Pole, but at about «I' nonh latitude in central Canada. This is the area known as the "auroral ring,• where there is a lot of northern lights activity, more even than at the Nonh Pole. On the Canadian plains during nights of a lot of electrical activity, people cannot use the telephone, and sometimes the whole power grid goes down because the long wires build up so much electrical static. The Southern Appalachians are at the southern edge of this electrically active zone. If we didn't have mountains here, we would not experience electrical phenomena at all. But mountains arc an imponant pan of the Earth's electrical energy circuit. One-third of the Earth's electri.cal current returns 10 the Earth at high mountain peaks. There is a blanket of thicker atmosphere, called the "planetary bound.µ-y layer." that extends one mile above the surface of the Earth and nets as an electrical resistor. As the air gets thinner at higher elevations, it offers less resistnnce, and electricity c;in now more easily through it. High mountains like the Southern Appalachians act like lightning rods, or electrical receptors, that penetrate the planetary boundary layer and conduct the electrical energy back to Earth. The Ea.nh's electrical energy moves in a great circle. When a thunderstorm occurs in the Amazon River Basin or in South America, the energy travels to the nonh, comes into a mountain peak, returns to the ground, and travels underground back 10 South America. When it is summcnime in the north, the polarity shifts so that the thundcl'5torms here gener.11e current which is sent back through the ionosphere 10 the south. It is like an alternating current on a yearly cycle instead of sixty cycles per second, it's one cycle per year - six months one way, six months the other. Professor Aurcla also has a gr.1ph of the daily variation m electrical activity, and the graph shows that here in the nonhem hemisphere the highc.\t level of activity is between l l and one o'clock at night. As happens here, most of the thunders1om1 activity in the southern zone occurs just before sundown, so the surge arrives up here around midnight, and then activity tapers off towards morning. There's a daily variation, and there's a seasonal variation. We just happened 10 be on Grandfather Mountain during a period of peak activity. (conttnucd CG po&< 10) JGoti&ah Journot pal)& 0 �Old Houses Even exposed to all weathers it takes many years for a strong house, untended, 10 collapse of itself. First the boards have to weather, shedding even the little life the ax lelt them. The doors, swollen with rain, must open, inviting owl and vole and every creature at random like a kind of ark: men without money and lovers at play on the one brown mattress. Boys in summer must stone the windows to blindness. then grow themselves into sternness and silence, assuming the weight of their lives. The wine bonles smashed in the oorner must gather dust and the eaves go crazy with birds. and the floors curl up like sleepers grown cold. Then the stones it sits on must sink in the wet eanh as they open at last to the frost's slow demolition. TIii tho whole house slumps, a haven for snakes, so low nol even the wind caJ1 rattle it anymore. II No strata of wills. deeds, papers, stacked in the courthouse can tell you how it came to this, why the rose bush runs wild over the back steps, and a rag doll is left down cellar by a stack of books. No matter. Today is one out of many and you are happy. Nothing here is haunted. Squirrels skitter off like regrets · as you enter their chamber. a tourist, a snapshot. The old boards give back the light with a kind of joy, the rose llght of evening, the sun's dark laughter. For it takes. it takes many years. - Richard Nester Drawing by Rob Memck (aintinued 6om page 9) ls all this related somehow to the Brown Mountain Lights? Maybe it is! Perhaps Brown Mountain for some geological or physical reason is more conductive. Perhaps i1 is positioned in such a way, or iis roots go down to a cenain depth beneath the Eanh so lha1 it aurac1s more of this kind of activity. Maybe not. However, for whatever reason, there are fireballs shooting around on Brown Mountain. And in the Andes Mountains in Peru, 1he highest mountains in the Southern Hemisphere, where one would expect to sec an elecaical activity center, there is a phenomena called the "Andes LlghLc;": mysterious lights that can be seen among I.he mountain peaks. In guidebooks I have seen references to lhe Brown Mountain LighLS tha1 describe I.hem as being "...similar to the Andes Lights in Peru." They seem to be much the same. Bur who knows? We just do not know enough yet to be sure. Xatimh Journot ptuJe t 0 Resource Reading: The Earth's £/ecmcal E11viro11ment by E. Philip Kirder and Raymond G. Roble, co-chairmen (National Academy Press: Washington, DC: 1986) . lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal lights, and Related Phe,wmena by W.R. Corliss (Sourcebook Project; Glen Arm, MD: 1982) Aurela, Asko and Risto Punkkinen,"Atmospheric Nitrogen Dioxide and Nonhem Plants," Report of Kevo Subarctic Research Station 17: 1-6 (1981) or • Schematic diqiam ela:uic c:wn:i,15 in lhe ionosphere and inner magnctosphett. Sowa,: the Eanli's El«tricol EnvirOMIDII b)I E. Phibp Ki.rdcr and Raymond 0 . Roble Punkinnen, R. and A.M. Aurela, "Production of N02 and Sound in Positive Streamer Discharges," 7th lnternatio11al Conference 011 Atmospheric Electricity (American Meteorological Society, Boston, 1984) Summer, 1991 �KA TUAH AND THE EARTH GRlD "The Earth grid" is an energy system that surrounds the emire planet. Dowsers think of the grid as a network ofelectric and magnetlc energies. Meraphysicians see the grid theory as yet atwther demonstration that 1/ze Earth is a self-regulating system and a consciollS being. There is a wide divergence of viewpoints on the nature of the Eartlt Grid and Katuah's place in the system. Following are s1mu11aries of the opinions ofa few of the individuals in Ka11,ah who routinely work with Earth energies: Joll11 Shisler is a biolocation co11sultan1. Using a combinatio11 of traditional dowsing techniques a11d scientific equipment, he assis,s clients i11 choosing building sites and construc1i11g buildings for optimum health. He takes inu, accow11 Earth energies, climate, soil rype, and also the surroundlng lu1111an-created energy fields. Theories about Lhe Earth grid began to surface about 50 years ago in France and Germany. Dr. Josef Oberback of Gennany originated the lheory of two grid systems, a cosmic grid which runs nonh to south, and east to west; and an Eanh grid system which runs northeast 10 southwest, and northwest to southeast. The two grids lie in close proximity, wilh the Eanh grid crossing points about seven inches away from the crossing points of the cosmic grid. There is constant energy exchange and interaction between the two grids, and ii can become difficult to separate the two when mapping. There is no mystery about the grid. It is nothing more than vibration, or frequency. The two grids can be mapped and measured Superimposed on each other, the two grids create what would be ca.lied in electr0nic tenninology, a "2 x 2 memory core system" of el~oical and magne~c fields. These crossing points could be descnbed as "spiral vortex energy." Except in the event of earthquakes, the Eanh Grid fluctuates very li1tle. The cosmic grid fluctuates seasonally, expands and contracts at sunrhe and sunset, and shifts during eanhquakes. The Christian church calendar, which bases its holy days upon the old pagan holidays, follows the seasonal fluctuations in the cosmic grid. On October20 near All Saints Day, the cosmic energy field ' begins to expand. By December 20, the cosmic grid lines are as large as nine feet in width. This i~ also the time of year when people e,cpenence more heallh problems. By February 2, the day when the Christ child was introduced to the church, the cosmic grid lines have receded back to their normal size of two and one-half inches in width. Everything that we do 10 the Earth attracts the magnetic flux in the Earth at the local level. If we dig up tree roots, put in dumps, or place huge culverts in the Eanh, as we are doing now, we change the lines of magnetic flux. The human adult is composed of70% water. Every atom in our bodies is replaced periodically. We lose two pounds of cells per day. We have new skin cells every thiny days. We are in a constant state of change. Every blast of energy goes through our bodies, whether that energy is from the Earth, cosmic rays, magnetic s1onns, or human-made electronic energy. It is not only the gcopathic location of one's residence that determines the debilities 10 which one is most liable. We arc changing !he molecular structure of our bodies because of the barrage of the horizontal electrical field which we have created, as opposed to the venicaJ field of energy coming down from !he cosmos and the steady-state electrical field coming up from the Earth. We arc affecting ourselves at the cellular level so rapidly that we have stepped up our own evolution by 50,000 years. by Charlotte Homsher Richard Crutchfitld, a dbwser from Weaverville, NC works 1 ridgecops along 1l11t Jte Blue ridge Parkway searching for negative vortexes and evldence of ancienc sacred sites. Richard works with two basic grid energies. The Curry grid of magnetism is the Eanh Grid. It runs in lines nine co ten feet apan around !he globe in a nonheast-southwcst orientation. These lines are intersected by peipendicular lines about the same distance apart. The intersections have positive, neutral, and negative energies which alternate along !he lines. . The Hartmann grid is the cosmic grid which overlays the Earth Grid. The cosmic grid has wider lines which vary in width according 10 where the Earth is in relation 10 1he sun, and other factors. The fluctuations of the cosmic grid influence our behavior. {conunucd on nu.I page) The new double pcntadodecahedron grid p:iuern now emerging Summer, 199 1 • from Nrw Earllo Odystty by Joseph Robcn.JochmJJ1s C) 1989 Xatimh Journot paqe 11 �(conlil!ucd from pogo II) Richard has found much evidence of ancient sacred sites in the mountains. Of panicuJar interest 10 him arc the many large rocks which were cut and placed in the landscape by the ancients who placed "walls of energy" into the rocks. Richard uses t11e tenns "positive.. and "negative" to describe vonex energy as either heallhy or unhealthy. Po:.itive vortexes are generally found where the vege1ation is lush and the area seems invi1mg. There may be fairy rings in these areas. The negative vortex area.,; can be recognized by scruffy vegetation and fallen trees. The negative vonexes become unhealthy for various reasons, possibly including violence from old cultures or our own negative thought forms. Using dowsing tools, Richard reverses the flow of energy in the negative vortexes. I le believes that he is aiding the healing of the Earth by helping to restore unblocked flows of energy. • rn late winter, 1991, Richard perceived with his dowsing rods that there were two new energies on the ridgetops. The first was a steady, unfluctuating su-cam of energy which came from the nonhwest and blanketed the mountains. This energy was of a very positive, healing nature. There was also another kind of energy which was moving uphill at knee level with both negative and positive polarity flows. Richard docs not think either of these new energies is geomagnetic, nJthough they may be related 10 the life force energy which comes in through the node system of the Eanh Grid. He believes that the energy may have been activated by very sophisticated pre-planned engineering on the part of someone or some force, possibly by the ancients. When this energy hits sacred sites, the siLes seem 10 spring back to life. Medicine wheels activated by this energy are very powerful. Bill Waften has smdied Native American prophecies and traveled exrensivel>• to sacred sires the world over. His eleventh book, Pilgrimage, will be available this summer at the United Research lighJ Cemer near Black Mo111110i11. The Cherokee Indians recognized that the Earth energy in Katiiah was feminine/right brain energy. They refe~d 10 Grandfather Moon and Grandmother Sun until they were forcefully reloc~ued to Oklahoma where the prevalent energy was masc11line/righ1 brain. The masculine counterpan 10 the Katuah area in the United States is the Four Comers area. The Hopi peace prophecy states that there will be global peace when the Rainbow is completed between the Hopi Four Comers area and the Cherokee Katuah. In 1984 Diana and Jim Gourc from the United Research Light Center began prayer group pilgrimages from Cherokee, North Carolina to the Four Corners area.. They believed that they had anchored the Rainbow into the etheric. However, they were not aware of the Cherokee interpretation of the prophecy that called for extending the pilgrimages 10 the Mount Shasta area and nearby Black Butte, California. The prophecy also called for prayers for all the people who lived between these three power poinlS. Pilgrims from Kntuah who wish to fulfill the Hopi peace prophecies may travel the "Icy lines," or lines of power, by way of the Grand XatiUJh JoumaL pa<JC 12 811/ IValrcrs Canvon, Southern California, Mount Whitnev, and north to Mount Shas1a: or by an alternate. route from the Four Comers area to the Gmnd Teton Mountains, the Bighorn Mountains, Yellowstone National Park, and then west to the Mount Shasta-Black Butte area. Mary arrd Joseph Jocllma11s recemly moved to Sowlt Carolinafrom New Hampshire. Mary is a karmic galactic astrologer and Joseph is known/or his book Rolling Thunder. The Coming Earth Changes. The pair co,uittct 1011.rs 10 sacred sires aro1111d the world and are co11sidered authorities on ancient cultures arrd vortex energy. Together they research what they call the "evolving crystal grid." Their grid theory involves complex patterns ofgalactic co11jiguratio11s, ancient symbols, and sacred geomerry. According to the Jochmans, the Earth is a living evolving, crystal fonn. She has points of power on her surface which increase in number every time she moves into a higher energy. Along with the increase of power points, there is also a corresponding increase in the lines of energy (the grid) between these power points. When the continents were splining apan about 220 million years ago. 1hey broke along Lhe lines of a tetrahedron. Since Lhat time the geomeaic configuration of this grid has become ever more complex. The Earth is now undergoing a massive shif1 which will result in 1he most complex grid yet. The new grid will be a double pentadodecahedron. The power points on this new grid will increase from the present 64 to a ~otaJ of 486 poccntiaJ sacred sites. The ancients located their sacred sites and built their monuments on or near the grid power poims. Many of these old sites will be dying or changing purpose as the new power points emerge. The Harmonic Convergence of 1987 marked the beginning of these changes. The new crystal grid will be in pin~ within 30 ye:irs. The energy now being anchored into the Sou1heas1 is feminine, intuitive, hean energy. Mary claims that the m.ijor power poini for the Capricorn Compassion node will be anchored in the Carolinas or Tennessee by 1996. Compassion as defined by Mary means "the ability to communicate one's compassion for all of life," The old anchoring point for this compassion energy was the ancient mythical Allanth which is off the Florida coast. There are manv Karmic connec1ions between Ka11iah, Atlantis; and Lemuria. Remnants of the land mass of the old Atlantis can still be found in Lhe Southeast. In Peach Tree Rock, a heritage trust site in South Carolina, there arc visible crusts of rock from the original Atlantis. The Elbenon quarry district in Georgia, site of the largest granite deposit in the world, is sitting on the edge of a huge mass of crystalline rock 35 miles long. This same crvstalline mass is connected to the underground mass of Stone Mountain. When the crystalline energy is triggered by the anchoring of the new grid, many mountains, such as Stone Mountain, will become reawakened. Also the EJbenon granite, which has been exponed around the world, will become reac1iva1cd with the Compassion energy. According to Joseph, the Eanh will not allow manipulation of these higher new energies. We cannot force the changes, and neither can we stop them We can delay the anchoring of the energies for a time by our resistance 10 change, bu1 the Earth will be reborn no matter what we do. The Earth changes do not have to be cataclysmic if we can "allow the Eanh Mother to go through this birth." We are the creatures with the greatest po1entiaJ 10 lose everything in the Eanh Changes, yet we are also the potential midwives. "We are the Earth Changes ourselves. If we change within ourselves first, then we become a force of change to bring lrUe co-creation to the planeL" Those who wislifor information about the Jochmans' Alma Tara Multi-versiry, the Universal Magi Apprenticeship program, or to subscribe ro their newsletter. may write them a1; Jlox /0703; Rock Hill, SC 29731. Mary & Joseph Jockmans S11mmcr, l 99 l �THE CALL OF THE ANCIENT ONES: The Spiritual Re-Awakening of the Great Smoky Mountains :Cl has become increasingly evident over lhe past decade lhat the Eanh is indeed chan~ng. All around us rhe climate becomes more unprediclllble while volcanoes awaken to cast the earlh's blood heavenward in fiery splen_dor. De~rts grow larger and areas of rich and tillable soil grow smaller. Rivers and seas continue to pound lhe continental shores, carying their signarures into lhe landscape while battles rage for the cleansing of their polluted walers. UnnaturJl clouds block lhe swlight from our cities, and the land groans wilh the pain of greal quak<!S thal rend and tear the fault lines lhal lay in lace-like patlems over lhe plane1's surface. All the while, humanuy wages war amongst ourselves, economic siabi!ity wav_ers. and political, social, and religious penis challenge our very survival. Bui th<;se are the frightening negatives regarding planetary change, for arnidsl all lhe apprehension and uncenainty some wonderfully positive global events are (!CCUrring lhat are unprecedented in modem umes. These events will perhaps do more to open the minds and heans of humans to a greater awareness of the truth of the "living E~''. theory than anything the academic or s~1enllfic "".orlds could ever offer to prove or disprove this age-old tnnh. An explanation of these events spans lhe fields of geology and geomancy, and encomp~sscs lhe perspectivCl; of_l~e sa_cred ecology of Native American spmtunlity as well as related beliefs and practices of other ancient cullures. The body of Mother Earth is dotted with special power sites, bolh natural and human-created, that were recognized and used by our ancestors for lhe performance of their ~cred c~remonies. Balefires have lil up the mght skies on the grassy slopes of ancient Av~lon while priests and priestesses wound their way through the stone circles at Stonehenge and Avebury. Patient eyes have awmted Grandfather Sun 10 make i1s annual imprint upon the walls of Newgrange in Ireland and Chaco Canyon in the American Sou1hwes1. Sacred mountains all over the \\-Orld have beckoned pilgrims to lhc1r summits and the healing waters from holy rivers, wells. and springs have blessed and repaired 1he bodies and souls of the faithful who have lilied their chalices with sweet waters, 1hc Earth Mother's very source of life. Yes, our forbears were clme to the Earth. They called her Mother. TI1ey knew lhe wholeness of Nature and lived their lives as 11 conscious relauve pan of all the planet'!> life kingdoms. It was precisely because of tl11s closeness that our ancestors could sense the and potent _life force of the planet being emmcd at specific sttes. It "'as to those pfaces that they retreated for healing and rcplenis~me_nt, and it was there that they did ceremonies in honor and recognition of the natural earth forces around them lh3t gave power and purpose lO their hves. ra"': Since the latter days of the Allantean em, Summer, 1991 by Page Bryant Pun&al An by We. Wyan humans have gradually moved forward in evolution. Civilizations have come and gone. Many spiritual traditions have sprung from the Atlantean "root," presided over and preserved down ~rough rime br Egyptian hierophanlS, Delphic oracles, Celuc pneslS and priestesses, My_stery Schools, and adepts and shamans of vanous culrures. As evolution proceeded, ho~~ver, modem times and society nnd new religions pushed the Old Traditions into the darkness of obscurity This, like the Earth, is changing. Once m<?i:e the Wisdom Teachings and the social, sp!ntual, and ecological values they foster, are being sought by modern aspirants. At thi~ panicular lime. a revival of interest in Native American spirituality is spreading like wildfire worldwide, due no doubt to its embodiment of the principles inheren1 in the Earth Religions of the ancienl past. These principles have a tremendous bearing on our ecological problems of today. People are seeking lo learn about ceremony and are using it as a loo! for gaining a closer relationship with the planer. a relalionship 1hat has long been lost and/or devalued. As a result. the location of sacred sites is of intere~t to thousands of sp1riwal seekers worldwide, and ceremonial voices have begun to resound, once again, within sacred stone circles, medicine wheels, fairy rings. and other cercmon1al grounds. Power spots or vortexes. long dormant. have begun to awaken during this time of planetary change and ren~wal. Their power will once again be available 10 empower humans and members of other kingdoms to progress into a New Dawn. While doing the re~arch and channeling for The Earth ChanReS Survival Handbnok some ten years ago, my Spiril Tc,Kher. Albion. lor whom I have been the "mstrUment" for the past twenty years, gave infonnauon aboot lhis time of planetary change and mentioned ccn.un pl3ces in Nonh America 10 "'hich people would be drawn, some tcmporanly and others permanently. The intense degree of natural eanh power, the "energies," if you will, was to be the reason why individuals would foci such on attraction lo these places which would also be where "Light Centers" would spring up. designed to teach nnd guide spiritual seekers. The~ places, which Albion called "way slations," would ah.o be safe. in every way, during the planetary changes. They would be places where lhe land ilself would be tile greatest teacher. One of these locations was identified as the area surrounding Asheville Nonh Carolina. Olhers were Sedona, Ari~na. where my husband and l lived for eleven years; southern Colorado; pans of Hawaii; and Santa Fe, New Mexico, to name bur 3 few. While trying to make a decision as to the proper location for a move. due to a droughl thar Albion predicted would become much worse, and for olher personal desires, Albion brought the Asheville area to our anention o.s the plac~ to which he would like l0 see us move. [a thal ~ession, ~e Teacher offered some interesting infonnauon aboul the Great Smoky Mountains lhat I feel is important to share with my rea~ers,- I am, for the most part, using Albion s exact words so that the reader might get lhe "feeling" that the Teacher tried 10 portray: "...The Great Smoky Mountains themselves arc the Elders... the Ancient Ones:.. whose voices have sung the Song of Creauon on the North American continent longer lhan lhe voices of any other mountain range. They arc so very, very powerful, and lhat power may be explained in lhree ways. "First, because of lheir particular situation geologically, and lhe powerful influence of the ne3=1by sea. the~ mouniains arc magnetic in thet.r charge of hfe force. Magnetism is of the nature of lhe element of watt..-r. It is conducive to helping one rum wi1hin, 10 tap the subconscious and the Collective Unconscious. Magnetism promotes ~nsitivity and awakens the psychic and intuitive faculties wilhin human consciousness. Magnelism is lhe feminine force in Nature. These mountains are filled with natural springs and underground river., and caves that have a sublerrancan water source. "Secondly, because we are labeling lhem as "magnetic mountains," they are conducive: to the energies necessary to assist Spiritual Seekers \l.ith their Vision Quests more so than any other mountains in the world at lhis umc . 'Thir~ly. the Smokie~ hold the 'memory' ol th~ breaking up of the continents dunng previous planet.1ry changes and of the mountain building procc.,s. They have 'recorded' the ancient voices of Nature tha1 are unmatched on your continent. Smee the l:m period of Eanh changes, some len thousand year.; ago, these great mouniuins have hecn 'asleep.' their energy but a shallow breath. It was aho during ll10se ancient times of upheaval that lhese mountains were first inhabited by Allantean m1grnnt, who spread throughout the \I.Orld ~eekmg refuge nnd ne\l. beg.innin~. To this day. there arc ancient rock and b:trk scrolls and SO!llC cave drawings that arc 1\tlamc.1n an their on gin 1h:11 still exi~t wilhin various pans of these mountains. "This place has long been the site of :m:ane ~ercmonies. Although man) of lhe mountain peaks have been worn do"'n wnh time. there were once seven summits in the Smokies which were u~cd throughout the centuri~ as ceremonial !;lit:;. The areas around (aJlllurucd c,n llellt J>OS•) Xotuah Journal JlCl()C 1'3 �(coniinw,d liom Pl&• 13) them still comain n:mnaotS and artifactS of the Old Ways. Some of 1hosc whom you call Native Americans were born from these Atlantcan ancestors, while others migrated here from other continents and settled into this land. For a shon time, the mountains remained awake to their full energy potential before slipping into an introvened slumber. Once, through time, their power re-awakened for a shon time, to embrace the native people who fled into lhem for safety so that they and their tradition might survive the thrca1 of the invaders for later rimes. These who the mountains hid were those you call the Cherokee. "Beginning in the middle of the decade of the 1980's, the Great Smoky mountains began LO awaken once again 10 their full power. This process will be comple1e by the year I 993. Between now and 1hen, many will be drawn 10 this area. They will come to live and to study and to 'connect' themselves with Mother Earth. Teachers will come 10 the area and some will establish Light Centers. Ancient ceremonies will be practiced once again on these mountain slopes and the Native American tradition and people will become stronger and more irnponan1 to the natives themselves. Sacred sites throughout the mountains will re-awaken, sites such as Chimney Rock, Blowing Rock. Mt. Mitchell, Wayah Bald Mountain, Grandfather Mountain, Flat Rock, and Looking Glass Rock will once more embrace Seekers and emit their most potent power. The waters of the Smokies will become more potent and can be used for healing the body. They will be rich for growth and fertility. The planis of the area will increase in their potency so that their medicinal value will be greatly enhanced. The formation of 'brotherhoods' and 'sisterhoods' will have their birth in these mountains once again." must be and what my future as a teacher mus1 be. It is here, in the Great Smoky Mountains that I will live and work 10 awai1 and experience the awakening of the Ancient Ones. It is here that r will listen to 1he Voice of the Earth Mother sing the song of Creation... of Wholeness... and of Rebirth. And, it is here 1hat I will seek to add my ·ligh1· 10 the ·ugh1s· that are already here... in peace and in harmony with the Spirit Forces and the Greai Devas of the Mountains. So mote it be! Page Bryant is a ttacl~r and p.rychic ofmany years txptritnce. Shr has sludit'd atensivt'ly with Nativt American mtdicmt ttachtrs and is familiar with naJivt' prophecies abow the currtfll Earth changes. She has wrttttn st11tral books, one of IM bt'st known Ming The Earth Changes Survival Kandbook. fltr /WO nr:wtsl rtkasts art. Tcrmvis1on, a pr~r on sacred sitts o/tht world. and The Aquarilln Guide lO N;wve American Mythology. Page and l:t'r husband Sco11 Guynup, a visionary artis1, havt optntd 1he Mystic Mowuain Rt1re_a1 and Ltar,ung Cuittr and may bt' rtaehtd at -,07 8rUJIS\l,1C'Jc Drive; Waynmillt', NC 28786 (704} 456-6714. This article was reprinted from Eanh Walk, tht ntwsltlltr ofThe Earth Ctn/tr, which is dedicated 10 personal <kvelopmtnt and Earth htaling by bringing s1udtnts toge1/iLr with well-known Native l.!ru!rican ltachus Olld holding regular spirltMDl ceremonies ill 1hr narivt ,radicion. The Earth Center is mam«zintd by Zoe and Jim Marun. Contact them 01 302 Old Ftllowship Road, Swannanoa, NC 28n6 (704) 298-3935. WIIEN THE MOUNTAINS A WAKE Upon hearing the Teacher's words, I knew, beyond doubt, where 1 must relocate. knew what the next step on my path of life (from a conversation wi1h Page Bryant) "My spiri1 teacher Albion has repeated numerous times in speaking of the Eanh Changes, 'We don't wan1 you to limit yourselves by thinking about 1he Earth in only the physical sense. When we say Earth Changes we are talking about geological and climatic changes, but we are also talking about social, political, and spiritual changes.' RESOURCES ······~. .... . .~~~~.1!·~·-· - • Earth Ascending. Jose Arguelles (Bear & Co. Publisher.i, Santa r-c, NM. 1988) • Thi! Divining Jland: The 500 Ytar Old Mys1try q/ Dowsing. Chris10phcr Bird (New Age Press; P.O. Box 1216; Black Mounlain, NC 28711. 1979-1985) •Ttmn•ision. Page Bryant (Hi1rpcrMd Row, New York. 1991) • Anti·Gravity and tlu- World Grid Ed1tc.d by David Hatcher Childress (Advcntwts Unlimited Press; Box 22: Stelle, IL 60919. 1987) ~ /(:i;<-:;;~\ ..:· . .. • • • ·:. . • ...... , _ ~ ··.... ··.........' ....... ..... . . , ··- .......... .......... . l ....\ ... ······-......... : ; .,-.. •• I jlll'"li~l.'i,,,__ . '• ·..:. - .... .. . . , • r(!C()rtkd by DW • The Earth Sp,ril. Its Ways. Shrines and Mys1tries. John Mitchell (Crossroads Publislung Co., New York, NY. 1975) • T~ Ntw Vi= Over Atlantir. John Mitchell (Harper and Row Puhlishcrs, San Pranci51CO CA. 1986) • Looking Gia.rt Univtrst: The Emogmg Scitnce of IVhokMSS. F. David Peat and John Briggs (Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York. 1984) • Tht Ancitnl Srienu ofGtomancy. Nigel Pennick (Townes & Hudsen. Ltd., London. 1979) • o! •• • "Geomancy: A Tawny G111111mor; Steven ~ l in Rais,: tht Sraus (Spnng, 1984 • Planet Drum Found:11ion; P.O. Box 31251; San Francisco, CA 94131) • Where ug1wi.f livt. Doug Ro~Jln (Cherokee Publicnlions: P.O. Box 256; Cherokee, NC 28719) • Black Dawn • Bright Day. Sun Bear & Wabun Wind (13.e.lrTribe Pub.; Box 9167; SpocMc, WA 99209. 1990) Wet England. 1984) • Nttdlu o[Srone. Tom Graves (Granada Publishing Lid. 1980) :. .: d ~ • Ear1hmind. Paul Devereux, John S1ccle, and David Kubrin (Harper and Row Publishers, New York. 1989) • Ftng Shui: Thr Seitnet ofSacrtd Landscape in China. Em~ J. Eilel wilh commem.:iry by John Michell, (S)'IICJ'getic Pless; 24 Old Gloucester Street: London -... , . . ~. . "The sacred sites in the Appalachian Mountains are coming into their power. 1993 is a year tha1 I feel will be intense in every way. Bui people are not going to be able ro experience that power until they reconnect themselves 10 the Mother Eanh. 'There are mnny ways to regain our connection with the Eanh. One 1s 10 educate yourself about the Earth. That is what my book The Eanh Changes Survival Handbook is all about. 'That is well and good, bu1 we need 10 go a step funher. We need 10 learn from the native people. and the most imponam thing we can learn is ceremony. "We have to get back into doing the ceremonies 1ha1 honor the forces in narure. We've jus1 become 100 sophisticated for our own good. Jus1 try getting up in the morning and greeting the sun. Take a handful of cornmeal and throw it up toward the Sun and say, 'Thank you, Grandfather. Thank you for the new day.' "Do that for seven days - ir you don·t feel better, more connected 10 the Sun and 10 the Earth, then don'1 do it any more. "Something simple: we have a sign by the water tap in the the kitchen tha1 says, 'Remember the water spirits.' "People want to know what that means. I ask them, 'When is the last time you gave 1hanks to the water spiri!S for being here?' "They say, 'What?' "Obviously it's no1 a question of when was the last rime, because they have never done it before. They've never though1 abou1 it 1ha1 way. Well, I lived in the desert for 12 years, and r learned 1here 1ha1 it's really important 10 have a good solid peace with the water spirits. 'That's some1hing to think abouL We lake these things for granted. That's the big enemy: we lake all these things for granted. No1jus1 the Eanh, the waler, and the air, but also each other.. .life! If people can stop doing that, then we've staned the ball rolling." • TM Ages ofGOia: A Biography of our livin1 Ea,-1/t. J:imcs Lovelock ry./.W. Nonon & Co. Inc. New York. 1988) Orawina by Rob Meaick • Sacrtd Pious. James A. Swan (Bear & Co. Publishing. Santa Fe, NM. 1990) • Ear1h Wisdom. Delores LaChapclle (Finn Hill Ans; P.O. Box 542; Silvcr1on, CO 81433. 1~78) Summer, 1991 �"If the Earth Is To Heal, Our Hearts Must Be Broken": Two Experiential Approaches to Reconnecting with the Earth by Richard Lowenthal Earth Dance Since August oflast year I've been deeply involved in the fonnation of an innovative environmemal youth program called EanhDance. There are two primary "guiding lights " behind this program. First is the belief that our youth need in-depth and experiential knowledge about our environmental crisis - . and about viable, practical solutions. Second 1s the observation that young people are . disenfranchised in our society, and are growing up feeling helpless and/or apathetic about their future. They are desperate for guidance, support, and hope. They are seeking a positive aliemative vision. In speaking with groups of young people throughout the Asheville, North Carolina area, EanhDance director Mark Fields and I have been astounded and saddened to hear the bleakness of many kids' vision of the future. Even from nine and ten year olds, when we ask them to imagine the world twenty years from now, we hear responses like: "In 20 years there won't be any eanh." "1 see the whole planet covered in black smoke." "The hole in the owne layer will keep growing, and we'll all be fried by radiation." They have good reason to be frightened Although our culture voices concern for our childrens' future, it ii; simultaneously devouring the planet and pirating the natural, financial, and social resources essential 10 the future of the coming generations. Amazingly, environmental education is still considered an educational "frill," and sits at or near the bottom of the totem pole of educational priorities. This error is a symptom of OUT failed relationship with the natural world. This massive failure in tum translates into failed relationships with our children, since we are initiating them inro a social system badly out of touch with reality. And buying a child off with a new computer or video game doesn't change the underlying truth: if we really cared about our children and the world they are inheriting, we would be doing much more chan we presently are ro deal. with t~e profo~nd social and ecological cnses which cononue to deepen around us. Within our society and within each of us individually, there exists a _pressing n~ed for adaptive change and conscious evoluuon, a need that we consistently refuse to recognize. We need 10 honor the Eanh, to begin again to nunure the awareness chat this planet is our Home, that we belong here and are responsible for caring for our Home place. One way to promote this aw3:"!"CSS, an~ the sense of caring nunurnnce that n evokes. 1s through planting trees. This spring, EanhDance sponsored a tree ~ale and plan tin~ project for young people, wh1<:_h w:c: unique m its multi-leveled approach. This proJCCt had three interconnected goals: 1) To empower young people (age 9-18) to act on behalf of their communities and their S1nt111ia-, 1991 Planring trees al GrQ.NJ[Olhu Mountain natural environment, and 10 literally get "in touch" with che Earth by planting trees. 2) To teach kid5 that environmentalism and money-making can coexist, and in fact can In suppon each other. _ this case, 40~ of the money raised by selling trees went directly . back to their environmental groups or classes m school, 10 be used for other environmental projects chqsen independently by each group. (The remaining 60% of the proceeds covered EarthDance's expenses in coordinating the project.) One group donated its earnings 10 black bear protection work, while an~ther chose 10 buy and protect an area of r:unforest. Yet another group set its money aside to fund the projects of the environmental club during the coming year. 3) To conduct a liCientific experimen1 . based on soil rcminemlizarion as a therapeutic technique for healing both !;Oil and trees. In coordination wilh Dr. Roben Bruck, a nationnlly known expen on acid min and plant pathology, EanhDance arra!'lged for tree plantings on areas at Mt. Mi1chcll and Grandfather Mountain that have been devastated by a combination of airborne pollution, insects, and fungi. Using a na1urally derived mineral rock dust study groups remincmlized half of the where trees were being replanted, while the remaining areas were left alone to serve as controls. Dr. Bruck expects 1he rock dust to significantly im~rove th_e ~es' chances of survival due 10 its alkahmzmg effect on the soil and 'the concentration of irace minerals it provides for the trees' nourishment In . Germany. large-scale remine:-l1iw.tion efforts _m the Black Forest have been highly successful m rejuvenating dying forest stands. . . Herc m Asheville, another expenment 1s under way on the Audubon Society's new land at Beaver Lake, where kids planted 200 trees - area; ~vcamores, hickories, pecans and hybrid chesmms - and remincml1zcd half of them. EanhDance is also planning future projec1i, to explore whether reminemlization can, ns Dr. Bruck suspects, minimize or perhaps stop the damaging dogwood blighL All the!">C effons arc imponant, yet the crucial aspect of the EanhDancc approoch is the focus on active involvement and experiential education for our youth. Technical solutions and temporary improvements will no~ suffice lO insure a sustainable society and a habitable planet. We need a drastit "change of hean" even more than a "change of mind." We already realize the gravity of OUT situation; th~re is plenty of terrifying inf0rnl3tion oa that topic. What we need now is courage, inspiration and lwpe. We need hean-lcvcl inspiration to get _us motivated, but inspiration never lasts unless 11 is convened into hope and encouragement through direct personal experience. As Mark Fields puts it, ''The problems of our world ultimately spring from OUT sense of separation from life and each other. The mos1 effective way to heal this sense of separateness is through building connectedness and community: actual involvement in life. "In thinking 1his through, I concluded that OUT children arc the most effective "acupressure poin1" within human society 10 quickly tum things around. Most a~ults arc either so busy or so shut down emononally that they arc simply unavailable for intensive involvement. Our kids, on the other hand, arc desperate for involvement, for real participation in life. And the kids have the most to lose, too. They know we need to preserve the planet, but they aren't seeing much real change; they arc offered public posturing and "green" slogans instead. This conveys a negative message to our youth, and increases their frustration and cynicism. "If young people don't have a positive oullet for their energy and youthful enthusiasm, they tend to lapse into depression or apathy. But if their potential energy is guided and convened into activated. energy, then they can work to change the direction into which our planet is heading - and they can feel much beuer about themselves and their future. Only if a tremendous grasH'OOts movement arises, among both children and adults, can we move towards righ1 relationship, wholeness, and harmony. I see this movement as one of the bare essentials for the survival of humanity and the planet - and it 1s happening. and slowly growing, becau:;e II is so desperately needed. We need more than anything 10 reconnect with, and honor, our Source.·• MurJ; Firld.r is aformrr busi11essman ondflowtr farmrr who spent many )·ears living in the f<Jln/oresu of Costa Rica lit rtlMTMd nnrth ,n 1988 fuling a dup r.onu,11 for ow social and p/JJMUJry tn1v-0=111. and rpent tM [WI two ~ors dew/oping the ideas bthilld EanhDanct. Phone (704) 2.52.Jlll/8 or writ( to Ca11hDa11cc htStllutt: P.O. Box 2155: Ashl!Vlllf. NC 28802. (continuod on nm r•i:•) �(conlinued rrom page 1S) Children already have the connection. Little kids know - they feel it. It's amazing how much more they know than we do, how much more they sense. They just need encouragement. Karualr: I grew up surTounded by deep woods, arid I used to spend hours and hours exploring them. That was important for my growth, but most kids don't have that anymore. Their feelings are intact when they're very young. but without encouragement to feel their relationship to life around them, they start to lose touch. It's like autism, in a sense. We withdraw into the "separate" self, and cut ourselves off from reality. ReCreation Experiences Another Asheville-based program, ReCrearion Experiences, was begun last/al/ U> literally bring people "down to earth" through wilderness skills and outdoor living training. Based on the Native American ways 111ughr by tracker Tom Brown and his staff. ReCreation Experiences is led by founder Dave Torbett. I spoke with Dave about the focus of his reaching: Karuah Journal: What was the genesis of ReCrearion Experiences? Dave Torbett: About 8 years ago I began to envision developing a program to help people "come home," as I call it. Our culture has a built-in mentality that wilderness is "bad" or "dangerous," so we insulate ourselves from it. Backpacking has become very popular, but even then we're insulated. We wear heavy lug boots, we carry massive backpacks, we sleep enclosed in tents. We pack in our stoves and ice cbestS and lanterns, then go home feeling we've been "back 10 nature"! Despite the big wave of backpacking and outdoor recreation, we still have not gouen back to the Eanh. So I began 10 dream about an alternative to those kinds of camping and outdoor programs - a way to take people home, help them feel corilfonable with the Ennh, help them learn skills that teach them that our Mother provides everything that we need. It's very simple living. There's an old Apache saying that as far a.s humans' feet are protected from feeling the Earth Mother, that's how far humans' hearts will be from knowing her as M0ther. lf people's hearts aren't broken again, and they don't reawaken into a loving, caring relationship with the Earth, environmentalism will do some good, but in the long run people will tire of it and go back to their "convenient," desrructivc ways. So I feel we have to woo people back to our Mother. Xntuafl JoumoC P<1CJC 16 DrawingbyRobMculclt Katuah: It seems that the fundamental problem is our separation from nature. OT: Yes. A lot of it comes out of the Puritan mentality, which maintained that anything passionate was bad, including sex and nature. Anyone who's spent much time outdoors, or been out when the wind's blowing and the sky is tom apan by lightning, knows nature is passionate and alive, and not some thing that we can control. But our western mentality says, "If we can't dominate it, then we will kill it" Thai is still how we approach life: we analyze it, we do endless scientific studies... but there is an clement to the Earth that is spiritual, that is deep - something unfathomable. There's something magical about iL Our culture tries to obliterate that, to w1pei1 out. Karuah: Our obsession with conb'OI seems 10 be a major problem_ DT: Making fire with a bow drill provides a good example. If you don't work with the wood, the cord. and the tinder - if you try to dominate them - you may grind through that fire-board, but you don't get a fire! Once while we were doing a workshop for a group of parents, the lead instructor, Steve Ashmore, became very frustrated because he couldn't get a fire. He wns cranking hard on that bow drill, and nothing was happening. Finally he just laid everything aside and said "J quit." About 1wo seconds later, he looked over. and the '>'ind had sparked a coal in his tinder bundle. His tinder bundle was 5moking, it was on fire. He got a fire by saying ''OK. I give up." This was a great spiritual experience for Steve. As long as he had fought the energy and tried to control it, nothing had worked. But when he let go, the wind blew the coal into a flame for him. Trans formative moments like tha1 happen 10 people when they get back to being a pan of nature. When we're willing just 10 stop. put our bare feet on the Earth. and listen to her speak and b~thc...thcn we arc able 10 be transfonned. DT: Yeah, Tom Brown uses this example: imagine you've been lying in a hospital bed for 10 years. Your muscles atr0phy, and when you try to get up you can't walk, you have to relearn how to walk. We have innate awareness skills: we know how to live in harmony with the Earth, we know how 10 be in balance, we know how 10 let the spirit flow within us. But as our feet became removed from the Earth, our awareness skills atr0phied: all the spiritual awareness, the e,cpanded vision, the sensing of the movementS of our animal and plant brothers. All those sensing skills became atrophied. When people go outside, even for a little while, you hear them say how good they feel. Well, it's that reconnection. But since it's so unfamiliar, we have to help people define what they're feeling and realize that it's good. Sometimes people ask me if I'm "New Age," and I tell them, "No, it's a very "old age" thing we're doing. It's pan of us, we've carried a club a lot longer than we've earned a pen. We're toolmakers and craftspeople. We're more comfortable with creating, sensing and moving with the Ennh, than with anything else. Katuah: How does that deep rccoMcction with nature unfold inside us? What can we do to nurture it? OT: We have to gradually recover our inner sense of being comfonable with the Earth. This may mean starting with small periods of time when you can go outside and be alone and listen. You begin to rune your senses once again. You listen for sounds. you smell whatever's in the air, you begin to look with expanded vision. If you lie down on your stomach and look at one six-inch square piece of ground, you could fiU a notebook with all the things you see. There's a wonderful, mysterious place right there in your back yard. Take your shoes off. stand in the grass, then step away and look at your foorprint. That's the beginning of tracking: observation. Begin to observe what comes in and out of your yard, what lives there, what grows there. Begin to research all the plants that grow there. Take longer periods of time to be silent, breathe. and let the Earth speak to you. Let the spirit that moves in all things speak and move in you, and trust w~3;,,. t you begin to sense and feel. fr RcCrtaJion ~ritncts. an &mh skills and a/llllltlMIII program, offas work.tlwps and training 10 1/rt public. PhcM (704) 252-8688 or writt to RcCrearionuperitncrs:46 Wall S1ru1: Asheville NC 28801. SummcY-, t99t �, I ON AGGRESSION In 1838 Andy Jackson said that we should move aside for "civilized man," meaning white people with their plows, schools, technology, etc.. I think about the thing that happened in Iraq and I think about the wars carried on by "civilized man," and the way that we think about them. For instance.we consider ourselves "civilized" because we don't indiscriminately drop nuclear bombs on our enemies. But at the same rime it's "civilized" 10 thre:1ten people with nuclear weapons by havmg thousands of them To me this says that one of the things we haven't addressed is our own aggression. Looking around today, 1 see that spunking m dny-care centers has become an issue, and the argument is brought up that "the reason that there is so much crime. is because there is not enough spanking." . Now how could a child not grow up bemg aggressive when adulL'i hit him because they assume that his behavior cannot be ~~lied in any other way? Spanking and h11ung (as well as neglect) by adults is what causes wn.rs and criminality • not the tack of those! r recently witnessed white kids having a fight. One was an 11 year old boy who was pounding on a nine year old. The older boy's father came out with a big leather strap and beat the older kid for hitting the younger1>ne. That's how aggression and wars are perpetuated. We learn by example, all of us, adults and children. ln raising kids, it isn't what one says that is important; it's what one does. But in thi~ cul~urc ki?s are expected 10 respond to what ts s:nd, while the adults think that they can do whatever the hell they want to. And they don't realize that the children are learning from wh~t they are doing, not from what they are saying. The way to communicate non-violence. to say that there are other ways 10 solve our human problems than to nuke our enemies or 10 go aftei them with high technology weapons • is 10 live that kind of life. After awhile, we're expected 10 notice when we're doing something that doesn't ~ork. ,:tie v:iay we measure how well a policy 1s working 1s by the results ...and we're still slaughtering ourselves wholesale. The native people never thought that spanking was the right approach 10 dealing with children. To us spanking seemed barbaric - it was a barbaric, savage thing that dominant culture men did to their children. The traditional family was different from the fa!11ilies. of today. F~r.one thing, they were more inclusive. In a tradiuonal family the old people were respected. They were the caretakt:r.;, the nunurers, and the teachers of the children. They weren't meaningless lives best stuck off in a faraway house 10 die. Today we don't seem 10 have time to take care of our children or our old people. We're 100 busy making money 10 survive or 10 get ahead. We often leave the ca.re of our family Su111111cr, 1991 (These n.re the words of a IJ'Dditiorol Cherokee medicine ~n.) members 10 "professionals." But most of these "professionals" arc people who arc hired off the street to work a menial job for a minimum w~~e. Or we i:elinquish the responsibility of ra,s,ng our children 10 the school system. It ends up that frustrated, underpaid, Lower T/uuvkrlwle under-respected people have the responsibility for talcing care of our families. In a traditional family, the children were indulged - their every whim was met. But they we~ also made 10 feel like they were pan of the family and welcome 10 panicipate in family ac~ivi.ties. This ~esulred in a different way of 1h1nkmg, what 1s called a "cultural bias." People's identity was defined first by the family, then by the tribe and by the clan. Everybody, when we get hun. wants sympathy and empathy. r can remember as a small kid falling and crying, and somebody picking me up, hugging me, and raking care of me. I can rcmembt:r that. But as I got older the grown-ups just stopped reacting like that. They gradually had me become more responsible for myself. That went on up through the pubeny and moon lodge ceremonies. As I got older, if I misbehaved, people would simply walk away and act hun. White people call this rejection, but I don't see it as rejection at all. When as an adult, if someone violated cultural customs, but in a way that was not too serious, people might not talk with that person for a week. That was a powerful reprimand. The need 10 belong 10 the family and clan groups was so strong, that it was a motivating factor in modifying people's behavior. The most serious punishment was 10 be ostracized from the tribe. That was worse than death. If someone was ostracized from his family or clan, there was probably a 90-95% chance thnt person would commit suicide. That's a cultural bias. That wouldn't work in this culture. People don't have that tribal sense now. Today it's every man for himself. Just about every one of the native tribes recognized that the tram,ition from childhood 10 adulthood was a very imponant stage in a person's. life and marked it by some son of c_elebrrmon or pubeny ceremony: Pubeny is a t1~1e w_hen young peopl~ are having a variety of b1olog1~I change:. commg over them. and it's also a urni: when they are staning 10 question and doubt the thing:. that have been taught 10 them by the older people. This is called "the ~bellious stage" now. h is a time 10 question. a umc to a.\k: "Is there a God?" "Is Grandpa full of shit?"' - important mauers like that. Instead of trying 10 hold that energy down, or lock it up, or conrrol it, traditional people would encourage the young ones to search and 10 :;eek out answers for themselves. !'I~. one said, "This is the only way that there 1s, because experience taught them that if there was any truth or goodness or sohdriess 10 the philosophy that the young people were raised by, they would come back home after they were allowed to question, to doub1, and 10 experiment for themselves. I sure as hell did it, and the older l get, the more I find myself acting like my grandfather. Every once in awhile I look in the mirror, and I think he's standing there. And when I hear myself talking 10 my children, I hear his voice. I've gone in a big circle in my life. That circle went way, way out there, but now it's come back around. But that's fairly nonnal - that is, if there's any basis 10 the ideas one was brought up with. We also recognized that there was aggression in human beings. The white people have always thought that we had lots of wars among ourselves. but I think that our ''wars" were more like long-1enn, off-and-on feuds. We certainly weren't without aggression, but w~ ~!so didn't ~eep armies and build up m1l11ary s1ockp1les. In warfare and in raising children we were several thousand years more advanced than the dominant culture of today. Instead of putting all our energy into designing new weapons and military hardware, we sho_uld be 101e_lligcnt or civilized enough to deal w11h the basic problems of our aggression, our selfishness, our self-centeredness - not just with the symptom.-.. We have 10 face the fact that aggression is pan of us. It's pan of our t:rue name. Uut the dominant culture doesn't really address that. The present society substitutes "the big stick theory" - since we expect other humans 10 be aggressive, we create a big military to proteet our wealth and our ideas. c-un·.~ on ne11 pa1e) - · _, )(,(ltimf, Journal pa<)C 17 -. �(c:o111inucd from~ 17) The Cherokee people recognized our muuml aggression. They would arrange stickball games. Somelimes lhey senlcd disputes with u game of stickball. The word for "ballgame" was the same as the word for "war." People. ;ot hun playing stickball; somelimes pooplc even got killed. We certainly didn't solve the problems of aggression, but we had ways 10 deal wich them. Jn the Cherokee way of thinking, for example, there was no concept for cowardice. When we were having a baule 1,1,ith our neighbors, maybe the Creeks or somebody else, and we felt that we were losing too many of our people, even though we might be winning the conflict, we would just pack up our weapons and go home. We acted like 1his because life was sacred m us. The loss of too many people was more than we could handle. Indebtedness :ind revenge were parts of our culture in which we were nor VCI)' advanced. The basis of the clan justice svstcm was retaliation. Everybody knew thal if ihey tre:ued a member of :1no1her clan badly, they were going to get their ass kicked by all the rest of the clan. It made people think twice about mistreating someone, but the clans had 10 kick a lot of ass 10 uphold their reputations so the system would keep functioning. In clan maners we weren't as much a tribe a.\ a confederation. If someone was killed who wasn't kin or a clan member, other people often were not too concerned. Some Cherokee villages fought with the Creeks for years, while at the same time other Cherokee villagl!s were friends 10 the same Creeks. But revenge was a powerful motivation. However, there were restraims. The nation had what they called "red villages" and Aging...Changing Asheville, May. Jordan's jus1 now learned how 10 replace a pacifier between tiny we1 lips curled sweetly beneath May's sun while the new leaves of wild strawberries and blue-purple briars discover how it is warm and sad and odd beneath a cloudless Appalachian ceiling. And down the pebbled road I know through the inference of tre~ crashing through irees and the sorrowed, bloody thud of wood to earth lha1 the firs lll'TOSs the ridge arc just now learning, too: seeing how the cones shake and drop through lhe popping, cracking, fibrous wrenching of hot, oily metal teeth. The blue twist of two-cycle oil breath dissipa1es, quite satisfied, up and away through a canopy of needles, waiting in the silence of death for the imminent drying. The bridge has tumbled into the deep. Below the sloshing, muddy torrents !here are creatures calm and curious, monsters bloated, white, and wide-eyed, and between them somewhere in the murky stew an understanding odd and unspoken. Finned ~a1urcs stare at rare monsters queerly, wondenng what purpose they've come to !,C!Ve, To reclaim appliances, furniture, tires, boulcs, and else? To 1emp1 with wonn, jig, or spinner? Or perhaps only 10 say "l have driven submerged". The monsters stare back, but do not see or question • though lips are poised for speech. Hair standing on end pointing downstream, body slowly swaying, stiffening. Above, quiet whispers of drizzle beckon the sun's fading 10 hurry. And upstream muddy banks doued with the living who stand among red and yellow and blue s1r0bes, dizzy, pointing downstream, are disappearing in the rising. The living Stare also, blindly into swirling eddies of death. "w hi1e villages." Generali v it broke down th111 the aggressive people lived in the red villages, and the non-aggressive people lived in the white villa~es. The "Beloved Woman" was another built•in check within the syMcm. If everybody got all excited about something 1he Creeks had done and wanted to go make war right away, a Beloved Woman could say, "Listen, there's not going to be any warfare," and 1here wouldn't be any warfare. We had cenain checks and balances that developed through the centuries. I don't know if it was ever consciously though I out, but it fit in witb our cultural biases. How the clan system of justice would have developed in the future if it had not been contaminated by an influence as strong as western cuhure, J really don't know. Poems by James Proffitt Ancient, crude magnificence evolving from distant overtones to immediate, restless anger low and .still and brittle. Cracking pop splitting flash of flashes and flutter of an in splinters sweet pine mood rain pouring hail and sulphurous love of electric kissing a nameless fir clenched to the crest of a trillion ton stone. This is the beginning. What if old age is a healing crisis? - the harder old age is, the more healing is needed, As we get closer 10 Spirit, we cleanse naturally. Old unhelathy habits of body and mind come 10 the surface - we're more sensitive - more unable 10 abuse ourselves without instant repercussions. ~hat_ if we looked at aging as prosperity? Prospcnty IS abundance. The more we have of something, the more prosperous we arc. With age our numbers build like money in lhe bank experience - wisdom - value. When we age, we slow down so we can notice more. We learn how 10 conserve our energy, so that we can better become involved in olher realms besides the physical. Our culture has taught us that old age often means sickness. Bu, these sicknesses are probably only the accumulations of lifelong habits that harden us when we do not face issues and feelings in relation to ourselves and olhers...When we are not willing 10 change. The word change has age in iL It also bas can. lf we can stay open and make the changes we need to as we go along, the healing crisis needn't be so hard. Don·, let lhc healing pile up until 1he end. Ligh1en up your load. Count your blessings and your years - and when you reach I 00, it could be like collecting interest on a life well invested. • C Redmage Rcprint.cd from !he Floyd ReSl)urce Cooperative Muulrller; Bo~ 81: Floyd. VA 24091 A bear's nose quivers fur pointing that way, buck's ears and tail twitching water hissing steaming up and away from charred wood echo of a fading, wordless language. Later earth whispers beneath a sagging canopy wrecked foliage heaving and sucking expelling long ceremonious sighs having wealhered one more and only rhe foamy brown rnge of a river below and subtle, renewed spirit in flora to show. D,_,,,, by f1t1 Graef,: Xati«lfl Joumat pnge 18 (from IN CllMrttc Ught on tho Wind. .K~ p. JO} Summer. 1991 �SACRED FORESTS: Recommended Guide to Old Growth Stn11ds Green Spirits, our generous plant allies. gifl animal-kind with food, medicine, and counsel. While all animals consume 1he fiber and flesh of plants, few seek out the counsel and cures offered by plants. My favorite way to immerse my soul with plant and eanh energies is by entering and communing with the old growth forests. I prefer the 1enn "old growth forest" over the romantic misnomers "virgin forest" or "wilderness," which only exist in the minds of civilizations which have left the forest. Old growth forests are defined by many criteria, the most obvious of which are: the relative freedom of disturbance by humans; the presence of large trees and an uneven canopy structure; an abundant fungal component; and the presence of logs in alJ stages of decay. I gain reverence by day-hiking into these wooden-cities of forest inhabitants, where I temporarily become a citizen of these woods. But the greatest spiritunl sensitivity'comes to ptc after $pending three or more days in the fores1s. Gradually. one becomes more "in tune" to the subtle rhythms and energies of a truly balanced ecosystem. Words poorly describe this personal experience; I can only encourage readers to directly visit and experience these green energies first hand and with open heans. One should enter the forest with a sense of reverence and should "leave nothing but footprints ... " Katuah's Green Spirits are best felt and embraced within the old(cr) growth forests, especially within the protected areas of the region's largest preserve, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (hereafter called "the Smokies"). Detailed trail maps of the Smokies can be purchased at any of the visitor centers in the Park, or can be obtained by mail from the Great Smoky Mountain Na1urnl History Association (Grea1 Smoky Mountnins Trail Map- GSMNHA; Rt. 2, Box 572-B; Gatlinburg, TN 37738. $1.00 postpaid). More detailed trail infonnation can be ob1ained from the Sierra Club's Hiker's Guide to the Smokies (Mur!less and Stallings), available at libraries and bookstores. Day-hiking is unrestricted in the Smokies: however, you will need a free backcountry use pcnnit (available from rangers and at several self-service Backcountry Reservation Stations) for any over-night stays in the backcountry. Several of the backcountry camp~ites arc extensively used and require advanced phone reservations. My favorite places 10 eicperience the communities of forest beings have occurred along the following hiking trails in the Smokies: (I} The Gabe Mountain Trail follows the lower slopes of the main ridge crest between Cosby and Greenbrier, Tennessee. East of HenwaJJow f-nlls, the trail travels through se_veral miles of undiscurbed original forest, with _an exceptional diversity of plant and fungi species of enormous age and siz~. There is a Sunmier, 1991 beautiful backcountry campsite (#34- Sugar Cove) located in 1he middle of this forest. This trail offers easy access 10 some of the best woodlands in the Smokies. Joye~ Ki/~r M~morial Forest (2) A few miles awny by trail is the preserved Albrigh1 Grove, a small section of prehi~toric forest, named after a former director of the National Park Service. The trailhead is locared on a short side-road behind the Jellystone Park Campground on US 321 between Gatlinburg and Cosby. fn the grove one may experience the immense presence of several HUGE tulip poplars ("the Behemoths") and record-sized understory trees and ferns. These trees are friendly 10 u-ce-huggcn.. (3) A few stream drainages west of Albright Grove is the Ramsey Cascades Trail, an eight mile round trip day-hike. This tmil leads through mature forests, but with a more limited number of the exceplionally HUGE trees. This is a m<X.lerately difficult hike due to the distance and steady climb (a 1600 foot elevation gain in four miles). (4) One of my favorite trails is the Boogerman Trail in Cataloochec Valley, located off rnterstate 40 at the nonheastem end of the Park. This relatively easy. seven mile round trip trail leads the hiker through magnificent trees of record-sized hemlock, oak, hickory, and poplar trces ...rcalJy fine trees to hug! CataJoochec Valley contains several additional pockets of relatively undisturbed forest, including (along the Big Poplar Trail) the largest tulip poplars in the Park, each with a trunk diameter of six to eight feet. (5) A few trail miles west ofCataloochcc Valley is the high elevation "perched valley" of the headwater:. of Raven Fork. This is the valley of the Cherokee Indian legend of ''Yona-unatawasiti'yi'' ("where the bears wash"), a mythical purple pool where wounded bears are healed . Loc:ued adjacent to the Cherokee Indian Reservation at Cherokee, NC, the headwaters of Raven Fork nrc considered the most isolated and rugged valley in the Park. No maintained tmils lead through this area, bu1 the ridge above it can be reached by hiking the Beech Gap Trail from Roundbouom parking area, nonh of the Cherokee Trout Hatchery. At the head of this trail is the McGee Springs Campsite (#44), from which a very primitive man-way leads along Breakneck Ridge and then descends through thick rh<X.lodendron and laurel to the rushing creek. The forest around the campsite is composed of huge spruce and oak trees. A second and more frcquemly used campsite, Enloe Creek Campsite (#47), is located alongside an especially beautiful section of Raven Fork (6) Small, relatively undisturbed "pockets" of the original forest, remain along the eictreme headwaters of the many southern streams which drain down from the ridgecrest along the Tennessee and Nonh Carolina border in the Smokies. Most of these watersheds were heavily logged in the 1920-30's, but the uppermost re.1ches of these valleys contain magnificent forests. One of the more easily accessible headwaters is that of Deep Creek. This trail-head is located a1 a small parking :irea on RL 441 about a mile south of Newfound Gap in the center of the Park, TI,e trail drop:. steeply into the impressive forest with its many streams and beautiful trees. The tr.iii should be followed for at least 1wo miles. Better yet is 10 walk the four miles to the campsite at Poke Patch (#53). (7) Another exceptional woodland in the Smokies is found at the beginning of the lower section of the Gregory Bald Trail. This trailhead begins 01 1he start of the one-way Parson Branch Road, leading out of Cades Cove, TN. The two mile hike to 1he Forge Creek Campsite (#12) leads beneath an exceptional tree canopy. Continuing up to the crest of the ridge (about a 2600 foot rise in elevation), the hiker will reach the grassy Gregory Bald, another Cherokee mythical siie. "Tsisrn'yi'' ("the Rabbit place"}. Herc the ' rabbics had their townhouse, ruled by their chief Rabbit. who was as large as a deer. This open and grassy mounca.in bald is exceptionally beautiful in mid-June when the native name azaleas bloom in blinding red-to-orange colors. 1hls listing of exceptional forests in the Smokies (and 1'm not telling all my secrets!) is intended as a guide for personal pilgrimages into some of the last old growth forest remnants remaining in K.atuah Province. Go to these places. and scclc the counsel and wisdom of plant spirits there • you will gain greater respect for even the simplest Green Spirits. • / by Lee Barnes Xatuaf1 Journal pngc I 9 �- OFF THE GRID When we 1alk about hydropower we are really talking about mpping into the primary power of the eanh... gravity. Water itself has no power, it has mass. The power is due to the force'of gravity acting upon the mass of water and creating an energy flow, The energy flow represented by flowing water is naturally regenerative (as are all natural cycles}. due to the sun's input. Star energy evaporates water, allowing the wind to carry it , back to the top of the hill. Organisms have been using flowing water to help them do the things they need to do, ever since water first flowed; whether it be the micro-organism that needs it to bring food within its reach, or the person floating downstream in n hollowed-out log. Up here in my neck-of-the-woods, the Blowing Rock, people have been using the many swift and swollen streams to U11nsport themselves for, I imagine, IOOO's of years (though now we just call it spon). More recently, the people of this area took to pu11ing large wheels in the path of a stream's flow in order to change i1i. linear energy in\Q circular mQtion. At first, this 100k the shape of giant water wheels running grist and lumber mills at places like Cove Creek, Valley Crucis, and near Beech Mountain on Beech Creek Road. In fact, the Winebarger mill in Meat Camp is still operational and the giant wheel (over three stories high) that once powered the lumber mill on Beech Creek Road is sull turning, though in a different stream... The first thing you notice when you enter Edith and Ray Estes' small piece of land tucked into a holler along Howard's Creek, is that giant wheel turning slowly and inexorably like some giant fenis wheel from a perpetual fair. Along its circumference, every foot or so. is a metal slat which caplllrCs a stream of water directed to the top of the wheel from somewhere higher up the holler, making the wheel fall with ics weight over and over again. Ray, who has been active for 83 years. once used the wheel's spinning motion 10 spin a 12 kilowa11 (kw) generator. Since then he ha.~ scaled down his operation and uses a smaller wheel nexr 10 his house 10 generate electricity, but rhc big wheel still turns 10 generate memories of the pasL Ray's use of the big ol' lumber mill wheel to gcnerarc electricity, illustrates a very recent use for hydropower which mos, people associate with the term, electricity generation. By virtue of its elevation a stream contains potential energy. hs rate of flow is a measure of this potcnrial being realized. We can use these two simple truths to calcul:ue 1he potential power of any stream: P=HxQ Xnti1<1h Jou rno t pngc 20 Which says that the power (P) of a stream of water is equal to the height (Hor head) from which it is falling multiplied by the speed (Q) at which it falls. The electricians among us may recognize the similarity between this equation and the basic power relation of electricity: P= EX I where P is power in waus, E is electromotive force in volts, and I is current flow in amps. According to More Orher Homes and Garbage, the power of a stream can be expressed in waus by dividing the product of the flow in cubic feet per second and the head in feet by 0.0118. This gives the potential maximum power. How close one can get 10 that figure is a function of how efficiently one's electrical power generating system translates the linear motion of the stream to the circular motion of the generator. Before 1930, Boone got a lot of its clccuical power from a hydroplant off the Blowing Rock Ro:id on the South Fork or the New River. The dam for thtlt system still smnds. Another large hydrosys1em in the area still operates. The dam for this system which crosses the breadth of the Watauga river (ma.king it unnavigable at that point, which would not be allowed today), was originally built in 1890 out of hemlock logs, and the stored power was used to grind com and wheat. In 1905, Ben 0. Ward built a sawmill which still stands, though in a state of long disuse. In 1934 a larger dam was built and Ward began to generate electricity. He received a power franchise from the state und supplied 12 to 15 homes with electricity through a 35 kw synchronous generator. The famous flood of 1940 wiped out the plant (and just about everything else up here), and before it could be rebuilt the Rural Electrical Association (REA) moved in and divided the countryside into regions within which only one company could have a franchise. fn this area that was BREMCO (Blue Ridge Electric Membership Co-op). Now, anyone generating power for more than personal use must sell it 10 BREMCO, they cannot sell it dircclly to their neighbors. Currently, the si1e begun by Ben Ward is maintained by his son Rick. It consists of two 3-phasc induction motors, one 100 hp and the other 125. It is a 69 kw plant with a head of 16 feet forcing a flow which often exceeds 20,000 gallons per minute through the two giant vertical turbines. Mr. Ward produces 50,000 kwh per month which he sells to BREMCO at $0.03/kwh, so he makes about $1500 per month from his hydropower. Ward's system is an example of a low-head, high-flow system. This area, however, also contains a good working example of a high-head, low-flow system. It dams a small creek high arop the hill ii falls down. Water is channeled from this dam down 1680 feet of eight inch diameter drainage pipe (obtained 31 $2.08/ft from leftovers 31 the oon to the generator 168 feet below the head of the dam. A flow of 1200 gallons per minute spins a vertical pelton wheel at 300 rpm, which is geared down to spin a 18 kw 3-phasc induction motor. Like Ward's, this generator is induced by the power company, which means BREMCO supplies the power to the electromagnet within the generator. Thi~ makes 11 unnecessary for the person who is generating the power to have a lot of expensive synchronizing and voltage protection equipment. But it also means when BREMCO goes down. so do they. Not exactly off the grid. but they could be. This micro-hydro system could generate almost 13,000 kwh per month, enough to provide up to 15 normal homes (energy hogs) with electricity. The resuiction on selling power to others could possibly be circumvented by buying land cooperatively, or having all the service homes on a single piece of propeny owned by the power generator. This is the situation which exists on Ray and Edith Estes' estate. Resembling more a riverboat than a house, the Estes' home is tucked away high up in the holler alongside the stream. From there it overlooks a little community of homes and cabins which they rent at very reasonable prices. Ray built a dam across the little stream which runs by his house, and created a small pond above his house, teeming wi1h fish and a family of ducks. He channels some of the water from the pond to a srt13ll tmditional wooden waterwheel which sits right next to his house. adding even more 10 the illusion of a riverboat as it slowly spins in the stream. Its speed of six rpm's turns a giant flywheel which is attached 10 the shaft of a generator by a • leather strap. The 5 kw, l lO V generator is bolled to a workbench in the small wheelhouse Ray built next 10 the waterwheel. Currently he uses the power 10 nm his outside ligh1s, twenty to thirty I00 wan light bulbs. During the day when no lights are needed but a load is needed to prevent the DC generator from burning up, Ray uses the power to heat his hot water. Ray's got a lot of hot water. Ray's system is the best example of a low-tech system which most anyone with a little spunk could build. No exorbitantly expensive turbine, pelton wheel, or piping is required, and il's graceful. Though I think Ray's dam and resulting pond are beautiful, some people (not beavers) object to micro-hydro systems because the ·dams destroy the stream's ecology. At the developing Center for Ecological Living (CEL). which would be Katuah's newest site for investigation into self-sufficient community lifestyles, Rob Messick. curator and local genius, has devised a water delivery system which is unobtrusive to the stream. I le placed a preformed concrete culven, in which he had driven a two inch hole and a couple of small feed holes, i 010 the center of the small but powerful ~tream which flows through the CEL. A two inch nexible black plastic pipe runs out of the two inch hole 250 feet to the pond which sits beside the stream. The flow from the pipe is about 45 gallons/minute, which could be quadrupled by doubling the size of the pipe. Besides using this hydropower to fill the pond, it might be possible to generate electricity as the water enters the pond. Hopefully, we will repon more on this in future OFF Tl IE GRTD columns. Anyone interested at an in-depth look at one person's small 7 kw hydrosystem should refer to Katuah #4, the WATER issue. on page 11. If you don't have it, order a back copy. There are still a few left. If anyone out there i,; running a small h)•drosystem, send in a description and w/''ll print it in this space. ' Big wheel keep on turning ... Jim IJouser S111mm.·r, 1Q91 �"I'M YOUR PUPPET" NIIUn.l World News Service ECOTAGE The Cullasaja controve~ continues (see Na1ural World News Ser-ice Ka11wh Journal #30). At issue are plans for a A series of inc1den1s in Katuah's national forests is leading some fores1 officials and law cnforcemem agencies to suspect 1ha1 there are local activis1s commi1ting acts of "ecotage," damage to equipment that is damaging natural environments. On March 27, Leonard Cook of Cook Bro1hcrs Lumber Company in Franklin reported that spikes embedded in logs from the Paroidge Ridge timber sale near the Namahala Community in Macon County had caused over $1000 worth of damage to his sawmiU. Less than one month later T & S Hardwoods of Sylva, Nonh Carolina reported damage to logging equipment in the Avery Creek area of the Pisgah National Forest. Thomas Stanley, mill manager for the company, reported on April 5 that dirt had been added to the fuel tanks of the machines. Stanley, whose company was also the target of a spiking incident last March, does no1 believe that April's incident was nn act of ecotage: "To me, it looks more like vandalism than someone trying to make a statement." Pisgah District Ranger Art Rowe disagrees. He considers the act "environmental terrorism." The area where the equipment damage occurred is located three miles behind n locked gate, and Rowe said, "That's a long way for somebody to go back into an area just to commit casual vandalism," he said. Rowe wonders if the possible ecotage is in any way connected to an incident two weeks earlier in the North MUls River area of Henderson County, in which an un-named group of people blocked a Jogging truck for nearly three hours as it was attempting to leave a logging site. SAVING WATERSHEDS Natural Wotld News Service Two special places may possibly be slated for federal acquisition this year. Work continues to protect the Chattooga River, and two tracts arc currently available for purchase. $2.2 million is also being sought to buy 1,860 acres on the Horsepasture River. The Horsepasture is designated a Wild and Scenic River and efforts continue to guarantee permanent protection of that status. The Congressional Land and Water Conservation Fund directs a portion of government receipts from offshore oil drilling and other resource depleting activities imo land preservation. Write your Congressional representatives about malcing these important watershed acquisitions through the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Senators US Senate Washingion, DC 20S10 SAY NO TO PLUTONIUM Nawn! World News Sctvice The US government's Rocky Aats plutonium processing operations near Denver, Colorado are being shut down because of plutonium contamination to the surrounding area. Rocky Aats is looking for a home, and the government would like to move the facility either to the Pantex nuclear weapons assembly plant near Amarillo, Texas or 10 Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Presently the Rocky Flats plant reprocesses plutonium so that it can be re-used in nuclear warheads and builds plutonium •pits" which are used as a triggering method inside the warhead. Plutonium has been released into the soil, wr, and water of the plant's surrounding environment. Studies by Dr. Carl Johnson, health officer of Jefferson County, Colorado, showed that people living near the Rocky Flats plant had increased risks of childhood leukemia, brain tumors, skin cancer, and lung cancer. Moving the operation to Karuah's western slope would mean severn.l billions of dollars in construction work on new processing facilities and thousands of jobs, Summer-, 1991 Rcprcsenlntive US House of Reprcscntat.ives WashinglOl'I, DC 205 IS considerations that have the Oak Ridge city government drooling. The town has already signed an agreement - before even looking at the operation plans! - that offers the Dcpanment of Energy (DOE) 5,000 acres of free land and a guarantee of five million gallons of water per day if the agency would locate their supcrplant in Tennessee. The Rocky Flats faciliry would also bring large amounts of plutonium, one of the deadliest substances unleashed on the planet • an clement so volatile that it instantly bursts into flame on comipg into contact with oxygen; a substance so concentrated that it requires only ten pounds to make an atomic warhead. Handling plutonium results in plutonium waste that has a half-life of24,000 years and which, as it decays, creates americium. that gives off bone-penetrating radioactive gamma rays. his impossible to safely handle or pennanently contain plutonium waste, and when it seeps or vaporizes into the environment it collects in living tissue. causing degenerative disease and genetic mutation. The announcement about the Rocky Flats move was contained in a DOE repon titled 'i'hc Reconfiguration of the Nuclear Weapons Complex," which outlines plans to carry $5 million sewage treatment plant proposed by the town of Highlands in Macon County, North Carolina that would dump one-half million gallons of treated effiucm per day into tl1c Cullasaja River. The NC Department of Environmental Management (DEM), although ii was aware of the controversy and has been presented wi1h pmple evidence of the potential impacis of the proposed treatment plant, signed a permit for the facility in April, 1991 without even requiring an environmental assessment for the project. The action set off a storm of protest. Save Our Rivers, Inc., the Macon County Citizens' group organized on behalf of the Cullasaja, filed a lawsuit in civil court to require that the state prepare an environmental assessment of the treanncnt plant proposal. The US Fish and Wildlife Service. the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, and the Clean Water Fund of North Carolina all immediately made public objections to the plant. Senator Terry Sanford sent a letter to the DEM asking for an environmental assessment. Even North Carolina Attorney General Lacey Thornburg, who used to fish in the Cullasaja, sent a letter of protest stating that an environmental document should have been prepared before the pennit was issued. The DEM has turned a deaf car to the uproar. Green LiM newspaper quoted DEM Public Information Officer Debbie Crane as saying, "We haven't heard any real concems...Jt's just mass hysteria." Another DEM spokesperson, Don Fullmer, said, ~we applaud what the town of Highlands is doing." Highlands is an upscale retreat for the rich and powcnul - people who are used to getting what they want. Apparently the tentacles of their influence reach a long way all the way to Raleigh. nuclear weapons production into the 1wcnry-first century. The report offers three alternatives for future plutonium p.rocessing: move Rocky FlatS to the Pan1ex site, to Oak Ridge, or 10 close all the existing operations and move them to a different (as yet unspecified) location. The logical alternative, to shut down plutonium production entirely, is not offered as an option by the DOE. It is up to the public to bring that alternative to the the attention of the agency. There will be public hearings on the DOE report and the plans to move the Rocky Flats opera.lion this summer. Hearings for this region will be held in the Pollan! Auditorium on the campus of the Oak Ridge Associated Universities in the town of Oak Ridge on August 28 starting at 9:00 am. The Oak Ridge Environmental and Peace Alliance (OREPA) is calling on all concerned people to participate in the hearings, OREPA organizer Ralph Hutchison emphasizes the importance of the hearings for the whole region, saying, "If you can only come to Oak Ridge once in your life. come on August 28!" For more ii,formaJion on the DOE:J plans and the Rocl:y Flats move, call OREPA 01 (615) 524-4771. Xoti1oft Journal P"'JG 21 �CHEOAH SET'l LED? ~OT QUITE! BIG TOM'S LEGACY Naruru World New. Scn-i« NillW'lll World Ne,., Sena The US Forest Service (USFS) and several influential environmenml groups reached agreement March 4, 1991 on 1enns to senle an appeal of two disputed timber sales in the Cheoah Bald area, the largest unpro1ec1ed roadless area in rhe Pisgah and Nnntahala National Forests. Under the terms of the se1tlemcn1, the USFS will forego a one-half mile pennanenr road into the Cheoah area and will scale back the Wesser timber sale by dropping one cutting unit which would have required the road for access. In return, Lark Hayes of lhe Southern Environmenml Law Center agreed on behalf of The Wilderness Society, the Sierra Club, the NC Wildlife Federation, and ~e Elisha Mitchell Chapter of the Audobon Society 10 drop the coalition's appeal of the USFS timber sales. Two other appeals of the controversial timber sales had already been turned down by the U~FS. One was by timber industry lobbying groups demanding a higher timber vol~, and ~e other was filed by SoulhPAW, a regional environmental group advocaring 1ha1 the _Southern Appalachian national foresLS be designated a roadless "evolutionary preserve" for the benefit of habitat. The SouthPAW appeal was refiled again at the regional and national levels and wa.~ rejected at every stage. Apparently the USFS did not lake kindly 10 the group's suggestion that the Cheoah Bald area be returned 10 pre-RARE n conditions. This dates back to early 1983, when the Chcoah area was a 21,000 acre roadless area, under study as pan of the Roadlcss Area Review a!1d Evaluation (RARE IT) program. But later m 1ha1 year Chcoah was removed from RARE It consideration, and the Forest Service began a road-building orgy that within only a few yC3I'S reduced 1he roadless component to 7.000 acres, one-third of its previous size. SouthPAW would have the Cheoah roadless area returned 10 ils original condition. Peter Kirby of the sourheasrem regional office of The Wilderness Society hailed the apP?I senlement as a victory. "As well as halung roadbuilding into this crucial roadless area, by recognizing the importance of protecting the roadlcss resource. the agreement SCI a precedent that will be most useful in the course of the upcoming land use and management plan revisions," he said. " SouthP~W activist Rodney Webb said. For s~ch an 1m~rtan1 ~abi_tat area._the only eco_log1cally fea.~1ble pohcy LS very simple: obhterare, revegcuuc - obliterate the roads and allow them 10 be recovered by the natural vegeuuion." 'This area is just across Fontana Lake from the Great Smoky Mountains National Parle. fl is 3:11 important stepping s1one by which species can migrate from the parlc into the southern reaches of the Nnn1ahala National ForesL If we lei them, the Forest Service will chop Oicoah up and carry it away in liule pieces. We can't let that happen. We won't forsake Chcoah. Whatever it takes - a lawsuit in civil court, direct action whatever - we will defend it as long as we~ able." To cc111ac1So1111t n,w, writt to: Box J/4/; Askvillt. NC288(}2. Xatuah Journot ~ 22 Big Tom Wilson was a legendary hunter who roamed the Black Mountains during the laie 1800's. He knew those mountains and ir is said 1h01 he loved them well ' In April, 1991, Wilson family descendants gathered nnd donated a conservation easement on 1800 acres or family land that had been passed down intact since Big Tom's day. The easement does not transfer owne~hip of the property, but ensures that the propeny will never be developed. The area will hereafter be protected as the Big Tom Wilson Preserve. The event marked an important step in maintaining unbroken hnbirar in the Black Mountains, because the Wilson property makes a strategic linkage between Mount Mitchell Srate Parle 10 the east and 1he Big Butt area of the Pisgah National Forest 10 the wesr. To the south lies the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Asheville Watershed area. The easement was done under the auspices of the American Farmland Trust. a non-profit organization dedicated to protecling farmlan~ from encroaching developmen1. It was earned out at the request of the Cane River Club, which is presently administering the land for the Wilson family members. team from Atlanta that invcsug;ired the incident. "It's an ~xpcnsive joke, if that's what ii is. It's pretty s1ck..,1oi.illy uresponsible." According to 11u1hontie:,, fin11I costs of rhe hoax ran into rhe thousands of dollars. On May 8 an anonymous leuer received by the Asltevil/e Cimen-Times signed only "The Black f-1:ig'' rook responsibility for rhe hoax, saying it was "executed in hopes of illiciting (sic) p_u~l!c attention 10 the deadly 1hrea1 and poss1b1hty of nn actual toxic was1e spill," FBI Agent E.K. Miller said he would refer the lcuer 10 the FBl's agent in Charloue that specializes in environmental mauers. . The n1:tion may have been expensive, bur ~1 was not fnvolous. According to the May issue of Green Une. an independent green-oriented paper in Asheville. a survey conducted by the NC Division of Motor Vchicles from December 1990 10 February 19~ I foun~ char 22% of rhe trucks stopping at weigh srauons along 1-26 and 1-40 were carrying radioactive waste. In addition, there is a _re_ar th~t President Bush's five-year, $105 bilhon highway plan, inrended to facilitnte the shipment of defense goods, will result in a markedincrcasein1heamoun1ofhazardous and radioactive waste being transported. LET'S NOT LOSE LOST COVE Narunal World Ne"'-. Service . . . . -RADIOACTIVITY ALERT! N.tunal World New, Service Ar 5:00 nm on April 22. authorities discovered what appeared to be the af1erma1h of a hit-and-run accident near the junction of 1-26 and 1 near Asheville, NC. -40 But this was no ordinary accident. At the scene were four metnl bam:ls labelled "radioactive" and a shanered wooden pallet. it appeared ';h:11 the_ ~Is had spilled from a ITUCk hauling rad1oact1ve materials. and the Stnre Highway patrol immediately closed one lane o_f traffic and ~gan 10 call in experu from five d1ffcren1 agencies 10 look into the incident. Investigators using Geiger counters de1ennined thar the barreb did not, in fact contain any radioactive substnnces and the a~lhorities began 10 suspect thar th~ whole thing was an Eanh Day hoax 10 call ancnrion 10 the dangers of mdioactivc waste transpon. "h looks 10 be a set up." said Dora Ann Danner coordinator of a US EPA emergency rcspo~ [)(.-ep in the nonhern Pisgah National Porest lie the lands known as Lost Cove and Harper Creek. Accessible only by graveled Forest SCJVice roads, this area just south of Grandmother and Grandfather Mountains provides vital habitnt for a great number of plant and animal species. The area is also blessed with many scenic waterfalls and troll! su-eams, along with an extensive network of trails. Curcntly the land is ser aside as a Wilderness Study Area, and the US Forest Service has recommended both areas for wilderness d~ignntion. The proposed Western Nonh Carolina Wilderness Prorecrion Act of 1991 (IIR 35) would protect 13.000 acres of this land from industrial pressures. The bill passed the House or Rcpresenracives last year, but no action was taken by the Senate before adjournment, and the bill died. Cass Bnllengcr. a Republican representing the 10th Congres.~ional District, brought the bill back 10 life this January, and the proposal has broad suppon in his home disrricL In the l Ith Con.,.... · . 11 r west anothl'r 1-··:HE pRESSES, f{ep. faylo d R,-.-- SfOP 1 press, .. propose \\\ went 10. ding tus . 111a1idS t<,.atu\\\'I 1011m was resc1'.1 ,, i11 ihe J·h& •n rhe As ' ti 11ta1 he "h)'~tena , Jogging 1 aw\01ince . bill d11e ro ·s1bililY o, i(derrieS) the? pos ~· would w_ trict ob0141 ~-crtlow Creek dis rf!oW area, .• .,u'CI areas from srudy as ove •v wilderness areas. Wr,u you.r rt'prtst'ntomve cto US I/oust of Rtprtuntotil't!S, ll'o.shington, DC 20$/j. (oontinuecl on J>ll:C 2S) Summer, 1991 �Natural World News I, SPECIAL REPORT .. by Emmett Greendigger Once again, Bjorn Dahl, Lhe US Forest Service's national forests supervisor for Nonh Carolina is the focus of public outcry. This time, Lhough, it's not jus1 a passle of forest 1eformers presenting a petition, or a couple of renegade "Rescue Rangers" chaining themselves to his office door, or a group of activistS protesting ever-increasing roadbuilding and timber harvesting levels on the national fores1s. This time, Dahl is at the center of "a scandal of the first magnitude." The issue is the protection of threatened and endangered species, and this spring Dahl has attracted nationwide attention to the willful neglec1 of his agency's threatened and endangered species programs and to his disregard for good science and professional ethics. This time, Dahl has enraged environmentalistS, scientists, and 1he general public by firing bo1anist Karin Heiman and by causing the dismissal of Chuck Roe, director of Lhe Nonh Carolina Natural Heritage Program, a "(This) brings into serious question the ability of the Forest Service to assess the effects of timber management programs on federally and state-listed threatened and endangered plant species." - Chuck Roe state agency that works with other agencies and the general public to identify and protect rare plants. Heiman, the firs1 full-time botanist hired to work in Lhe Nantahala-Pisgah National Forests, was fired on March 1, af1er onJy nine months on the job and only four months after receiving a "superior" performance rating from the agency. When Roe learned of Ileiman's firing, he tried for two weeks to express his concern to Heiman's immedia1e supervisor, national forest biologist Lauren Hillman. When these effortS failed. Roe, who was very familiar with Heiman's stellar work as a field botanist surveying for threatened and endangered plant species. wrote a letter on March 14 to Bjorn Dahl expressing fear that "the dismissaJ of your staff botanist at the stnn of the 1991 field season brings into serious question the ability of the Forest Service to assess the effectS of timber management programs on federally and state-liSted threatened and endangered plant species." On March 22, Dahl wrote to Roe's boss, Dr. Philip McKnelly, Director of the NC Division of Parks and Recreation, stating that he was "di'imayed to receive the letter from (Roe) expressing so much interes1 in and thinly veiled threats over the dismissal of Karin Heiman." Even a cursory reading of Roe's leneneveals not "threats" but professkmaJ Summer-, 1991 "Just Doing Their Job" concern about the future of threatened and endangered plant species in the national forests. Despite that, Roe, who had 14 years of experience with the Natural Heritage Program, was immediately fired for "violating agency procedures" and the "chain of command." Directly, red flags went up in the environmental and scientific communities in the Southeast. At an April 2 press conference in Asheville to publicize the firings, Bill Thomas of the Sierra Club said, 'The credibility of the Forest Service has slid right down around its ankles." Mary Kelly, Coordinator of the WNC Alliance (WNCA), said that the firings had caused a "rapid, unfortunate, unnecessary, and drastic deterioration in trust and relationships" between the Forest Service and 01her agencies and groups working on forest issues. Scientis1s and aclivists had been especially pleased when, after much pressure, the Forest Service announced in June,1990 that Karin Heiman would be the agency's first full-time botanist. With the hiring of Heiman, a graduate of Warren Wilson College with several years of experience surveying the state's plant communities, the Forest Service seemed at last 10 be displaying a commitment to the state's rich botanicaJ diversity. Heiman did her work wilh diligence and competence. While surveying the Tellico-Robbinsville Federal Highway Project, she discovered two rare lichen species, Gym11oderma /ineare, an unusual Southern Appalachian endemic and candidate for federal listing, and Hydrotheria venosa, an extremely rare and unique aquatic lichen found only at a few locations in the Southern Appalachians and the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. Heiman helped 10 design a management program for rare plants on Roan Mountain, and served as a liaison with other federal and state agencies that work with Lhe Forest Service to protect threatened and endangered plant species. She also perfonned surveys for rare plants on over 20 proposed timber sale projects in nine ranger districts in the mountains and on the coast Her effons did no1 stop or even seriously in1erfere with a single timber sale, and she was praised by Forest Service district personnel for her competence and cooperation. Roe, for his pan, was widely recognized for directing one of the best s1a1e-run rare plant protection programs in lhe nation. He had organized Nonh Carolina's Natural Heritage Program, which has protec1ed unique species and natural areas on 630,000 acres in the stnte and which has entered into over 300 "protection agreements" with public agencies and private and corporate landowners. Roe had acc-0mplished all this with a staff of 4 1/2 persons and a miniscule $164,000 annuaJ budget Why were Lhese two respected and committed scientists fired? The official justifications given were petty and largely undocumented. In Heiman's case, neither Dahl nor Lauren Hillman, her immediate superior, were able to substantiate any change in Heiman's performance that would account for her performance rating falling from the "fully successful" rating she received in October 1990 10 1he "negative" raring she received in February that led 10 her dismissal. 11 seems apparent that Heiman and Roe's only transgression was to carry out the jobs assigned 10 them to the best of their abilities. Unfortunately, competence in their work set them athwnn of political interests that value devastating timbering and roadbuilding operations more than the rich biologicaJ and botanical diversity of the native Appalachian habitnl. And, aJso unfonunately. these interestS control the strings that motiva1e Bjorn Dahl. The supervisor remarked once to a group of timber industry officials that during his tenure in lhe nationaJ forests of the Pacific Northwest, "we used 10 do 400 acre cleazcuts before the spoued owl," and that "it could happen here," implying that the discovery of rare and threatened species in Nonh Carolina's national forests could seriously hnmper timber operations in the state. Most observers believe that Dahl was "I am in contact with several Congressional offices who have said chat they are already aware that this is just the latest incident in what is clearly a national pattern of intimidation of Forest Service scientists. We hope and fully expect my firing to get broader attention soon." - Karin Heiman !f'll~1{~Al~~~!,~~~k't~~~~': Most observers believe that Dahl was concerned that Heiman's trained and observant eyes might discover a "spotted owl" that would slow regional timber harvesting in the Appalachians. Even the Asheville Citizen-Times, normally a mouthpiece for the region's timber industry, seemed to find the firings suspicious. "The evidence offered thus far by the Forest Service" for Heiman's firing "falls embarrassingly shon," read the newspaper's editoriaJ page on ApriJ 15, and went on to say that "there is absolutely no way Stale bureaucrats can come up with a credible excuse for firing Chuck Roe." Sad 10 say. it appears unlikely that these ttnvestie.~ of administrative justice will be righted by the agencies who committed them. Both scientists have appeaJed their dismissals within their own agencies. Forest Service Regional Forester John Alcock has requested that Heiman submit her appe& and all supporting materiaJs to him in writing. In the course of investigating Heiman's appeal, regionaJ personnel officer Rudy Caruthers traveled from Atlanta to Asheville to speak with Dahl and Hillman about the firing but did not infonn Heiman of his visit or give her any opportunity to meet with him personally. Roe, after what he felt was a "one-sided" hearing, >C.Qtuaf,. Journat J)Q(JC 23 �has decided on a second-level appeal of his case. Since the firings, outraged citizens have written hundreds of letters to legislators, agencies, and newspapers in support of Heiman and Roe. Several environmental "watchdog" groups have responded to the incident, including the Association of Forest Employees for Environmental Ethics and the Government Accountability Project, who arc working with Heiman to get a Congressional review of her tem1ination. Heiman has also spoken with several concerned federal legislators: "[ am in contact with several Congressional offices who have said that they are already aware that this is just the latest incident in what is clearly a national pauem of intimidation of Forest Service scientists," Heiman has stated. "We hope and fully expect my firing to get broader attention soon." Ultimately. however, the rrue victims of these firings are the once diverse and flourishing forest ecosystems. Without advocates like Heim:i.n and Roe, they seem doomed to be trampled into extinction. Before Heiman was hired, it was routine for the Forest Service to harvest constantly increasing amounts of timber and to build thousands of miles of roads in some of the finest forest communities on the planet without ever sUJVeying the sale areas for threatened and "We might not be doing everything we could to protect species, but we're not willfully malicious." - Bjorn Dahl endangered species. All evidence indicates that this is how Bjorn Dahl prefers it. The proposed Bee Tree timber sale is a case in point. This area, near Devil's Counhouse in nonhern Transylvania County, was proposed as a timber sale project in early 1990 by District Ranger An Rowe. In June of thnt year, the WNC Alliance and the Sierra Club appealed th.: sale. In their appeals they pointed out that the Forest Service had nm done adequate surveys for threatened and endangered plant species on the Bee Tree site, in spite of the fact thnt botanists consider the area a "high probability site" for rare species. Instead, the district had merely done a cursory search of re.cords indicating the presence or threatened and endangered :,pccics. Finding no previous listings of threatened and endangered species in the area. Rowe felt the "'ay w:l\ clear to proceed with the sale. Dahl concurred, and in October 1990 rejected the environmental groups' appeab. Unhappy with Dahl's decision, Wt-.CA and the Sierra Club c:irried their appeal to Regional Forester Alcock, who in J:inuary. 1991 decided in their favor. specifically citing the lack of a thorough survey for threatened and endangered species, 111c regional oflice ordered Dahl to conduct a site-specific survey of the area. Even after Alcock's decision, Dahl continued to maintain that he felt the records survey had been "adequate," and that there was no need for a site-specific survey. When J{{\tunf~ JounlO! pn9c U Heiman had offered to survey the Bee Tree area in June, 1990, she had been stopped by Hillman and Rowe. Then, after Alcock's decision compelled the national forests administration to make the survey, Heiman was told 10 make the survey during the month of February, 1991 - in the middle of winter when many rare plant species are impossible to locate. Heiman did anempt the survey and concluded that rare plants were likely to be found in the Bee Tree sale area. It was only days later when she received the "negative" performance evaluation that led 10 her dismissal. The survey was completed by a substitute botanist, and last month, in its Environmental Impact Statement for the Bee Tree sale, the Forest Service reported its conclusion that logging in Bee Tree would have "no significant impact" on plant and wildlife species in the area. Unfomrnatcly the Bee Tree sale is not an isolated example of Forest Service manipulations and misdeeds in the name of roads and timber. Heiman has outlined 15 other instances in which she says she was stopped from identifying and protecting rare plant species. When she reponed her findings on the Tellico-Robbinsville Federal Highway Project - which might have halted construction of that infamous "road to nowhere" - her staff officer supponed her findings, but she lost his backing when he retired shortly thereafter. While surveying a site near a proposed parking lot expansion at the Oadle of Forestry, Heiman expressed concern to District Ranger An Rowe that the construction might threaten the rare swamp pink plant. Rowe responded by saying that he felt the parking lot, not the plant, might be a better value for the American public. In defense of the Forest Service, Julie Tneciak, the agency's public relations officer, maintains the agency is "str0ngly committed 10 protecting plants and animals." She said that the agency has increased its Endangered Species program tenfold since 1985, and that there a.re 50 areas managed specifically for threatened plants and animals. She also stated the Forest Service buys land to provide habitat for threatened species, and has entered into agreements with the Plant Conservation Program and the NC Natural Heritage Program to protect rare species on the federal lands. Chuck Roe was the lia.\on between the Natural Heritage Program and the Forest Sc1vicc on the agreements th.11 Trzt.-ciak ci1cs. In the same leucr 10 Dahl i:xprcssing concern about Heiman's firing, Roe pointed out the problems his agency was having with the Forest Service: - the Forest Service had not drawn up contracts to conduct surveys of rare plants on national forest lands, although the funds had been approved since December, 1990. The delay was preventing the Natural Heritage Program from hiring botanists in time to do the surveys this growing season. - the Forest Service had not responded to nominations made two years ago for nearly a doun sites in the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests 10 be designated "special mterest management sites." - The Foresc Service had shown no interest in a one-day infonnational rare plants seminar offered to agency personnel by the Natural Heritage Program. - the Forest Service had told Roe in the fall of 1990 that a revised list of protected, endangered, and threatened species on Forest lands "would soon be put into use by Forest Service personnel." This has yet 10 happen. When asked about these delays, Dahl replied that he was "perplexed" about them, stating that the threatened and endangered species programs are handled by Lauren Hillman's office. Hillman has refused all requests for direct interviews concerning the firings and attendant issues, but said through Tl7.Cciak that she believes "the programs are right on track." 'The credibility of the Forest Service has slid right down around its ankles." - Bill 171omas, Sierra Club Strangely, Bjorn Dahl seems 10 blame a "lack of public input" for the firings and for his agency's blatant unwillingness to establish a vigorous program of protection for rare species. "From these setbacks," he said after the firings made the news, "I hope people will join me in laying out their expectation~." And, as if the flurry of letters, phone calls, and editorials protesung the firings are not vocal evidence enough, Dahl added, "They (the public) should Jay out what they Wdnt more vocally than before. We'll gauge our actions based upon public expectations." Th:11 sounds familiar. Throughout his reign as supervisor of the Nonh Carolina national fore~ts. Dahl has promised to alter agency policies to meet "public expectations." How then b he to explain items like these? Although the puhlic has continued to ask for less timbering on national forest lands, 1991 "timber target" levels are 20% above those of the pre\·ious year. Although the public ha,; conunued to ask for less clearcutting on national fori:st lands, and while the agency states that they have reduced clearcuuing. they have merely increased the number of "selective harvest" units, which silvicultur:1lly are merely smalli:r clearcuts. Although the public. through the WNC Alliance, the Sierra Club and other activist groups, has expressed grave concern for the fotc of threatened and endangered species on (contmuod on page 30) Craphic by Ibby Kenna S11 lllt1IC1', 1991 �TIME TO TAKE THE TIME TO TAKE THE TIME There's a new world 1ryi11g 10 emerge from 1he hearts and hands ofmany...a world of economy where was1c is sold as a resource for new products - with a modern understanding thar so-calli.:d "wasres" an: not wastes unless they are wastcd...a world where efficiency is in keeping wi1h nature and heal1h ... new kind of fann...a more purposeful kind of worlc ... a different feel for our world ... a new day. People are hungry for it. industry is busy with it. But how docs it all really happen? How, when the seeming immensity of it all can so quickly boggle our minds to the point where we throw up our hands and wait for someone else to figure ou1 what to do, or hope the solutions will come packaged for sale? Business in the past looked at money profits as its main goal and let nothing stand in the way of its claim, "If we don't profit, we won't be In business." It had litrle vision of the many more useful long-1erm profi1s such as people, their lives, the food they eat, the water they drink, and the secure alternatives in learning about true wealth. And then with a small sliver of that narrow-minded cash profit, they proceeded to pa1ch up the damages that occur with this sort of obsolescent irresponsibili1y; or beat it in court. This was a the 1rcnd, bur now we are seeing businesses wirh money-making as their chief nlOrh~ Jting fon:e going out of business as thcv rhemsdves predicted. · lt all really happens as we, in our homes. and in our curs, and in our dailv business, ask ourselves, "What docs \\'Ork?'' From inside our:.elvcs this goes out and out and out 10 create the new, more real. marketplace. Environmental problems arc big, but we needn't be boggled, for as big as they :ire, they are equally as small fractioned down 10 the responsibility of each of us. The situation is then i11 our hands and no longer "out of hand." When we realize our own powerful pan by beginning. our go the fears of what wasn't working anyway. The answers then srart to come with all the questions. When we're acrually doing what we can do. the very feeling empowers us and will soon replace an old world built on false economy, and the aging, tired concept of wealth thnt we know, and bring newness • new forms of "profit." From here we can begin to get on with more of the real things. bylvo / (NWN - continued from p. 22) BUSINESSES AGAINST CLEARCUTS N4ruraJ Wo.-ld News Sttvicc On May 15, 1991 the Westem North Carolina Alliance (WNCA) presented the results of its second anti-clearcutting campaign to US Forest Service Supervisor Bjorn Dahl. This new campaign gathered suppon from area businesses and resulted in the collection of 930 names - a fnr greater response than was expected - on a petition that called for an end to clearcutting in the national forests. WNCA targeted the tourism and recreation industry, but a much broader cross-section of businesses, including banks, pharmacies, florists, and grocery stores, from 21 counties in western North Carolina chose 10 get involved. The Southern Appalachian Multiple Use Council, a timber industry lobby group, attempted to manipulate the public by soliciting signatures on a pro-logging petition that was almost identical to the WNCA petition in its fonnat. After complaints about this deceptive tactic, the WNCA staff publicly accused the Multiple Use Council of trying to "muddy the issue and confuse people." Upon receiving the petitions, Mr. Dahl stated that he was "impressed" by the number of signatories, and assured WNCA members and participating businesspeople 1ha1 1he Forest Service would be responsive 10 the public will. Dahl said that, "[n response 10 public wishes, we last year amended the Forest Plan to Summa-, 1991 climina1c clearcutting as the preferred aJ1cmative. The issue of clean::utting is essentially behind us." WNCA staff person Mary Kelly strongly disagreed with this statement. as did others present. She said that the supposed reductions in clearcutting (from 87% to 48% of the harvest over the past two years, according to Dahl) merely reflected use of smaller, less obvious clearcuts, not true selective culling. Kelly stated that some forest expens believe that the allowable sale quantity in our National Forests is twice as high as it should be, and noted that "the Forest Service has historically treated the timber industry as the only industry to consider We're asking them to look at the big picture." Drawings b)' Rob Mcuick ROAD HOGS FIT TO BE TIED Na11aral World News Service There arc three departments of the North Carolina state government that are prcsen1ly not required to announce and hold public hearings before setting poJicy: the Depanment of Correction, the Department of Revenue, and the Department of Transportation (0011. Of these three, the Dcpanments of Correction and Revenue hold fairly specialized responsibilities. The Department ofTransponation every months makes decisions rhat involve millions of dollars of public funds and have imponant implications for the future of every town and county in the state. It is a testament to the great political power of the DOT that the agency still operates only under the advisement of the Board of Transportation, a wcalrhy and influential elite who receive their appointments - a true patronage plum - directly from the hand of the governor in exchange for "seivices rendered." Yet now when Senator Joe Johnson (D-Wake) introduces a bill to require the DOT to conform to public heanng guidelines followed by all the other State agencies, rhc howling and crying is tremendous. ''It's going to cost too much." ··1t·s going 10 be too much trouble." complain the road hogs. The "sacred pigs" will no1 easily or gracefully give up their places at the public trough. Your state legislators need 10 hear your opinions on the bill requiring the DOT to hold public hearings. Xatuafl Journnt JXUJC 25 �DRUMMING LETTERS TO KATUAH To the Editors of the Kattiah Journal, In the otherwise fine article by Thomas Power, "Avoiding the Passive/Helpless Approach to Economic Development" in the Spring, 1991 issue, he mnkes a very erroneous assumption when he suggests, "Jf we are interested in attracting more people, ..." That assumption is the same one that the powers-that-be ascribe to so wholeheanedly: that we have to grow in order to have a healthy regional economy. If Tcaught the gist of the Summer, 1990 "Canying Capncity" issue of the Kau«Jh Journal correctly, then we already are burdened by too many people in the southern mountnins. We do not need to expand, we need to shrink the number of people living here. Beyond a certnin point, numbers or people and the "forested mountains and the environmental quality" Power speaks of are antithetical to each other. We preserve wild habitat for the sake of wild habitat and the wild animals that live in it, not 10 attract more people. These points were minor revelations to me when I read them in the Kamalt Journal. Don't back out on them now! Sincerely, Hoyt Wilhelm N. Wilkesboro, NC Dear Kalllali Journal Friends, l am just writing to tell you how much l have enjoyed reading several issues or your journal that a friend lent me to read. I appreciate your deeply considered opinions and the viewpoint they come from. I consider myself to be somewhat perceptive, and in most Statements that are called "environmental" these days, I can see that the spokespeople are representing some interests besides the environment, whether it be their own career, their own profit, or some philosophical or political ideology. Most of what I read in the Katualr Journal seems to come suaight from the hean, and that makes a difference. There are not many publications that would have the courage to speak out about t.he ''carrying capacity" for human beings or propose that aU the national forest lands in the Southern Appnlachians should be an "evolutionary preserve." 1 have to admit that these ideas were a little shocking 10 me at first, but on reflection r could see that that they are just what is needed in this "bioregion." Now it seems so obvious. I see to what a great extent we are conditioned by the business assumptions that motivate this country. when what is just common sense can seem so unsettling. I wonder what is going 10 happen to this country, and I wonder what is going to happen Xntuaft Journot p119c 26 to Kat1wl, Journal Please continue to say what needs 10 be said (even if it is a little shocking sometimes!) and maybe we will see some1hing change. I am always hoping for the best. Yours truly, Katherine Albright Knoxville, TN TLANUWA Ho. Tlanuwa, Spirit-falcon, Your mighty wings Blot out the sun. Pear strikes all who See you flying Fawn and bear cub, Man-child, too. Carried struggling To your nest si1e, On the cliffs they Feed your ne~tlings. Came a shaman Then to thwan you; Cast your nestlings To the water. There Uktenn, Great homed serpent, Swallowed down your Precious offspring. Great your sorrow, Great your anger. Vengeance wrought you On Uktena. Chunks you pulled our or the serpent, Let them fall down From the heavens. There upon the Eanh his body, Tom and broken Soon did lie. From your empty Nest you fled then; Leaving an Unshadowed sky. Your depanurc Saved our young, but Awe and wonder Left us, 100. Perhaps too high a Price was paid, and Wonder's presence Worth some risk. Ho. Tlanuwa, Spirit-falcon, My heart yearns For your return. - Douglas A. Rossman To the Editor, Back in April some political pranksters threw barrels marked "radioactive waste" by the side of 1-26 where it joins I-40 near Asheville, NC. This caused a big sensation among the officials who flocked to the scene. r read in the Asheville Citizen that one woman from the EPA called it "totally irre!iponsible" and "a sick joke." The S Bl had fun telling the paper all lhe terrible things they would do to the.tricksters if they could catch them. I thought that it was totally responsible to do this. Trucks carrying radioactive waste ~ drive through that intersection. A lot of people don't even know this; a lot of other people do know this, but they choose to ignore it People need to be woken up to what is really happening around here, and somebody found a good way todoit. What is totally irresponsible is for the EPA to grant permits for trucks to cany barrels of real radioactive waste along the highways. lf some barrels of real waste fell off one of these trucks, there would be trouble and danger for Asheville. When I saw how indignant the EPA lady got about somebody's trick, I laughed and laughed at how backward it all was. But it was a sick joke. Sincerely, Etta Bennett Cullowhee, NC (P.S. • I wroie a leuet lO the Ashevil/t Citizen about this. bu1 r don't think they ever printed iL ~l's why I wrote IQ you.) Dear Katuah, Recently, while visiting my sister in Knoxville, I was handed a copy ofKatuah Journal, summer 1989. I must say it was highly inspirational reading. I applaud your work for peace, justice, and ecological harmony in the Katuah Bioregion. Sincerely, Michael Sosadeeter Dear Katua/1, Your Journal is so valuable - and important. I'll be sending more suppon later. Thanks for leading the way. May the Crow Moon bring you growth, green, and peace in these dark times. Sincerely, John King Drawing by Rob Mfflic-. Su mtt1CT , 1991 �Dear Katuah, You are a real friend! Thank you very much for sending me lha1 back issue (on the Chestnut) lha1 I wanted, but even more for the current issue, wilh itS wonderful article on my old friend Mr. Bailey of Clarksville. When I was assigned 10 the 12th Armored Division in 1942, a newly married first lieu1enant in field artillery, I opened an account in Mr. Bailey's bank and immediately became his friend, as ev<:ryone_did: Your story 1ell~ i1 very truly; he believed m his own surroundings and did all he ~ould 10 improve the lot of his people. His influence was very grea4 and I think Mr. Bailey was wrong in thinking that industry never accepted his ideas. l also think Griscom Morgan is wholly wrong in his disparagement of savings, but that is another story. I enclose a Case Statement for the American Chestnut Foundation (P. 0. Box 6057, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506). I think you will find it interesting and encouraging. I am doing all I can 10 raise the additionaJ funding they desperately need, first from private foundations, because 1hat is 1he bes1 chance for early resulis. Later I want 10 identify and approach large landowners in 1he Appalachian region, and especially people with o family history of giving and the means to make those gifts in substantial amounts... When I was growing up the chestnut was still the dominant iree in our forests. I remember it vividly, and recall the distress which everyone felt so keenly as the onslaught of the blight iook those great trees from us. l am fully convinced we will restore the ll'Ce, and after you read our case statement you will understand why. Young men plant flowers; old men, trees. Sincerely yours, WilHam G. Raoul Lookout Mountain, TN Greetings Kaiuah Journal Folk, Thank you for your continued 1ime and effons in pulling together Kaul ah Journal. l just ~anled 10 let you know how much reading the Journal means to me, and the suppon ii offers in living in a "mixed community" with its incessant bombardment of media propaganda extolling the industrial growth society. Even when the in~i?i~us e~fe_cts ofT.V. are personally m1nirruz.ed II is too oflen necessary to live and work with friends, family and associates whose mind and (sadly} values are shaped by 1.O.S. media. Sometimes 1his "reality" seems overwhelming. It is al such a time that a friend like Karuah Journal (and perhaps some wilderness) helps to restore my connection to a "d~per renlity" and community of Jjving bemgs. The real work you are doing is very much appreciated. For All Things Wild, Ed Lytwak I I Sumincr, 1991 Dear Brother & Sister Editors, I have written a prayer that I hope is wonhy to be printed in your paper. I have been disabled for almost six years as rhe result of a back injury. I have been diagnosed as clinically depressed. Many people think I am crazy. Some think I am a lunatic. This could be true but since I became homeless a dear old fri;nd, Danny Jesse, moved me into his old farm house because I had nowhere to go, and I was penniless. The old house has no electricity, and the water is from a spigo1 in the yard. Another dear friend, Charlie Dunaway inuoduced me to Karuah Journal (summer 1990 issue) and 1realized there are s1ill some "real" people left who really care about our Creator, our Mother Earth, and each other. Since l have been here (approximately 6 months) I have developed a close relationship with my Creator. Had it not been for my Creator sending my friend to rescue me I would surely have committed suicide. However, here I am very much alive and would like to share my prayer with you. 0 Great Spirit open my eyes that I will see you in each of your creations 0 Great Spirit open my ears tha1 I will hear your voice in the words of my brothers and the sounds of the Eanh 0 Great Spirit open my heart that your good will flow through me 0 Great Spirit give me knowledge that I will be one with you 0 Great Spirit give me wisdom that I may teach my sons of your love and to love our Mother Eanh 0 Great Spirit be merciful to my brothers who in their greed have scarred my Mother's flesh who have poisoned her flesh and her blood who have polluted her skies who have hate in their heans 0 Great Spirit give me the coumge when death comes so I will welcome ii with the realization that life comes with death as death comes with life. Sincerely, RogcrOark I rhoio by Rob Mcoid< Sometimes Tears Are Not Enough We sang for peace. Woke up this morning to find they are still making bombs. We acted for peace. How, I said, and why? What about our planet? Whal aboul the children? We wor1<ed for peace, even as those surrounding us filled lheir yards and minds with patriotic slogans, waved their flags, called war "just" ·successful" "deserved" Woke up this evening 10 find !hough we sing,act,cry, or even protest they are making bombs now. Singing peace woke 10 lind our songs aren1 enough acting peace how?where? why do we live In such madness? shouting peace as hundreds of thousands or innocent human beings die at Hie hands of our ·smart· precision bombs, hands of boys trained and distanced by video games crying peace woke in the dawn wilh tears on our cheeks from war filled nightmares tears on our cheeks knowing there are those lor whom this war is more lhan a media event or a palriotlc slogan dreaming of singing peace acling peace dancingshou1lngtovingbelieving 11\Jstingtrying peace... concrete dreams cl\Jni>ling to TNT, plutonium, machine guns... they are making bombs now. A child is crying for what she can·t be giving I say, child, stop your c,ying. Gather up your strength for living because somewhere children are dying. Our tears are not enough to chase away the pa,n we cannot understand why war seems to never cease. Yet even as the sun shines bnlhant through the ram we know that through the dar1<ness we must st,U wor1< for peace. (continued on nclll page) �(Cfflllnutd {rQln pogo 27) Dear Ka1uah, I miss you in my life! Please re-subscribe me. I've moved 10 the city and am surviving well on one of the few din roads left in Tallahassee. Bard owls (a couple) are mating now. I wake at night to hear lhcm and it's like manna from heaven. I know the trout lilies are blooming back in Sycamore, and just knowing they're there is not enough. Every day I consider returning 10 lhe country, but life is so much easier here with electricity, running water, and acceptable child care. Still I grieve the losses. Thnnks, Janeice Ray Dear Karual,. I've been thinking lately about what is imponant to me. A few things come out strongly: people I love, doing something I can put my soul into, and encouraging a more ideal world by supporting things I believe in like; • the local baker • organic fanning • and publications that communicate what is important 10 me. I don't live in Ka11111h, but I like feeling pan of the soul 1ha1 is in this journal. I want you 10 know that ideas from the Kaniah Journal have helped me shape my life philosophy and will influence the way I live and impact the world. Thank you for your dedication and work. May you be blessed with strength and pel!Ce. Dan Shoug Bean Goose Farm Dear Kania Ii Staff, I was exin:mcly excited to read issue #30 of the Kan!ah Journal. This was my first contact ru,d I om impressed with the anicles and the overall JayouL The "economy" anicle was eitcellem. I hnve included a check for 3 back issues, plus T wish 10 be a ~ponsor. Thanks, Todd Rohlsson From lhc Floyd ERC Ncw,lcuer (continued Imm page 4) practices in their families. The dowsers' "golden opponunity" came during the eastern gold rush of 1828-29 that centered on Dahlonega, Georgia. It offered great reward for those who could sense the presence of underground veins, but it also brought on the inevitable swindling and che:iting that accompanies the lure of sudden riches. Sharon Johnson of the Gold Museum in Dahlonega said, ''There are people who believe today that they can find gold dowsing with certain rypes of stainless steel rods, and I'm sure that there were people like that back during the gold rush years. '&hey also had what they called 'gold-finders.' These were instruments sold 10 people who were prospecting. I've seen at least two of these, one that dated back to about 1890 and another came from the 1920's. One was no more than a wooden rod which was filled with gold, iron pyrite, and black -;and. It had a compass-like instrument in 1he center. The metal gold-finder was a long tube, prob:ibly made 0111 of aluminum. and I think that came also with a liulc vial of gold." Dowsers do 001 think that theirs is an eicclusive gift. They generally agree that, like intelligence or any statistical curve, there arc tho.SC: eicceptionally sensitive to the psychic energies, many people mildly sensitive, and those who do not perceive that level of existence at all. Walter Dale says, "To learn how to do it, you can get some ideas from a book, but the very best thing to do is 10 have a dowser who is really familiar with the method to show you. Anybody can do it, but you have 10 really want 10 do iL" But he does offer this idea as a way for beginners 10 familiariz.e themselves with the process: "Get yourself a five inch piece of Xcatuaf1 )oun \Q( POlJC 28 saing and tie on a metal nut (used to screw onto a bolt) that is about the size of a nickel. This will make a simple pendulum. "Practice with it by looking at it and saying, 'Give men yes.' ft may lllke several a11emp1s, but you should be able 10 get the pendulum to move consistently in a cenain way. Then ask the pendulum for a no, and after awhile you should be able 10 establish a definite motion for that answer. "Once you get the communication paucm going, relax and know that you can do it. It all comes with practice.~ For additional mfonnauon on dowsing nnd help for those who wi~h IO gci stancd: American Society of DowSCl'I - A~luc;hi.111 Ch;iplCf Bob Barnwell Rd. 137 Fletcher, NC (704) 628-2456 / -;_· The mountains are slow moving waves of rock and gravel trees and microbes on which we all festively ride, meeting old friends from other eras that stir anew notions of supplanting the demise of our kind ... RM Summer, 1991 �Whole Science One need not tum only co metaphysical explanations in working toward an undeTStanding of how some perplexing phenomena occur in Lhe Universe. There is emerging a sound Ecology of Lhe Cosmos which is based on repeamble experience. recorded measurements, and an acknowledgment of the role of human consciousness in interpreting the work of science. The scientists who are now working through more comprehensive means of collecting information, and creating theories that reflect Lhis new infonnation, are finding that the physical Universe is far more complex and inter-related than previously Lhought. Some of these new ideas in science go by the names of Quantum Theory, Dynamic Whole Systems approaches, Chaos, and Gaia Theory. These ideas have in common a break with classical scientific principles which regarded the Universe, and all its constituent pans, as a pre-determined machine which is running down in a clear sequence of events. When Lhe Universe is recognized as being more dynamic and self-organizing, through its many diverse scopes of whole systems and environments, a different picture can be drawn of the regenerative patterns of energy and form that surround us. In Lhe discipline of physics, Quantum Theory has shown that what we as human beings experience as "normal'' is not the same as what other whole systems at other scales of being would consider to be "nonnal." For instance, at Lhe scale of an atom the instruments used to detect an electron's speed or position as it moves around the atom's nucleus interfere drastically with the electrons motions and potenuals. LI becomes impossible to separate the experimenter from the experiment at this scale, since the two are so intimately involved with each other. In addition to this an electron's position can be determined, and its momentum can be determined, but the 1wo can no1 be de1ennined together. Electrons fliner like clouds around atomic nuclei, and Lhe best we can do is find the potemial of either what phase they are in or where they will be in this entangled environment. In the Life Sciences it has been found that all life, in its amazing diversity, is composed of the same types of chemical elements: Carbon, Hydrogen, Nirrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur. These and the other kinds of atoms found on the Eanh came together when the planet began m accme in the interstellar medium. It is very likely 1ha1 the atoms we are composed of were strewn from an exploding star, more massive than the sun, which influenced the formation of the Solar System. There are only 20 different fonns of amino acids, which are the basis of all the different strands of protein essential to all life on Eanh. Every living organism came from previous life, which in turn has a common ancestry 1h01 reaches back at least 3 l(l billion years. For much of this history microbes were the major fonn of life. lndependant microbes formed alliances and antagonisms which evenrually became the composite cells found in plants and animals today. Building on past successes, through this kind of mutual advantaging, a strong relationship also developed between living systems and the magma, rock. soils, waters, atmosphere, and magnetosphere of the Earth. These dense-to-gaseous fluid mediums arc cycling physical energy, much as other plnnatary systems do; only for this planet there existed the po1ential for active participation in these cycles by Life. This is a dramatic difference, because the range of circumstances necessary for life 10 emerge on a planet of sufficient endowment and proximity is limited and very unique. 0..wmg by Rob Messick II IIll II III II IIIIIIII II II II II IIIII II1111111111111111111111111111111111111 11 III IIIIIIII llllllllllll11111111111 II IIIIIIII IIIIIIINllllll111111111'I, IlII1111111111111111111 II IIIII III IIIlIIIIII IIIIII IIIIRlllllllll Ill III II Ill IIIII II llllllllllllllll 111111111111 I111111111 llllltllllll TUNING IN There are a number of practices that one can do to increase the intuitive ability as it pertains to the Earth. The exercises which have worked best for me arc adaptations of yoga and techniques from psychic healing. Nearly all meditation techniques translate very well into learning Earth attuncment My inner guidance has been to remain flexible by borrowing from many disciplines and then adapting the techniques wbicb fit into my life in a natural manner. The big revelation for me came in a yoga class when T learned that there are minor chakrns on the feet. 1 suspect that the yogis can stand transfixed in a difficult position, such as on one leg, for hours at a time because they have learned how 10 ground themselves so thoroughly that they are temporarily auached to the Banh through the chakms in the feet. The importance of Lhe feet is somelhing that has been ignored in western civilization. In the Mideast, where lhe feet are ritually wai.hed and perfumed with oils, they are considered sacred. and recognized as one's most vital connection to the planet. One can learn to dispel tired energy through the soles of the feet, and ask the Earth to replenish that energy. Yoga is excellent practice for this. So is T'ai Chi or any of the martial arts, so long as the emphasis is on grounding and balance. Walking meditation, as in Zen Buddhist practice, in which one is very aware of body rhythms, is an excellent way 10 walk through S\1mmcr, 1901 the woods in a state of heightened awareness. I have found that if I can match my stride in a conscious way to the panicular terrain, I usually break through 10 a quietness in which I am aware of my rhythms blending in with the larger, greater rhythms of life around me. This is also a good way 10 become aware of the variations in the lay of the land. Since I live in town these days, I have limited access to wild areas. Still, it is possible to grow in sensitivity if one is willing to make daily connections to the Eanh from a conscious, aware state. l recommend bringing home small momentoes from places Lhat have special meaning. This keeps the memory alive and helps make emotional connections to one's personal sacred places. I routinely bring home pieces of gnarled wood, shells, or small rocks. Do not take large rocks without pennission or rocks that are part of a fairy ring. Usually there is something · a feather, a rock - that stands out, and that is what I take as a gif1. And J always give thanks. ln my house, the kitchen window sill is a great place for an altar, because I can • automatically look at my nature gifts every day when l wash dishes. But the most important practice of all is to get outdoors every day in a conscious way. Usually the only time I can do this and know I wilJ not be interrupted is when the supper dishes arc done or when l am ready to close up the house for the night. l step outside in my backyard, and I let down my guard and open up as totally as possible to whatever is happening at that moment. The Earth is always ready to respond 10 us. However, nothing "happens," to me at least. until I have quieted my mind. When my mind stops its chatter, then my senses literally become more acute. I can hear birds, insects, and 1he rustle of leaves more intensely and with greater detail than I was able to do only a few minutes before. When I do reach that point of the quietness within, there is always something amazingly beautiful and striking Lhat leaps out at me. It may be Lhe full moom peeking out from behind silver clouds, or the sudden wafting of the fragrance of whatever flower is in bloom. Sometimes my holly tree becomes suddenly vibrant and animated. It is a championship holly, and I am sure that a powerful nature spirit lives there. Along with this sudden insight into the beauty of nature, there is always a caressing breeze. I call it caressing, not only because of iLS gentleness, but because it does not appear to come from a specific direction, and it never seems to be thcre until I reach a certain open state of consciousness. I always wait for this moment, because I t:lke it as a re.o;pon~e. a confirmation from the Earth he~lf. How much time does it take out of a busy day to perform this simple ritual? Maybe five minutes. The payoff in tenns of lifted spirits is tremendous. - Charlotte Homsher X.Ot.wlh Journal pogc 29 �(FUUNGS-cool.inucd from pegc 24) REVIEW national forest lands, Dahl responded that the records search on the Bee Tree site was an 'adequate' survey for threatened and endangered plant species and then ordered a survey when the ground was covered with snow. The clear and unfortunate conclusion one must draw from all of this is that the "public'' Dahl listens to moSt closely is the timber industry. LIGHT IN THE WIND chanrs and circle son-gs by Bob Avery-Grubel (available from Bob Avery-Grubel; RL l ,Box 73S: Floyd, VA 24091) Bob Avery-Grubel is a founder and mainstay of The Celebration Singers of a closely-knit community of families inhabiting Floyd County, Virginia. The group sings up-beat, positive, spiritual music, all of which is original, much of it contributed by Bob Avery-Grubel. The songs on l,iglu in the Wind arc typical of I.he Celebration Singers: rhythmic and unifying numbers meant for group singing at evening circle, in the sweat lodge, or at holiday gatherings. The credit sheet says that the music is "dedicated to those moments when we let go into uplifting song and come closer to the truth of who we are," and surely this is so. The songs are simple, as chants and community songs should be, yet they are filling and satisfying. However, the songs leave the listener with a persistent feeling that they are more fun to sing than 10 listen to - and they are! (proven fact) The words are easily learned, but for those in doubt a lyric sheet is available for $1.00. Bob Avery-Grubel's productions are home-made craft pieces. Ught in the Wind was recorded at Bohemian Studios, which are housed in an angular building on a wind-swept farm seven miles from the closest town. The tape was engineered and mixed by Avery-Grubel and A'Coun Bason (who also plays penny whistle and catchy percussion on several differem hand drums). Light in the Wind: a valuable community resource. For tho.-.e who want more. Avery-Orubcl also offers the benefit of his musical and community experiem:e in "Breakthrough Singing" workshops: "a lime and space IO experience healing through song and voice." For information, write h1m at the address above. -MT THE TOE VALLEY CENTER The Toe Valley Ccmer is being established as a non-profit community resource organization to promote and encourage ideas for better living in the three-county area of the Toe River Valley. The Center will: • act as an education and infonnation source for the valley • develop educational programs • initiate meetings and seminars on issues of importance • distribute pamphlets, fact sheecs, and other information • promote I.he vision of a positive future in the Toe River Valley. For information, write or call: Richard Kennedy: 849 JlalUlah Branch Road; Burnsville, NC 28714 (704) 675-52S6. ACUPUNCTURE~ AFFORDABLE ! We otter a sliding scale to get you through hard times In good health! Shortly after she was hired by the Forest Service, Karin Heiman made a statement that. in retrospect, turned out to be eerily prophetic. "What makes my job so challenging," she said, "is the fact that I must strive to find a balance between I.he environmentalists and the timber industry, who both have huge stakes in the decision to harvest or not 10 harvest. And my reports influence that decision." By all accounts, Heiman - and Chuck Roe as well - met that challenge and found that balance. Unfortunately, in the eyes of her employers an honest and thorough naturalist without a political 8.l<e 10 grind is viewed as an obstacle to timber sales rather than as a concerned and commiued scientist dedicated to doing what is best for the forest community. How "vocal" must the public be for I.he the Forest Service to recognize I.hat most people believe that the incredible biological richness they contain is the most valuable "resource" of Southern Appalachia's national foresis? Dahl has recently said, "I'd be the lirst one, if we had an endangered species, to do somclhing about it. I'm not om 10 violate the Endangered Species AcL We might not be doing everylhing we could to protect species, but we're not willfully malicious." Two fired scientists, an enraged public, and we may never know how many rare species would beg to differ. Also Chi Kung (like Tai Chi) every Wednesday 6-7 p.m. at JewtSh Commumly Center. Call to regisler. Ellen Hines, M.Ac., Dipl.Ac. (NCCA) Tradilional C hineSt Acupuncture & Htrbology c:.i.rom... l&.w,.s......... s . - - ~ (704) 2S2-7491 rl :Thu ~ Sanr!J Mush HerbNurse7 WHOLE FOODS VITAMINS ORGANIC PRODUCE WREATHS • POTPOURRI • HERBS • TOPIARY Complete Herb Catalog - $4 Describes more than 800 plants from 160 Broadway Asheville, North Carolina Open 7 Days a Week Monday - Friday 9 am - 8 pm Saturday 9 am - 6:30 pm Sunday 12 pm - 5 pm Aloe to Yarrow A.I.A. , Resource Information Analysis Neil Thomas and Andy Feinstein 305 Westover, Asheville, NC (704) 252-6816 Rt 2, Surrett Cove Road Leicester, North Carolina 28748 Phone for appointment to visit (704) 683-2014 ~umnlci, 199 1 �CHESlNlIT GRAFTING PROJECT by David McGrew SilviculturalisL, French Broad Ranger Districl. USFS Sarurday, April 27, one small step was 1aken toward nmoration of the American chestnut tree to the Southern Appalachian forest. A chestnut grafting workshop was held on lands m.1naged by the French Broad Ranger District of the US Forest Service (USFS) for the purpose of grafting blight-resistant twigs derived from native chestnut trees omo wild chestnut rootstock. The workshop was joir..:y sponsored by the USFS and the American Chestnut Cooperators' Foundation, and served as a uaining session for private cooperators 10 team the grafting technique. The workshop group went 10 a grafting site on a nine acre clearcut in the French Broad District Lhat hod been prepared by the forestry class at Haywood Community College. John Elkins of the American Ches1nu1 Cooperators' Foundation gave the group a brief overview of the breeding and grafting work being done by the foundation and then demonstrated the grafting technique. Each member of the group had a chance 10 perform the grafting operation. and 20 twigs of the blight-resistant American chestnut stock were grafled by the end of the day. At the end of the workshop, all of the private cooperators received 1wig material for grafting in their home areas. Elkins stressed that the twig material was not from trees that were immume to chestnut blight infection but from trees that were better able to resist the infection. He said that a 20-50% survival rate for the grafted twigs is expected, but that a 10% survival rate would be acceptable. A virus disease of the blight fungus, called hypovirulcnce, will be imponant 10 the survival of the gr.tfted trees. "Hypovirulence weakens the blight, just as the nu or a cold will weaken people." said foundation president Gary Griffin. "Chesrnut blight nonnally damages the growing tissues just under the bark, so that Lhe tree can't pass water or nutrients up or down the stem. If enough of the living tissue is damaged, the tree is girdled and it dies. Blight weakened by hypovirulence, however, cannot damage the living tissue under the bark, so the chestnut tree isn't killed, even when heavily infected by blighL" Union Acres An Alternative - i - Acreage for Salt - Smoky Mountain Living with a focus on spirit1111l and ecological values For more information: Contact C. Grant at Route 1. Box 61/ Whittier, NC 28789 (704) 497-4964 Programs to &ncolXoge self and Earth oworEIOeliS. celebration. kinship and nope. • Youlh Camps• School Programs • Farruly Camps• Teacher TniinlOQ • Commut'II)' Programs • Camp Slaff Tre11ing • Outdoot Progrem Consult.ig P.O Box 1306 Gomnt>ug. Tennessee 3n38 615-436-6203 NATURAL MARKET WHOLE FOODS • BULK FOODS• VITAMINES • IIEROS • FAT FREE FOODS • TAKE OUT FOODS• SNACKS• NO SALT, NO CHOLESTEROL According to Elk.ins, blight infection cannot spread as fast on twigs that are genetically resistant to the blight as it can on non-resistant rree$. The hope is that the resistant trees will hold off the blight long enough that the fungus will become infected with the virus disease. Griffin explored the graft.ing site during the workshop, and he found five chestnut trees that had blight infection sites that had been modified by hypovirulence, including one tree where all infection sites were modified. 'These trees give us real hope that this grafting site will be successful in producing large chestnut trees," said Griffin. The French Broad Ranger District will monitor this sile over the next year 10 determine 1he success of the grafting project. The USPS will manage an area of three to four acres around the experiment solely for chestnut, first by maintaining the best growth possible on the surviving gr.tfts, and second, by cutting down all the saplings in the area except naturally-sprouting chestnut saplings. It is a gamble to try these techniques, but it is well wonh the attempt considering how valuable the chestnuts were to these mountain forestS. For more information or lO volWttter l~/p to the American Chtstnut CooptrtJlors· Foundation. write: Lucille Griffin; American Chestmll Cooptra/Ors' Foundaiion; 2667 ForesJ Suviu Road 708; Newport, Va 24128. 265-2700 823 Siow,ng Rock Rd Boone, NC 28607 Shhh. Listen ... ~ by Rob W..essiclt NATIVE FLUTES Two s1yles made of cedar or walnut woods in the traditional manner Hawk Littlejohn Sourwood Farm RI 1, Box 172-l Prospect Hill, NC 27314 (919) 562·3073 Get a set of IO assorted folding cards with artwork you see in Katuah Journal. (Envelopes included.) Send $11.25 postage paid 1 Summer-, 1991 to: RM DESIGNS P.O. BOX 2601 BOONE, NC 28607 Ill l l . ec. 2.)C 11a•oo- NC211139 !7041 $30135 speaking fQr.Jhe earth. �evenrs JULY JUNE 14-23 CIT ICO CREEK, TN Katuah Rainbow Family Galhering Summer Solstice Galhering." ...for the purposes of Peace and Healing, in honor of the Summer Solstice" on Citico Creek in the Cherokee National Foresl, TN. Directions are recorded on lhe Light-Line (404) 662-6112, from NC (704) 563-9218. HO!, Newslet1er of the Kauiah Rainbow Family; Box 5455; Atlanta, GA 30307. • 21-23 ROAN MOUNTArN Summer Solstice and Ent111 energies workshop with Joyce Holbrook. SIOO. Pre-register: Box 109S; Burnsville. NC 28714. 22 SUMMER SOL'-TICE 22-23 GREAT SMOKIES PARK "Wild Mammal~ or the Smokies" field =-ch with Dr. M1 ch.1el Pelton. Hlllld.W>n study or black bear, deer, b3t, and woodchuck populill.ions in the Pork. For information on this and olher field course:.. coniact: Smoky Mounuain F'icld School; c/o Dr. Gayle D. Cooper; Univc:sity ofTcnne=: 600 Henley St. (Suite IOS); Knoxville, TN 37902 (800) 284-8885. BLACK MOUNTAIN, NC "Why Old Women Don't Get the Blucs" with Alice Girard 31 McDibbs. I I9 Cherry SL For info on this gig and summer schedule, call (704) 1A 9-11 AS HEVILLE, NC Broom-making workshop with Carlson Tuulc. For info on this and olher workshops. conlJlCl the Folk Art Center, Box 9545; Asheville, NC 2881.5 (704)298-m8. 11-12 WESSER, NC 669-2456. 1A-27 CREA T SMOKIES PARK ''Family Ounp" - activities for fomilies with children ages 6-12. Nature exploration, slOrytelling. Appalachirul music. hiking, and swimmmg. For info on this and other prognuns, conU1Cc Great Smoky Mountains lnsti1u1c at Tremont; T0Wll5Clld, TN 37882 (615) 448-6700. National Whilewater Championships on the Namahala River, including slalom and wildwater race:;. Nantahala Outdoor Center; 41 US Hwy. 19 West; Bryson City, NC 287 13 (704) 488-2175. LINVI LLE,NC 36111 Annual Grandfather MoUJ1tnin Highland Games and Gathering of the Scouc.h Clan~. Papmtry, pipe bandi:, sheep herding. Scoui,h athletic cvcntS, ccUidh. For info: Highland Game.~; Box 356; Brumer Elle, NC 28604 (704) 898-5286. 11-14 24-27 CULLOWll EE, NC "Landscnping with Native Plants" conference. Lectures, workshops, and field trips led by a host of experts, including Dan Pit1illo, Roben Zahner, George Ellison, and others. $45 + room and board. Pre-conference field trips, 7(21+, are optional and cost extra. For information. call Dr. Jim Horton, (704) 227-7244. 25..S/4 13 ASII FV ILLF~ NC Annunl membership picnic of the Amcric:ln Soc1c1y of Dowsers - Appalachian Chap1cr. Call President Jill1CI Shisler for dctruls: (704) 628-1758. FOLK \1O0T Foll.moot USA brings folk dllncers and musicians from Grcccc. USSR. Fmllllld, Atgcnlina, Holland, Spam, Rom;inia, Puerto Rico, lsr.iel, Turkkey, and Thailand lO perform :u various location.~ in Katu:lh. For schedule and price mfonnauon, conUICt Folkmoot MOUNTAIN LAKE, VA "In Search Of .JI"· ~ploring "iMcr sacred space.• Mt.dicme wheel. dowsing, music. mctliwuon, yoga. drumming, hiking, nnd ritullls. Pre-register: Indian Valley Retreat; Rt. 2. Box 58; Willis, VA 24380 (703) 789-4295. 23-27 27 HOT SPRINGS, NC "lndcpcndcooe Weck Ztn Holiday" WAYNF..SVILLE, NC "Buddhi.gn nnd Meditation• with John Orr. Explora1ion of the Buddhist path 10 sptri1UJI Jjbcra.uon will include meditations, periods ol 5ilcncc, and discussion. For mfo on this and other prognims, con!Xt; Sul-Light Retreat Center. Rt. I. Box 326: Waynesville, NC 28786 (704) 452-4569. F ULL MOON 29-7/6 19-21 19-21 wnh Genie, Sandy Stcwan.. Working. chanling. sttting, dharma talks. and keeping SJlcncc, culminating with a walk up the mountain. For info on this and Olhcr rctrcais: Southern Dtwm11 Rctrea1 Center, RL I. Box 34,H; Hot Springs, NC 28743 (704) 622-7112 USA; Box 523; Waynesville, NC 28786 (800) 334-9036. 26 FULL MOON BLACK MOUl\TAIN, NC Robin and Linda Williams al McDibbs. Sec 7(24. 28 HOT s r RJNGS, NC r-w "Hand~ Sur lhc SIMS. Tum the Ellrth" Tai Oli Ch'uan workshop w1lh Kathleen cu.~ick and Jay Dunbar. Solo nnd two-person play orrcr ins1gh1 inio classical principles of unified movement. Prc-rcgistu. Soulhcm Ollllrma Retreat CcnlCI (sec 6/29). 30-8/1 MARSIIALL, NC "Green Woodworking with Kids" fOl'childrcn ages 10.15 and adult portners. Build a r001S1ool from an 03k log · also swimming, hilting, \l.·1ld plant i<lentificauon, campfires, ond SIOC)'tclhng. Country Workshops: 90 Mill Creek Rd.: Marshnll. NC 28753 (704) 656-2280. S111111nn. 1991 �AUGUST 1-J 16.l!i c;nr:A'f S\IOKll:S r,\RK ·~J!Jvc Amcr1c:111s and the Easth" pr0t,'fiu11 nnhe Grc:u Amoky Moum:am, Instil:.:!~ 111 Tr.:mont, S.:c: 1/:lA-21. 111c;111 ..,:-. ns. NC' "Pinhole V1s1on" - low,tcch pmhok camcm constnu:1100 and c~plur.ulon or crcati\c 1m:1gc-makmg wnh Pinky Ba,;s. For info on thi.~ and 111ocr pho1ogr.iph)· workshops, conl.1(1' App.1lachian finvironmcntal Arts Center: Box 580: I l1ghfands, :-:c 211741 (70-I) 526-4303. J Ul.1..\100~ 26-31 MARSllc\U., l\C -~,:ick Ch:11I111.1kmg• work~ilop wi1h Dan Mayner. Bcgmning wuh a red oak log, parucipants assemble a cluur ic,mg morme and 1cno11 jomcry, dr.i,..knh-cs, and spokeshaves. Prc-rc:g1s1cr. Country Work,hors (sec 7/30-8/1 ). 30-9/2 IIREVARD. NC Soull1cm Life Community Ga1hcrmg • ncl,..Nking on issues of peace, jusucc, and planci;iry protection. Family gathering, orcn IO all .Music hy Cnnd1c and Guy Car:iwan, Contact Rur.d Soulhcm Voicc for Peace (sec 8/2-3). 2-3 CF.1.O, NC Onlhcring of commu111ty orgam,.crs and ga.woots leaders who wish to sh.ire experiences and network at Rural Soulhcm Voice for Peace office in Celo Community. If interested m ancnding, plca.,c contact RSVP; 1898 Hannnh Bmnch Rd.: Burnsville, 1'C 28714 (7o.1) 675-S933. ASHEVILLE, NC 11 lh Annual World Gee-Haw Whimmy Diddle Competition will include whimmy diddle feats, lrlldiuon:il music, and clogging. For info, conlllCt: Folk Art Ctntcr (see 7/9-11). 2.'i SEPTEMBER 2-3 WILLIS, VA 6th Annual "Women's Wellness Week"· an opportunity 10 become part of a supportive women's community for a week of renewing power. honoring spirit, nurturing heart, and encouraging creativity. Activities will include dance, clay sculpting, drumming, tie-dying, healing work, and sweat lodge ceremony. Children's program will run concurrently. Pre-register. Indian Valley Retreat Center (Sf.C 6/23-27). 5-11 17-IR CHEROKEE, NC Freeman Owlc, Cherokee pipcmakcr stone sculptor. and storyteller, will demoru;t.nue nt the Cherokee Hcn!llge Museum and Callery. For infonn:uion on lhis and olhcr eppcara11ccs by nauve cr:if1$pCople, conUJCt: Cherokee Heri1.1ge Museum and Gallery; Box 477: Cherokee, NC 28719 (704) 497-3211. OCOEE RTVER 1991 World Cup and Wild water National Chamnpionshtps will attract over 100 of the top wild water racers in the world. Contact Nantahala Outdoor Center (see 7/11-12). HARRISONBURG, VA PAW (Preserve Appalachian Wilderness) Conference to discuss ideas and Str'Jtegies for "evolutionary preserves" and a wild habitat range the length of the Appalachian Mountains. Sponsored by Virginians for Wilderness/Earth First! and PAW. At James Madison University. For info, write Virginians for Wilderness; Rt. 1, Box 250; Staunton. VA 2440 I or call (703) 885-6983. 14 • 16 19-23 Send $ubmission~ f0t the Event~ page to: Kauiah Calendar Editor; 300 Webb Cove Rd.; Asheville, NC; Katliah Provmcc 28804. Listings for next is.~ue due by Augu.~t 15. "The area's oldcsi and lugc,t natural food~ gtoet'ry • 811/k Herbs, Spices, & Grains Vitamins & Supplements VI/heat, Salt & Yeast-Fm~ Foods Dairy Substitutes Hair & Skin Care Products Beer & Wine Maki11g Stlf'l'lics 200 W. King St, Boone, SC 28607 (704) 261·5220 -p,;, ~~\ Talking J.,,n,~ i~ a monthly J('lutnlll of deep ecology, UISf'ired pen,ooaJ RCIIVlbID rooted ID eMtben 'J'mlWlluy. Pa.,1 1!-!<ucs have rurunxl ar11cles by Gary Soylkr. Statba"J.. Jc>hn S~. Joanna ~facy, 81II ~val!, u•oe Wnlf C1r¢1et;, Barham Mor, etc, AH? NATBR Ml'l'fWl' BLICI'RlCITY with a RAM pump! It works by the action of flowing water and can pump 120 ft. high. Colllplele pump w/ guide -$125. Call or send SASE for free brochure. NATERHAN MK PlJFS 355 Cedar Creek Road -"'-...£.._....____ e1ack Mountain, N.c. 28711 (704) 669-6821 Summer, 19!J1 TnlJ.inl( J.,,111~ ~pew for the n•tural world :and for lhe rd:.indlmg !'I OW' OWII wtld ~JlU11, Suhscnpt1ons arc S15.00 one year/SI 8.00 outside U.S. S25.00 i...o )·ear'IIS36.00 outside U.S. Send chock or M.O. 10: Tn/J.i11x I.raw:, 1430 Willalllt'lle 11367 Eugrlle, OR 97401 5031342-2974 rFR~~,~~~'~:~~~P COMMITTED TO C0'.'.1MUNTIY AND ·cooo-FOR-YOU.FOOO" 255-7650 90 Biltmore AH•nu~ ,\,hevdlc ~C 2 Blocks South ol Downtown Xatimh Journot PCUJC 33 �~BWoR/slt{g • Webworking has changed! There is nowafee of$ 2.50 (PRE-PAJD) per en1ryofjifry words or less. Send b>•A11gust 30th 1991 I(); Rob Messick; P.O. Box 2601; Boone. NC 28607. (704) 754-6097. GOOD STEWARDS WA/IITED for rcmotc land. Approx. IS acres for sale w/ hou.,;e (2 bdrm .• I balh). Organically rarmed for 2tJ )'Cffl, grnv11y recd spring ,,,:ner. High oo Tannsi Ridge. views. Raven ond ~fmnc Walker, Box 23: Lal<c Toxaway. 1'C 28747 (704) 293-7013. RAINFOREST BOTANICALS • from the ancient hc31ing Ulldi11ons of the indigenous people. or SOUlh America. The Life Force of Amawnui. now available io you. Fn:e mformation ID Health Profes.,,onals. Call Lei at l!OO-SJS-0503. '!WO FAMIUES seeking neighborly follcs IO buy mlO 130 acres of beautiful moumainside land near Wcavervillc.1'C. We arc involved in organic gnro,:nmg, homc.~hooling. rwural healing. 1111d spimuality. 20 acre sh3re for S2A,OOO. Call (7~) 658-2676 or 645-7954. 1990,91 DIRECTORY OF INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES · Just rclc:i~. over 2 years m the nuking. Names, adrcssc.s, phone numbers, and d=riptioos of 320 Nonh American communities. and over 2SO resource ~ . phi., 40 articles. Mops, cross-reference chan.s. fully indexed. $13.SO postpaid from Sandhill Fann: Rt I, Box 155-R; Rulledge. MO 63563. 40% discount available on ordcn of 10 or mate. MUSIC BY BOB AVERY-ORUBELaVllilablcon three casseu.cs. 1'reasuus in the Stream and Circles Returnuig arc folk/rock·J3U. and a recent release of origu1al chants and songs. light in the Wind. isa coptMlla. Lyric sheets included. Send $10 for each tape or $26 for ell throe to Bob Avuy-Grubcl; RL I, Box 735; Aoyd, VA 24091. HIGHLANDER CENTER· IS a communuy-bascd educaLional organ11.auon whol,C purpose IS lO provide space for pcq,lo to learn from each other, and 10 dcvclopc $<llu1ions to cnvircnmcnllll r,roblcms based on their values. experiences, 1111d a~iratlons. They also put out a quanerly newslcua called Highlander RcJ)OrlS. For more information conwcr Highlander Ccnlel'; 1959 Highlander Wuy; New M.lrtkc1, 1N 37820 (615) 933.3443 A SMALL FMflLY COOPERATIVE. IS scckmg a sw1Able ,;pace for homeschooling our children, ages 4,7. We are a responsible, conscious, ruid cxpcri<:nccd a,oup. We 5"k a \l*iOUs house and yanl. away from uafr.c. We prefer lO renr wil.h an Ofltlon lO buy. Call (704) 628-3628 or (704) 252-8183. RAW CHEMICAL-FREE HONEY. Tulip Poplar, Sourwood, and Wildflower hooey from lhc forcstS or Palrick County, VA. No chemicals, no while sugar. no heat ever Slrllincd through ch=ccJoth and p;tekcd in glass. Luni1cd quantities. ~11 or wntc for pnccs & availalnlny. Wade Buckhohs • Bull Mountlin Bcekecpcrs; Rd 2, Box 1S16. S1113r1. VA 2·H71 (703) 694-4571. Xa1uwi JournoC p~ ~ NATIVE AMERICAN Fl.lTT'E MUSIC- Richard Roberts. a well known west TN new age flutist (Ilk.a Zero Ohms), is now availoblc tn lhe East TN/NC are.,. For rcla:ting and uplifimg pcrfonnanccs nr tapes contaet RIChard Robcns: Box 821; Norris, TN 37828 (615)494-8828-oc- RL I, Box 136RD; Lamar, MS 38642 (601) 252-4283. THE DREAM CATCHER - C3tchcs bad dreams and hold, I.hem, 10 be dcsttoyed by the morning sun. Good dreams 0031 down the feather to I.he slcepu. Price: 11 dollars - spcc,fy color prefcrcnccs or nalWUI. Order from Ch1ck:unaugan Fn:c C'hcrolcees: 1915 Buckky Sr #8; Chawrnoogn. TN 37404. I IA WKWlSO EARTII RENEWAL COOPERA11VE • i.\ an 87 acre primitive rcl!C3t and working communily fal!1l, l..oc:31Cd in I.he norlhcm Alabamo mountnin,111>1 11 S miles northwest oC Atlanta. Clas,;c,; on alrcmat1ve lifestyles and Nill.Ive American philosophies arc available on a rcgulor basis. For inform:ition or cnllllog of Nauvc crofts & producL~. Cllll (20S) 635-63().1. 32-ACRE FARM for sale ,n Whittier, NC. Multiple solor hom~ltS, pnvacy, creeks and springs, rwo large orgamc fields. Includes rusuc farmhouse wil.h gravil)'-fcd water and solar sys1em, born, 1111d small solnr suucture. $90,000 for all. Wlll sell pan. Writc Vicki Baker and Tom Graves: Rt 2, Box 108-A: Whittier, NC 28789 or call ('704) 586-8221 or(704) 649-9266. NATIVE AMERICAN CEREMONIAL HERBS • we offer a latge variety of sages, swce1 grass, ruuural resins, 11114 everything ncccssiuy for smudging. Nnrivc smolc.ing m1~tures, flulc music, pow-wow Lape:!, und ceremonial songs. Essential oils, and incenses specifically mode fo, prayer. offcriJlg, and meditation. Forcawlog call or write: Esscncinl Drc:uns; Rt 3. Bo~ 285; Eagle Fork, Hllyc:svillc. NC 2890i (701) 389-9898. whole earth grocery • NATURAL ALTERNATIVES FOR HEALTHFUL LMNG 4~6 e parkway craft «-nt<'r • <ultc 11 gatllnburg, tcnn~ 37738 615-436-6967 PIEDMONT BIOREGIONAL INSTITUTE - For those who live in lhc Piedmon1 area, !here's a biorcgionnl e!fon well underway. Jom Us! We would nJlPrec13lC any donnuon or time or money IO help moot operating expenses. For a gifl of S25.00 or more. we will send you a copy of John Lawson's journal, A New Voyage 10 Coro/mo Also come find ou1 about the Lawson ProjecL PB!; 412 W Rosemary Slt0CI: Chapel Hill, NC 27516; Uwbruna Province. (919) 942-2581. WICKER WORKER· Wicker furniture rcs'U>red. ainc. rush, and recd sc31S woven, D:sskcrs al.,;o repaired. Expericncc:d scat weaver. "If you can't we cane.· Andrea Clarke; 27 Mu Strc<:t Asheville, NC 28801. ('704) 253-6241. RECYCLED PAPER I - Oin:etory or product sources for the Southca~ SuggC$1.Cd Donation of S 1.00 10 Wcstcm Nonh Carolina Alliance: P.O. Box 18087: Asheville, NC 28814 (704) 258-8737 BODY RI/YT/IMS from PIIIIICtnry Mothers • a beautiful and paroctical calendar for women ID chart rhcir ·moonthly" cycles. Send $3.00 plus S 1.00 [lOSWge to: Planetary Mothers Collective (c/o Nancie Yonker); 5231 Riverwood Avenue: Saraso111. FL 34231 FAMILIES LEARNING TOGETHER - is a new sutew1dc ho=hool group welcoming :inyone wirh on i n ~ in home education. Our pulflOSC 1s 10 focili111tc the exchange or infonnauon, Ullcnt. nnd n:sowccs. For more infonnauon contact: Trish Severin (704) 369-6491 QUEST FOR SUR VIVAL/ JOURNEYS TO SPIRITUALITY· 1s .i new program being offered in the Kimlah area. The purpose of the Que.st for Sutv1vll.l progroms 1S to 1C3Ch the sxrcd order of swvivnl (Shcl1.cr, W111er, F,rc, and Food). and explore I.he roles of ~urvival phllnsophy and spin1ulll1ty in 11113lning b:ll:lnccd hannony wil.h ourselves, cai;h other. Qnd the Eonh. Two rnll'Oductory weekends will 111kc plxc in l.Jlurcl Sp<ings, NC on Scp1cmbcr 27-29 for Women, and Oc1obcr 4-6 for Men. Also ii wccl:long program for men is planned for October 6-13 al Turtle hl.1nd Prosct\·c near Deep Gap. NC. For information on any of thc.o;e programs conU1Ct Tom Barnes: P.O. Box 166; S3vcry, WY 82332 or call (307) 383-2625. LAND FOR SALE - wil.h small house in beautiful Spring Creek. 1'C; IS miles west of Hot Spnngs. Pctfcct for the scJJ-sufficicn1 tire. One hour wesr of Asheville. Call Linda Deyo (704) 675-9575. S11tt11ncr-, 1991 �Katuah Journal wams w comm1111icare your 1/,ouglus and feelings 10 the 01her people i11 1he bioregional pmv111ce Send 1hem 10 us as /e11ers, poems, sinries, articles, drawings, or photographs. e1c. Please seridyour contrib111io11s w 11s at: Katuah Journal; P 0. Box 638; Leicester, NC, Ka11'tah Province 28748. The tall issue of Ka111al1 .loumal will be a·i*,tpouni featurhg a strong emphasis on humor and fun. The titles and contents of Lhe major depanments will tn1nsform laughably, and Katiiah Journal will let its hair down: hopefully gcuing its funny bone tickled! Deadline for anicles is July 31, 1991. Our Winter issue will be concerned with Fire in its many manifestations; from forest fires to the warm hearths of home. BACK ISSUES OF KATUAH JOURNAL AVAILABLE ISSUE THREE • SPRINO 1984 Sw;r.ainablc Ag,, iculture • Sunflowers • Human lmp:icl on I.he FOfest. Childrcru· Education· Veronica Nicholas: Woman in Politics Lmlc People· Medicine Allies ISSUE FOUR • SUMMER 1984 W11cr Drum • We11:1 Quality. Kudzu. Solar Eclipse . Clcatcuuing • Trom. Going U> Wiler. R'IITI Pumps Microhydro. Poems: Bemie Lee Sinelair. Jim Wayne Miller ISSUE FOURTEEN • WINTER 1986.87 Lloyd Carl Owlc • Boogcrs and Mummers • All Spooics Day • Cabin Fever University • Homeless m Katuah llomcm~de 1101 Water • Stovcmwcer·s Narrative • Good Medicine: Interspecies Communication ISSUE TWENTY-THREE - SPRINO 1989 Pisgah Village • Planet Art • Oreen City • Poplar Appeal • ·CIC1t s1cy·· ·"A New Eanh". Black Swan • 11'/ld lt;vely Days· Reviews: Sacred Land Sacred Sa, Ice Age • Poem: ··sudden Tendrils" 0 ISSUE FIVE • FALL 1984 Harvest • Old Ways in Cherokee· Oin.scng • NuclClll Waste • Our Celtic Heritage· Biorcg1onalism: Past. Prcser1~ and Future • John WUnoty • Healing Darkncs.s • Politics of Participation 1SSUETW£NTY.FQUR • SUMMER "89 Deep Listening· Life in Atomic City • Direct Action! • Tree of Peace· C.Ommuruty Building· Peacemakers. Ethnic Survival. Pairing Projcc:t . ··Battlesong". Growing Peace in Culturos • Review: Tiu: Chalice and lhe 8/ak ISSUE SIX • WINTER 1984-85 Wintu Solstice Earth Ceremony • HorseJ>3Sturc:a River· Coming or the Light • Log Cabin Root • Mountain Agriculture: The Right Crop. William Taylor. The Future of the Forest ISSUE SEVEN -SPRINO 1985 SuslAlnablc Economies • Hot Springs Worker Ownership - The Orea! Economy . Self Help Credit Union· Wild Turkey - Responsible Investing - Working in the Web or Life ISSUE EIOIIT • SUMMER 1985 Cc:lcbration: A Way of Life. Katuah 18.000 Years Ago Sacn:d Sites • Folk Alts in the Schools . Sun Cycle/Moon Cycle . Poems: Hilcb Downer· Cherokee Heritage Cenll!r · Who Owns Appalachia? ISSUE NINE • FALL 198S Titc Waldcc Forest. The Trees Speak. Migtating Forcsu . Horse Logging · Sllll'ling a Troe Crop· Urb:tn Tr«s • Acom Bre3d • Mylh Tim,, ISSUE TEN • WINTER 1985·86 Kate Rogers. Circles of Stone Internal Mylhmllking • Hohsuc Healing on Trial • Poems: Steve Knauth • Mythic Pieces • 11,c UJ(lena·s Talc • Crystal M•gic • ISSUE FIFTEEN • SPRINO 1987 Coverlcu • Woman f-ores1er • Susie McMahon: Midwife · Alternative Contnception Biosexuality Biorcgion:llism l1lld Women Good Mcdic111C: Matria,chal Culture. P~art ISSUE SIXTEEN • SUMMER 1987 Helen Wlitc Poem: V1$ions in a Garden Visi<>n Quc5t • First Aow - Initiation • Ltaming in the Wililcmei> • Cherokee Challenge· "Valuing Trees" ISSUE EIOHTEEN • WINTER 1987-88 Vem11CUlar Architecture Drums m Wood and Stone . Mountrun Home • Earth Encrgi<:s Eanh.Sheltettd Llving Membrane Houses • Brush Shelter . Pocmr. Octobu Dwk Oood Medicine: "Shelter" ISSUE NINETEEN • SPRING 1988 Pcrclandra G3tdcn Spring Tonics . Blueberries . WddOower Gardens· Onumy Hcrl>1list ·Flower~ · ""Inc Origin of the Animals:· Story · Good Medicine: "Power• • Be A Trec "Drt,:lnl$pMking" ISSUE THIRTEEN • FALL 1986 Center For Awalccnmg Eli1.abclh Callan· A Ocntlc Death Hospice Ernest Morgan • Dealing Crcotively with De.th • Home Burial Box· The Woke The Raven MockcrWood.slorc and Wildwoods Wooom • Good Medk:inc: The Sweat Locl&e ~UAtt JOURNAL ISSUE TWENTY . SUMMER 1988 Prcsavc Appalachian Wildcmcss Highland$ of Roan • Cclo Community • Land Trust • A.rthur M<><i;an School • Zoning Issue • "The Ridge" • Farmers and thc Farm Bill Oood Medicine: "Land" Acid Rain· Ouke·s Power Play • Cherolcee Miaohydro Project P.O. Box 638 Leicester, NC Katuah Province 28748 For more info: call Rob Messick a1 (704) 754- 6097 Name Regular Membership......$ I0/yr. Sponsor..........................$20/yr. Contributor.....................$50/yr. Address Ciry Area Code Summer, 1991 State Phone Number Zip ISSUE TWENTY.TWO. Wl'NTER ·ss~9 Olobal Warmu,g • Fire This Time • Thomas Beny on "Bion:gions" • Eanh Exercise. Kore Loy McWhiner. An Abundance of Emplmess • LETS • Chronicles or Aoyd • D:u,y Wood. The Beat Cl11n Enclosed is $ - ~ - - u, give this effort 011 ex1ra boos1 I can be a local contact person for my area ISSUETW£NTY.S1X . WlNTER, 1~89.'90 Coming or Age in the Ecoroic Eni Kids Saving Rainforest • Kids Treecycling Company • ConOict Resolution . Developing the Creative Spirit - Buth Power · Birth Bonding. The Magic or Puppcuy . Home Schooling. Naming Ceremony MOlhcT Eulh·s CIISS!OOO\ • Oardcnmg for Children ISSUETW£N'fY.SEVEN SPRINO. 1990 Transform•tion - lfoaling Power Pence to Their Ashes. llealing in Kanlah Poem: "When Loft u, Grow·· • Poemr. Stephen Wing The Belly • Food from lhe Ancient Forest ISSUE TWENTY EIOITT SUMMER 1990 Carryu,g Ca~uy . Seu1ng Limit$ to Growth • Whu is Overpopulation? • The Road Oang • Tru: Highway 10 No-.here • The 1.26 Projocl "Cuing Capacity"· People and l11bitll • Designing the Whole Life Community . Steady Sllltc - Poems, WOI Ashe B=n . Tnnsportcm.lbvos · Review· COMUSlfl8 ISSUE TWENTY.NINE . FALl,JWlNTER 1990 From the MounLlllU to the Sea • Promc of The Little Temt$- R1ver • Hcadwatcn Ecology • "It All Comes Down 10 Water Quality. Wata Power: Action for Aquatic HabitalS · Dawn Watchers · Cood Medicine: The Long Human Being The Nonh Shore Road Kllllah Sells Out · Wllcrlhcd M"f) of the Katuah Province ISSUETIURTY SPRJNO 1991 Economy/Ecology Rcsencrativa Economy • "Money Is the Lowest Form of Wealth"· Claruvillc Mira:Je • The VillJ,ge • Food Movers Ll/'eworlt • Oood Medicine: "Village Economy·. Shelton Laurel. LETS Issue 31 Back Issues Issue# __@ $2.50 = $_ _ Issue # _ _@ $2.50 = $_ _ Issue # __@ $2.50 = $_ _ Issue # _ _@ $2.50 = $_ _ Issue#_@ $2.50 = $_ _ postage paid $ _ _ Complete Set (3· lO, 13-16, 18-20, 22-24. 26-30) @ $40.00 = $,_ _ postage paid X.Otu.nfi JourrwL page 35 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records Description An account of the resource <em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal</em>,&nbsp;was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. <br /><br /><span>The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name,&nbsp;</span><em>Katúah</em><span>, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant.&nbsp;</span><br /><span><br />The <em>Katúah Journal</em> was co-founded by Marnie Muller, David Wheeler, Thomas Rain Crowe, Martha Tree and others who served as co-publishers and co-editors. Other key team members included Chip Smith, David Reed, Jay Mackey, Rob Messick and many others.</span><br /><br />This digital collection is only a portion of the <em>Katúah</em>-related materials in the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection in Special Collections at Appalachian State University. The items in AC.870 Katúah Journal records cover the production history of the <em>Katúah Journal</em>. Contained within the records are correspondence, publication information, article submissions, and financial information. The editorial layouts for issues 12 through 39 are included as are a full run of the Journal spanning nearly a decade. Also included are photographs of events related to the Journal and a film on the publication. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived This resource is part of the&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal Records </em>collection. For a description of the entire collection, see <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Katúah Journal Records (AC. 870)</a>. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The images and information in this collection are protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. C.) and are intended only for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes, provided proper citation is used – i.e., Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records, 1980-2013 (AC.870), W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. Researchers are responsible for securing permissions from the copyright holder for any reproduction, publication, or commercial use of these materials. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1983-1993 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource journals (periodicals) Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Katúah Journal</em>, Issue 31, Summer 1991 Description An account of the resource The thirty-first issue of the <em>Katúah Journal</em> focuses on "earth energies" and humans' reconnection with the earth through dowsing; earth healing and Earth Energy workshops; and understanding the Earth grid. Authors and artists in this issue include: David Wheeler, Madeline H. Dean, Joyce Holbrook, Clyde Hollifield, Richard Nester, Charlotte Homsher, Page Bryant, Richard Lowenthal, James Proffitt, Lee Barnes, Jim Houser, Emmett Greendigger, Ivo Ballentine, Rob Messick, David McGrew, George Agricola (1556), Douglas A. Rossman, and Mara. <br><br><em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to <em>Katúah Journal</em>, was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name, Katúah, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991 Table Of Contents A list of subunits of the resource. Dowsing by David Wheeler.......3<br /><br />The Responsibilities of Dowsing: An Interview with Tom Hendricks by Madeline H. Dean.......5<br /><br />Ceremonies of the Moment: An Interview with Joyce Holbrook.......6<br /><br />"Jack-o-Lanterns," Acid Rain, and the Electrical Life of the Earth by Clyde Hollifield.......8<br /><br />Poem: "Old Houses" by Richard Nester.......10<br /><br />Katúah and the Earth Grid by Charlotte Homsher.......11<br /><br />The Call of the Ancient Ones by Page Bryant.......13<br /><br />"If the Earth Is to Heal, Our Hearts Must Be Broken" by Richard Lowenthal.......15<br /><br />Good Medicine: On Agression.......17<br /><br />Poems by James Proffitt.......18<br /><br />Green Spirits: Sacred Forests by Lee Barnes.......19<br /><br />Off the Grid by Jim Houser.......20<br /><br />Natural World News.......21<br /><br />"Just Doing Their Job" by Emmett Greendigger.......23<br /><br />Time to Take the Time to Take the Time by Ivo.......25<br /><br />Drumming.......26<br /><br />Whole Science by Rob Messick.......29<br /><br />Tuning In by Charlotte Homsher.......29<br /><br />Review: Light in the Wind.......30<br /><br />Chestnut Grafting Project by David McGrew.......31<br /><br />Events.......32<br /><br />Webworking.......34<br /><br /><em>Note: This table of contents corresponds to the original document, not the Document Viewer.</em> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <em>Katúah Journal</em>, printed by The <em>Waynesville Mountaineer</em> Press Subject The topic of the resource Bioregionalism--Appalachian Region, Southern Sustainable living--Appalachian Region, Southern New Age movement Dowsing Environmental education--North Carolina--Asheville North Carolina, Western Blue Ridge Mountains Appalachian Region, Southern North Carolina--Periodicals Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937"> AC.870 Katúah Journal records</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a title="In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted" href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/?language=en 8" target="_blank"> In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted </a> Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Appalachian Region, Southern Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. <a title="Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians" href="https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/collections/show/79" target="_blank"> Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians </a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Journals (Periodicals) Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1990s Acid Deposition Alternative Energy Appalachian Mountains Appalachian Studies Earth Energies Economic Alternatives Education Folklore and Ceremony Forest Issues Good Medicine Habitat Health Katúah Plants and Herbs Poems Radioactive Waste Reading Resources Recycling Sacred Sites South PAW (Preserve Appalachian Wilderness) Transportation Issues Turtle Island Water Quality Western North Carolina Alliance Wilderness https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/c5ee330c977312a17d828d214a7916e6.pdf 05640bd372243437e62e080e13bbb8ac PDF Text Text ISSUE 32 FALL 1991 $1.50 �Drawina by Rob M~siclt ~UAHJOURNAL PO Bo:,,. 638 Leicester, NC Katuah Province 28748 Printed on recycled paper Postage Paid Bulk Mail Permit #18 Leicester, NC 28748 ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED �CONTENTS Bringing Back !he Fire................. . by David Wheeler A Bil of Mountain Levity................. by Barbara Wickersham 5 Climax Never Came....................... by Henry Wender 7 ls the Southern Appalachian Ecosystem Endangered?.................. by John A. Freeman 9 'Talking Leaves": Sequoyah............ 10 by Tom Underwood Green Spirits: Seed Saving ............. by lee Barnes 12 Walking Dis1a11ce......................... by Will Ashe Bason 13 Angle: Environment...................... by lvo Ballentine 13 Good Medicine: .......................... 14 Poem: "A Rotting Log".................. by Brownie Newman 15 THEGRANOLAJOURNAL.......... 16 Livin' By Their Wits recorded by Rob Messick An Old Family Tale by Bess Harbison BRINGING BACK THE FIRE The Slide by Rob Messick Recorded by David Wheeler How Can You Lose Anything as Big as This Ego? by Maxim Didge, Paintings: "Mountain Stories".......... 18 by Robert Johnson Natural World News..................... 20 Dying Soils, Dying Waters............. by Emmelt Greendigger 22 Songs in lhe Wilderness................. by Char/011e Homsher 24 500 Years of Resistance!................ by Emmell Greendigger 25 Save James Bay.......................... 25 Drumming................................. 26 Off the Grid: Solar Ovens... ,........... by Dennis Scanlin 29 Events..................................... 32 \Vcbworklng.............................. 34 Ka11fah Konfusion....................... 35 foff, 1991 While Walker Calhoun is II/JI the only person working ro keep alive the old Cherokee practices and values, he is definitely one of the people most dedicated to restoring the traditional ways. When he speaks of "the Fire," he means the spark of life irself. and also the spirit behind the Cherokee spiriwal life • so strong in this region until even JOO years ago. But, like the Cherokee white flour corn that was cross-fertilized with the white people's Yellow Dent \•aricty, Walker's spiriwal way also shows traces of the white people's Christian religion. \Vhen I drove 11p 10 Walker's house, he was sitting by a small fire in the side yard. He had a ra1: wrapped around one pa111/eg, and he was Ito/ding lo11g pieces ofriver ca11e over rite blaze until tltcy became pliable. then s1raigluenin1: them across his leg to make blowgu11s. lie stood to greet me. He was a slight 111011 with a ready smile that showed the worn nubs of a few teeth. "let's sit 011 the porch," he said. "It's too hnt to work around this fire anymore." I showed him a copy of rite Kattiah Journal and, ofter consideri11g it a mmure. without further prompting he began talking .. Walker Calhoun: Katuah - that's the name of the tribe. We're not the Cherokee. When lhey wrote a history, they called us the Cherokee, but really we're the Katuah tribe. They've got the Katuah Band in Oklahoma, and lhe Katuah Medicine Society out there. That's our religion· lhe Cherokee religion· the Katuah Society. I'm supposed 10 put the sign up at our stomp grounds we have just a.cross the river up here in Big Cove... the name is the Raven Rock Nighthawk Ceremonial Grounds · Katuah Society. We have dance there every month on the last Saturday. In August we have a big celebration • a Green Com Celebration. We have a big time. I was chosen to bring lhe Everlasting Fire back here to the Eastern band. The reason they picked me was because I was the only one keeping our culture and heritage from disappearing. That's why they chose me to bring the Fire back where ii belongs. I didn't know much about the Fire until three or four years ago. Two men from Oklahoma came and told me. We were sining right here, and these two men came. They mentioned Katunh. One asked me about it, but I didn't know what he meant. It was later when I learned what they were t.1llcing about. Now, the Fire... people misunderstand the Fire. At the ceremonial grounds we've got a mound where the spirit is. We build a Drawing by Rob Messick (con11nucd on page 3) X,ntunf, Journo( pn9c I �~ LJAHJOURNAL A BAD CASE OF EDITORTALSTAPH: Susan Adam Jim Houser Lee Barnes Anomal..ee Heather Blair Rob Messick Emmett Greendigger Mamie ~lullcr Charloue Homsher David Wheeler EDlTORIAL ASSISTANCE: Chris Green Scou Bird and Li'I Matthew... Mountain Gardens Family COVER: by Rob Messick ©1991 PUBLTSHED BY: Kart'iah Journal PRTNTED BY: The Waynesville Mowitaineer Press STATEMENT OF PURPOSE EDITORIAL OFFlCE THIS ISSUE: The Globe Valley WRITE US AT: Kat(iah Journal Box 638; Leicester, NC; Katuah Province 28748 TELE Pl IONE: (704) 754-6097 Divcrsi1y is an imponam clcmcm of biorcgaonal ecology, both nntural and social. In accord with !his principle Katuah Journal Irie.~ to serve as n forum for lhe discussion of regional issues. Signed :iruclcs expross only lite opinion of lite aulhors and arc no1 ncccss:irily 1he opinions of lhc Katuah Journal editors or stllT. The Internal Revenue Service hns dcclnred K01uah Joivnol a non-profi1 organizntion under sccuon 50l(c)(3) or lhe lnicmal Revenue Code. All contributions to Ka,uoh Journal an: deductible from pcrson3l income l:lll. Aniclcs appearing m Ka1uah Journal may be rcprimcd m 01hcr publications wilh permis.~1on Crom lhe Ka1uah Journal slllff. ConUlCl lite journal in writing or coll (701) 754-6097. CORRECTION: m our las1 isssuc (Summer, 1991) lhcrc was an error in lite article •Jack-o-Lanicms, Acid Ram, and the Elcctncal Life of lite Earth." Brown Mountain is aclllally IOC3lcd in Burke and Caldwell Counues of North Carolina. Wltat would the world be, once bereft Of wet and of wilderness? Let them be left, 0 let them be left, wildness and wet; Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet. Here, in the Katuah Province of these ancient Appalachian mountains where once the Cherokee Nation lived in freedom between the Tennessee River Valley and the Eastern Piedmont between the Valley of the Roanoke and the Southern Plain on this Tun le Island continent of Mother Ela, the Eanh I lcrc, In this place we dedicate ourselves to remembering our deep connection LO the spirit of the land. We bring this connection into the being and the doing of our daily lives When the land speaks, we listen and we act We tune our lives 10 the changes, to the seasons We respect the limits of the land We preserve, defend, and restore the land We give thanks for all that is good Hannony with the land is no longer an ideal; it is an imperative. The land is a living being. She is sacred. As the land lives, so do we. As the spirit of the land is diminished, our spirits are diminished as well. Ka11iah Journal sends a voice... with articles, stories, poems, and anwork we speak to the spirit of all the living, breathing inhabitants of these mountains in hopes that we, the human beings, may find our place in this Great Life. The Editors - Gerard Manley Hopkins KATUAH JOURNAL wanes ro communicare your thouglus and feelings ro the 01/zer people in the bioregional province. Send them ro tlS as lerrers, poems, stories, articles, drawings, or photographs, ere. Please send your contribwions ro us at: Katuah Journal; P. 0. Box 638; Leicesrer, NC; Kar(ltlh Province 28748. OUR NEX:r ISSUE is concerned with the role of the element Fire in the life of the mountains...forest Fire, how humans changed the landscape with Fuc, Fire in the heanh, Fire as tool, Fire of the spirit. Please submit all material by October 30, 1991. JC.ati!Qn )ournat pa«Jc 2 THE SPRING, 1992 JSSUE will be concerned wilh "Sustainable Agriculture and Regional Diet." We need your input on topics including: sustainable agriculture (alternative ag., low input, appropriate ag., pennaculturc, biodynamics, etc.); seed-saving techniques; wild-foods and medicinals; regionaVcommunity food production and marketing; seasonal diet and recipes; food preservation; green manures and composting; agroforestry; and especially recommended resources, guides, and contacts. Please send material to Lee Barnes; Box 1303; Waynesville, NC 28786. (704) 452-5716. Ta(t, 1991 �(con1inucd !'tom page I) fire on top. A lot of people misunderstand it they think that we worship the fire. That's not it. The spirit of Fire is in that mound. The Oklahoma people fixed it (put it there). They said that was !he sll'Ongest Fire they had ever fixed. It came from the Redbird Community in Oklahoma. That's the original Fire. They've got some more at other stomp grounds, but they get the spirit from the main one, at Redbird, !he same one that this came from. We've got the seven clans of the Cherokee. We've got seven arbors around the fire, each clan sits in their own arbor, and when we start dancing, each clan comes from their own arbor, and when they quit, they go back to their own arbor. We went a lot of different places to get that place fixed. We went up to Clingman's Dome to get a piece of dirt to put over here. That's where the wisest medicine men of the Cherokee had their meetings. I guess they would go all the way to Clingman's Dome to talk with God. People forget about their culture and heritage, they're going with the rest of the world. The Green Com Dance has been handed down from our forefathers, but it almost went out of existence. It was going down slow. They hadn't done it for about 50 years, until last year. I was just a young boy when they did the lllSl one 50 yean. ugo. 1 remember how they danced. The women would be dancing away from the men, while the menfolks were doing the Green Com Dance. When the men got through, the women came over, and they would stan doing the stomp dance, and then the women would join in. When the menfolk were dancing, they would carry shotguns - each one would have seven shots. They would go around a singer, I believe they'd go around seven times first, just walk it, and then on the eighth round, they'd Stan singing, they'd go completely around, and the second time 'round, at each side the men, they'd shoot, each one. That's the way we did it. When we dance, that's the prayer co God. We've got the Fire on top - smoke takes what we're saying up to God. What we're saying, God is the only One who can understand it. We can't understand it ourselves. Sometimes in Oklahoma they dance all night. That's when there's some reason, like the Green Com Celebration or the Fire's birthday. There was one time at the stomp dancing in Oklahoma, it was broad daylight, it was still going. They ran out of songs, they started singing "Old MacDonald." 0L:J.l:J~ f'n{t. I 99 1 The leader sang, "Old MacDonald had a fann." They answered, "Hee yi, hee yi!" I tell you, when they get warmed up, tlleY_'re airing th~ Fire as they dance, making mouons. They sing songs about God while they're dancing, how they appreciate God. Our Fire's birthday is September 29. That's when it was lit, September 29. The man who lit it, his name was Hickory Star. He was the one who wanted the fire brought back here, he said that this is where it belongs. He just barely made iL He lit tlle fire, went back home - he died there last February. He brought the fire back, and tllen he died. Karuah JourMI: Do you sing old songs at the stomp dance? WC: Yeh. I don't know how old. This was done before white men came to America - way before. That was the way they worshipped. Kl: I'm glad you are starting it back again. It would be a tcnible thing if we lost that. WC: Yeah. They've got a lot ofit back now. Some of it they have in Oklahoma. They know more about it tllan us, of course. The Eastern Band, we just came from the few who escaped and hid in the mountains. When they came back. they didn't have nothing. They took the Fire with tllem out west. The Fire, that was their religion. That's the spirit - it was within 'em. They carried the Fire of the spirit. They staned back doing it. To begin with they did it in secret, because the government didn't allow tllem to do that. But they kept it up. Then the government passed a low about freedom of religion (Native American Religious Freedom Act), and then they came out with it. When I was a boy, I guess about 12 or 14 years old, I always heard my motlier and some of the older people talking about the Fire - the Fire in Oklahoma. l thought tllat they had taken the name of the real fire with them when they lefL That's tlle way a lot of people believe yet. Up at the Mountainside Theater (in Cherokee where the drama Unro These Hills is performed), they've got a name burning, that they bum by gas, I guess, so that's the not the Eternal Flame, for when they want to clean it, they put the fire out. That's a commercinl fire. When they brought it back from Oklahoma they actually carried the fire back. I don't know exactly how they carried it, somehow they kept it burning until they got it to Cherokee. They called on a man in ~ Oklahoma to give them the Eternal Fire. He didn't know what to do. They wanted the Fire, so he gave them a name to bring baclc. He didn't know what to tel1 them. There's a lot of people interested in Indian religion, I don't know why. I guess that they think that they (tlle native people) might be more right The Indians respect the Mother Earth. They respect just about everything in nature. You don't hear of any Indians inventing something to kill people with. They don't even talce part in inventing everything. 1 guess they're thinking it's not right. I believe it's not right, the way white people use their inventions. The first thing !hey do with an invention is they make it into a war material. That ain't right. The Indians, they're not involved in that. Maybe tllat's the reason (white) people think that they (the native people) might be more right. God didn't intend it for that way, when He created Man and the Eartll. We were supposed to share the Earth and get along equally. Everything that the Indian goes by, it makes sense, even the legends. It makes sense, all of it. There's a lot to it. Back when I was a kid, it seemed like they kept everytlling. They kept the culture and the herirage, but it gradually went down. When I found out, I had to decide to bring it back. Nobody was trying. YJ: It's important to save whatever you know. WC: We are trying to keep the ll'llditional way. We don't allow alcohol at the stomp dance - no alcohol, no drugs, and a woman that makes her period (who is having her period) can't take part. KJ: Now why is that? WC: That's just traditional. They can't eat with the rest of the family. they have to have their own plate. And a married couple, staying in the family way, they can't take part in the dancing, either one of them. KJ: Is that the way you do in your house? . WC: No. Like I said, it's going out of ex1Stence. The old-timers said that kept a lot of sickness away. I believe it, because Indian people were bigger people than they are now. Now you see a lot of shon, fat Indians, they used 10 be tall - tall people. So 1 believe that. You don't hardly see a big Indian man anymore. (continued on pa,., 4) �(c:ontinucd from page 3) KJ: Will it help the young people in the tribe to bring back the old traditions? WC: We can't drag 'em. The drunks know that they can't go there (lo the ceremonial grounds) unless they're sober. I believe that's going 10 work out slow. They'll be wanting to go there, but they can't go unless they're sober. I think that's the way it's going to work. J know that there are a lot of 'cm peeping around there. They've been drinking. You can see them way out in the weeds, peeping out. They can't come in, though. Within four days, if they've been drinking, they can't go. KJ: It's good work you're doing, Walker. WC: The first 11me I went 10 Oklahoma, the head man explained 10 me all about how that Fire was kept. While he was explaining it, he said, "As long as you are doing God's wiU. that's all that's required." Well, that's all that's required for anybody anyway. As long as you are doing God's will and believe in Jesus Chris1. KJ: How about the white people, Walker? The Ind fan people have been hcrc a long time, and they have old traditions that they can get back in touch with. But the white people haven't bt-cn here so long, and they don't have such old traditions. ls there anything they can do 10 get back in touch? Cartersville and Albany. Georgia. Instead of having Fire, they had a bale of hay. KJ: That takes the power out of i1. ll's hard to think about in the same way after it's been commercialized. WC: There's another thing: we can't build the Fire unless we use a spark out of a rock. My son's a fueman, he builds fires. A man gave him a striker, it makes a big spark. You can·t use a match or a cigarette lighter. KJ: Do you ever use a bow and drill? WC: No. This man said it wouldn't be right. That's somebody's invention. The spark was 1he real tradiLional thing. KJ: Are you teaching somebody to come after you? WC I don't have to. The spirit's there forever. If I die, 1ha1 won't bother i1. The spirit 1s still there. they know 1he spirit is there, so I don't have 10 Lc:11 1hem how i1's done. lt's the Everlasting Fire. KJ; What else are you trying 10 ,~ach people? (remedies). I'm not a medicine man. A lot of people call me medicine man, but the Medicine Man is down in Cherokee (referring to the Medicine Man Gift Shop). 0aughs) KJ: So these are plant medicines. You don't do any conjuring. WC: No. I don't go for that, it's against my religion ConJuring and religion don't go together. Just like alcohol. KJ: llow did you learn the remedies that you know. WC: From my mother, she taught me. Someone can teach you the different medicines, but even if you understand what kind of medicine a person gets, and you just went and got that same kind of medicine for everybody, it wouldn't be any good. We've got to put our Creator first, because we ain't got power ourselves unless we put God in front. Then we can do it. Thc medicine is just a point of contact. Goel is the One who heals you. I understand that. The medicine is just something 10 get you closer 10 God. If you don't believe in the medicine· no good, it won't do it. You've got to have faith in the medicine, too. / WC: I'm trying to teach medicine, "hat little mcdidnc I know. I ju$t know a few WC: Well. I don't know. They're supposed 10 keep up their tradition. their culture, of whatever they arc. Each nationality should keep their own. KJ: It's hard for white people because they have been away from 1he land for so long. h's been hundreds of years. WC: Thar's like these two men who came from Pennsylvania. They were curious about what l was doing. "Our people ain't got nothin'," 1hey said. "We're just here, that's all." KJ: I think that's why a lot of white people are interested in the native religion, because that's how they feel. It's imponant for everybody tha1 you keep the old customs, the s1 omp dance and all of 1ha1. WC: That's a religious dance, and we can't do Lha1 dance away from the ceremonial ground. The only place is down around the Fire. We can do the other dances 10 honor the animals, the Bear Dance, the Beaver Dance the Quail Dance. But the stomp dances we ' have to do around the Frre. There's one big bunch from the Creek tribe that has commercialized theirs. I saw them do their stomp dance down at Xatuah Journat page 4 WrUTEPATII Moving in10 my solitude, he wrestles me from stolen moments of peace among the grand green pines, golden poplars, and brawny. brown oaks or rides a <1uie1, sure-footed mount along 1he ml.ii that conscience leaves into my sleep ChiefWhitepath moving his people from Georgia. I le doesn't speak, but I can hear others weeping, and often there's a scream of death that deepens his frown. ln his eyes I can read the desperate question "How can so many people rest on the carcasses of murdered souls, and not be thought savage?" · Dtborah J~s ran, 1991 �A Bit E)f Mo~ntain Levity "Laugh and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone; For the sad old eanh must borrow its minh, But has trouble enough of its own." Ella Wheeler Wilcox In the minds of each of us, there are worlds which no longer exist and which we can visit only in memory and in i;haring with others. We cnn not walk the same trail twice. It has been my good fortune, however, to have some of the people of Roan Mountain share their hidden worlds of yesterday with me, especially those of the Depression era. I discovered therein a fascinating culture of isolation, independence, and great good humor. They refer to the Depression years as "hard times but good times" and their wonderful sense of humor seems to have been the glue that kept heads on straight and held families together during those "hard times." Banter, affectionate teasing, story telling, and practical jokes were a way of life . .. and still are. I remember one day when I became hopelessly lost in my ramblings around Roon Mountain. I stopped at an isolated country store. A porch rnn the full length of the small building lllld held a number of ladder-backed chairs. In one of these, tilted precariously against the wall on its two hind legs, sat a very old man eyeing me a bit suspiciously. I C:lrCfully explained my predicament and asked for directions. Without changing expression, he surmized "You can't get there from here." He paused, looked very stem, then a big grin broke his face. A little levity goes a long way toward turning problems into laughter. I must have seemed really uptight. The language of their stories is filled with subtle and not so subtle humor, sometimes even a bit caustic, sometimes it bruised a bit but served as a gentle reminder of what path was allowed. Admonitions such as "Do something, if it ain't nothin' but carry water out of the branch and put it in the creek. It'll keep from wearing the rocks out," indicating that laziness was simply not allowed. For children too young to work in the fields but not out playing, "You're as lazy as a pet pig. If your breathin' didn't come and go by itself, you'd be to0 lazy to breathe." At the table you might bear "Let your vittles stop your mouth" when children got a bit too rambunctious. About someone who got up "feelin' poorly," "He got up cranky and hasn't gotten over it." Then there's "You look like the hind wheels of hard times" and "You sure took your time. You'd a-been a good hand to send for the doctor if the devil was sick." Oaildren were the target of much good natured teasing, a son of initiation rite. Jim Street tells of one such incident when he and his brother Aoyd were on the receiving end of a bit of "funnin'." Will Garland, a close friend of the family, had brought Sam Brinkley to talk with the boy's father about :Foff, 1991 buying some property. Now Sam Brinkley was famous for his long beard that reached to the ground and which he kept carefully stored in a pillowcase tucked inside his shin. The boys, aged four and eight, had never experienced that beard. "We were playing head and beard. h skeerd us so bad we run and jumped in the hog pen with the hogs. We couldn't find no place else to hide. Daddy then came and got us out and said Will, quit skeering these boys: they're already crazy enough.' Garland was always aggravating and making cornstalk horses," Jim said. us, telJing us these big stories about what was going to catch us and everything. Ever time I seen Brinkley auer that, he'd laugh, but Floyd never did like him much." Floyd was a born prankster himself. Hear this one: Visiting preachers, especially during camp mecrin's, wen: regular visitors at the Street family table. One day when there see~ 10 be an especially large number of them and the children were having to wait second table, the fried chicken seemed to be disappearing at an alarming rate. Young Floyd peered around the dining room door and called to his mother, "Don't let 'em eat all the chicken, Mom!" Turning, he ran out into "We'd cut off a long piece and make his head and we'd use a little stick or a slip off that comswllc and make his neck and stick it on that and then put on his legs and tail and his mane and everything and we'd have cornstalk horses. That's what we were busy a-doing and we didn't think they was anybody around. So Will Garland talked Brinkley into sticking his beard around an apple tree and a-scarin' us. We didn't know they was anybody in a mile. He was about maybe fifty feet away. We didn't sec him and he stuck his head around that tree and Garland said 'Oh yes, I've got you this time' and he was hid and all we could sec was the old man's (COlllllluod on page 6) Xnti1af1 Journat page S �(coounucd l'rom piigc .S) the night. 1 don't know if he go, a~y chicken or not! Humor was not always up front, and as Malone Young so aptly put it, "Old time lying wasn't really a vice. Land Sakes! Life would have been dull as a froe if people didn't stretch the truth," Storytelling was a real an. Old men would sit around the country store and see who could top the next one or swap stories at bean stringin's or com i;huckin's. During interviews, I was not always sure if the story I was hearing was true or not. One day I asked, "Is this really a true 5tory?" The answer came quickly "Honey. if I'm a-I yin'. I'll tell you." He didn't say when. Sometimes the story would be quite true, such as this one told by Howard Shell, but in order to make them interesting they might end with a funny questionable twist. Howard was sining in the swing on his front porch when I askc-0 him about witches. Ile immediately got a mischievous linlt: twinkle in his eye and 10ld me his mother was a great believer in witches. The story goes that she was having difficulty geuing the milk to chum and decided chat her cow was bewitched. She and her son built a big bonfire. Then she went to the woods and got two haw branches. stripping the thorns to make a good handhold but leaving them on the ends. She put her daughter on one side of the fire and her :;on on the other. As she poured the milk into the fire. they beat it with the haw br.inches and the cow wa.,; cured. Then he told me their chickens became sick nnd his mother decided they were bewitched. Again she built the big bonfire, put one of the sick chickens into a bag and threw it onto the fire alive. I waited expectantly for the rest of the story which didn't come. Finally I asked warily, "Well. did they get un-bewi1ched?" "I don't remember," he replied wilh a sly grin. One charming lady has taken practical joking 10 a long-running high. We'll call her Anna 10 pro1ec1 the innocent. Anna is married 10 a very serious, reserved, channing holiness preacher. bm ,his did not deter her yen for fun. Let's call her husband Joe. Every year, come April Fool's Day, Anna auempted 10 play a joke on Joe and much 10 his chagrin, she always succeeded. Joe logged and farmed, was generally hardworking and steady as you go. His horses were of much value and importance to him and were greatly cherished. Early one April ls1. Anna slipped ou1 of bed early,ju~t :11 daylight. went outside and came rushing back into the bedroom screaming that the horses were tangled in the barbed wire and were cuuing themselves badly. Joe, who slept only in his wherewithals, rushed out into the frosty. cloud-heavy morning, only 10 find 1ha1 he had been taken again. The next year he threatened 10 whip the children if they helped their mother play her linle game. Anna had been after Joe 10 move a hig pile of logs stacked in !he yard because she was afraid the children would get hun playing on 1h·em. but 10 no avail. There they were. stacked 100 high for safety. Before anyone else was up. she wen, 0111 into the yard. pushed 1he logs over so they rolled in every direction. then carefully maneuvered herself under two of them in a way 10 appear badly hun. When one of the children peered out the window and saw her, he screamed for his father. When Joe saw what he- thought had happened, he leaped through the window 10 run 10 her rescue. only 10 have her sit up when he go! there and say "April Fool!" Could you live with a woman like that? He has for some 60 years! Another one of her delightful stories in\·olved "siuing up with the body." The custom was when a person died, the body was kept a1 the home until it w~ interred. During 1ha1 time. even a, night, friends and relatives "sat up." One such night Anna was a bit bored and she looked around for some mischief needing to be done. She saw two very pious women sining in straight chairs leaning against the wall - sound ash:ep! She took some soo1 from the chimney, mixed in a The air is fine for it gives me what J need to live •• .~· $' ~: ::: .•. \ · The water is my mother for it holds me as she would in dream ~ .• Fire is my pride and foe for when it snaps it says it will overtake me ... .•. ·• . .•. And stone, stone is my best friend for it shows me the hardness of the world -1.smanl Cirino JI I I h •,. . -~. • Hard Scrabble .!. the ground I stand on I by Barbara Wickersham .• ! . as it prepares I The judge could no! solve ii and the man went free. It was later solved: 1-Ie had killed his wife, dug a hole 10 put her in, and his name was Fox. And then chere's the story about the man who had 100 much moonshine anti killed his cat ... bu1 we'll save that for another time! They still remember, these people of 1he mountain~ and they laugh and share their funny stories. I love 10 laugh and r did so enjoy listening - hope you did 100. / • •• .•· The earth is good t 1 \' Riddle 10 my riddle to my right, Guess where I srayed las, Friday night. The wind did blow and my hean did ache To see what a hole that fox did make. .. ·· ·· · . .... .•..~·......-.:•:•:•:•:•:•:·........·•..•.... ..·•· ....•. ... The Elements Xotimf, Jou1 nnC pn9c 6 little water, and painted their faces lndian style No one would betray the culprit v. ho had done the dastardly deed! Recently Anna 1old me she asked one of the women if !hey wanioo 10 know who did it. The lady replied "No, not now. I might get angry all over again." So Anna didn't tell - and her secret is cenainly safe wi1h me. Long hours of plowing. hoeing com, chopping wood, washing, cooking, etc. se1 these very bright people of devious minds to crca1ing riddles. An nnicle about their humor would be incomplete without a, least shanng one nddle with you. Here is my favori1e story of riddles shared (supposedly a true story). The wife of a man who lived back in the deep woods had disappeared without a 1rnce. Her family became concerned and there was an investigation. The man was brought before a judge and accused ofkilling his wife. Apparently the judge musr no, have been ahoie1her sure of his guih and he 10ld the man if he could make a riddle tha1 the judge could not solve. he could go free. Here is the riddle: ·• .•..•. ... ............ ·•· • ·~ • Appalachian mountainside, more rocks than grass. Three cows graze sideways round, short legs up hill, long legs down. Farmer says there's green enough to put milk in their faucets, and maybe there'll be milk enough to put green in his pockets. { ._. ::: ~: } •. ~ •. .•· .. ·•· .. ..... ·•· -Mlba Barr. e . .......·-•:•:•:•:•:•:•·.........,;.•· . •· .• • · • .. rnff., ,.19!1 I 1 . '1 �CLIMAX NEVER CAME have ever been in an old-growth forest thm contains tulip trees, you can see that they have a Iarger crown than other species, Like hemlock, sugar maple, or beech. And as tulip trees fall over. they create an open patch that is bigger than a gap left by one of the other tree species. Intermediately tolerant or even intolerant ttecs that wouldn't come up in the space left by a sugar maple or a beech, come up in the gap made by a fallen tulip tree. So even in an old-growth forest you can have a (OMlinncd on~· 8) by Henry Wender The idea of a "climaxfores1" has been an appealing one w sciemists interested in validating the idea of a 1111mral order in the world. It has also been a term usedfrequelll/y in the pages of the Katuah Journal to describe the old-growth hardwoodfore.\'l. Now it appears that n111ybe there has never been a climax forest in the Southern Appalachians, that the theory is too restrictive to accurately describe the dynamic processes of na111re in the mowuain highlands. JIere is a report on the controversy Scientists looking back at the magnificent hnrdwood forest that once covered the Southern Appalachian Mountains felt a sense of awe at the splendor of the big trees. The old forest had a feeling of permanence and "rightness" I.hat was justified by the observation of "succession" among forest plants: after a disturbance smaller, fast-growing plants repaired ecological damage and prepared the site for larger tree species and their accompanying understory vegetation. The dominant uces and the plants associated with them were termed the "climax forest," for these trees were shade-tolerant 10 some degree and succeeded themselves in the forest canopy. It seemed that unless an outside disturbance threw the forest back into an earlier stage of succession that the dominance of ccnain tree sP-CCies was inevitable. Certain species appeared 10 be ideally adapted 10 the conditions of the region and. unless interrupted, could maintain their reign perpetually (or at lea.st until the conditions of the cnvironml!nt changed). Succession, the scientists said, always reached a climax: "a self-reproducing 1cm1ina community." As with almost any abwlute statement in science, contradictions began 10 appl!ar within the idea of the climax forest. During the 1970's, scientific questioning turned into open revolt. One of the leaders of the rebellion was Dr. Peter S. White, then a researcher for the National Park Service at th Uplands Field Research Laboratory ,n the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. White is now the director of the Nonh C-irolina Botanical Gardens maintained bv th, University of Nonh Carolina at Chapel I iill. In a conversation in his office. he spok, about how his observations clashed with the climax theory: " 11tey (the climax thcorhts) would pn.-dict that in time a cenain cove site would become a hemlock forest or a beech forest. But th:it ~ocs nor happen everywhere without interruption. "Fire is an example in many ecosystems. but 10 use an even subtler example, tulip trees (locally known as yellow poplar) are shade-intolerant, early successionaJ trees. They colonize where there is on abundance of resources and nutrients and light and water. 'Tulip trees have a large crown. If you :ft1CC. 1991 Phoio by Rob Meutck Xatum, Journot PCIIJe 7 �of climax. They_ inU'Qduced "Polycli~cs," a mosaic ot different climax situations across the same landscape, and even "dis-climaxes," climax situations based on recurrent patterns of disturbance. Others referred to climax as an ideal situation that was valid for an (ainunucd frum pqc 7) persistent succcssional tree, just because of their great size. "So the ultimate progression towards climax would occur only in some rare situations. It docs happen. In a deep ravine, it CARIHEAN ISLANDS GIJ' MOOE LS ,-,....... $MALL WATERSHEDS DOMINICA CUBA ' ' r--"---, RECREATIONAL FOREST IN SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS 1 .. 111* C C w ~ • C ~ ,,. ----,\ 1010 C ,r, 0 OIUIIRICANES HITTING CIRCULAR ISLANDS I / \ EFHCTIVELY NONEOUILtlRIUM LANOSCAl'ES E . . -1"---- \ -- / I ""' C 10• } AUSTRALIAN ~REST FIRES FIIQM 1954 ,.,, IIY YEAR . __ ..., } } ) IJ''ALACHIAN WILDFIRES AREA IN THE 11.tlNGES OF COMMERCIAL A\ISTIIALIAN ~IYSl'ECIES Sc.le of dinurbonce and ICale of bnclscapcs for •umple ecosyslefflS. The hne between lhc dTcctive.ly nonequihliriwn and 111c quai-eqwlibri1m 1.-,d,apcs is based 011 a SO: I ratio of landsape cn:a to diJllllt)enu au. Cornbina&ions of disn.wbance and laidscape scales illu.waied uc: (a) Trerfalls Oii imall W111Cn!w,ds; (b) W'llcl!n, on ama11 walaShcds; (c) WildfiRS on reaeaiioml foruu: (d) AIISlnliln Corua ms on I.be nmie of Auslnlli111 £colyp1i,s specie$; and (c) Hurtian<s OC1 Carribc:m hllnds. (from A Theory of Forest Oynamies by Herman H.Shup.rt) might just be shady enough that hemlock is able to exclude any intolerant plants eventually, providing there is freedom from fire or hurricanes. So in a cenain sense there could be dominance by a few of the most shade-tolerant species. But in most other cases, I think thar that end-point of succession was still a mixed forest which never quite got to climax." Key to the idea of climax was the qualification "unless interrupted... " In climax theory, disturbance, even natural disturbance, was looked on as "endogenous," something that came from outside the system and interrupted the "normal" progression 10 a stable climax. White and his scientific allies maintained that disturbance was a natural occurrence in the life of most forests and needed to be included in any theory of forest dynamics. 'There was a certain sense that evolution creatcS ctiversity," White said, "There is a reason why early-succession plantS such as birch, pin cherry, or blaclcberrics evolve in a system. and that reason is that there is periodic disturbance, so it felt that 10 look only at the end-point was the wrong focus." In nature, it is said, "change is the only constant," and trying 10 deny disturbance an integral role in the forest ecosystem seemed 10 be setting up a Static model lhat left out the clement of change. Scientists defending climax recognized this, and they began to redefine the concept Xawan Journat - • , J. ". h. t P™Je 8 environment whether it actually occurred or nOL There came to be so many "climaxes" that, in the eyes of White and his cohons, the concept lost its meaning. "Every species is climax in that it evolved within some environmental setting and is extant within that setting," he wrote in 1979 (emphasis added). A nonhem hardwood forest setting provides an example. The dominant species, such as beech or sugar maple, depend on a shady, liner-covered forest floor to germinate their seeds. They are slow colonizers but are very tolerant of shade and play a waiting game. sitting as small saplings in the understory until an opening appears, when they use their height advantage and leap 10 fill it. While these species arc clearly dominant, other early-succession species persiSt. Yellow birch has light seeds which it disperses widely, starting many seedlings on I.be forest floor. But these seedlings arc completely eliminated, except for those which manage to take root on disturbed soil or on moss mats covering rotting logs or rocks from which they drop trailing roots 10 the forest floor. The fire cherry has persistant seeds that live a long lime in the soil, waiting for a ctisturbancc 10 open a gap in the upper canopy. By such strategics, these "early-succession" species, although never dominant, keep their place in the the northern hardwood forest. When larger gaps open up, the "climax species" arc out-competed by stands of the fas1-growing, light-loving trees. Rather than a linear model always approaching the goal of a final climax, 1his appears to be a shifting balance of different species competing amid a constantly changing set of conditions. "Dynamic equilibrium" or "patch dynamic equilibrium" is how White describes this continuing process. He mentions the work of Herman Shugan, a professor at the University of Virginia. ln his book A Theory of Foresr Dynamics, Shugan modeled a forest with disturbance patch size (maybe a burned area plus the gaps opened by fallen trees) on one axis and the total landscape siz.c on the other axis. If the total siz.e of the disrurbanccs was one-fiftieth of the size of the forest, Shugan said that the forest was in a state of "quasi-equilibrium." If the disturbance area included more than one-fiftieth of the forest, Shugart said that the forest was in "disequilibrium." Shugart also drew some conclusions about habitat ctiversity by examining patch sizes on a landscape over time. ln his model, maximum ctivcrsity was obtained when one-fiftieth of the landscape was stirred up by small, concurrent disturbances. On the other band, a single massive disturbance, like a hurricane or a large fire, would not produce that same diversity of habitats, because the character of the whole forest would be altered. This analysis is more relativistic and flexible than the traditional climax model because it incorpocatcs disturbance as pan of the picture rather than trying to exclude the influence of change. It can also give a picture of relative stability. While there is constant change and constant activity happening at the local level, seen from a wider viewpoint a forest's rate of food production, the average amount of biomass, or the average size of animal populations may bold steady over an extended period of time. 'That equilibrium." says Peter White, "since it has changclessncss within change, could be seen as a climax landscape. It's a big landscape with lots of inctividual local dynamics, but they're all canceling out over the whole. One could call that climax. "Historically, the tenn 'climax' would not have been applied 10 the patch dynamics equilibrium, but given freedom from people, and a constant equilibrium on a larger scale, there is a stable landscape configuration that could develop." Change is constant The key is balance. This viewpoint frees our minds from a linear and goal-oriented perspective. lt integrates the forest species and the forces that influence them together into a larger whole. In this view of evolution, the cycles of successfon yield stability in its time while providing necessary diversity to meet the challenge of unceasing change. Thuw to Or. Peter White for I.he infonnation ror this arti<;lc. For more in-depth infonnalion. - his article -Pattern. Process. and Natural Diswrbancc in Vcgctation" in The Botanical Rrv~. Vol. 4S, No. 3 (Swnmcr. 1979) and TM &oleo ofNOlrval Distrvbana and Pasch Dyll(tlflia. edited by S. T.A. Piclcca and Peter While (Academic Press, 1985). f"n(L, 1991 �.. 1 IS THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN ECOSYSTEM ENDANGERED? by John A. Freeman The Southern Appalachian area is one of the beauty-spots of Earth. Yet there are signs that this ecosystem is in trouble, that it is breaking down, perhaps much more rapidly than we are used to thinking ecosystems can. There is ample evidence that ecosystems break down quite rapidly due to stresses from overuse or abuse. Ln early classical Greece, trees were so abundant that the land was basically forest with isolated clearings. Yet within two centuries trees were uncommon enough that travelers mentioned individual trees or small groves as guidepost~ along their routes ln the American West 130 years ago, travelers described the grasses as reaching halfway up 1he sides of their horses. Today, some of these areas seldom have grasses more than a few inches tall and the carrying capacity forcanle has been reduced by perhaps 98 percent. But surely our beautiful area wi1h its forests is not on tha1 slippery slope,. Or is ii? Fifty years ago, as a graduate student at Chapel Hill, I chose 10 use three common aquatic snails in a research project. One basis for the choices was that they were readily availnble in nearby srreams - I could collec1 1he seveml dozen of e;ich that l neede.c;I in a matter of minu1es. Fifteen years later, in. Piedmont ponds two of the snails were common. The third, always found in small streams and pi:eviously common throughout these mountains, was rare. In 1956 r saw the last one I have seen in this area. Six or seven years later, the pond snails had almost disappeared from the ponds where 1 once collected them in large numbers. By 1he mid-'60's, even superficial observation showed that stoneflies and mayflies were much reduced in the areas r visited. Except for fishermen, most people would not be concerned about the decimation of these insects. However, the fact that they are major sources of food for trout gives them significance. Their loss has been responsible for the need of frequent stocking of trout streams 10 enable tr0u1 fishing in most of the area. Other small creatures nre rare in many areas wbere they were once common. Some that come 10 mind are snakes and other reptiles, and a wide range of amphibians (frogs, toads, and salamanders) which, as a whole, I estimate have been reduced in numbers by perhaps 99 percent. Many songbirds are also much reduced in recent years. Taking a longer historical perspective, the top predators were reduced 10 only token levels many years ago. Wolves, for example, were once important in the balance among animals in our area. Now, in an effort to restore some semblance of balance. red wolves are being reintroduced. The predatory birds (eagles, hawks, owls, etc.) were once reduced to small populations but fonunately with some suppon by humans are makmg comebacks. :fa(£, 1991 In recent years, among the most conspicuous changes have been among trees, especially Fraser firs and spruces at higher elevations, such as Mount Mitchell. As yet less dramatically affected arc various oaks, pines, dogwoods and 01her trees extending thing of the past, possibly within decades and almost surely within a century. What can be done, if anything, 10 get our beloved area off the slippery slope? Unfortunately, about the only rhing we can do locally is 10 apply as many "bandaids" down into the valleys. That we have some explanations - or tentative explanations - of the changes we sec docs no1 reduce the fact or significance of the.c;e changes. Based on my own per;onal, though not systematic, observations, I conclude that our Appalachian ccosys1ems are under attack. Once the slippery slope of ecosystem degeneration i.~ reached, ecosystem breakdown can be rapid. It leads 10 a nc:w and different system that develops rapidly unless remedial steps are taken promp!ly and vigorously. The new ecosystem has a lower tot.ill life suppon capacity than the original from which it developed. My conclusion is qualitative, not quantitative: based on my observntions over a lifetime in the Appalachian and nearby areas, our ecosystems are already onto tha1 slippery slope leading to dramatic changes, including towered productivily. Just when sharp and dramatic changes will come is unccnain, as it is uncertain just whru the changes will be. Unless dramatic steps are taken soon, the ecosystems we know and enjoy will be a as possible, for the basic causes of the problem are much more widespread. Any steps which lower the pollutants known as acid rain or acid precipitation will help. Global wanning and the depletion of stratospheric ozone are widespread problems 1hat require more than local actions. Fonunately, there is developing wide intereSt in this country, especially at non-governmenllll levels, in these problems. Accords and bws mandating changes are ei1hcr already in effect or arc being developed. Grassroots activists instinctively ask a crucial question: "What is there for me 10 do?" Fonunately, there.arc several overlapping areas in which we can be effective. Foremost, in my opinion, is increasing awareness on the pan of the public and of government officials that the mauer i~ critical and that we cann0t afford to wait until all is kTiown about such matters as what causes damaged vegellltion. Drawing by Rob Messick (COIIIIIIUed on page 24) 1Gatuah Jo1..rnn£ PCMJC 9 �uTalking Leaves"·· 1 ,,, The Life and Influence of Sequoyah based on an interview with Tom Underwood Sequoyah was unquestionably a genius. He developed an 86-character syllabary of the Cherokee language that enabled his tribe to become the only one of the North American Indian tribes 10 become literate. Sequoyah's invention allowed the Cherokees to publish a tribal newspaper and preserve many of their old teachings and beliefs in written form. He is the only man in recorded history known to have devised a system of writing without knowing how to read or write in any language. Sequoyah was born in eastern Tennessee sometime around 1776, the half-breed son of a while man named Nathaniel Gist and a daughter of one of the Cherokee chiefs at the village of Echota. There has been much discussion among historians about his parentage, but today there is little doubt that Gist, the son of a prominent Virginia family, was Sequoyah's true father. Gist was a friend of George Washington, and it is said that he was working secretly for Washington, looking for purchasable land in Tennessee. He lived with the Indians for quite some time at the Echota village. He did not leave there until the Revolutionary War, when there was discussion in the Virginia legislature of d~laring him a traitor because he was living with the Cherokee who were actively aiding the British. Gist traveled to Virginia and presented himself before the legislature. He told them that he was not a British sympathizer and that he would recruit Cherokee to the colonial cause. He brought 14 Indians to fight for the colonists, but he did not return with them to E~hota. After the independence was declared, Gist settled in Ohio, and his family became respected leaders of their time - one was a congressman, another became a well-known innkeeper in Washington. After Sequoyah had invented the syllabary and was on business in Washington, he visited the Gist family on one occasion, evidently at their invitation, and was accepted by them as Nathaniel's son, George Gist. Some of the best written information on Sequoyah is included in an odd collection of documentS on the Cherokees compiled by a white man named John Howard Payne. Payne was a contemporary of Sequoyah and transcribed first-hand n:collcctions of the man. "The Payne manuscript," as it is known, says that Sequoyah's family on his mother's side "was of high rank in the nation. The famous John Waus was one of them. Two of his uncles were men of great distinction - one of the two was named Tah-lon-tee-skee (the overthrower), and the other Kahn-yah-tah-hee (the first to lcill). "Kahn-yah-tah-bee was the principal X.Otuah Journal pac.,s 10 chief of Old Echota, the ancient town of refuge, over which he presided, He was called The Beloved Chief of All the People.' 1t was his exclusive duty and delight 10 be a peace preserver. "During some public assembly, there was an onset of the whites, notwithstanding it was a time of profound peace, and all the Tndians fled, excepting Kahn-yah-tah-hee and another chief, of whom there was some distrust in the nation. They were both in the square where the ceremonial had been gone through. Kahn-yah-tah-hce arose from his scat, and with a white flag waving, met the marauders as they broke into the square. Both chiefs were murdered brutally on the spot. "Some days subsequently, the invaders having withdrawn, the people returned. Carrion birds had devoured the body of the one chief, but that of the other, Kahn-yah-tah-hee, the Beloved of All, was untouched, and unchanged even in death. His hand still grasped the violated Flag of Peace, and upon his dead lips lingered a benignant (sic) smile." Se.quoyah grew up a Cherokee and identified with his tribal heritage. He never learned to speak English. He had no wish 10 learn the white people's language. Even after ~eh~ invented the ~yllabary and was being interviewed for a sencs of newspaper articles !n Washington. he spoke through an interpreter. The boy and his mother lived at Echota until he was 11 years old and then moved down to Wills Town, in nonheas1ern Alabama. He never showed signs of his genius when he was a child. He was 100 busy helping his mother find a means of survival. She ran a small trading post and outfitted fur trappers on credit. Young Sequoyah would go out in the forest 10 pick up the furs owed to her for payment. He was alone much of the time. He learned self-reliance and supplemented the family's meager larder by hunting. When he was older, he learned several trades. He was a silversmith for a time. The Cherokee loved 10 decorate themselves with fine jewelry - ear and nose rings, armbands, bracelets, gorgets, and chains, and Sequoyah became proficient at creating these ornaments out of silver. He prevailed upon a white man 10 write his name in English and engraved his signature on each piece of his work. He also began 10 draw and was highly regarded among the tribespcople on this account. He latertumed to blacksmithing. But he was never much of a farmer; he never could get interested in hoeing com. It was also said of Sequoyah that he was "greatly considered among all the handsome women." The Payne manuscript tells us: "...when he discovered that he was so greatly considered among the handsome women, he began to pay less attention to his employment He neglected his silver worlc and his drawing and went about visiting one and another, and every day he had more and more friends. The young men were always pleased to see him coming where they were. When he would arrive at any place where a number of them were assembled around their boule, they would call out to him, 'My friend, my friend, let us drink whiskey together... ' "But at that time he drank only water; though he would. when thus invited, always go fetch a quart bonlc of whiskey. and give it 10 his friends and then wait and let them drink it by themselves. He went on thus for a long while, but was at length tempted now and then to taste a little with his friends - and soon, a little more: until at last. he would often get tipsey (sic) with his friends: whereupon his friends increased upon him so fast, that instead of a bottle, he would have to bring a three gallon keg for their supply, and he would make them all drink with him, until the keg was empty." One night Sequoyah and a couple of his friends went to a Bible reading. They listened, and going home that night they talked about how wonderful were the "talki.ng leaves," as the Cherokee described pages of paper. To them the pages of a book sounded like leaves rustling in the wind. Sequoyah's friends said, "This is a wonderful gift of the Great One to the white man. We could never have this." He said, "1 could do this." They laughed at him. "No, you couldn't do that," they said. He said, "I can do it I can find a way to make the talking leaves speak in Cherokee. They laughed again and said, 'You're crazy.''' That set him off. Sequoyah went to work. He first tried 10 devise symbols to make sentences, then symbols to make words. Everything wound up too compli_cated. He started over again trying 10 figure It all out. From when he began, until it was completed, Sequoyah worked off and on creating his syllabary for over 20 years. He eventually broke the Cherokee language down into 86 basic sounds and assigned a symbol for each. He could not devise enough signs 10 designate the different sounds. so one day when he found a discarded newspaper, he picked symbols from the pages and adopted them into his own system. That is why some of the characters in the Cherokee syllabary appear familiar to English-speaking people. Sequoyah would become absorbed in his work and retire to a small outbuilding on his propeny to ponder on the syllabary for long periods of time. He abandoned his farm fields completely and left the raising of crops and family entirely to his wife. She became infuriated about this project that was taking her husband away from his responsibilities. One day, when his work was almost completed, she burned his little building with all his notes while he was away from home. But he would not quit He staned over. No one else in the tribe believed in his work. The other members of his community disrrusted his long periods of solitary labor. The word began to go around that Sequoyah was engaging in witchcraft He was losing the respect that he had gained in the community. Finally one day a friend named fo(t, 1991 �tribal council, Sequoyah received wide recognition. Now a famous man, he remained quiet and withdrawn. The Payne manuscript described him as follows: "His manners were never forward and are now become somewhat reserved. lt can be seen that his mind is always busy within him, and, especially when smoking, he seems absorbed in thought. He is thin and above the middle heighL 1n dress he :idheres 10 the old costume of the nation, but without ornament; wears the turuc and robe, leggings Tunle Fields came ro visit Sequoyah. The Payne manuscript recounts what to0k place: "'My friend,' Turtle Fields said to him, 'my friend, there are a great many remarks made upon this employment which you have taken up. Our people are much concerned abour you. They think you are wasting your life. They think, my friend, that you arc making a fool of yourself, and will be no longer respected.' "Gist replied, 'Lt is not our people who Cherokee Syllabary Da -$-ga t ho 'Vha W,a ,/"ma Re l"ee T. rhl' .oh, f ,e Ctme f ,, H m, 0 n l.hnaGnah J\.n a e Yii, Iln, Q Que 'fqu, l::fsa OUs 4 ,e h s, W,.. d1a .Ct1d i G,.a G.wa tDva ~ mo J'mu ,,,. . , 4 nu O'nv quo le}quu f; quv ½$0 If'$, Rs., Z no ~ qua t da . Ou J.., A eo J gu .Egv J.lho r hu &-hv G,o M,u 4 1 v o)o I Sde't1e .,L ] ,, Vdo Sdu I ~ do L ,,p C,11 ,J ,,o -'i'P 11u P 11v lr,s, K ,so cJ,su C ,sv 'J',se /Jwu 6w v 4£JWL' J3ve nv fi vo Gvu Bvv have advised me to this, and it is not therefore our people who can be blamed if 1 nm wrong. What 1 have done I have done from myself. If our people think lam making a fool of myself, you may tell our people that what ram doing will nOl make fools of them. They did not cause me to begin and they shall not cause me to give up. If I am no longer respected, what l am doing will not make our people the less respected, either by themselves or others; and so I shall go on, and so you may tel1 our people."' We sometimes call Sequoyah's symbols an alphabet, but 11 is actually a syllabary, which correctly describes a system of signs for the sy11ables of a language. lf one knows Cherokee. it is fairly simple to learn Sequoyah's symbols and write the words of the language. Not many go 10 the trouble 10 do it anymore, but the fin;t person Sequoyah taught was his six year old daughter. She was the one who demonstrated his system to the governing council of the Cherokee nation. When Sequoyah t0ok his syllabary to the council, the members refused 10 believe it. It was 100 complicated, they said. There were too many sounds. They would never learn it. He said, "h's so simple 1ha1 that I have taught my six-year old daughter to use it." They put him to the test. She wrote down what they said while he was out of the room, and when he came back, he read ii. After the syllabary was accepted by the rnrt, 1991 ~ WI ~ WO sometimes of buckskin, sometimes of blue cloth - moccasins instead of shoes - and a turban." By this time there was intense pressure on the Cherokee from white people who wanted their land. Sequoyah left Alabama with a group led by Chief John Jolly and settled in Arkansas. He worked some salt springs and taught the written language 10 the Cherokees there. At one time, there were more literate Otcrokees than there were literate white people in Arkansas! When the first Cherokees forced to travel The Trail of Tears arrived out west m 1839, there was much resentment among the earlier settlers because "the newcomers" were talcing up the land. There was violent dissension that threatened 10 destroy the tribe. and Sequoyah turned his talents and reputation toward the causes of peace and tribal unity. The tribal leaders met and decided 10 write a constitution that all factions could abide by Sequoyah was elected president of the group, and if not for his presence, there probably would have been much more trouble, because he was a man who did not take sides and did not harbor grudges. He was a leader and a man of peace, and it turned out that he had great powers of diplomacy. When the constitution was negotiated, the Cherokee moved all their belongings 10 Oklahoma. Scquoyah's final trip was a mission to Mexico undenakcn when he was about 67. He journeyed the<e to bring a whole village of Cherokee people back to Oklahoma.. The group had starte.d west without a guide during the Removal, and had wandered down the wrong river and ended up across the border. ln seeking for them, Sequoyah died in the small town of San Fernando, Mexico in 1843. ••• Words become only insO'Umencs, expressions. The written syllabary significantly changed the world of the Cherokees, but it is difficult even now to give a definitive analysis of the impact that Sequoyah, singlehandedly, had on his tribe. I think that will have to wait for future historians. But one thing is clear: Sequoyah wanted his people to be able to read and write like the Europeans, and through his genius and his efforts he allowed the Cherokees 10 have their own written language. It gave them a chance to read, and many Cherokees became better informed than their own white neighbors. They took pride in that. and they took pride in the fact that it was their tribesman Sequoyah who had made ic possible. Once the syllabary was widely circulated, the tribe installed a printing press in a log cabin office at the tribal capital at New Echota. It was set with specially cast type and printed documents and a bilingual tribal newspaper. TIie Cherokee Phoenix. There followed translations of the Bible, hymnals, and prayer books in10 Cherokee. After the Removal, literate Cherokees sent leners back and forth between Oklahoma and the Eas1. Directly or indin:ctly, the printed word broadened the horizons of every member of the Cherokee tribe. It gave the Cherokee a significant advantage over other Native American aibcs. Because they could read their own language, they were able to become acculturated ro white society easier than the other native people. That gave them a better chance of survival in the world they had to face. Of course, this acculturation had its negative effecL~. 100. In some areas the new literacy increased the jealousy of some of the Cherokees' white neighbors. And at the same time that it was increasing the Cherokees' pride and sense of tribal accomplishment, literacy was also helping to destroy traditional foundations of tribal society. lndividual Cherokees became confused about who they were and turned their back on their native heritage. As the Cherokee Bibles and prayer books helped to gain convcns to the Olristian religion, the power of the medicine people was eroded and the ages-old spiritual life withered away. But because ethnologiSt James Mooney found small journals in which Cherokee medicine people had ~ e d their magical formulas, he was able to preserve a written record of ancient lore that was lost to many of the other tribes. Other valuable information wrincn in Cherokee was preserved as well. There are medicine chants written by Bird Partridge in the Museum of the Cherokee Indian that were written in the native language, and I am sure I.hat there were other items of the same natuTC. (0l>lllinlled <lll P-'CC 24) 1'ati1 fl Jour nd. a po(JC 11 �GREEN SPIRITS: Human societies, cultures, and cuisines originally developed around the ecological cycles of plant growth and dormancy. seed set and tuber development in their regions. Today it is still highly desirable for each bioregion to be more self-sufficient in its own food production. Diet should become more regionally localized and more seasonable, with different foods available at different harvelit periods. Produce .,,. hich is storable or dryable (potatoes, winter squash, etc.) would come to be of greater imponance in the regional diet. Regional food production (especially production utilizing low-input organic methods) would act 10 stabilize regional economics by decreasing our dependance on foreign inputs, especially oil and pem:x:hemicals. Any region can become more self-sufficient in its food production, distribution, and marketing. Critical to the successful development of regional agricultural economies is the preservation of the dwindling amount of remaining world-wide plant genetic diversity. Thousands of locally selected vegetable and fruit varieties have been lost in the last century due to the change from growing predominantly local, open-pollinated varieties to the almost exclusive use of F1 hybrid varieties. Modern hybrid plant varieties have been developed for characteristics such as high yield, case of production and uniform harvest, but not for the generic diversity which serves as biological insurance against disease or insect attack. Hybrid crop varieties have the disadvantages of (1) genetic uniformity, and susceptibility to major insect and disease attack; (2) seeds produced from hybrid plants cannot be saved and replanted, since their offspring would not produce a uniform or stable crop; and (3) hybrid crops require massive amounts of outside inputs, such as fenilizers and pesticides, to achieve high levels of yield. With the loss of genetic diversity in our food crops, we are losing the diversity which has developed over millions of yea.rs, the same genetic differences which allow plant populations to survive climatic changes. PlanLc; which have diverse genetic backgrounds are generally termed "opcn-pollinnted" varieties (also called "non-hybrid," "standard," "heirloom," or "old•timey" varieties ). Open-pollinated varieties are more or Jess, randomly pollinated from genetically diverse parents, resulting in unique offspring with a wide range of physical and biochemical genetic expressions Seeds from open-pollinated plants contain a great deal of genetic diversity from which agriculturists can select for features such as taste, disease resistance, and suitability of use. By selecting parents with desirable characteristics. and by crossing them in selected combinations. improved varieties, which are more adapted to local climates, soils etc., can be isolated. Another major advantage of open-pollinated varieties is that they retain their genetic diversity, preserving genes which may be more :Kcit.i'.w h Jo1.m mt pQCJe 12 Seed Saving to Preserve Biodi:ver~sty, adaptable to changing environments. II is of grem practical value to be able to produce and save one's own seed. 1hereby being able to gradually selec1 for desired improvements and bcner local adaptability (i.e. better gene combinations for a panicular climate or soil). while retaining genetic diversity. SEED SA Vl~G REFEREI\CFS Robm Johnson. Jr. 1983. Growing Garden Seetlr: A Manual/or Gardeners and Small Farms. Inexpensive and easy to understand. Available from Johnny's Selected Seeds; Albion. Maine 04910. $1.95 Peter Donelan. 1986. Growing ro Seed. A more detailied presentation. Ecology Action, Self-Teaching Mini-series# 13. Order from Ecology Action: 5798 Ridgewood Road: Willeis, CA, 95490 $3.50. Suzanne Ashworth. 1990. Seed ro Seed Seed-saving techniques for over 160 vegetable crops. 240 pp., $20.00 ppd. Order from Seed Savers Exchange (sec address below). SEED SA VJNG ORGANlZATIONS The Flower & Herb Exchange (FHE) Rt. 3. Box 239 Decorah Iowa 5210 I ($5.00 annual membership) Fonunately, there is a growing number of individuals and developing organizations which recogni1.e the imponance of preserving natural genetic diversity in agricultural crops. The most widely known is the Iowa-based Seed Savers Exchange, which is a loose organization of people committed to seed saving and exchange. The Seed Savers Exchange believes that the best way to preserve historical varieties is by propagating them and distributing them to a widely scattered number of seed savers. The group publishes lists of available varieties and addresses of members with panicular varieties for exchange or sale. By keeping open-pollinated plant varieties in the public domain, the Seed Savers Exchange ensures that they will be widely propagated and distributed. We highly encourage Kan1ah plant caretakers to identify and promote the preservation, propagation, and distribution of local "follc-roce" varieties of vegetables, ornamentals, and fruits. Local county fairs can be better orgnnized to identify local varieties still grown by the old-timers. Talk with dedicated seed-savers to identify their favorite varieties and then offer to purchase or trade for seeds when they arc available. Multiply these varieties and be sure to further distribute and "spread the wealth" to help prevent the loss of these natural treasures. Secondly, interested gardeners should seek out open-pollinated varieties and encourage their use and distribution. Try growing these varieties and selecting for plants with improved qualitic:;. Lastly. plant caretakers need to produce extra seeds to pass along to other seed-savers to encourage their increase and serve as insumnce against the loss of these irreplaceable heirlooms. Seed saving can be a simple and economical hobby. General and specific information on saving vegetable varieties can be gained from the books listed below. Seed Savers Exchange Rural Route 3, Box 239 Decorah Iowa 52I01 ($25.00 annual dues, with reduced r01esfor "reduced income" membership), specializing in plant listing ofvegetables and fruits. Native Scc<VSEARCH 3950 West New York Drive Tucson, Arizona Specializing in S011tllwest indigenous crops, such as peppers, beans, dye plants, etc. Dues $10.00 per year. COMPANIES SPECIALIZING IN OPEN-POLLINATEO/HEIRLOOM SEEDS Southern Exposure Seed Exchange Box 158-N Nonh Garden, VA 22959 Caralog $3 .00, credited to first order. Redwood City Seed Company PO Box 361 Redwood City, CA 94064 Caralog $/ .00 Bountiful Gardens (Ecology Action) 5798 Ridgewood Rd. WilliL~. CA 95490 Abundant Life Seed Foundation Box 772 Pon Townsend, WA 98368 Seeds Blum Idaho City Stage Boise, Idaho 83706 Caralog $3.00. Johnny's Selected Seeds Albion, Maine04910 Dr•wmg by Rob Mc.nick - by Lee Barnes 1'nrt, 1991 �Walking Distance Our transpotation addiction is responsible for massive ecological and social damage. Our society is built around the use of Lhe automobile. It is now necessary for most people to use a car or bus to get to work, school, to buy groceries or see most of our friends. This is a very expensive situation in currency oflife, money, environmental qualiLy and in social disruption. Our highest priority should be to establish villages and re-establish neighborhoods in which the day to day needs of the people can be met within walking distance. A pattern of local self sufficiency would have many good effects on our lives and on the environmenL Fuel use and polluLion would be cu1 dramatically and people would save a 101 of money. People be/long in a walking based society. Children grow up m greater sccuri ty, and oldt:r folks can live longer in their own homes when supported by a caring community. In local economy we empower each other as we disempower huge political and industrial cartels. Wal.king and biking as means of rransponation reintegraLc people with their environment while providing a moderate and appropriate execrcise schedule. People would live longer and be happier. Inter actions with actual people would tend Lo replace video reality. We live in a world designed for cars instead of people. In a world designed for people, kids can find enough other kids for a ballgame any day with decent wcaLher, and adults can either have the solitude of the woods or the compt1ny of friends within walking distance. Native peoples the world over have almost always chosen to live in villages. Synergy is the reason for this. a village is more than che sum of its pans. In a village there is more protection from wild animals and violent people, cooperation in labor, the sharing of resources such as ox and plow, GASOLJtlE JS A DAJ\JGEHOUS CHE},JJCA!. ADDJc·r JON. and there is the possibility of specializing for greater efficiency. Even as rteenily as the 1960's most of the people of che world lived in agricultural villages with forest and field out the back door and friends and neighbors out the fronL One of the reasons people moved to cities was that the rural villages were cultural backwaters. This has changed in an era of satellite communications and U.P.S .. Now the ideas and goods of the world are readily available in the wilds of anywhere. ANGLE: ENVIRONMENT Fifteen years ago I wrote in my journal that l had three jobs. The first was for money so I could keep a roof over my head, eat. and function in society \\ith a grasp on self-reliance. Having been a Boy Scout and raised with respect for nature and a vision of caring for it, I wanted my job 10 be a pan of an ecological wlution and not more of the problem. 8111 I remember thinking at the same time that "Job One is for money 10 pay my bills." 1 had to begin wi1h my self-reliance and forge my conscious ideas in the marketplace as l went along. Working as a mechanic. I sometimes wondered if cars weren't one of our major problems. Eventually realizing that it was true, I also had 10 keep in mind that I had learned to make them run more efliciemly. So I was able to organi:r.e my thoughts and ideas with the security my paycheck gave me to work on Job Two. For Job Two I recycll!d cars. This was more of a hobby than a job-type job. I did not do tt for money, bu1 for the environment. If I made money that was line, but I figured tha1 I would do this job as part of a solution. It was a feeling l kept in my private heart, but I knew my work muse feed it. If I wns to grow and strengthen and become a man in the business world, I had to help in designing that world for health. I was looking for my own true man rather than the businessman and trying to keep the roof over my head. So roff. 1991 ii was my goal not to let this work tax the environment in nny way, but to engage me in part of the cleanup. My own system of Earth first. In the college town where I lived, students abandoned cars everywhere. It didn't seem to mailer how simply they might be fixed, with their own studies and graduation on their minds. and maybe sights set on soon buying a new car, off into the field the old cars went. I fixed cars man>' times by putting in a new bauery. Other times I took two cars and made one good one...feeding them back into the :,ystcm... seeing that no good pans were wasted. Though technology might give belier fuel economy from year to year, we must consider the "Bic Clic" mentality in the throwaway car industry, keeping in mind the horsepower it takes and the 1ax on our environment to keep up the new car cycle. Seeing the rate at which so many of these '"dead" cars got crushed, only 10 create a demand for another ne\\ one, made Job Two feel very good environmentally. It seemed 10 go out and out. if only in my own thinking, towards my goals. My third job was solely for the environment. 1 would not use fuel nor generate money: I picked up trash. II felt so good when money was not my motivating force. People around me thought I Photovoltaics can give electricity to the most remote community. A modem rural community is an atttactive idea in a time when cities offer more in the way of crime and less in the way of cultural attractions. It is now possible to have the best of civilization and the best of rural life. The village is an idea whose time has come again. The industrial revolution has brought us great progress in many areas but the pattern of social disintegration and ecological degradation that it has fostered must be changed. Consumerism must be replaced with a more broad minded philosophy that cares about the welfare of the entire system. In a localil.ed economy there are micro-<:conomic niches for pan time bakers, appliance repair people, haircuucrs, chicken keepers, cow milkers, etc. The industrial revolution separated and scheduled life, work came to mean job, education came to mean school, and all of society came to revolve like a gear around the needs of industry. People's lives took on the same scheduled and sequenced rhythms as the assembly line. Extended families shrank into nuclear families and then to one parent families. Prosperity came to mean economic growth instead of a state of well-being. Now there are other trends at work, and these will eventually produce an age of self-sufficient villages that produce much of their own power and food and at the same time can choose co be active members of a global civilization. The world needs models for this new generation of rural community. / by Will Bason Drawing by Rob MC$~ock must have really tlipped. And though a1 fir..1, 1admit, ii did feel a little crazy, I had begun to realize "new profits" and decided 1hnl linering was indeed crazier. I also pickl!d up aluminum. There were liuer baJTCls up and down both sides of the street from my home all the way across town. So every day after work r walked and picked up paper and cans. The barrels came up like clockwork, and in them I found an aluminum mme. There was a can buyer along my route, so that was my "bank" right on my path. If I thrcatencd anyone's sensibilities, f soon didn't care. Because of the social nature of the work, I was discovering more of what mnde what tick. Before long I added up what it was costing me to go to Job One, and realized I couldn"t afford ii anymore. Since that time I've found that I cannot afford 10 work for money as my chief motivaung force. The things I do, I do for different reason5. I get a strong feeling that a lot of the problem~ in the world, the ones we inherited and the on~ \\e perpetuate, began and continue because we have been so busy making money. And as we start 10 find the things that rc3lly can s:uisfy us. we also find we don·t need so much money anymore. I've learned that sclf-n:liance actually begins with me - and not with the roof ove~ myhead. ,P' by lvo Ballentine x.ai.urui Joun\OL page 13 �SERYING TI IE OREAT LIFE These are the words of a traduionaJ Cherokee medicint ptrson: 1 have said that there are three levels of conjuring: the personal levt>I, the level of knowledge, and the spiritual level. (See Kartfoh Journal #27.) The first fonn of conjuring is the ways we know to persuade acquainmnces or people we are intimate with - every day sort of smff. The next level is conjuring by understanding how things work. what I call the laws of nmurc. The more knowledge one has at this level, the more ability one has to conjure. The highest form is the spiritual fonn or conjuring. This level requires more than lenming 10 accomplish it. One can learn how to do 11, one can completely understand how it works, and still not have the ability to make it work. The reason a person may not be able to do it is because his or her individual self is in the way. The whole key to working the higher fonm of conjuring is to get one's self out of the way. That's the hard pan. To be a conjuror requires a personality that 1s strong. willful, and persistent. Tt takes super courage 10 confront one's own self. That's the biggest enemy. the biggest monster that ever existed: our own ego. The equation for conjuring is One. There is One Spirit that flows through us all trees, plants, animals, the Eanh. That is our connection to all things. Getting our individualistic self out of the way allows us to hook into that One SP.irit. which is moving all the time. It is very difficult to get one's self out of the way, but someone who can accomplish that may use the spiritual power for conjuring. Conjuring, as I know it, corresponds most closely to the western concept of "manipulation." And in the dominant culture, manipulation has bad connotations, because people don't like to feel like they have been manipulated, when actually we arc manipulated all the time. We are manipulated by our culture. The German people were manipulated in World War Il. Americans are manipulated by capitalism and glittery, materialistic things. Many of the Jewish people a.re very tied in to their own culture and their history as a people. We arc aJI constantly being manipulated. In a world in which we a.re manipulated all the time, conjuring can be very useful. The conjuror can heal people. The conjw-or can heal people who might otherwise be dead. The conjuror can interfere with their fate. For instance, in this culture it's absolutely terrifying 10 be told, "You have Xotuan Journal p!MJC 14 cancer." Cancer is known to be so bad and usually fatal. When a doctor tells a patient he or she has cancer, it's devastating. ln some cases people stan dying right away. They surrender and relinquish them~elves to the disense. The will dies. Doctors can't usually do much about cancer. But the mind and the spirit together are so powerful that somerimes they can make a cure. Sometimes they can provoke the spirit of the Physician Within to heal a person, And one does that through conjuring. If a conjuror is successful, it's amazing what can happen. Sometimes conjuring on the third level produces results that seem impossible 10 people who arc looking at it from an conventional viewpoint. What they see cannot be explained in a rational, linear way. ''Magic comes when all doubt is cleared from the mind." I don't see events th:11 occur on the spiritual levels as magic. I see them as facts - events that can happen all the time. They only seem extraordinary to people who are caught up in the physicaJ, materialistic, self-oriented culture. Healing may appear to be magic and mystical, but it isn't. It's a law of nature. Everyone has the capacity and the ability to do this if they can get their own self out of the way. A conjuror can also do terrible things. He or she can do absolutely hideous, horrible things to other people. The same energy that can heal someone can be used 10 make another person to sick - just by reversing the process. But in my experience of watching people who had the ability to use that power, the majority of them never did horrible or terrible things. The simple reason was: the consequences. There is karma, and it affects one's spirit. Misusing spiritual power is one way to destroy the spirit, kill it. How could that not affect someone spiritually? Sending a sickness used to be called "spoiling the saliva." The old peoRle believed that the spit was the secret way to a person's spirit. They believed that by spoiling the saliva they could make a person's spiri1 sick, and then, since everything is connected, the biological or emotional being would also become sick. The conjuror used to concentrate on the saliva. using it as the focus point for a strong meditation. When a conjuror is using a spiritual form of conjuring, he sees himself, his real self. He then visualizes the Whole, and sees himself dissipate into the Whole. The thought that he takes with him is of the saliva of the person he is conjuring. When he rerums with the saliva spoiled, he sends it back 10 the person, and the person gets sick. Using the spiritual fonn of conjuring is definitely interfering with fate. It is the fate of all of us to die, yet 1 know people who were healed from their cancer after being given up for lost by the western physicians. That's interfering with fa1e. There are consequences 10 interfering with fate, and the consequences could be positive, or they could be negative. Conjurors don't feel that the spiritual burden of interfering in someone's life rests on thcm. When they are asked to do things, they do just what somebody asks them. The person who requests the conjuring is the one who picks up on the good or bad consequences of the act, not the conjuror that's our reality. Conjurors consider themselves to be like the pistol in a murder, and, by asking chem, their diem pulls the trigger. h's not the pistol that goes on trial, it's the trigger-puller who goes on trial. In tribal times the conjuror was honor-bound to carry out any fequest. The tribe used to set apart people to be good hunters, chippers of arrowheads, or com ~ planters. That was their task in life. A medicine per.;on was set apart 10 conjure, LO be a healer, or to be a priest - and there could be no personal limits set on ii. The only request a conjuror could refuse was one lhat would require him or her to hurt the Great Life, the Whole. lf someone asked me to conjure the State of Nonh Carolina to let them dump their toxic waste along the highway or 10 poison the river, I would be injuring the Great Life. I could refuse. Otherwise. a conjuror relinquished his responsibility. Still, there were ways to get out of conjunng acts that one considered distasteful. One way was 10 get the client to participate in the conjuring as much as possible. A conjuror could drag it out for several days to test their will. Often a person would change their mind in two or three days. Or the conjuror could have the person do some things that didn't absolutely necessary need to h:lppen. "Get me a cenain plant up on Clingman's Dome. There's a li1t1e rock up under there with some moss that grows on it. You have to be there in two hours, and you have 10 hop in from the north on one leg," and when they brought that, he would say, "I need this one other thing. You need to wade across the river and..." There were always means 10 slow people down and make them think about their actions. As a lasl reson a conjuror could say, "My will is not going to be into this, and I don't know how effective this is going to be. I suggest you go sec another medicine person." Because conjuring is manipulation, the 'Fn(l., 199\ �11 idea seems negative and threatening LO many people of Lhe western culture. But who is 10 tell what is positive and what is negative? One would have to have a seer in order 10 know before the fact. As an example, neighbors often do Lhings against neighbors when they have bad feelings and resenonems. A medicine person could do mild fonns of conjuring which would relieve them of their bad feelings toward their neighbor, because they felt that they'd taken action. In the long run, it could possibly be more positive to do some superficial conjuring than to let those people sit around with their resenunents festering and their bad feelings gening stronger and stronger. It's a psychological and emotional pressure release. It's hard to try to justify that to western people. It could conceivably be a positive action to cause somebody 10 get sick. In the culture that we live in, there is no excuse to relinquish responsibility to go out and smell the flowers and just be. Sickness is the only valid excuse. And sometimes there's so much stress and pain in the lives of people involved with the dominant culture that they will create a sickness just 10 meet that need to relinquish responsibility. A good healer shouldn't limit him or herself to biological matters; a good healer shouldn't limit him or herself to social matters. A good healer should understand that there isn't anything in this culture that will let us relinquish responsibility but being sick. He or she is a priest A healer should be able 10 say, "Listen, take a week off. Go to the beach, do what you like 10 do." Conjunng • manipulation - is good when it serves the Great Life. That's the governing principle. Through the whole process, the conjuror has 10 keep the ego out. Of course, it is true that "Where I go, ego." There's a very fine balance there. I am constantly asking myself the question, "Who does this serve? Who does this serve?" Because if l felt I was acting just to serve myself and my ego, I would stop immediately. Conjuring puts one in a position of power, but it has to be done without a sense of power. Working on the spiritual level is powerful, bul if the conjuror is receiving a sense of power, rhen he is manipulating the situation for his own individualistic intereSt One of the ways you can tcU a good healer or a good priest is that they just act They do n0t think that ii might be benefiting them. They accept it as pan of their individual spiritual path. Things just keep happening. Each incident could be a challenge, a test. a blessing, a joy, or ail of these things. Myself, rm not special. rm a human being, trapped in a body that eats, shits, suffers, and die~ just like everyone else. And sometimes it's a curse and sometimes it's a blessing, but that's just the way it is. I accept iL This role of medicine person has been something that I needed spiritually. It's been an ego challenge for me. There have been times in my life when I've wanted 10 manipulate people for my own gain - and known that I could have done it. Without the slighiest bit of doubt, l knew I could get what I wanted from these people simply because I understood things that they didn't understand. But I felt that doing that would damage me in some way. It wasn't worth the immediate gratification. It just wasn't worth it. People who are conscious, really conscious, cannot be conjured or manipulated in any way. But most people can be conjured because their mind is someplace else constantly. I have yeL to run across one person whom l couldn't conjure 111 some time in their lives. I have met gurus and ail other sons of people, and at some point each of them would slip into self, or imponance, or "my trip," or some other negative state. Yes, it would be wonderful ro live in a world where people were so clear that they could n0t be manipulated or conjured. That would be the ultimate goal. But we are going to have to be more advanced than we are, much more advanced. I hope that we can reach that point. It's one of those things that are possible for the future. Things wiU be different when people stan seeing that we are pan of a living / organism, the Great Life. A Rotting Log Call ii a waste. Call it a shame. And you are numb to this other life. 1lusoldoak has barely had lime to die. Alre.idy mushrooms grow through mosses against hues of amber, brown, and gold. A snake is rurll!tl up in a hole beneath her weight. A bear will winter ,n the heart twelve feet h11,h where lhe trunk broke off from the bottom. To build a ncsl a woodrat crawls into the ca,,ty. To her life and dl'alh smell the same. And arthropods th:it h\'c nowhcN! else arc mo\'ing through the 50h wood, laying eggs. Thl'Y too arc dymg. Ra,pt,crrics ,ind gr.ire:, grow up around for slw ha!> falkn hgh1 1s ll't into the for<.'SI. Four years from now t"-o nroms will fall to grow on this rothng log I win trees c,f the same mothc-r. This de.ith 1s so ferule. The fc,rcst keeps its promises. PholO by Rob Mcss,cl. rnrr. 1'191 J(ntunh Jou111n[ pnlJC 15 �i., , .. • vJ -,,..f...,.,. ..i.:J •• . J - \ , • •• •1 . ,, •--1r, .,~;..,, ._ ... . •••\,,11,io.., .. .... ... ;., . . . . . . . , • " .. /2,. .....,.,.~')·. .·," :, ·'·' r. .,,,. -:J.l· . ' • f ~ CT •• .. ' ~ ~1/8 , \ . ~ ..'!:,.•jl':t'tt._-t:. .1• .. .,,. • ,.. .·, ... 4'J,-·~,. I.. • t.'·..1 r 1 •r • RANOL~f}tu>URNAL ·:·t· ,,. ·~• 4J,. G .... . ·-~~ . ,....... ,/'I ;,.~···"'",. BIOREGIONAL BURNABLE OF THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS Livin' By Their Wits It sure is a stitch watchin' all these "back-to-the-land" people and the tourists come to the mountains lookin' for serenity and a good life. Those poor young folks come here with these notions of raisin' a family and havin' a piece of land 10 work. while at the some time they're in need of a high payin' job to get the land and the house. Why the prices those tourists can afford are enough to drive anybody whose been here a while right through the roof! Not only do they come with these high minded ideas about doin' everything the organic way. like that was some kind of religion or somethin'. half the time they don't even know the basics of tendin' a place and they st:ut belly•achin' cause the works too hard, or the bugs are drivin' um crazy, or they can't get things happenin' the way they wan't um 10 in the first couple years. I know dern well we can't go back to the old subsistance days like they were when my folks grew up here. I guess I have to give some of these young people a little credit for tryin' to find a good way 10 live with the land. But they always seem to be squablin' amongst themselves about somthin' or another. One wants to live on a piece of land with a bunch of other people. while another is satisfied to stick it out where they are. Most of um can't figure out where they want their kids raised either. and there's hardly a school they feel is fiuin' 10 send um to. h seems like when I was raised it was a little clearer where a person stood. Livin' by your wits wasn't just some nice thing to do on the weekends, it was your bread and butter. Usually it was our of necessity that cenain people did ccnain things so a family could survive. Nowadays theres all these splinteriud groups like feminislS, environmentalistS, pro-business factions, and government people tryin' 10 tell everybody what they think is besL I think they're all too big for their britches if you ask me. Men sum beho.vin' like women and women start behavin' like men; the timber people and these self-appointed environmental rescue squads go at each other; these dem franchises come in and pay people next 10 nothin' while the money moves off to far away places; and college trained officials from down in the piedmont come and show off the version of zoning 1ha1 seems to suit um best. It all seems like some big jumbled mess to me. As long as everybody is in it for themselves I don't see how we are ever goin' to conduct ourselves in such a way that families survive, and schools can be places of leamin', and govemmenlS don't have their hands in everybody's business. It's like there's too many vultures buzz.in' around these mountians and not enough decent folk to talce care of um and protect um. 1(.Qtuar~)ou.rna1 p09e 10 Some of these back-to-the-lander types are more than a linle spoiled 100. They come from cities where things seemed to be fed to um all the time. They kinda remind me of tourists thar hang around a little longer till the money dries up. or their kids move away, or they get tired of it and they leave. rew of um have the backbone 10 make it through hard times, but some of um learn how 10 li<aen to the mountainside and how it can provide medicines, food, warer. and materials for shelter if they don't me~s around 100 much with its own state. There's a lot of leamin' in store for um if they take a likin' to it, but most of um get huffy and impatient. l just hope that if the cities start havin' more problems and geuin' more congested that they all don't keep comin' here thinkin' there's some easy life just waitin' for um. Maybe its good that mountain life is hard. But that ain't goin' 10 stop um from comin' 10 have a look. that is as long as the price of gas holds out. recorded by Rob Messick An Old Family Tale My mother's youngest brother, James Francis Dresenbury. came 10 Conway, SC 10 visit his sisters and brothers when I was a linle girl. One day he gathered all his nieces and nephews together and told this tale of a happening when he was a little boy. He began by praising his mother for her thrift and saving ways. made necessary by the ume just after the War Between the States. Then he told us it wa.,; the time of year when cherries were ripe. The trees had a bumper crop and a bushel or more had been seeded and made into cherry preserves. The seeds had been left on the back porch for several days. One morning my grandmother told a little helper boy 10 empty these seeds into the chicken ya.rd. The next time anyone noticed the chickens they were all lying prone around the yard. Grandmother was not only sorry to lose her prized chickens. but since she did not know what had kilkd them. she could make no use of the meat. But she decided she would not have 10 lose the feathers too • so they brought the chickens in and plucked the feathers to use in pillows and feather beds. The chickens were thrown our into the yard to be buried later. About an hour after that, someone exclaimed, "Look at the chickens!'' They were gawking and walking around stark naked. Their little tipsy spell had worn off! The sun was beaming hotly and 10 keep them from getting sunburned, the girls took some calico and made clothes for them. by Bess Hwbison The Slide lt was a hot day in nonheastern Tennessee. Leslie had been bugging her parents for hours 10 take her and her little brother to a campsite with a water slide. After driving for hours, the family finally found one and pulled in. Leslie's dad paid the fee and made some small talk with the rotund female auendant. After they chose a spot and got the camp ready for the night Leslie's mom let her get her swimming suit on. At long last she took her younger brother by the hand and \\Cnl over to the big double tunneled water slide that emptied into a cool pool. Her brother wus more than a little scared at the idea of whizzing around in these coiled slippery runnels. so Leslie 1old him to stay at the pool while she went to the top where au the action got staned. She saw the water gushing out of the pipe when she got to the top. and the excitement was growing inside her. The man watching the entry instructed her 10 lean into the curves and off she went. She squealed with excitement around the first bank. Then aU the sudden the people at the pool noticed a distinct change in the pitch of her squeals. They had transformed into blood curdling yells, as her brother and some other grown-ups watched her come 10 the end of the ride twirling a large copperhead above her head like a wild laso rope. As she hit the water her grip on the snake loosened and it was flung into the woods, where presumably it got away unharmed. That water slide has been closed ever since. by Rob Messick How Can You Lose Anything as Big as This Ego? Back in my formative years. Actually a little after what is considered the normal formative years in terms of physical maturity. but 001 in mental maturity, or emotional or spiritual or whatever you want to call that other pan of us that isn't the meat. Of course, I'm still in my formative years for that other thing. or stuff, and probably always will be. Hopefully. a1 least. I wonder how many parenthetical thoughts you're allowed 10 hnve in a row? Sometimes I think all of my thoughts are parenthetical. And so on. Anyway, back in my formative years during college, when r became exposed to a world of ideas and the evolution or revolu110n of the human being. Being human. f vowed 10 become a better person. By God, or nature. or whatever, I was' going to become a near perfect human being! raft. 199 1 �No one is perfect. The fust step on that evolurion, I learned, was to lose your ego. r should have seen it coming. The idea of striving to be perfect and at the same time losing your ego is, to put it lightly, a quagmire. Perhaps the contradiction is obvious. The closer you feel (your ego feels) that you (your ego) is corning closer 10 perfection, the beuer your ego feels. In fact, it's damn pround of itself. And the bigger it grows. I suppose that is the pitfall the mystics always talk abouL 111ey always warn amid their other mumbo jumbo that all of this mumbo jumbo, and ego losing, can be dangerous. I never understood that. Sitting, contemplating one's navel, or chakras, or marimbas or whatever. Never seemed very threatening to me. It now occurs to me, that what is really dangerous, and what they were probably talking about, is thinking, or suffering from the delusion, that one is actually losing their ego. That's because, while you think you're losing your ego, it's actually growing. And your life becomes a hypocrisy. In other worlds, you think you're o ne thing but you 're actually 1he opposite. Which leads 10 lots of embarrassing moments when you're suddenly acting unlike the perfec1 person you arc supposed tO be. As a matter of fact you're acting like a perfect asshole, but you're ego's so big that it's in control and won't let you blame it. As a ma uer of fact, it's telling you that it doesn't even exist. A clever subterfuge to keep the rest of your meat ignorant of the fact that everything it's doing is to feed this ego that's grown so large it needs constant nourishment to keep from collupsing into a stinking rotten heap that can be smelled by anyone within visual distance. So it blames others. It couldn't be because you're selfish. Only people with egos are selfish. You don't have an ego so it must be them. It couldn't be because you're not envious. Only people with egos are envious. You don't have an ego. So they must be assholes. Eventually. everybody becomes an asshole, except yourself, of course, and the world no longer deserves your unselfish administrn1ions of good works. Actually, 1he whole damn world can go to hell in a handbasket, for all you care. because you have your own world which is your ego, which by now has grown 10 the size of a small plane1oid. I measured mine recen1ly, when arter ten years I found i1 hiding behing the nas1y remarks I was making 10 my wife in order, I have since learned, 10 make pillars for my enormous ego 10 rest on since it had grown so large that even in the airy netherworld of egos, it could no longer suppon its own weight. It is currenly the size of Pluto. How did all this come abou1? rnnocently enough, at least if you were 10 ask FausL It was initiated by a commendable desire. I wanted 10 become an enlightened individual who would nunure the splendorous miracle of life and make it reveal its most beau1iful aspects 10 me and those around me, and eventually the whole damn world. Yes. l was going to improve the general lot of humankind through the exercise of my perfec1ed egolcss will. Of course, it would take me a few years to reach this state. The method by which I would reach it was meditation and aceticism. Hedonism, raCC., 1991 ac.rually. We!I, a[rcr all, I wasn't going 10 nuss out on hfe JUSt because of this ego crap. And soon. Actually, just pure naked experience was my goal, and women. I was actually the product of a damaged ego. Damaged by was doing. Of course, it probably assumed from past experience that if l did know I would have stepped in somehow and screwed up the whole process. Which I think is the whole point of meditation - gcniog yourself out of the way so that you can just constant female reJection during those aforementioned formative years, meat and 01herwise. So I strutted my naked experience among the dregs of society. Playing wi1h 1hem. parrying with them, but always (of course) somehow feeling above it all. Superior. Each day expanding my awareness through mcdiiation ... consciousness expansion (i.e. ego expansion). Whal is ;1 human being without ego? Whom am I, anyhow? A boneless chicken. And so on. All throughout my stru1 I was doing great acts. Or so I thought. Trying to s1op nuclear weapons by having a conference of six hippie college students in West Virginia, and sleeping with the best looking one after she played wilh my knee under the.: table. Didn't do much to stop nuclear weapons, but it did wonders for my ego. More fuel for the fire Very linle effect on world peace. But a great person (i.e. perfect human being. Don'1 forget, that was my destination) must do great things. Or at least things with the stamp of greatness to feed 1hnt giant ego which I was supposed to be losing. What I was losing, was my meat. I staned 10 gel quite thin. This ou1sized ego, which I had convinced myself. was diminishing, drove me 10 do all kinds of ~trnnge things. II used my intellect to r.itionaliz.e every ego foeding acl as a philanthropic act. It used my meal 10 take it places where it could feed . But it didn't feed on organisms, ii fed on ~piri1s. As I said, I now realized 1hat this was, all along. the pl:in of a severely damaged ego (an ego which had been victimized and punished again and again for no apparent reason, by a very confused piece or meat), to save icself. First, confuse the meat with all types of inscrutJble mysuc mumbo jumbo and convince it that you are leaving entirely. Next, make the meat go into self-induced comas periodically so it won't be aware of you as you sneak back in and take con1rol of nerve central. Then make the meat go ou1 and do all kinds of things with the veneer of goodness. no matter how ineffcetual the acts are. Make the meat think it is on a Godly mission, maybe even a messenger or disciple of God, so that it's willing to put up with all kinds of nasty physical deprivations, while the ego feeds, and feeds, and feeds. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is all bad. My ego did need fixing. I just wish it had let me know what it take over. But now it really has gotten om of hand. My ego has grown much to large and has become an independent agent which seems 10 care little, if a1 all, for myself, and only keeps my meal around so tha1 it can have corporality. But I chink its beginning to be confused. For instance, it can't understand why world leaders haven'! noticed its magnimity and come to it for advice. Of course it probably has something 10 do with the fact that it has ignored its meat to the point that it has got it working in a sewer plant. Maybe tha1 is all pan of its mas1cr plan. It stuck me in a sewer plant shoveling shit, and gave me a beautiful little boy and wife, to show me, finally, that it really isn't gone, but is actually the.: size of Pluto. Really much too big 10 ever be s:uisfied. It needs to trim itself down. Get back to fighting weight. Big egos are seldom happy. They're always hungry. Maybe I really can lose it this time. Maybe the stink of the plant will drive it away. Maybe I need to meditate, not on my connection 10 the cosmos. but on the true insignificance or my acts 10 the world at large. and the very real significance of my acts 10 one very litulc boy and one very ~pccial woman. The only good things my ego ever did for me. Actually working at a sewer plant has probably done more to help me lose my ego 1h.in all the meditation and good acts could ever do. Not JUSI because of the work, but because of the male bonding of 1he work crew, which consists of the mutual destruction of self-wonh. Maybe it's due 10 an inherent understanding 1hey have of the immensi1y o( the male ego, and they practice this form of humiliaton 10 keep it in check. While we of the enlightened new age SIJ'Oke each others ego. until they devour our very relationships. In any evem, my ego is now shrieking. Ifs starved, and it has revealed itself. It can no longer hide (amazing that something as big as Pluto could hide all that time). Though, actually, I think everyone else could see it. Everytime I looked around, however, 10 see what they were looking at. it ducked ·· out of the way. Preuy nimble for such a big fellow'/' /J!f by Maxim Didgct �.. ,J.''',• ' , .... - Mountair t .u Near Todd at a bend on the New Rh·er there is a spot b-.nown as Peggy's Hole. It was named that because of an incident that occured there at the beginning of the 1800's. An elderly woman named Peggy Clauson \Vas going to church on Sunday morning when she saw a dog run a bear off a cliff at that spot. The bear landed in the water and was stunned. Peggy waded in, grabbed the bear by the ears and held its head under the water until the bear was drowned . ~ .... T..-.i. ,.,; .. ~ ... 'lb. 11- .-11... ... ... ~ . _ - p"'!!:'I,> !>..lo li-.,.._......1:Do.t..,__.,_-,..:,:-».t~ °" ~-----' r~ :.,_...., .. """ ,._ .. ~... ... ~ c!-i<iDo1t..,.t11.i-'l....w -.i-.J f-m p,....z11oo.~.jt>.-.. - .....-i,;1:)-i, - ~ ~ ... - i.. • - - - ~ :u. ..... L\~ .... .....l ~J.l. a.;.~-.. .,.J:;,.. ....:;r..l,1>.i..o.....-.i..-...J. ~tJfl..- ...i..t I,.. -~ • An old lady near Canton told me her grandfather was hiking near Shining Rock when he was a young man. A panther started following him. I Ie started running and the panther sped up. To slow him do""'ll, lhe man took off his shirt and threw it down. The panthc>r stopped long enough to rip it to shreds, then started chasing him again. The man kept throwing his clothes down as he ran down the mountain. By the time he got home, he was completely naked. This series of paintings came about while 1 was hiking and drawing in remote areas of the mountains of Western North Carolina. There I met mosUy older people who had grown up in the Southern Appalachians. Many of these people were very friendly and once a conversation started, they would communicate their knowledge of an area by telling stories. These paintings are not meant to be illustrations of the stories, but a freer form that incorporates commentary, associations, my own subjeclive reactions, and elaboration on the images provided by the story and its place of origin. I'm attempting to develop a fonn between illustration and pure painting. As each day passes, we tend to lose our intimate connection to the Earth, and also �n Stories ..", , I 1, by Robert Johnson At Cranberry when the old folks there ~ere young, the parents used to tell them that the pools of water in the iron mines didn't have a bottom. If they ever became unstopped, all the water would go rushing out and take the children, all the people and the whole town of Cranberry with it. I asked a young man how Standing Indian Mountain got its name. He said. "1 don't know. I guess an Indian just stood there." I asked a middle-aged man. He said, "During the Civil War a band of Cherokee Indians fought bravely here and stood up to the enemy." I asked an old man. He said, "Before white men came here, Lhere was a monster who lived on Lhe mountain and would carry off people. So the tribe posted a brave up on the mountain to keep watch. The thunder spirit saw Lhe monster creeping up on the brave and sent down a bolt of lightening, shattering rocks, destroying the monster, and turning the brave to stone. Today one can see shattered rocks and a stone Indian on top of the mountain." stories like these that come from the pre-industrial culture of the Southern Appalachians. These simple but powerful stories have an almost mythical quality, and they embody a connection between the land and oral knowledge of the land, which is a culture that is dying out. This project is my attempt to get to know Lhese stories and to keep them alive a while longer. Robert Johnson's paintings of ''Mountain Stories" are on display until September 27th 1991 at the Blue Spiral I Gallery; 38 Biltmore Avenue; AshevilJe, NC 28801 (704) 251-0202. The paintings will later be shown in the six counties from which the stories came: Yancey, Macon, Haywood, Ashe, Avery and Rutherford. �, ~~TER~HEQ.JWI..J?.S" ,,,.,.,t. NIIIUnl World News Service In 1989 the Water Supply Watershed Protection Act sailed through the Nonh Carolina legislature. The bill w~ passed unanimously in the Senat~ and 1ll .~e House there were only six votes ~ opposmo~. !he legislation enacted protecnons for mumCJpal drinking water supplies so that n~w . development did not endanger Lhts basic resource. . , In August, 1991 North Carolinas Deparnnent of Environmental Management (DEM) held public hearings across the Slate on the implementation of the new water regulations. Public reaction was . unprecedented. Across the state the heanngs were long and stormy. Each of the eight meetings drew more than l.~ people. The hearings in Asheville and Hickory were anended by more than 1,500 people each. The state was completely unprepared for the surge of public interesL In Hickorx, the . meeting site was changed 10 ~ locan~n with a larger capacity, but after heaTlllg tesumon~ for one full day the speaking roster ~s soil only one-half completed and the heanng had 10 be continued at a later date. There was clearly-defined, and sometimes biller, controversy at the watershed protection hearings. The theory of the Watershed Protection Act is that development must be contr0lled in . watersheds that provide drinking water in . order to protect the purity of the supply. This raised the boogie of land use management, the "Z word - zoning," in the mind of many traditionally conservative landowners and farmers. Some saw the bill as a direct threat 10 their property rights. Others saw it as the first step in an insidious government plan to gradually enact a full set ofland use management contr0ls. As ~'lolly Di~gins of the state Sierra Club orgamzauon said, "Where locru governmcntc; should be seeing 'protection,' many are seeing only 'restriction."' Development interests played on these fears with a concencd public outreach campaign, and aroused a strong opposition to the w:uer protection measures. These . . interests see a loss of profil in any rcstncuon of development The opposing pole at the public hearings were environmentalists who supponed the protective regulations and protested that they were not strong enough. Agricultural and silvicultural opcr.itions should be regulated as strictly as construction, they said. Presently the rules provide water bodies only a IO foot buffer against agricultural activities, which often _arc major sources of erosion and wnter polluuon, whereas buildings have to be outside a 100 foot buffer around protected streams. There was also concern that "grandfather" clauses. under which existing buildings and projects would be exeml)t from the provisions of the watershed protecuon measures, would weaken the regulations to the point of uselessness. Also supporting the regulations were town residents who did not take a supply of pure drinking water for granted and wanted 10 ensure protection of their !Own wa_ter supplies in the face of ever-encroaching X.Otuof, Journal'. poge 20 development. This round of the drinking water protection fight is not yet over. ln light of the controversy generated by the regulations, the DEM has extended the public comment period on the watershed protection regulations until October 31. It is particularly imponant that the DEM hears from the people of the mountain region. Direct co=nt.f 10: Sttvt Zoufaly Division of Environ~IUQI Management 8ox29535 Raleigh. NC 27626. YES MORE WILDERNESS! N1111r.il World Nev-s Sa-vice Saturday, July 6, one of the bu~iest rafting days of the year, there mystenously appeared across the Nantahala River a long banner saying "Yes More Wilderness! Save Cheoah Baldi" Rafters taking out downstream were met by activists from the organi1ation SouthPA W requesting responses for a "Forest Service Evaluation Sheet." . "Did you know that the Forest Service is planning a timber sale only 1/2 mile above the Nantahala and within sight of the river?" More than 95% did not know "Do you think that the Cheooh Bald . area, the: largest unprotected roadies.~ area in the Nantahala-Pisgah National Forests should be allowed to return 10 old growth?" 99% thought it should. "Do you think that the Forest Service should stop logging in the national forests?" 98% thought they should. South PAW struck again at Forest Service credibility at the agency's Reanalysis Checkpoint meeting concerning the re-evaluation of the Land and Resource Management Plan for the Nantahala-Pisgah National Forests. South PAW calJed for a boycou of the meeting, saying that the Forest Service refused lO consider the relevant ecological issues in its planning. The meeting was billed as a scoping meeting, but a SouthPAW handout said "Wrong End of the Scopel" declaring that the Forest Service had its priorities reversed, since it seemed to be more interested in sellin-g,tirpbgr:,tJw!,pwJe:C~Jlll~~// i, diversity o( the forest. In the flier the group reiterated their position that the national forcstS in the Kaninh Province should be habitat areas free from roads and commercial exploitation. There were about equal numbers of people inside and outside the Owen Conference Center at the University of Nonh Carolina Asheville where the Forest Service meeting was held. But in C<?n~st _10 the restrained and orderly mcenng ms1de the building, those out on the lawn boisterously chanted, laughed, and played drums and kazoos. At lunch time the activists congregated at the student open forum in the lobby of lhe university center to hear Buddy Newman read lhe alternative forest protection plan he authored for SouthPAW. Nantahala-Pisgah Forest Supervisor Bjorn Dahl was among the audience listening 10 the proposal and later invited South PAW representatives to a meeting with Forest Service personne! to discuss 10 their ideas for the Appalachian forests. To take action on behalf oftlu: Appalachian forest habitat. write: SouthPAW Ba:d/41 Aslu:ville, NC 28802 KILLING Lm'LE FISH NIIUnll Wodd News Scrv,cc A series of five different spills over a seven month period last year that dumped untreated wastewntcr, oils, and concentrated foams into the Pigeon River will cost the Champion International paper mill in Canton, NC $60,000. These are the first fines ever levied against the company by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).. According to Champion .~pokespe:Son David Craft the mishaps were the first m recent mem~ry" at the plant. The ftrst spill, of an unknown quantity of untreate~ wast~":'ater, was evidently the most damaging, killing, according 10 Craft, "270 little fish." Croft_ maintained th:u neither the foam nor the oils were hazardous to human or aquatic life. Champion had originally faced a $125,000 fine from the EPA;the m~imu~ allowed by law. However, after meeung wuh mill officials last February and March, t11e agency downgraded the fine. The company representatives maintained that Champion should not be assessed the full fine because the spills were caused by malfunctioning equipment and not by human error or deliberate neglect The EPA seemed to agree. Craft said that another reason for the reduced fine was evidence that "Champion has taken steps 10 mitigate the damage," from skimming escaped oil off the nvcr banks to closing the malfunctioning valves that Champion maintains caused four of !he spills. However, the EPA also penalized Champion for failing to file a formal repon of one of the spills within the required five days, an oversight Craft blamed on an "administration problem." Oaft said that Champion would probably not appeal the fin 7 "~e.~o bel!eve that the amount of the fine 1s fair, he said, calling the accidentS "a series of unintentional and unrelated failures within the mill." 1'c:afL, t99l �NEW PERSPECTI•VES 0N TRE "~'· CHATTOOGA .. Natural World News Sctvice EnvironmcntaJ groups from three states and three national forest administrative areas have combined 10 form the Chanooga River Watershed Coalition (CRWC). The Chatto0ga is a beautiful river, one of the most popular recreational rivers in the Karuah Province. Pan of itS length has been designated a Wild and Scenic River, and a large tract in its headwaters area beneath Devil's Courthouse near Highlands, NC was recently bought by the Trust for Public Land and transferred to the US Forest Service 10 preserve its pristine character. The CRWC has wriuen an alternative Land and Resource Management Plan for the watershed which they are requesting the US Forest Service 10 adopt. The plan is important, first of all, because it proposes a unified forest management program based on watershed boundaries, rather than along state or national forest tines. At present, the Chauooga watershed is managed under three different, and somerimes conflicting, national forest management plans. "A landscape with natural ecological integrity is the desired future condition of the watershed," says the CRWC proposal. The coalition suggests a new, standardized management unit, the Ecosystem Management Area, 1hat would base management on complete forest habitats rather than on timber sale companmems. The CRWC is requesting a meeting with Forest Service supervisors and regional and national personnel to discuss implementing their plan in the Chattooga watershed. interest. the DO.Ii e11ct&fup with nver four days of testimony which they scheduled concurrently in auditoriums in two different locations over a two-day period. ("Divide and conquer," said one activist. "It's an old tactic.") Attendance at the hearings ,vas about equally divided between opponems of the plan and workers from Oak Ridge nuclear facilities bussed to the hearing from work. Although the workers, wearing T-shirts saying "Complex 21" superimposed over n map of Tennessee. made their presence felt, of the 376 speakers more than 68% were opposed to the pluronium plant, in the estimate of the Oalr. Ridger newspaper. The testimony was sometimes brilliant, always heartfelt. Speakers talked about cancer risks. damage 10 the environment, the possibility of nuclear accidents, and the need for disarmament now that the primary adversary had dropped out of the game. In the afternoon of the second day srudents from Oak Ridge schools testified a1 the hearings. One student presented a petition with 65 names of students against Complex 21 in Oak Ridge or anywhere else on Eanh. Several high school students also testified at the hearings, all opposed to the planL The DOE will ruei~t written comme111s 011 tht Rocky Flats pluto11ium plant rdocatio11 until Ocrotn~r 30. Mail r.omme111s to the Dtpartmi!fll of Energy. clo: Oak Ridgt E11vira11111t11tal and Ptace Alliance Box 1101 KnoX\/ille. TN 37901 T~ Chattooga Riw!r Wattrs~d Coalitio11 Box368 Clayton, GA 30525 PLUTONIUM OR. .. NO! Narun! World Ne..,, Service "Please let me introduce myself. I am Plutonium, the God of unnatural death and suffering." The black-robed figure with the grisly skcleial face stood before the impassive bureaucrats presiding at the "Reconfiguration of the Nuclear Weapons Complex" hearings in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. At issue was the future of the nation's nuclear weapons program, specifically the plutonium processing facilities at Rocky Flati., Colorado. The plant has contaminated its site in Colorado and has to move. The DOE is considering locating it either at Oak Ridge or the Pantex plant near Amarillo, Texas. For the first rime ever, the Depanment of Energy (DOE) had called for public input on the future of the program. The agency scheduled 15 hearings around the country. TheorericaJly, they would listen 10 what was said and consider the opinions offered in their program and policy decisions. People responded, aroused through the effons of area peace groups spearheaded by the Oak Ridge Environmenuu and Peace Alliance. The hearings were scheduled to last one day. Because of the outpouring of public Tai(, 199 1 "WE DON'T BUY YOUR LINE" The Appalachian Power Company wants to build a 765,000 volt power line through southern Wes1 Virginia and southwestern Virginia. The tine is ostensibly 10 provide extra power in Richmond and 1he eastern pan of the state of Virginia. To sell their idea, the ucility company se1 up a series of hearings along the line's proposed route. They met with solid opposition aJI along the way. The company came to the meetings well-prepared. They brought a 30 page handout, coinplett Willi ~li~.'gl-Jphs:'~d maps. They also distributed a report. "Faces on EMF' (electromagnetic fields) to dispute scientific evidence that high volrage Lines cause genetic damage and degenerative disease. But the people were not buying it More than 50 people opposed to the power line showed up at the meeting in Giles County, VA and 300 people attended the meeting in New Castle, VA. Another meeting in Hinton, WV also brought out strong opposition to the line. A meeting in Monroe County, WV was canceled because hearing officers feared violence. The meeting was rescheduled, however, and 300 people peacefully declared their strong opposition 10 the power line. As well as health concerns, people attending the hearings feared that herbicide spraying would contaminate their water supplies, and that the power lines would mar the scenic beauty of their area, which they considered an imponant asset. Critics also questioned the value of the plan, saying that the new power line would encourage higher levels of energy consumption and sidetrack attempts to promote energy conservation. Baud 011 a report ill the New River Free Pre,;.,;, available from Box 846: Blacksburg. VA 24063. 1165 MEGAWATTS OF POLLUTION Nawn.I World New. ScMc:e The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL) is warning thar Duke Power Company is planning to build a 1165 megawau electric generating plant in Lowesville, NC in the piedmont county of Lincoln. The plant would be fined to operate on either diesel fuel or natural gas, but the primary fuel source would be diesel. When running on diesel fuel, the plant would tum out 4,278 pounds of sulfur dioxide per hour, according to BREDL director Janet Hoyle. Sulfur dio,ude is a main component of the complex of pollutants that produces acid rain. The plant is proposed as a peak power generating plant. meaning that it would only operate at times of peak power demand when electricity is most profitable. Duke originally asked that the plant be allowed to operate 3,500 hours per year, but later reduced their request 10 2,000 hours per year. The proposed site for the plant is 56 miles southeast of the Linville Gorge Wildeme:.s .Arca. Data collecred by Duke Power and the NC Department of Environmental Management (DEM) show that prevailing wind patterns would bring the acidifying pollution directly into the Class I wilderness area. In their initial application. Duke admitted that operating at 3,500 hours per year, the plant would inetcase acid deposition in Linville Gorge 400-500%. Even at the scaled-back operating time, acid pollution from the plant would be considerable. The US Fore.st Service will have the right to review the plant to see if it would adversely affect the air quality of the gorge. For mare information· Bl~ Ridgt E,wironmenra/ Dtfe11St uag~ Box8JJ Gltndalt Spr111gs. NC 28906 �DYING SOILS, DYING WATERS: Natural World r-iews SPECIAL REPORT Pollution, Collusion, and the Future of the Eastern Forests by Emmett Greendigger The 1990 Clean Air Acl seemed to many citizens to be a sign that lhe federal government would finally begin to rectify a decade of willful neglect of envirorunenlal issues. Now, however, little more than a year after the act's passage, scientists are beginning to conclude that the reductions in atmospheric emissions mandated by the bill will not be sufficient to protect sensitive forest areas or mountain streams. Resean:hers are discovering alarming damage to forests and streams, damage that to a great extent was ignored or soft-pedaled by the government studies that led to the Qean Air Act, and many scientists and environmentalists charge that the research on the effects of acid precipitation carried on by the Reagan and Bush administrations was full of design flaws, done in collusion with industry, and guided by politics more than by objective science. They charge that the research was, in effect, rigged in favor of "business as usual," rigged to such an extent that many feel that the Oean Air Act is merely a baby-step toward protection of the natural landscape. Scientific srudies of atmospheric deposition began in earnest in the late l 970's when the governments of US President Jimmy Carter and Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau initialed cooperative research of the freshwater acidification that was beginning to appear in eastern Canada and the Adirondack Mountains of upper New York State. The bilateral rcseareh was carried out with the understanding that by 1980 an agreement to reduce sulfur emissions by 50% would be in place in ordec to protect freshwater bodies in eastern Tunic Island. But the regressive environmental policies of the Reagan administration delayed nnd diluted the bilaternl rese~. and several imponam US researchers were fired from the study and replaced by scientists who were willing to tolerate the new administration's stalling. Throughout the I 980's, to deflect crittcism, Reagan's people pointed to the $570 million National Acid Precipitation AsS¢ssment Program (NAPAP) established by Congress in 1980. By 1982, the US-Canada project had been terminated. [n its place was I\APAP. whose smted purpose was to gather a database of information about the effects of atmospheric deposition to guide Congre~s through the rewriting of the Clean Air Act. llowevcr. throughout NAPAP's history, scientisis of both the public and priv:11c sectors ha~·e tried to \\1lm environmentalist, of collusion between government and indwmy on the study. Funds from electric unlity companic~ and the papc-nnaldng industry - obviously not dis1nten.:stcd observers - backed large portions of the study, ,, hteh intlucnccd the condusions brought in by the NAP AP research. These charges are based in part on the otherwise inexplicable w:iy that NAPAP nam)\\t!d thc Xn111nf1 )0111110{ ne::: == scope and range of acid-induced forest decline studies. Vermont's camel's Hump and Hubbard Brook in New Hampshire were omitted as study sites, despite the fact that these rwo eastern sites have the longest record of soil changes related to acid rain. Until 1986 forests in the Ohio River Valley the source of many of the pollutants that cause acid rain - were not studied, simply because there had been no papers published in scientific journals suggesting that there was a problem in the region. Scientists also assen that the results of the research were manipulated by a design flaw: NAPAP's forest studies were limited to a single measurement of the nuaieru content of the soils at study sites, rather than a methodology developed in Europe which measures the rate of change in values over time. Again, it is difficult to figure out why NAPAP researchers chose the older method. when a study of true rates of change would have been far more useful to Congress. Not until 1985, halfway through the research period, when William Ruckelshaus replaced Anoe Gorsuch Burford as administrator of the EPA, did serious research into forests and soils begin in eamesL But by then it was too late. There was little time for the imponant "reality checks," field work, or the peer review and publication required by NAPAP of all its researchers. Consequently the Clean Air Act was rewriuen while important new findings about acid-induced forest decline were still being evaluated. Nonh Carolina State University pathologist Roben Bruck received NAPAP funding for seven years lOstudy forest decline in Kalllah's high-altitude spruce-ftr forests. I !is findings were largely omitted from NAPAP's final repon to Congress (despite the fac t that they were completed, tested, nnd reviewed as specified by NAPAP). The final repon asserted that an invasion of aphids was responsible for spruce-fir deaths on some of Kaufah's highest peaks. According 10 Bruck, this flies in the face of the research he submitted 10 NAPAP, which showed that only 35% of the dead trees at such sites as Mount Mitchell, Grandfather Mountain. and the Grc:u Smokv Mountains National Parl.. were infested with aphids. What Bruck found were soil pH levels as low as 2.7 and 2.8 and rampant aluminum toxicity levels in the forest soils. (See Kattialt /()11mal #9). This kind of data, for obviou~ reasons, is not pleasing to electric utilitr and paper companic~. and evidently the .government shan.:s the corporate distaste for emissions reductions. a~ it chose rather to blame nature for fon:M decline in Katuah. Bruck and other scientist~ now tlclie,e that one of the m:ij(.)r cause~ of fir die-back and forest decline in eastern Turtle lslnnd 1s the change m soil nutnents that occurs a~ lhl" soil becomes increasingly acidic. Nurogcn compounds found in acid min an: 1hought to be a primary culpri1. Levels of nitrogen exceeding by 20 to 40 times the wnounts that soil could assimilate have been found in declining forests all over the East. These findings correspond to research results in Germany, too, where nitrogen deposition is thought to be a primary factor in the catastrophic waldsrerben ("forest death") in the Black ForesL Recent European findings also indicate that in order to halt the damage, nitrogen emissions must be brought down as close as possible to the levels found in unaffected soil communities. Despite all this, NAPAP still seems determined to understate the problem. In a position paper published last summer, NAPAP officials stated that Eastern forests do not show any "widespread problems," a position that seems unforrunatcly consistent with their apparent lack of concern about forest decline. Already, the much-ballyhooed Clean Air Act begins to look like nothing more than a "first step" toward reversing the acid-induced damage to the forests. Scientists now believe that nitrogen emissions must be reduced by 75% (rather than the 15-25% required by the Clean Air Act) to halt the damage from atmospheric pollution. In contrast, the NAPAP repon to Congress stated that fonnerly "nitrogen deficient" soils in commercial pine forests in the South were being "enriched" by nitrogen deposition, and its comments about the effects of nitrogen compounds on other forest types is so rife with qualifying phrases like "might ...could...potentially" that it seems bent on dismissing or discounting the findings of many of its own researchers. It seems that it will be quite some time before we will see any tightening of the Clean Air Act's controls on nitrogen emissions. Meanwhile, concerned researchers believe that eastern forests will collapse within fifty years, as undernourished and weakened trees give in to insects and disease, not to men1ion a newer nemesis: lhe stress from climate changes associated with the "greenhouse effect." As if the sl)\.-Clre of forests thinning, browning, and dying were not enough, it also appears chat Kauiah's seemingly pristine mountain stream.\ are also extrJordinarily vulnerable to the effects of acid pn.-cipitation, A spate or recently released studies shows thc11 extensive damage has already been done to manr headwmcrs and streams in the Central and Southern Appal,1chians, including heavy losses to native brook trout popula1i(.)ns. Like the forest rescar\:h, these studies indica1e that the emissions reductions mandated by the Clean Air Act \\ill barely begin 10 solve 1hc problem. 111c dire condi1ion of Appaktchi,1n mountain \\aters has been rnost thorough!)' documentL'<l by Dr. James Gallov.uy of the Environnk'nt:il Sciences Dcpanmcnt at the University of Virginia. who since the mid-1970\ h~s published widely nbom Lhe many ,1spccts of the acid precipitation problem. In 1979, rnrr. 1 in9c 22 - 1991 �Galloway and a research team began the Shenandoah Watershed Study (SWAS), a ;om1 project undenaken by the University of Virginia and the National Park Service 10 "understand the processes that govern b1ogeochemical cycles'' in the streams of Shenandoah National Park (SNP). Since the SNP receives the highest sulfur deposition load of any national park. the SW AS turned out to be a far-sighted study of the potential effects of acidification in freshwater aquatic ecosystems in the Southern Appalachians. After a decade of research, the final SWAS repon indicated "a poor prognosis for aquatic watcrsystcms in Shenandoah National Park, due to a combination of watershed sensitivity and elevated acidic deposition." The Galloway team concluded that 1hc dcposi1ion of sulfur, hydrogen, and nitrogen had increased as much as tenfold from preinduslrial levels. The SW AS process of sampling streams on a weekly basis over the ten years of its research enabled it to make three primary conclusions: "1) that a large number of SNP streams were poorly buffered against acidification; 2) that the acidification process was being temporarily delayed by sulfate re1en1ion in v.a1ershcd soils: and 3) that the acidification of SNP streams was an ongoing process.'' SW AS researchers predict that some 38% of 1he streams will end up with pl I level~ below 6.0, the "biologically critical" level for such streams, while the pH levels of 25o/i: or the streams will decline 10 a pl I level of 4.7, near-total acidity. In 1987, 10 broaden his study area, Galloway and his researchers and a crew of volunteers from Virgioiu's Trout Unlimited organization began to monitor 350 streams in Virginia's mountains. Preliminary repons were alarming. The researchers found that 93% of the streams were sensi1ive to acid deposition, and that some 49% of those were extremely sensitive. Only 7% were found to be adequately buffered by watershed soils. Additionally, 10% of rhc streams were already found to be acidic; in a natural s1ate 3% or less would be normal. Galloway then chose 65 of those streams for further monitoring. In June 1989 his research team reponed its findings, concluding tha1 in spite of the fac1 that the state's mountain streams drain "relatively TnCt, 1991 pristine catchments proteeted from direc1 man-m.'lde impacts," they were ''receiving heavy loads of sulfur from man-made sources." They predic1ed that, assuming l 990 deposition levels, at least 32% and possibly as muny of 88% of the states 450 native trout s1reams will become acidic, with pH levels 100 low 10 support the forage fish. trout, amphibians, and aquatic insects who presently live in and around these streams. We can expect to see che same here in Kaufoh, and soon. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park receives the second highest level of acidic precipitation of any region of the eas1~rn United Srntcs. While the lower deposition levels in Katuah have delayed the kinds of effects seen in Virginia, as early as 1978, NacionaJ Park Service researchers had no1ed 1he poor buffering capabilities of the streams in the park\ higher elevations. And in 1984, EPA researchers found the Davidson River near Brevard in the French Broad River watershed had a pH level of 6.55, dangerously near the biological threshold of 6.0, placing it in 1hc "extremely sensiuve" range. According to scientists. this rrcnd will worsen with 1ime. Among them, conscrva1ive estimates hold that sensitive streams in Kattiah's watersheds will undergo coipplete alkalinity loss within 40 to 50 years. Since levels of acid deposition follow a nonh-south gr.tdient along the Appalachian chain, we can look to moun1ain s1reams farther nonh to predict our own future. In the Pennsylvania highlands, researchers found no living trour in 20%.ofthe headwater streams and concluded that "the streams having no fish as a group had significantly lower pl-I and alkalinity and higher dissolved aluminum than those with fish." More ominous evidence comes from West Virginia. According to Don Gasper, a fisheries biologist with the Wes1 Virginia Department of Natural Resources, the Cranberry River rqrinllXI rrorn TMG/acu,J E.rr01ic in the south-central pan of the stale is already "lost." Fish population data for the Cranberry have been kept since 1957. making it one of the few eastern rivers for which historical change can be documented. Over the past 30 years, fish biomass in the Cranberry has decreased from 15 pounds per acre to less than five pounds per acre, and 1he number of fish species in the river has declined from 15 to eight. Since the Oanberry drains one of the largest wilderness areas in the East, Gasper believes that "the only disturbance in that watershed is that acid rain has been falling on it for 40 years." The higher deposition levels in the north account for the rapid changes and drastic losses, but Katuah's lower acid deposition levels do not mean that we will not see similar effec1s. In fact, the reduced pH and alkalinity levels found now in our streams are familiar 10 chose who have becm tracking the nonhem streams for the pasr decade. According to Mark Hudy, a fisheries biologist who studied the St. Mary's River in Virginia as it died from acidification, "The St Mary's may be a precursor of things to come, what we'll all be looking at in 10 years...the water quality on the St. Mary's when I sampled the river 10 yean; ago was like what we have now on rivers farther south." Whal can be done 10 reverse the acidification of Katuah's streams? Can we learn anything from the damage to northern streams? Most scientists arc pessimistic. They lament that the region's streams were neglected during the I980's as the Reagan and Bush ndministra1ions stalled essential environmental research. And, like their colle,igues in soils and fores1 research, the freshwater biologists do not feel l_ha1 the reduc1ions mandated by the Clean Air Act will be able to reverse the damage done. They believe that a 70-80% redui;tion in emissions might begin 10 restore acidifying streams. According to Rick Webb. professor of Environmental Sciences at the Universi1y of Virginia, the n:quired 50% reduction in sulfur emissions will mean that "only a small number of the strea,n~ will incrca-.e in :ilkalinity; most will still decline." The state of West Virginia and the US Forest Service are trying mitigation measures - adding limestone to streams and lakes to bolster their alkalinity - to reduce lhe damage done by acid precipitation. But this method is costly and strictly temporary. It is not a means of rcs1oration for mountain streams. Most biologists feel that the the money and effon devoted to mnigation would be better spent on funher research, and they believe that only one thing will begin 10 save freshwater ecosys1ems in the East: drastic reductions of acidic emissions. Political analy~ts think it unlikely that there will be any funhcr emissions control measures from Washington for at leas, a decade. They point out chat even the Clean Air Act levels represent a compromise, that allies of the coal and u1ili1y industries auempted to drive sulfur emissions reductions as low as si:it million tons, from the original call for a 12 million ton reduction, and did succeed in having the number sliced to 10 million ions in the finnl version of the net. This does not leave many scientislS optimistic about the future of forests and streams in the East Aske.cl if he 1hough1 that Southern Appalachian streams would ever recover, Jim Galloway replied, ''Some will recover," he said, .. but not most" It appears that after the long twilight of environmental neglect in the 1980's, the Clean Air Act is a case of "roo little. too late" - a political pacifier too rife with compromise and collusion to address in any honest, meaningful way the damage already done by acid min and atmospheric deposition - not to mention the damage not yet e1,ident and the damage still occurring. An old maxim says tha1 politics is the an of compromise. But unless politics can be put aside, dead forests and dead streams will bear out another U\lth: nature bas its own bottom line. And nature bats last. / X.Otuaf, )ournn( poCJC 23 �SONGS IN THE WILDERNESS From the time I was two years of age J spent most or my childhood summers on my grandparent's farm in nonhem Colorado. In the small town where I lived I was surrounded by a warm extended family. There was plenty of activity and always another child to play with. But on the farm the days dragged on. l can remember walking up the dirt road away from the farm, acutely aware of my loneliness, feeling overwhelmed by the vastness of the rolling hills and endless grasslands that extended for miles in every direction. It seemed that I moved aimlessly through a landscape which had nothing to do with me. In this self-consciousness of monality I became aware of myself as separate from nature. It was a moment of primal loneliness such as everyone must face. This modem human condition is not that far removed from the tribal legacy. We still require a personal initiation, a way for each person to make peace with the natural world. We have separated ourselves by our ability to create worlds outside the cycles of nature, yet ii is our creauve abilities that offer us ways back in - into wholeness, communication and love. The pathways, the links, the mediations, the magic needs to be made at a personal level. We must ovcreome our animal fear of isolation and death, and reach out with our consciousness if we are to mature as human beings. IL was at this moment of acute loneliness that I first began to sing to the Eanh and the sky. I found that the ttan~fonnative power of song was miraculous. From that day on, there was a connection for me between the Earth and my walking on the Earth and the song. I remember walking down that same din road in a state of bliss, singing my heart out in thanksgiving for yet another spectacular sunset I found that when I sang, the world seemed 10 light up and lighten up. Phenomena that was of n transitory nature, such as a cloud shadow passing over a rolling hill, was suddenly revealed to me in breath-catching splendor. Sometimes I sang loud, sometimes soft. Sometimes r skipped and sang, or danced and sang at the same time. Special evencs, such as the bright crispness after a summer thunderstorm called for celebration songs. There were songs waiting for me everywhere; songs in the elm grove in the pasnm: and dJffcrcnt songs down by the river. Singing is a great protection. It sets up vibration which cuts through time and space. With our voices we extend the boundaries of our bodies. In metaphysical terms, singing causes the aura to radiate, which strengthens the body. In ancient primitive societies, everyone danced and sang their feelings about the inevnable passages of life. There were min dances and war dances and songs to help rhe com grow. There is evidence that the use of music as transforming was much more sophisticated than the simple melody, lyrics, and rhythm format that we use today. ror instance, at many ancient sacred sites the acoustics arc very unusual. Circular walls and passages can warp, bend, and amplify sound. ln such a place, a single voice could have created modulations, ovenoncs, and vibratos. Add on the possibility of a chorus with echoes, a drum or two, and a flute, and the sound must have been magnificent. What these sounds were used for, whether for healing, initiation rites, or simply for the sheer joy of creation, we no longer know. The Peace Chamber being built by Joseph Rael, at the Earth Center in Swannanoa, NC and scheduled for completion this fall, is a modem example of a Native American sound chamber. Joseph's vision of an oval shaped sound chamber has resulted in the construction of 17 of these chambers worldwide. The purpose of each is to amplify chants for world peace. I visited the roofless building at the Earth Center in spring. Even without a roof, and possibly because of the circular walls, the acoustics were already unusual. Also worth noting is that the chamber is on a very potent earth energy site. The combination of sound, eanh energy, and architecrual design should pack some real power into songs for peace. Looking back at my childhood songs from the adult perspective, I realize that the singing put me into an extended altered state, that it was magic at its height. ft pulled me completely out of the depression of loneliness and gave me practical tools for survival. It taught me to appreciate solitude. It is only in solitude that songs come to me again. If there is a song waiting for me, J try 10 leave my adult cares behind and enter into the woods with the innocence of a child. I make no judgement about the quality of my voice or how ridiculous I might sound if someone should happen to hear me. There is a great joy and freedom in this. by Charlotte Homsher Dnawmg by Rob Mcs,ick / (<ontin~ rram l"'i• 9) We must convince the public and our officials that a healthy environment is an absolute requirement for a healthy economy and not the other way around. The measure of what should be done 10 protect the environment is nor a mailer of good "business as usual" economics. We must work ar the local level to do whatever is possible to move toward a society that protects its ecosystems. We must lower as quickly a.\ we can the strains society places on our ecosystems. This includes land use practices, development of less damaging and less energy intensive transponation, protection of enough critical area 10 suppon all native species, and controlling our population within geographic areas so that the carrying capacity of the area is not exceeded or is balanced within a larger regional complex. Finally, we must lead in an accelerated movement to lower the environmental impact of human habitation on Eanh. This involves limiting the numbers of of humans Earth is . JCnt.i'mfi Journnl pQ(Jc 24 asked 10 suppon, making marked improvcmcnis in our use of natural resources, and bnnging human activities down within a safety buffer set by the rates of geological, geochemical. and biological processes. John Freeman is 1he chair of the Pisgah Group of the Sierra Club. lie was a profcs.'ior of billlogy at Wimltrop College fnr 30 years. He is al.w uwhor of 1he b()<J/c Survival Gardening, which he and lu"s 11'ife Grace self-published. The Freemaris are presemly retired in Brevard, NC i11 the headwaters of the French Broad River waterslted. This article 11-as reprimedfrom Foor notes. the 11cws/e1ter of the North Carolina Clwp1er ofthe Siella Club. The 11ewsletfer is al'ailable to Sierra Club members ill the Stale For membership i11fonnatio11, write the Sierra Club, 530 Bush St ; San Francisco, CA 94108. (conllnucd from P"te 11) Overall, I think it was Sequoyah himself who best evaluated thi: impact of his \\1'lting sy:acm: ''What I am doing will not make our people the less respected." - r«orded by OW Tom Undi'rwood. a liftlong rt.<id,·nt of the Qua/la Boundary Rt.<en•aJion has always been rnlt!rtsred ,n tht Clu:rol.Lt! cultural and arti.<tic traditions. lie 1s a con1tnuing .rouru of knowledge on the old wuys oftht tribe (stt Kn1tfah Journal 115) as wdl as be1n11 a mo1or suppoNu of conttmporary Indian arnsu. 1'om had ,.,;urn a manuscript for a hworical booklet on tk lift qf St!quo>·ah which was,,, his Mt:d1cint: Man Craft Shep the night tht! building was thstroycd byjirt!in 19..~Z. llt: has since bun rebwlding hisf/lt!s on the nativt! gcmus. llt! is ._·ell acquaintt!d With thl' life of ti~ man who brought 1k Chuoktt 1ht ,.,illt!n "'ord :Fa(f., 199 I �S00YEARS OF RESISTANCE! In October of 1492, as we all learned in grammar school, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and landed in the Antilles to become the first European to record his encounter with the land and people of the Tunle Island conrinent. Of the land he found, Columbus wrote: "Large and very green trees, and great lagoons, around which the trees stand in marvelous groves. Flocks of parrots darken the sun and there is a marvelous variety of large and small birds, very different from our own; the trees arc of many kinds, each with its own fruit, and all have a marvelous scent." Of the native people he met in the Antilles, who later were named the Taino, Columbus wrote: "They are so affectionate and have so little greed and are in all ways so amenable that there is in my opinion no better people and no better land in the world. They love their neighbors as themselves and their way of speaking is the sweetes1 in the world, always gentle and smiling." Within a year of Columbus' landfall, the "miraculous groves" were gone, cleared to make way for the rancheros and plantations that would make the large contingent of Spanish seulers wealthy, and mining had spoiled the "great lagoons," not to mention rivers, mountains, and native farmlands. Within that year too, several thousand Taino were shipped 10 Europe as slaves, marking the beginnings of the slave trade. Those who remained fell victim to European diseases against which they had no resistance, and to the barbarism and tyranny of the colonists. Thus was set the pattern of ecocide and genocide which has been the dominant force in the modem history of the Americas. As the 500th anniversary of Columbus' "discovery" of the "New World" approaches, it appears unlikely !hat the myriad official festivities sponsored by governments of Europe and the Americas will expose the darker legacy of ~uropean conquest. What they will offer instead is a "QuincenteMial Jubilee" marked by all the hoopla, pride, and patriotism that modem technology can stir up. fo!C, 199 1 r However. a grcA1nd weft qf publi{ , opposition. led by moigendus groups in Nonh and South America, is gathering force to assure that the celebrations do more than glorify the ecocide and genocide wrought by Columbus and the other colonists and missionaries who followed him. In July of 1990 representatives of 120 indigenous nations, tribes, and organizations met for the first time in Quito. Ecuador to discuss their peoples' slruggles for self-de1ermination and 10 organi1..e a unified lndi:tn response to the official 1992 Jubilee celebrations. Their plans call for alternative gatherings 10 celebrate 1he resistance chat has enabled Indians 10 survive the centuries of genocide and opprei.sion chat 1hey have suffered at the hands of the Euro-Americans. The coali1ion is also recalling that many myths and prophecies of native peoples throughout Turtle Island say 1ha1 chis period of oppression would la.~t for 500 years, when it would be replaced by a period of change ("Pachakutek'.) that will lead ro a better life for the people, a life lived once again in harmony with Molher Eanh. At a time when the Euro-American way of life is threatening lhe survival of all peoples and of the planet itself, we all would do well to listen and 10 follow lhe example set by the indigenous people of a more harmonious way of being. It is up to us to make 1992 the first year of Pachakutek, not the 501st year of colonialism. Resource pacuis for those inttrtsted in organiting local alttrna1i11ts to the official/ts1111i11ts art availablt from the following: - Scarborough Fortign l,fiS$ion; 2685 Kingston Rd.; Scarborough. 0111ario. Canada MI M IM4. Jnclude a nwney donotion 10 CO\ltr prillting ONJ postagt. - Cltrgy ONJ Lairy Concerned; Box /91J7; Decatur, G~ 3003/ for $5.00 postpaid The Sowh and Mtso-American Jndim, Information Ctnttr. which strvts as a liason betwun Indian people of the sowhcrn and the northern con1intn1s. Is a good sourct of1nforma1io11 aboUJ the alttrnativt ac1ivi11es plan11td throughow the Americas. Write to SAJJC: Box 7550, Berktlty, CA 94707. 1/'Jf)U art illltresttd in helping 10 organiu ahernativt 1992 t~nlS in Kataiah, write Jeff Smith at 207 Coxt A~.: Ashevillt NC 28801 or call (704) 259-5333. - by cmmtll Grundiggu Save James Bay Stop Hydro-Quebec! Ancestral lands of the Cree and Inuit cultures as well as the entire James Bay ecosystem are being threatened by a mega-hydroelectric project known as the James Bay Project James Bay, a shallow salt water bay which forms the southern tip of Hudson Bay in Canada, is the largest nonhcrn river drainage system for Tunic Island. Fresh water from vinually every major river in the hean of 1he continent flows into James Bay where it mixes with the Bay's snit w:lter over marshy tidal flats to create a vast and diverse ecosystem. 'These rivers make the Bay a rich ecosystem teeming with caribou, moose, :i: ~;wer as wellbearseals.1he manyl3cluga as walrus, whales, polar and anadromous fish that return from the ocean 10 spawn in the fresh water rivers of James Bay. This is also the nesting and s1aging ground for the 'central flyway' for most migratory birds from geese and ducks to some shore birds who may carry ou1 a migrncion that brings them as far south as Tierra del Fuego.....(Thc land around James Bay) has a dclica1e ecology of coastal mmhes, muskeg and pinelands that provide a rich garden in which the animals and Native people have lived for tens of thousands of years." (Winona l..aDuke) The fames Bay Project is a mega proJect of Hydro-Quebec. Quebec's Premier, Robert Bourassa. sees 1he entire province as "a vase hydro·elcctrie plant in the bud... ". Phase I (1971-1985) of the Project has already destroyed a great deal of habiUlt and lands. Phase II and Phase lll are even more massive undertakings. Phase II would impact an area greater than New York State and New England combined and would destroy 15 major rivers. However, Phase III is the most extravagant. h is a $JOO billion scheme to build a 100 mile dike across the mouth of James Bay so that freshwater from 1he Bay can be pumped (possibly by nuclear pumps) to the Great Lakes, and then to the Midwest and Southwest United States! This project if completed would cause devastation of the entire James Bay ecosystem which is the hean of the largest remaining wilderness in Tunic Island as well the cultural genocide of the native people who would lose their traditional means of subsistance through hunting, trnpping and fishing. Already ten thousand migrating caribou have drowned crossing the Caniapiscau River during a 1984 Hydro-Quebec water release. If all the dams proposed by Hydro-Quebec arc built, 350,000 square kilometers will be directly impacted, Over 25,000 ~uare kilometers \I.ill be flooded. Countless lakes, ponds and temporary ponds will be drowned. Critical wildlife habitat will be fragmented and migration routes destroyed. Destruction of chis habicat will doom thousands of migratory bird~. In September of 1990. the Canadian National Energy Board approved the expon of Hydro-Quebec electrici1y 10 the US. There are formal efforts in Maine. Vermont, and New Yorlc to call for the cancellation of any contrnc1s with Hydro-Quebec. lndividuals and organizations around North America art' joining the fight to save James Bay. For more informa1ion. contacr: Northeast Alliance to Protect James Bav 139 Anrrim Street / Cambridge, MA 02139 .. (617) 491-553 I • X.Ot uc:ih Journot J>CIIJC 25 �. ", DRUMMING LETTERS TO KA TUAH Dear Kmualt, This kulwie says that idle hands arc the devil's wockshop when iJs preuy damn obvious IO anyone who sits down and thinks about it that idle hands nrc definitely not a workshop and that the devil's worbhop has m1111y many busy busy hands. Ovec achiever type A workaholics with hyperactive thyroids have predictably lllken over at the throUle of neatly everything and ate proceeding to make the world a miserable place to be for anyone who likes to go fishing or read a boolt or simply to do her pan in the effort to conserve energy by silLing down and bcmg quiet. Motorboats chum our lakes into oily froth. AirpLllles arc aJmo:.t always whining in our cars. All terrain vehicles defile the America others pass by. shnttcring silence and leaving ruts that open into gullies lhat are geo logical re minders of the passing of some busy idiot who wos out SpiMing his wheels and wasting all sorts of resow-ces when he should have been home playing with his luds or l:lying in a hammock. Poople in general and rncD m particular QJ'C taught that Ill order to be respected we should make our mark on a world. The world is nlrcady llWkcd up with graffitti-like doings of the do-do culture and what we now need 10 learn moSt is s10pping. Don't just do something, Slalld there. Will Ashe Boson Floyd, VA DcarKmuoh. Vour article about dowsing slruck an inu:rcsting chord with me. I have been fortunate 10 get to hike with a group of Retired Citi,..cns or Gatlinburg over the past sevcml months, and because of that have met some very fascinating people not the least or whom is a man named Herb Oabo, a real mountain man who gi-ew up in the Roaring Fork section of what is now the Great Smoky Mountnins National Park:. He now lives in that same area about two houses from the Park bouod:IJ'y. He still climbs the mowitnins and walks the ridges almost every day. At 80 he is still ahead of the pack except when he siops IO share a bit of history or a talc of sons. It i.~ one of t!lcse talcs that came tO mind when I read your article. Herb can divine for bodies! • and find them. The rods arc held loosely in the hands and when he comes IO the grave. they tum in. I have watched him do this and it is exuemely fascinating. The Parle Service asked him and Frank Cart.er, another dowser. 10 help them with a cemetery in the Roaring Forlc section which had been badly damaged by tourists - roc:ks which were really old grave m:utcrs had been knocklxl over and some even canicd out of the cemetery. With 1he1r dowsing rods, Hcrb and Frank were able to rcnlign the graves, replace the m:IJ'kcrs, and arc now c:nrrying fill din to cover the IOOlS and ftll in washouts caused by the he.Ivy lrllff'ic of many feet. For the umc being. the ccmelCI)' is fenced off and will be unul the n:pciiring and =ding arc compleled. In that ccrnclct)'. thctc iS a grave for a leg. A man lost his leg in a logging occident and Xnti1af1 JounmC p119c 26 insisted on having it buried with a formnl funeral. Herb u:11s another inlelCsting story about finding the grave of Jasper Mellinger. Years ago Jasper had "l:ud-by" his com crop and was going to Nonh Carolina 10 work a few days tn a blacksmith's shop. Instead of walking the long way around, he took the "nigh" way through the hills. Art Huskey had a bear uap set and Jasper got caught m 11. On finding him there. it is alleged, Art or his son knocked poor Jasper in the head with a pine knot and buried him m a shallow grave. Herb was detenmncd to find lhnt grave. long since heavily overgrown. He walked the hills for about a year bcfo,e he loaltcd the grave only 10 discover there were four bodies buried in the =e area. He ha.~ cleaned out lllOUlld the graves • and a path lending 10 them and 1s now placing mnriccrs for t!lcse people. He has deccnnincd who three or the bodies arc and will mark the other "unknown: Hero is a real storehouse of knowledge and mountnin lore. Barbara Wickersham DcarK01111Jh, I read with great in~t the interview with Tom Hendricks, "The Responsibilities of Dowsing,· in the Summer "91 issue of Kmu.o.lt JournLJI. Hoving recently writu:n IO the Amctic:ln Society of Dowsers expressing concern at the non-holiSllc actions of some dowsers, I found Tom's comments cncoumging. I have been dowsing for a number of YeaA, mostly locating with L-rods. More recently I hnvc been conccntroting on trying to undcrslll.nd Eanh energies. I rend, and dowse., and find, but feel the need to work with someone who really knows what they arc doing. Look forward to hearing from you. Yours sincerely, Joy Doheny DeatKmuah, s Something a wrong with the U.S. Forest Service le:idcrship. They can't 11\llnage our forests properly due to a spurious pl31l they adoJ)led 25 years ago. h can be likened 10 a disease in its effccL Call 11 "clcarcuHLtS." Ever since they've been obsessed with denuding our forestS. They promoted the spread of this infection to colleges and univen;iucs th.It prcp:ire future foresters. Certain limber interests, long affiicu:d with th IS dlSCaSC. have wdcd and supponcd the Fore.st Service leadership m iL~ addiction and arc confusing us with a SS0,000.000 misinformation campain. Their purpose: 10 cut the 5~ left of our ancient forests at huge profits to them.,;elves within the neitl 5 to 10 years using the befuddled Fo~ Service leadership to gnm their end. Once it was the people and the Forest Service versus timbcrers. Now it is umbcrcrs and the Forest Service versus the people. A tide of public concern is rising IO stem this disease in its devnsiation with powerful mcdicruion to be pn:scribcd by Congress. Previous prescriptions have failed because the Forcst Servioc leadership refuses 10 swallow the medicine that would return it to its fonner stnte ofhc:llth. The "Santa Claus syndrome." of practically giving away our trees hntvesu:d at our expense. is also of gi-eat concern to people. tn lodinnn 120,000 people signed petitiOns and wrote thousands of leuets, including congressmen and lhe governor, ealling for protection of biological diversity and regeneration of old growth. A poll of voiers 31'0und the Hoosier National Forest showed 69% are so upset they want to bnn all logging. The entire congressional delcgnuon or fllinois is demanding the Forest Service Stop being Sania Claus with below-cost sales. Arl<ansas and Texas have asked for a halt 10 clearcutting. South Carolina people arc asking for a ch411ge m mn~cment. In North Carolina over 16,000 people and over a thousand businesses signed pctiuons in a shon period of time 10 halt clearculting. A number of Forest Service employees and supervisors, not willing to allow this disease to reach epidemic proportions. are organizing and asking thru the infected leadership accept prescribed congressional medication so that the Forest Service can survive. I must add that a number of private forest growers with large and small forc.~ts arc not infccu:d with "clenrcu1-1tis." They arc surviving low prices caused by Rnst Service leadership direction. These forests are a JOY 10 visit compared with the shambles pre.sent m our ll3tionaJ forests. These many growers arc not liqu1d3tors. They believe in a tomonow for themselves and their children. Why can't this be true for the nntional forests? Grandfather and Grandmother, we have the time. We love this land and want 10 leave it beucr for our children and grandchildren. We've seen the umber locuslS consume our forest before. It doesn't have to happen to the Inst gr.md trecS standing. Th.rec bills in commitu:c need support; HR 2S01, HR 1969, and HR 842 to help k.ill the infoction. Three congressmen 10 reach arc Harold Volkmer. Eda la Gana, Goorge Miller (House of Rcprcscntativcs, Wnshington. DC 20015). There arc also three senators; D.ile Bum~, Pntricl; Leahy, and Wyche Fowler (Scn.,tc Office Building. Washington, DC 20010). Even though our hands arc tired and weary, \YOn't you pick up a pen and write? Let's inspire them in Washington. Bob Gerry Franklin, NC Drawing by Rob Messick rnrc., 1991 �Dear Ka1uah. A friend gave me his copy or your Summer'!) I Ka1uah Journal. nnd I am impressed by lhe imcgri1y of lhe journal. One of my grcn1-grnndmothcrs wns a full-blooded Cherokee, plus my family hns roois in 1he Miami Nation. Sadly, I never paid any heed to this heritage until the last yenr or so. though I have always been an enrth person. ever drawn 10 nature fascinated by forcsis, ~ueruns, wild Iire, lightning. I rc.ili:u: that this is pan of my being, and am beginning 10 look more closely at the wisdom of thOl,e who came before me. I would hkc 10 know if a publicauon s1m1lar 10 your; cxisis in the Indiana region. I would be interested in lellming more about my foreflnhcrs, but I'm n0t too sure where 10 start. Thank you for :iny help you can offer. and 1100k forward 10 hearing from you soon. Since my return home I have fell myself often "losing focus· with nil the technology nnd matcriohstic vibrations that surround me. I h3ve found th3l one thing I can do 1s make my way to a stnnd of treeS very ncnr here and allow myself 10 recapture lhc feeling of the Smokies, the •me· I am working with the Appalachian Women's Guild on the Monteagle Mountain ~lion of the Cumberland Platc3u. It seems lO me, thot this mountain could be an exemplary bioregional devclopmen1 - it cou.kl become self-sufftcienL ll is at this lime extrcmdy depressed economically which Respectfully, Jeff Zaclulry Dcar Ka1uah. IC I h:id closed my eyes and envisioned the perfect. most harmonious appro:ich 10 life in the Soulhem Appalachians I could not have crentcd :i more beautiful image than lhc people who conlribute 10 your journal and those who arc the rtal members of the Katu:ih Province. I think I hove found my venue, and my only regret is that Tdid not have the courage 10 head such a wonderful movement myself. I'm a graduate student at Appalnchian State University in Boone, NC studying and working lO preserve the biodiversity and ecology of these great mounlllins. I have struggled with 10lerance of the modern, dcvelopmcn1-00nsumcd elite of this town and this region. I am so happy 10 find the power in your numbers. Please let me know more about your cause. your people, and your apparent passions 10 prcscrvc the way of the conscious man and womnn. I wnnt 10 be a part of the movement, and be counted among you. God Bless, J1mmy Bnrbcc -=---- Dear KaJuah, I was recently introduced 10 your wonderful publication and would like 10 know more about K01uah and how I can become involved. In the past it seems I made less lime for myself 10 read or enjoy the beauty or life nround me. However, due 10 a recent car occident I've found myself with the time lO do anything and the physical ability 10 do almost nOthing. So I n::id. I probably never would have come 10 know my world, or Katuah, if it were not for the accident and a special man in Lake Toxaway who lOOk the time 10 talk 10 me about life, healing, and Ka1uah. For th:11 I am very thank:ful. I thank God as I grow physically and spiritually stronger everyday, and look forward 10 living as I never have. Seize the Dayl Paula Flanks Dear K01uah, I live in a very popul:itcd, "built-up· pan of Florida. and decided in June to e,;plore the Smoky Mounuiin.~ with my friend 10 Slill, nnd re-center myself. We had a wonderful, amazing, and lr.lnsforming lime • and while there I discovcrcd your publication. Tm!, 1991 Paintina by S\1$111 Adam rediscovered there. The Olhcr is 10 open Ka,uoli Journal lO any page and begin IO~. The commitment :ind dedication to Life of your writcts. people like myself - puts me back on my chosen pnth. Thank you for sharing and afrummg. Yours in light, Susan Rueter To the Editors: I was given a copy or lhe Kaiuah Journal. Spring, 1991. by a friend, Cicio Myc1~k. I have just this morning read II and am moved to find such an enlightened group ru work. II IS like finding a pan of your family that had been ml$mg. r want to connect with you as projects in which 1 am im,ol ved p:irnllcl yours in this issue. I include my story which r have JUSt wriuen for the Episcopal Chwch. (see excerpt below) The opposition to a hazardous waste incinerator (three limes the size of any existing facility which promised to take haw-dous waste from at k:asl 20 sta.ics) which I organized, changed my whole life. I now work full lime on establishing a true grassroots environmental nerwork m Tennessee that will connect with other similar networks nationwide. (Thank God I hnve a husband who C113bled me lO give up my gainful employment in order 10 do this volw:uecr work.) I attended the Episcopal Church Envaronmenlal Conference ,n Kanuga. NC in April llihcte I met Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Grecnho~ Crisis Foundation in Washing10n. He invited me to auend n conference in Wa.mington at the end or Scp!Clllbcr lhnt will plan a grassroots Conunental Congress for May of 1992. I Ulke great hope that this Con tinenlal Congress will have sufficient impact on the political paities to change the t.otal disrcgrud for the environment (my opmjon) that both parties have been exhibiting. gives llS fcrtilc ground for movmg in lhc direction of interdependent living. I also work with a group which ,s creating a vision of community when: physicnlly and mentally handicapped and non-physically handicapilcd can live in an interdependent relationship where the arts and celcbrauon oflife you spcalc of will be an integral part of our circular community. We will have a biodynnmic farm, a gteenhou~. woodworking shop, Appalach1311 cmfis, design and making of allcmative clOthing for the physically challenged, a printing operation. and opportunities and encouragement for all 10 develop their individual spirituality in an atmosphere or love. In fighting the evil of the inciDCnllOr, people were brought together who have the underlilanding and cnprabililics or making the Biorcgional Economy or the whole mountain IOP work along with the special community. I celebrate your enthusiasm, your dedication, and your Being. Light and Love 10 all of you, Marilyn Williams Chau.anooga. TN ~rpttdfrom Marily11 Williams' story: Morion County LS an economically depressed, rural county comprised of a long valley swrounded by mounlllins, indented wilh coves traversed by the Tennessee River. This topogniphy results in a phenomenon cnlled thermal invCTsion. Very often, tempcroturc changes will force the air down and hold it against the floor of the valley so that it cannot escape over the mount2ins. Any kind of smoke-t;toct indu.«ry would be unusually bad ror the area. I blcr lcamcd that lhcnna1 invcnion was ·no problem· for those who warued to site a haz:lJ'dous wastt incineralor on lhe TenllCS5CC River in our county. (c:auinued on I"'&" 28) JC.Qtuah 1oumnl J)(IQe 27 �(continued from pa,:c 27) I alt.ended a meeting of our County Commission and heard lhe president of a commen:i:il hllzardous was1C incinerator COfflJXUlY IC.Jl lhe commission and all present he did nOl care whwier we voted to have him there or nol; he certainly wouldn't icll us he wouldn't be the.re. We later le:uned the same group had been defeated in four olhct counhcs through use of the Local Veto Option which we voled to hnve him there or not; he ccnainly wouldn't tell us he wouldn't be there. We lat.er learned the same group had been defeated in four olhcr • counties through use of the Locnl Vct0 Opuon which was a Tennessee law. We knew quiic well that our legislature had jus1 removed this law that gave citizens ~ right to protect their property ond lhe health and welfare of lhcir children. This 1s a constituuonnl nght bom of n Ocmocmcy. I C:lmC from Ilic rooeting angry. I was angry tlmt in a land where freedom was supposed IO nng from every mounlllln IOp, a man could siand before us and arrogantly icll u.~ he 11o us - in so many words • gomg 10 force on us something that we knew would dcsll'Oy our property values and endanger our children., lives - and for what? For profit • My anger 1ncrenscd with the rcalm1tion that the citizens of this Staie have every right to expect thc,r elcc!Cd, paid official\ to make laws to protect Ilic Jives and property of lhe people of their Staie, I snw ourselves in the posiuon of bemg forced to do the JOb for ourselves. I called a meeting or friends to organv.e n protesL I sent announcements 10 both the newspapers, but they did not print 1hcm, We had IS people ai the rll'St meeting. We each IOOk rcspons1bili1y or getting others at the next mccung, and we prepared notices to be ID.ken to the papers. At the ncxt meeting we h.ld 26 people to plan a town meeting to discuss the opposition to the incinerator. At that meeting we had press from lhe city of ChatUlnooga and 400 orderly people. After that we had the attention of the clcclcd offici.l!s and the loca.1 press and radio stations. Two months later, at 7 AM over 3,000 finn, but orderly, infonned people gathered in the .square at South PilL~burgh to confront the rcprcsentauves of FTI who came with armed Pinkenon gu:ll'ds, The people with their children wore T-shirts reading, "Two, Four. Six, Eight; WE WILL NOT INCINERATE." Cars had bumper stickers saying "DANGER - NO INCINERATOR." Posters staung firm opposiuon were held high. Many wore gas mask.~. A-:. representatives of the incinerator company Milked into the building where they had come to conclude the mlc or the propsed incinerator site, m on orderly fashion. the crowd began to chant, "Two, Four, Si~. Eight - WE WILL NOT INCINERATE!" The day b.:forc the mlly a UPl reporter who knew the area, called me and a.,ked me how mony people J thought we would have a1 the rally. I said that if--.c did 001 have 01 lcai.t 2,000 I would be sorely disappointed. He laughed, saying, "If you ha\'c 2,000 people in Marion County come out for anything, I'll be greatly surprised. Those people luve never been togcthcr on anything." When I arrived m South Piu.sburgh shortly be~ 7:0Q that morning on June 14. 1990, I lil!w people coming "in droves; as we say. They were commg from all over in large numbers, and icars rolled down my race because I knew m my hcal1 that weh3d won. Four d.lys laicr, F11 announced they would not build in Marion County or "any of the surrounding area." ... I saw interesting and miraculous things happen in this united effort. I saw shy young mo°'.crs come forward and tell me, "l"ve never done an),1hmg like this before. I just Silly home and talce care of my family, but I'm not Slllying there and watching this Juppcn." I saw them transformed into outSpOken, tireless worker.; who conducted meetings in their communities to get the word ouL Some or them called me and cried at the heanless roccplion they encountered sometimes in the bcgiMmg when they called on bu.'ilnesspcople to put petition~ in stores or to tallc at city council meetings; but they never guve up. They went right back, and !hey bccnme StrOngcr. as they were empowered b)' the love lhey had for thi:,r children. It occurred to me at lhc time, if the Earth i.s 10 be saved, 11 will be by mothers and those who share the feelings or mothers. I saw children become awurc of somctl11ng they hlld always Uken for gmntcd. School chil.drcn made posters and wrote letters 10 elcclCd officials. ng They bccrunc int.:rc.,tcd in recycling. I saw a bondi_ of people joined by a common cuus.e. I sow a commg together of people who would prohably never have come 10 know each other. I sa--. a ri'i<! in the consciousnCSli of people. Then: was an elevation of sclf-e:;1ocm. Th.:se was a knowledge gamed thm one person can still make a dilTerencc if the)' take the hand of their brother/sister and slalld up for whal they believe is righL Since the mc.mcmtor fight, I have seen others tnke the mniaiive 10 sl:llld again.st other 1njustic.!s in their communit.lc.s. • The People are Angry! A Monual on \Va.tre llauvdou...t to tht Ilea/th of our Cllildren in itMetsu i.s available from Tcnne:.scc Grassroois EnvironmenUll Network; Boll 15038: Chaunnooga, TN3741S Get a set of 10 assorted folding cards with artwork you see in I<atuah Journal. • You1h Camps - ~ P,ogrem1 • Family Camps· Teach0< Tra.,,ng • Communuy Programs • Camp Slaff Training • Outdo« Pn,gram Consulting (Envelopes included.) by Rob lJlessick Send $11.25 postage paid to: RM DESIGNS r.o. aox 2601 ProgomJ to encouoge end Earth OWOl8'l8$$. celebrol1on. ldn&Hp and hope $611 PO 8oK 1306 Galltnt>,,,g, terY10lSee 3n38 615-436-6203 BOONE, NC 28607 whole earth grocery NATIVE FLUTES Two styles mode of cedar or walnut woods in the traditional manner Hawk Littlejohn Sourwood Farm Rt. 1, Box 172-L Prospect Hill, NC 27314 (919) 562-3073 • NATURAL ALTERNATIVES FOR HEALTHFUL LIVING 446 c p;arkw•y craft ~ntcr • •uilc 11 gatlinburg, tcnn~ 3n38 6 15-436-6967 Xat(iah Jou r not pn9c 28 ' ,, Union Acres A,r Alternative - • Acrt.agtforSale - Smoky Moun/111n Lrving wilh II focus on spiri/114/ 11nd «ologit:Jll valuts For more informalron; Contact C. Gran/ al RDult 1. Box 61/ Whittier, NC 28789 (704) 4974964 NATURAL MARKET WHOLE FOODS • OULK FOODS • VITAMINES • HERDS • FAT FREE FOODS • TAKE OlTTFOODS • SNACKS • NO SALT, NO CHOLESTEROL 265-2700 823 Blow,ng Rock Rd lloonc. NC 28607 :fnfL 1991 �, - 0FFTHEGRID SOLAR OVENS by Dr. lnnnis Scanlin This issue's 01/The Grid 1ues1 collUMis1 is Dr. Dtnnis Scan/ill, Proftssor ofApproprialt Ttchnoloo at AppalacNIJJI State University;,. Boone, North Carollna. Dennis is cwrrently working on a project sponsored ITy the Su.sklinablt Dtvtlopmelll Center of ASU to bring so/Ju ove11 ttCM()/olJ to the rural pu,plt ofGllllUma/a. Solar o - ttcM()loo is pani&ularly appropriJJu in Ct111ral America wlttn thert is a lot of s1111 and a probltm with defortSiaJilJ11 as ptoplt u.sc rht forests to prqvide woodfor cooki/11. So/Ju ovens could, obviDu.sly. N>t ~ u.scd as freqUUlll)I hut in Katwolt as ill Ca1ral Amtrica, bu/ rhty could ctrtamly su,,e as All OMXillary tltUf1 source IO ~ wed whutevtr possible to / - , ow demands 011 wood, proflOM, oU ONl/or tltcrricity. DtfortSIJJ/k,11 is IU)t cwu11tly a probkm lwre (~sides timber sales), bUI It col/Jd ~CO/fflt OM if rht opdollS of oil, propane and/or tltcrricily _,., too expensive or IINIWlilabk, as is Ille t.aU ill rwol CcfllrtJJ America. As Dr. Scanli11 lius IO poilll 0111, "lhtre is "" silltlt tMTlJ fXIIUIUO.. 1ht suslDiJsabh t11tro of our fwurt will come from a ~ f J ofsourcu. Solar OVtftS w{J/ be OM of IN>U. • ·td.JimHou.su Solar Cookers have been receiving a lot of attention recently in both the developing and developed regions of the world. This attention is well deserved because these ovens are a truly appropriate technology. First of all, they really work. They are also cheap enough to be accessible to virtually everyon~ easy to construct with locally available materials; simple to understand and operate; utilize renewable energy; and reduce our dependence on centrally supplied energy or, in the developing world, diminishing supplies of increasingly expensive fuelwood, wi1hout having any adverse impacts on the environment They can be a pan of the solution ro the many problems facing our world. There are two basic types of solar cookers. The first is the direct or focusing parabolic dish cookers, which are usually about 4 feet in diameter and reflect all the solar energy striking them onto a focal point which is usually about 18 inches above the center of the dish. A pot of food would be supponed at this focal point. Their performance can be very impressive, achieving temperatures over 600° F; however, they can onJy heat one pot of food at a rime, can be difficult to construct, need to be focused every 15 to 30 minutes and don't work very well on panly cloudy days. Effons 10 market these cookers have largely failed because of their tempennentnl nature and because people don't like standing out in the sun while cooking. The whole TaU, 1991 SOLAR OVEN Drawing by DoMis Scanlin process of cooking with these cookers is too different from traditional methods. The indirect or box ovens have been the focus of most of the recent interest in solar cooking. An indirect or box oven is simply an insulated box with a glass or plastic cover, and one or more reflectors to increase the amount of sunshine entering the box. Food is usually placed in dark colored pots with covers. The pots full of food are then placed in the solar oven and absorb the solar energy entering the oven. These ovens reach temperatures between 250 and 450° F, can cook several pots of food at the same time, work on partly cloudy days. aod are simple and inexpensive to construct Many indirect or solar box ovens have been designed over the last few years; however, most fall into one of two categories: single reflecror or multiple reflector. The single reflector type is the least complicated variety. It is an insulated rectangular box with a shoe box type lid and a single reflec1or attached to the lid. It was first developed in 1976 by Barbara Kerr and Sherry Cole of Tempe, Arizona and is the design presently being promoted by Solar Box Cooker International, 1724 11th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814. They have plans available for $3.00. Plans are also available from Kerr Enterprises, Inc., P.O. Box 27417, Tempe, AZ 85282, (602) 968-3068. They also have complete kits for a well designed cardbo:ud oven for about $55. Kits are also available from Basic Solar, Harvard Square Suite 67, 1430 Mass. Ave.. Cambridge. MA 02138. Kits or plans are not really necessary, however, as one could easily be constructed with either cardboard or wood. One good source of cardboard boxes is Xerox paper boxes found in schools and businesses. Banana or apple boxes found in the local grocery store are also quite sturdy, as are cardboard file boxes which can be purchased for about $3.00 at an office supply store. These boxes could be covered with contaa paper or painted for increased water resistance. The box could also be constructed from large sheets of cardboard or with peices of wood. Plywood and lxlO's or lxl2's have been used. There may be undesirable gases emitted from the plywood, which would contaminate your food, but I'm not sure about this potential problem. The box should be large enough to contain the desired size of pots which will be used. but not much larger. The inside dimensions of the Kerr/Cole cooker mentioned earlier arel8"x22"x7". This size can hold 3-4 pots of food and can cook a meal for 4-6 people easily. Insulation on the sides and boaom of the oven wiU help it attain higher temperatures by reducing heat loss. The easiest is Thc.rmax foil faced insulation secured with foil rape (not duct tape). There may be hannful gases given off by this and (continued on page 30) Xatuah 1ourna! om1e ? Q �(coniinutd from page 29) 01hers have objected to its use; however I have not noticed any strange odors or tastes in food cooked in an oven insulated with this material, and when I called the manufacturer, I was told there have been no problems associated with ils use. Another insulation scheme is 10 use a smaller box inside the outer one and put crumbled newspapers or fiberglass insulation between the two boxes. Still another is to fold cardboard so that trapped air pockets are fonned and put these peices into the bottom and on the sides of the box. With !he last two Home Power Inc., POB 275. Ashland, OR 97520; and The Solar Coo~ry Book, Beth and Dan Halacy, Peace Press 3828 Wilat Avenue, Culver City, California 90230. A variety of foods including soups, stews, bread, chicken, cakes, rice, potatoes, lasagna, and a variety of other vegetables can be cooked in a solar oven. However, it does involve some behavioral modification. One needs to check the weather report for the day, plan the day's dinner in the morning, put it together and in the oven by around 10 or 11 and point the oven towards the south. Obviously some foods will cook faster than others. Baked beans and hot dogs can be heated up in about I hour. Lentils, brown rice, and soy beans will take substantially longer. But just about anything can be cooked in one good sunny day, or even a panly cloudy day, if placed in the oven in the morning and if the oven is reoriented towards the sun a few times during the day. Around noon is the ideal rime for solar cooking because that is when we are receiving the greatest amount of solar radiation. There is no worry about burning foods. Dark enamel, glass or ceramic pots work well. TI1e dark-colored pots absorb more radiation. Most cooking should be done in convered pois. Several solar cookbooks are available, including Eleanor's Solar Cookbook, Eleanor Shimcall. Cemese Publishers, 7028 Leesburg Place, Stockton CA 95207 and Favorite Recipes From Solar Cooks, Solar Box ,;,!!II' Cooker International. schemes the junction between the inside and outside of the oven needs to be covered. The reflector can be consmicted from cardboard with a reflective material such as aluminum foil, reflective mylar or a glass mirror glued to it. Glass, plastic cooking bags (available in grocery stores), or teflon can be used for the glazings. Multiple layers of glazing will result in better performance. The glazing can be attached wilh aluminum tape, wooden strips and nails for a wooden box, and/or caulk. Multiple reflector designs (fig. I) achieve higher temperature.\ (300-450° F) but are more complicated to construct. These cookers usually have a door on the back side, but can also be constructed with a shoebox type lid so the whole oven, withou1 a bottom, fits over a shallow pan, which would hold the pots of food. Plans are available for $10 from Our Sol.tr Systems, Box 55891. Tucson, AZ 85703. Two books with plans are also available: Heave11s· Flame. A Guidebook 10 Solar Cookers, By Joseph Radabaugh,$ IO, Complete ovens can also be purchased from Clevlab ($15 - $275), POB 2647, Liuleton, Colorado, 80161 and from Sunlight Energy Corporation ($179), 441 lW. Echo Lane, Glendale, AZ 85302 (602) 943,6492. Figure 2 shows an exploded view of a smnll p muhiple reflector oven similarly inspired by the Clevlab $15 Sunspot Solar Oven. This same basic construction can be expanded for a larger slant face type mulliple rcflcct0r oven. FRENCH BROAD FOOD CO-OP •• • Co05Umcr0wncd Since 1975 • •• We Sell Food that Nourishes I Iumans and Sustains the Earth OPEN TO T l IE PUBLIC Mond,,y· FriJay 8:30 AM to 8:00 r:--1 Saturdav 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM SundJ)' I :(l(J P\I 10 6:00 PM (704) 255-7650 Home! A Bioregional Reader 1/o,,u:! A Biorcgional Rtader, juit publi.\hcd hy New Society Publi$hcrs, offcrs· nn c,ciung vision :uid slOltcgy for creaung ('.enlogic.ii ly su~btn~htc communnics and culture., rn hannony v. ilh the limiL~ nnd rcgcncrauve powers or the £2th." It ha.~ gathered a.niclcs, stories. and potnL~ of O\'Cr forty writer~ and acuvm.~who have contnbu!Cd both co ddining biortgionalism a.~ a J)Olitic;il philosophy and to the pracuce of "living rn place.· Comnbutors mcluJ.:: Gary Snylkr, Pttcr Berg. Caroline Estc,, Wendell Rcrry, a, well as Mnmie Muller of the Karunlt l<mrnnl. Gr:ipl11cs in the book include the.• \\Ort of Katuah's Rob Mcsskl.. The book is a large-format r;ipcrhack with 192 pages. includrni; resources and a reading list. Copies arc available by mnil for S15.70 from RM Designs: Boi Tnlhng Lto,~.s i~ • mor11hly JOWMI nf ~ ecoloay, in.<rircd p,,rwoaJ 11e11,·i= rooted UJ CNtheo ~piri11111iiy. Pu1 i"'-<;ues bnc !car~ ani,lcs by Gary Soy<kr. St.Vba"'k, John Sec:J, Joa.nna Macy, B111 Dc\'all. Looc Wolf Circle!'. Barhara Mor, etc. Tnlki11g uo1n SJICU~ for the narural "''-'"d and for the rdcinJliog ot our own 'l-11d 51>in1. Suh5COpUon~ an, S 15.00 on.)Ut/$18.000U1,1dc U.S. S25.00 two yc.tn/S36.00 ouwdc U.S . ~nd ch«k or M 0 . 10 : Tnlkwg Lto,·a 1430 W1llamcuc #36 7 Eugene. OR 97401 503/342-2974 90 8i11m11rc Avcnul! A,hevallc, NC 2 Blocks South ol Downtown rrutoNSETc:1 +. • 0 ~ I . . - tl1c new al tcnmt.h·c • i to tJ1c sleeper sofa wiil1 OYcr 4,000 vcars of customer ~atisfacH~n built in. -- 2601: Boone, NC 28007. Print,,, or Rob Mcssick's illustrations from the book are also avnilablc from the same llddn= Taff, 1991 �The Bell: A Call to Peace 'The Bell publishes commentary and news about peace events and resources. We digest the best an1clcs questioning war as a solution 10 conflict and exploring peaceful alternatives of foresight and reason. We continue to cover the aftermath or the Gulf War, the policies that brought us to that war, and the effect of militarism on our country. our environment, and our world. "We accept contributions in the way of writings, p<>cms, artwork, etc. The Bell is an all-volunteer project that is dependent on donations." Issue #6 of The Bell, which contains an interview with a woman who has maintained a ten year, 2·1-hour-a-day peace vigil across the srrcet from the White House, is currently available. TI1c Bell is published by Col/ten Redt1w11 and Ah,yn Moss. To rrceivt The Bell, send a donmion to Box 634; Floyd. VA 24091. Permaculture Conference The 6th Annual Eastern North America Pennaculture Conference will be held October 11-13 at the Standing Stone State Park, near the town of Livingston m nonhcast Tennessee. Friday, October 11 • Field Day at Earth Advocates Research Facility with an inrroduction 10 Pcrmaculture. Presentations on Saturday and Sunday, October 12-13 - Keyline; Pcrn1aculturc and Spirituality; Solar Power; Bio:.helters; Low-income Community Development/Land Tnms, Monday, October 14 - Tours of nearby Hidden Springs and Long Hungry Creek Nurseries. Costs are: Field Day - $20, Conference registration (sliding scale) - $50-75 single, $75-100 family. includt!s dorm lodging and meals. Tours are free. For directions and additional infonnation, write: Eanh Advocates; Rt. 3, Box 624; Livingston, TN 38570. • TURTLE ISLAND BIOREGIONAL CONGRESS Mark the date! The fifth Turtle Island Bioregional Congress wm be held MAY 17-24 at Camp Stewart Kerrville, Texas (northwest of San Antonio) Rl'g1strahon fet.-s hav<.> not b<.>cn set, but lhcn~ will bc r1.-dured rat<.>S for those who apply bcfore0cccmbcr31, 1991 For funhcr infonnation on fees and arrangements, contact the Turtle Island Office Box 140826 Dallas, TX 75214 (214) 324-4629 Bioregional Congresses 01.ark Area The Twelfth Annual Ozark Area Community Congress, OACC (pronounced 'oak") XII, will meet September 20, 21, & 22, 1991 at Hammond Mill Camp in West Plains, Missouri. OACC has met for 12 years as a working congress (not merely a conforcnce) developing a vision for the Ozark region based on nature's ecological rrinciples. They focus on a range of issues including forestry, water, sustainable agriculture. education. health, community economics, etc. This year's congress includes a number of workshops as well as a barter fair. For more infonnation. contact OACC, Box 3, Brixey, Missouri 65618. (417) 679- 4773. Great Lakes Area The Great Lakes Bioregional Congress will meet October 4, 5, & 6, 1991 in Hell (no joke), Michigan. The Congress promises to be a celebratory, educational, fun weekend. Zones of discussion will include: Water/Air (repon from International Joint Commission meeting, Great Lakes Beach Sweep, toxic issues, aquatic intelligence); Eanh ( organic farming, land use, restoration, tenure); Justice (social justice, people of color, 500 years of resistance with dignity); Culture (alternative economics, children, bioregional education, art, sacred sites); Habitat (co-housing. sustainability); Nature (biodiversity, wilderness, forestry, land defense). Scholarships available. Contact: Bearrice Briggs, % Wild Onion Alliance, 3432 N. Boswonh, Chicago. IL 60657. (312) 929-5565. Ohio River Watershed The Ohio River Watershed Bioregionnl FestivaVCongress will be held October 11-14, 1991. Entitled "Coming I Jome: Spirituality and Ecology of our Region", the Congress is "open to all who desire to create ways of life which are in harmony with the natural patterns and cycles of the bioregion." All attendees are asked to panicipate in storytelling, camping, sharing homegrown entenainment, produce, and seeds. The Congress will be held at the fann of the Sisters of St Fmncis outside of Oldenburg in southeast Indiana. $ I0/individual; $25/family. For more information, contact: John Gibson, 3038 FalJ Creek Parkway, Indianapolis, IN 46205; (317) 925-9297. rnrc. ,., t!l!Jl REGIONAL RADIO Featuring Crossroads music, NPR news and music p rograms, regional news and information concerning health, education, government, recreation, and the environment. WNCW • FM P.O. Box 8().1 Spind,11~, NC 28160 (704) 287-8000 Xotimh Journot pn')C ~ I �27-29 GREAT SMOKIES PARK "Ecological Spintuafity.• exploring our spiritual relationship to nmure. Topics will co~cr theology or nature, 1'a1ivc American spir11uality, stewardship responsibility. Pre-register: SSO. For info about this and other programs. conUICt Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont; GSMNP: Townsend. TN 37882. (615) 448-6709. SEPTEMBER 11- 13 llLACK '>tOUNTAlN, NC Black Mountain Mu~ic ~1ival, featuring HorseOics, Metropolitan Blues Alls1ars, Dnv1d Wilcox, Dr. Bubba and Ille O.K, Bayou Bnnd, and other traditional and contemporary mu~icions. Will also include African Drum Festival with Darrell Rose. Cont:itl the Black Mountain FcsLi val Office. PO Box 216, Black Mountain. NC 28711. (704) 669-4546. Ongoing CIIEROKEF., r-;c Exhibit: "The Beu in Cherokee Cultucc." Cherokee Hcri1age Museum and Gallery, Hwy. 441 and Big Cove Rd.: Cherokee, NC 28719. (704) 497-321 I. CULLOWHEE, NC Mountam Heritage Day. n cclcbrauon or the music, dance, crofL~. nnd folklife or Katunh. Cherokee songs, shape,note singing, gospel, clogging. Life skills dcmon.s1r.1tions and more. Mountrun Hcniage Center, Western Carolina University. Cullowhce, NC 28723. (704) 227-7129. SW ANNANOA, NC Wnllace Black Elk, Lako1:1 Sioux mcd1cmc mon. will lecture and conduct h<mling ceremomics 31 the Earth Center. Friday night: S25. Weekend: S150. The Earth Center: 302 Old Fellowship Road: Swannanoa, NC 28778. (704) 298-3935. 21 29 11-13 ASHEVILLE, NC 2nd Annual Organic Gro.,.crs Murkct Day Organic produce, fruit, and growing ~upplics on sale. 8-4. WNC Farmers' Market; 570 Brevard Rd. For more info, cnll Jim Smith (704) 252-4414. 20-22 HIGIILANDS, NC "Cclebnumg Gay Spint Visions· conference for gay and bisexual men. Spc.ikcrs include poet James Broughton and author/healer Andrew R:imer. Workshops on chakra b:ilancing, life ma.~k making. n,e Warrior, and more. Music and artists' m:irkcL ?re-register: S169 includes food and lodging at The Mount:iin Retreat Center. For info, contact Conference: 104 Trouer Place: Asheville. NC 28806. (704) 252-0634. 22 DUNCOM tlE COUNTY, NC 12th annu31 French Broad River Rafting Cleanup. Tidy up the river from shore or from a mrt: call Quality Forward a1 (704) 254-1776 for meeting places and space on a rofL WESTERN NOR1 H CAROLINA North Cnrolino Fu-s1 Citizens Big Sweep will coordinmc river cleanup~ in 18 WNC counties. For events on your tribul3ry, com.act Pat Brinkley at WNC Development Associn11on, (704) 252-4783. 28 ASHEVILLE, NC Ellen O'Grady will speak about her expcnenccs among Palestinians and lsrnclis during ten months spent on o Middle East Witness delegauon. Unitarian Universnlist Church, 2 pm, sponsored by Rural Souihem Voice for Peace. For more info, contact RSVP: 1898 Hannah Branch Road; Burn.svdle, NC 28714. (704) 675-5933. OCTOBER Ongomg CHER OKEE, NC Exhibit: "Coowccskoowcc (Chief John Ross)" Cherokee Heritage Museum ond Gallery. Sec "Ongoing" • Sept 1-5 CII EROKEE, Cherokee Fall Festival 31 the Ceremonial Grounds. Traditional dancing and costumes. dunce competitions, weapons dcmonsu:uions. Chcrol.;cc HcritJgC An Show running concurrently in the Museum. For info. coll (704) 497 9195 or (800) 438-1601. 22 23 AUTUMN EQUINOX, FULL MOON 4-6 JONESBORO, NC l9ch Annual National Storytelling Festival will feature yarn-spinners from all over, including some of Appalachia's best. For info, call the National Association for the Preservation and Perpetuation of Storytelling (NAPPS) at (615) 753-2171. 11-13 VALLEY HEAD, AL Brooke Medicine Eagle at Hawk wind. (See "Wcbworking" page.) 11-13 11,EW MARKET, TN "Building Bridges 13c{woon Community o.nd Educational lnstitulions" workshop. Designed to show community activists how to make good use of university and college resources. The Highlan~ r Center. Sec 9/13-15. I 1-20 HOT SPRI NGS, 1'C "The Buddhist Prcccp1s for Daily Living" silent rc1.rea1. guided by Cheri Huber. The 16 Bhodisatvn prcceplS as guidelines for deepening one's spiritual practice. Pre-register: S325 includes vegan meals and shared room . For information on 1hi5 and other rc1rcat.s and workshops. contact Southern Dharma Rc1rca1 Center: RI. I, Box 34-H; Hot Springs, r-;c 28743. (704) 622-7112. ASHEVILLE, 1'C "The Solar Wisdom or the Incas· wilh Willaru Chasqu1 from the Peruvian Andes. Gnosuc wisdom of the central sun, imerplnnctary mission of the E.T.'s, revolution in consciousness, universal community, and the lnc:in calendar. 7:30 pm at Jubilee, 45 Wall SL Free - love offerings accepted. For more info. contact Valerie Naiman (704) 645-5110. 12 17-20 UNICOI STATE PARK, GA 25-29 ASHEVILLE, NC "Kituwah" - an imenribal Native American cultural celebration. Included will be lifestyle ans demonstrations, competitive dancing, juried fine arts show, traditional crafts sale, and dramatic performances. All events will be at the Asheville Civic Center. Admission $2-7. For info, contact Kituwah, 46 Haywood St., Asheville, NC 28801. (704) 252-3880. HIGHLANDS, NC WNC Alliance Annual Membership Meeting al The Mountain. Open 10 the public. Worlcshops, nature walks, lcgislntivc upda1e. Keynocc speaker: James Blomquisl. head of the Public Londs Program for the Siem Club. Workshops on biOJcgions, mcdj:Juon, environmental effectiveness, and lhe timber sale appeals. ConlJICt WNC Alliance: B011 18087: A~heville. NC 28814. (704) 258-8737. 7 NEW MOON 10-13 NORRIS, TN 12th Annual Tennessee Fall Homecoming. a cctebralion or lrlldmonal mountain cullure at the Museum of Appalachia. Music, crafts, demonstrations of rural life skills, in addition to the Museum's regular cxhJbits. For info, call the Museum of Appalachia at (615) 494-7680. FnJI Ennhskills Workshop will offer serious instruc1ion in the ans and lifeways of indigenous people. Skills include making fire by friction, plant identification, tanning buckskin, stone and bone tools, stalking and tracking, native drums and rattles. Instructors: Darry Wood, Snow Bear, Scott Jones. For info. contact Bob Slack, Jr.; Unicoi State Park; Helen, GA 30545. (404) 878-2201. 18-20 27-29 ll-14 LIVINGSTON, TN 6th Annual Eastern Nonh American Pennacuhurc Conference. Field day, nursery tours, workshops: keyline, pennaculture and spirituality, solar power, bioshelters, land truSlS, more. Pre-register: Weekend - $50-75 (sliding scale), Field Day - $20 additional, to Eanh Advocates; Rt 3, Box 624, Livingston, TN 38570 SWANNANOA, NC Dance, drumming, and teaching with Brooke Medicine Eagle, healer and licensed counselor, al the Earth Cen1er. S11ong emph3s1s oo women's ways, but bolh men and women are welcome. Friday night: $25. Weekend· SISO. See IWl l-13. 18-20 VALLEY HEAD, AL "Women's Ceremonial Intensive" at Hawkwind. (Sec "Webworking" p:1gc.) Ta([, 1991 J �SWAl'\ r-. ANOA, NC "Rcncwmg Worship" Conference spon.sorcd by Asheville Jubilee Community examinmg Crcauon SpmlU3hLy through Lhc works of Ma11hew Fo~. S250 1u11,on + S200 lodging. Jubilee: 46 W311 S1.: Asheville, NC 28801 (704) 252-5335. NOVEl\IDER 21-25 23 F ULL MOON NEW M ARK ET, T N Appalachian Writers Workshop a1 1he HighlMdet Center. Sec 9/13-15. 25-27 25-27 HI GHLANDS, NC "Fall Landscape Workshop" with photographer Sam Wang. Pre-register: $250 includes lodging. For information about this and other photography workshops, contact Appalachian Environmental Ans Center; Box 580: Highlands, NC 2874 I. (704) 526-2602. 26 SWANNANOA, NC Sweat lodge at th.: Earth Center Sec 10/11-13. HALLOWE'l-:N (SAM ll AIN) 31 6 23 SWANNANOA. NC Sweat lodge al the Earth Center. Sec 10/11-13. NFW 1\100"1 7-9 G REENV ILL E, NC 6th Annu:il Altcma1ivc Farm Field Days. Tours. seminars: aquaculture. markeung. compostmg, cover crops, f>C$t mMagement, more. For info. write Caroli no Farm Stewordsh1p A~sociation; Box 511; Pittsboro. NC 27312 or call Jim Smith m Asheville 4. at (704) 252-44 1 28-30 WAYNESV ILLE, NC "Steps 10 Pc:icc" workshop with Sanderson Beck. Inner ond outer pc:ice nnd the principles which bring about peace. h3llllony, jusuce, and respect for freedom. S60 includes vegetarian meals Md lodging. For info on this and other program5, contact Sul-Light Retreat Center; RI. I, Box 326; Waynesville, NC 28786. (7~) 452-4569. 8-10 VA LLEY HEA D, AL "A Weekend lnicns1vc on Lakota Ways• at Howkwind. (Sec Wcbworking" page.) 9-10 SWANNANOA, NC Dhyani Ywahoo 111 Lhc Eanh Ccmcr. "Dhyani calls on u.~ 10 become Pcacckccpcr; in our hearts and in the world." S200. Sec 10/11-13. 16-17 VA LLE Y II EAO, AL Healing Arts Weekend al lillwkwind. (Sec 'Webworking" page.) 20-24 HOT SPRI NGS, NC "Tam,ng the Monkey Mind" mcdit.ition rctrc.it guided by Ven. Thubten Chodton, M ,\mericM Tibetan BuddhlSI nun. Southern Dharma Retreat Center. Prc-rcgi~tL-r: $170. Sec 10/11-20. 21 DECEMBER 5 NEW MOON 7-8 GREAT SMO KIF.S PARK Winter llighcountry C.1mping. For info on this and other field school comses. conlllct Smoky Mounmin Field School: 600 Henley SL (Suite 105); Univ. or TN; Knoxville, lN J7902. (615) 974-0150 or (800) 284-8885. DO YOU ll'ANT YOUR IIAPPENINGS US-TED IN HIE KATUMI EVENTS CALENDAR? listings arc free. Mail tl~m to 1/rother 8/uir; JOO Webb Cove Rd: A.fhtvilfe, NC 28804. l.isltngs for Issue 1133 must bt submilltd by Nov. 15. FULL MOON 22-24 NF.W MARKET, TN An11-Env1mnmcnt:il llaras.,mcm work.shop at the fl1ghlandcr Center, Environmental ac1h·1sts will learn how 10 dc0ccl harn,smcnt from the polltic,1Vcorpor.i1e power st.nJCturc. Sec 9/13-15. "The an!,.l°s oldest .lnd l.ugcs1 natural ioodsgnx.:,ry" 811/k l lcrbs, Spices, & Grains Vitamins & Supplements Y.'11eat, Salt & Yeast-Free Foods Dniry S11bstit11trs Hair & Skin Cart' Products Beer & Wi11c Makiug Supplies 200 W. King St, Boonr, :-:c 2S607 (70-l) 26-1-5220 l)r4wing by Rob Me;s.,d, rJ tJf.u ~ Sand_y Mush Herb N ursery WH OLE FOODS VITAMINS ORGANI C PRODUCE WREATHS • POTPOURRI • HERBS • TOPIARY Complete Herb Catalog - $4 Describes more thn11 800 pla11ts from Aloe to Yarrow 160 Broadway Asheville, North Carolina Open 7 Days a Week Monday - Friday 9 am - 8 pm Saturday 9 am - 6:30 pm Sunday 12 pm - 5 pm Tal.t, 199 1 A.I.A., Resource Information Analysis Neil Thomas and Andy Feinstein 3 05 Westover, Asheville, NC (704) 252-6816 Rt 2, Surrett Cove Road Leicester, North Carolina 28748 Pltone for appointment to visit (704) 683-2014 �0 •bwo~ ~,! ~ We ' a fee of $2 .50 (pre-paid) per enrry offifty words or less. Submit entries for Issue 1133 by Nov. I5, 1991 to: Rob Messick; Box 2601; Boone, NC 28607. (704) 754-6097. Tl-IE MOUNTAINS - arc calling me home. I'll be there in Spring of 1992. Nuds: {I) a place 10 put a tipior s111411 camper (nc:ir a wruer source). (2) a babysiucr between home and Asheville or Swannanoa (ttansfering 10 school lhete), and (3 J a JOb. Skills: (I J Organic Gardener {2) Vegetnri.an Cook ( 3) Herbal Prcparatioos. Contact me ac Kathleen Ashley; 1302 Two NO<Ch Road #17: Lcitingt011, SC 29072. MUSIC BY BOB AVERY-GRUBELavailJlbleoo three casseues.. Treasures iii the Stream and Circles Returning are folk/roclc-jaiz, and a JCCcnt release of original chants and songs, Light iii tht Wind. is a cap~ll.a. Lyric sheets included.. Send SI0 for each tape or$26 for all thrce 10 Bob Avery-Grubel: RL I, Box 735; Floyd, VA 24091. '69 FORD VAN, high·l0P, very good condition. $900. Call (704) 488-9347 (doc10r's office - leave message). Kllty StOkely. HlGflLANDER CEN"leR • is a community-based cducaLion:11 orgnni:wion whose purpose is to provide space for people to lcam from e.ich Olhcr, and to develc,pc solutions to environmental problems based on their values, CJtpcricnces, and aspirations. They also put out a quarterly ncwsteucrcalled llishlander R1:por1s. For more infoml!UJOII contact Highlander Centu. 1959 Highlnndcr Way; New Mank.ct, TN 37820 (615) 933-3443 RAW CHEMICAL-FREE HONEY • Tulip Poplar, Sourwood, and Wild0owcr honey rrom the forests of Pauiclc County, VA. No chemicals. no white sugar, no heal ever. Sunincd through chccsccloth and p:ickcd in glass. Limited qU31ltities. Call or wnte for prices & availability. Wade B11tkholls • Bull Mountllin Beekeepers: RD 2, Boit I 516; Stunrt. VA 24171 (703) 694-4571. WISE WOMAN TRADmON. Fall RooLWOtk Wed.end with Wh1tcwolf. November 8-10. For women and men. Dig roots, mnke medicine, I.cam Eanhwisc healing through Joumeymg, drumming, and dreaming. Wann donn and hearty vcgclllrian meals. One hour from Asheville. Donation SISO 100. some worlt exchange avnilablc. Wh11ewolf; PO Box 576; Asheville. NC 28802. LAND FOR SALE: 10 actc privlllC cove. Large organic field. rustic: farmhouse with spring fed water nnd liOlar symm. SITl411 solar ,1ruc:wre. SS0.000. Call (104) 649-9266 for Tom. NATIVE AMERJCAN CEREMONIAL HERBS • we offer a large variety of sages. IIWCCI grass. natural resins, and everything ncccssary for smudging. Native smoking mixtures, flute mu.,ic, pow-wow mpcs. and ocn:monial songs. Essential oils. and mccnscs speciflcally made for prayer. offering. and mcdiuilion. For catalog call or write: Essencial Drcnms: Rt 3. Box 285: Eagle Forlt, Hayesville, NC 2890-I (104) 389-9898. Xatimfl Journot pt19c 34 PlEDMONT BIOREGIONAL INSTITUTE • For those who live in the Piedmont area, there's a bioregional effort well underway. Jom Us! We would npprecillle any donation of time or money to help meet operating expenses. For a gift of S2S.OO or more. we will send you a copy of John Lawson's journal, A New Vo.)12ge 10 Carolina. Also come find out about the Lawson Pro.,ect. PB!; 412 WRoscmnry Street; Chapel Hill, NC27516: Uwharria Province. (919) 942-2581. BODY R11n-,1MS from Pl311Clllly Mothers· a beautiful and paraclical calendar for women to ch:irl their "moonthly" cycles. Send $3.00 plus S1.00 poSUlge 10: Planclllly Mothers Collcctivc(c/o Nancie Yonker); 5231 Riverwood Avenue; Saraso111, Fl. 34231. FAMILIES LEARNlNG TOGETHER· Homeschooling families organization. Discuss issues, give mutual support. shllre ideas and resources, and gnther for family activities. Write Doug Woodward; 68 Lakey Creek; Franklin, NC 28734 for infonnation. LOCAL RECYCLING CO-OP • crunched by glass price cuts! rr you have any interest in the recent cut in glim prices by the Owens-Brockway Company, and would hkc to help do something about the flawed economics of recycling, or just shale information, please write BretNelson; 1578 Bow Hill Road; Christiansburg, VA 24073. THE LOVING WELL COMPANY • is a group of people wooong together to suppon and promote what worb 111 health and education. We arc building a communuy dcdicrucd to pence and 10 livmg in a healthy relationship with one allOlher. For more infonnauon write Naomi Ross; 1433 Woodland HIiis Drive NE: AllanUI. GA 30324-4627. "BLOW YOUR MlND" • with the celestial sootlung music of "Medicine Wind" by George TOCtorClli. Also c.xouc fine-tuned bamboo nutcs in many keys nnd modes. For more information send LO'. George Tortorelli; 86 NW 55th Street; Gainesville, Fl. 32601. (904} 373-1837 LAND FOR SALE • Magnificent view with small house m beautiful Spring Creek. NC. Ten miles south of Hot Springs. NC (o!T Route 209), and one hour west of Asheville. S25.000 f01 I.Ind and house. Perfect for the sctr sufficient life. CaU Landa Deyo at: (704) 675-9575. NATJVE AMERICAN Fl.UTE MUSIC· Richard Roberts, a well lcnown west TN new age nutist (ab Zero Ohms), is now 3V3il~blc an the Ea!i! TN/NC area. For rclaitiog and uplifting pcrfOrmMCC$ or UIJJCS conlllCC Richard Robcns; Box 821; Noms, TN 37&2g (61S)494-8828orRL I.Box 136RD;Lamar,MS 3~2 (601) 252-4283. WE NEED. three families to complete our five family community/neighborhood. Private south facing cove with streams, sprangs. and views 1n Weaverville. NC area. You get 5 to 10 acres for your home nnd equal intueSt in I 10 acres of common land. S2S,000 to 30.000 depending on house site. Call (704) 658-2676 ror more infonnntlon. ~~ ,"l' ~ HAWKWIND Eanh Renewal Cooperative - invitcs you to pan.icipate ma season ofctnsscs and gruhcrlngs to tnke pince a1 our lush, 70 acre wilderness rctm1L Ccnttally locnlCd to Georgia and Tennessee in the Northern Alabama Mountains, our campground and focilitics arc ava.ilablc to members, public gnthcrings and private organizational use. Monthly prog,ams range from Organic G:u-de'1ing, Native and Eanh Philosophies, IO the Environment, Healing Programs, Self Reliance, Women m Transition and much more. Safe Family Camping. Send SI.SO for oewslctu:r ond schedule of events to: 1-!Qwkwind; PO Box 11; Valley Head, AL 35989. (205) 635-6304 BROOKE MEDICINE EAGLE • join this very special Elllthlceepcr, healer. and teaehcr who has dedicated her life 10 the people. Raised on the Crow Rescvailon in Montana, she is a licensed counselor, and has been a moving force behind the movement to ruum 10 the traditional ways of honoring the Earth. Broolce will shatc with us her lmditions, songs. dance and drumming as well as her strong insight into the "women's ways.• October I l-13th, $160 for the wcelccnd intensive. For reservations & details contact Hawlcwind at (205) 635-6304 (evenings best). A WEEKENDINTENSIVEONLAKOTA WAYS· Morning Star and Gilbert Wallcing Bull provide ttaditional Lakota ceremonies 10 their community. They teach Lakota tradiuons: the ceremony oflhc Stone People's lodge, the S:icred c:honupa , lhe vision qllC:il and the Sun Dance prcpru-ation. November 8-I0th, $160 for ru11 weekend. includes Clll11ping. Ceremonies open will\ no fee. ConUICt Hawlcwind at: (205) 635-6304 (evenings bcsl). WOMEN'S CEREMONIAL INTENSIVE· The Hawkwoman Cucle mvi1.es you to gather for a wcelcend of song, dance, drumming. and ritual ceremony for purification and crcat.ion of cen:mooiru Loots. Together we will explore the many roles of the Earth Women, and the ways that ceremony can be used in everyday living. October 18-20, camping fees and o love offering to cover materials and teacher costs. Contnct Hawkwind nc (205) 635-6304. HEALING ARTS WEEKEND· Hawkwmd brings :i scncs of nawnil hc;iling systems together. Joan professional mass3ge therapists, herbal healers, body workers :ind join m purificntion ntU31s to remove !he dis~ and bring the body m10 b31ancc. No,-cmbcr 16-17, S80 for lhe whole ...,eekcnd. Conuict Hawlcwmd ac (205) 635-6304 (evenings best). NEW MOON & SOLSTICE GATHERINGS • Hawkwmd honors the Earth People and !he Natural Native Rituals of clc.insing and renewal. We come togcll1cr in lodge ocrcmony, singing, drumming, dancing, and sea:;onal mcd1ui11ons. Native philosophy classc~ and women's circle meet on Sunday. Novcmb,;r 9/10, December 7/8, December 21/22 Pot luck meals, camping fees. :ind love offering IO suppon resource ccmcr dcvclopcmcm. ConlllCt HawkwinJ ac (205) 635-6304 (evenings best). rnct, 1991 �l'cl \i~e -to \We in " 5ociet_-J that )sn· -t aysf.,nct1ona1 BACK ISSUES OF KATUAH JOURNAL AVAILABLE ISSUE TIIREE- SPRING 1984 Sustainable Agricuhure • Sunnowcrs • 1lumnn Impact on the Forest - Childrcns' Educauon • Veronica Nicholas: Woman in Politics - Little People - Medicine Allies ISSUE FOUR· SUMMER 1984 Water Drum • Water Quality - Kudzu - Solar Eclipse • Clearcutting - Trout - Going to Water· Ram Pumps. Microhydro - Poems: Bennie Lee Sinclair, Jim Wayne Miller ISSUE FIVE· FALL 1984 Harvest. Old Ways in Cherokee· Ginseng· Nuclear Waste. Our Celtic Heritage - Bioregionalism: Past, Present, and Future · John Wilnoty - Healing D:lrlcncss • Politics or Participation lSSUE SIX - WINTER 1984-85 Wmter Solstice Eanh Ceremony • Horscpasturca River. Coming of tile Light· Log Cabin Root· Mountain Agriculture: The Right Crop • William Taylor • The Future or the Forest ISSUE SEVEN· SPRING 1985 Sustainable Economics - Hot Springs • Worker Ownership. The Great Economy· Self Help Credit Union • Wild Turkey. Responsible Investing· Working in the Web or Life ISSUE EIGHT· SUMMER 1985 Celebration: A Way or Lire - K81uah 18.000 YCD.rS Ago • Sacred Sues - Folk Ans in the Schools • Sun Cycle/Moon Cycle· Poems: Hilda Downer _ Cherokee Heritage Ccntcr • Who Owns Appalachia? ISSUE NINE · FALL 1985 The Waldee Forest • The Trees Speruc • Mlgral.ing Forests • Horse Logging • Starting a Tree Crop • Urban Trees· Acom Bread· Myth Time ISSUE TEN - WINTER 1985-86 Kate Rogers • Cin:lcs or SlOlle - Internal Mythmnking • Holistic Healing on Trial • Poems: Sieve Knauth - Mythic Ploccs - The Uktcna's Tale CryslOI Magic - "Drc:imspcaking" ISSUE THIRTEEN · FALL 1986 Center For Awakening - Eliulbcth Callari · A Gentle Death • Hospice - Ernest Morgan • Dealing Creatively with Death - Home Burial Box • The Wake. The Raven Mocker - Woodslorc and Wildwoods Wisdom • Good Medicine; The Sweat ISSUE FOURTEEN· WINTER 1986·87 Lloyd Carl Owle - Boogcrs and Mummers· All Species Day • Cabin Fever Univcrsi1y • Ilomelcss in Kauiah • Homemade Hot Water· Stovcmnkcr's Nrumtivc - Good Medicine: lntcr.,pccacs Communication ISSUE FIFTEEN • SPRING 1987 Coverlets • Woman Fores1cr • Susie McMahon: Midwife - Ahemative Contraception • Bioscxuality • Bioregionalism and Women· Good Medicine: Mmriarchal Cuhure • Pearl ISSUE SIXTEEN - SUMMER 1987 Helen Waite. Poem: Visions in a Garden - Vision Quest. First Aow - lnitinuon - Leaming m the Wilderness. Cherokee Challenge · "Valuing Trees" ISSUE EIGHTEEN· WlNTER 1987-88 Vernacular An:hitccture - Dreams in Wood and Stone . Mount.ain Home - Earth Energies - Eanh-Shchcred Laving - Mcmbrone Houses · Brush Shelter· Poems: October Dusk. Good Mcdicino: "Sheltcrff ISSUE NINETEEN· SPR£NG 1988 Pcrclandra Garden. Spring Ton,cs • Blueberries Wildnower Gardens - Granny Herbalist • Aowcr Essences . "The Origin or the Animals:" Story • Good Medicine; "Power" • Be A Tree ISSUE TWENTY· SUMMER 1988 Preserve Appalachian Wilderness - Highlands or Roan • Cclo Community • Land Trust· Anhur Morgan School - 1.oning Issue· "The Ridge" • • Farmers and the Farm Ball • Good Medicine: "Land • Acid Rnin • Duke's Power Play - Cherokee Microhydro Project ISSUE TWENTY-TWO· WINTER 1988-89 GIObal Warming - Fire ThlS Time • Thomas Berry on "Bioregions" - Earth Exercise· Kort Loy McWhirtcr • An Abundance of Empuncss • LETS • Chronicles or Floyd - Darry Wood • The Bear Clan ISSUE 1WENTY-THREE • SPRING 1989 Pisgah Village • Planet An • Green City - Poplar Appeal • "Clear Sky" • •A New Earth" - Black Swan • Wild Lovely Day.f • Reviews: Sacred Land Sacrt!d Su, Jee Age • Poem· "Sudden Tendrils" Lodge 32 , ~ UA~OURNAL PO Box 638 Leicester. NC Katuah Province 28748 For more info: call Rob Messick at (704) 754-6097 Regular Membership........ $10/yr. Sponsor.........................$20/yr. Contributor.....................$50/yr. Name Address Enclosed is $_ _".'""".'.'T":""'. ro give this effort an extra boost City Ya!L, 199 1 State Phone Number Zip I can be a local contact person for my area ISSUE TWENTY-FOUR • SUW.1ER 1989 Deep ListCning - Life in Atomic City· Direct Acuon! - Tree or Peace - Community Building· Pc:iccmakets - Ethnic Survival - Pairing Project· "B:utlesong" • Growing Peace m Cultures - Review: Tiu! Cha/iu and ihL Blade lSSVE TWENTY-SIX • WINTER. 1989-90 Coming or Age in the Eco7.oic Era • Kids Saving Rainforest • Kids Trcccycl mg Company • Connie, Resoluuon. Developing the Creative Spirit· Birth Power • Birth Bonding - The Magic or Puppetry • Home Schooling - Naming Ceremony • Mother Earth's Cl3S.$l'OOl!l - Gnrdcning for Children ISSUE TWENTY ·SEVEN· SPRING, 1990 Transformauon. Healing Power· Pcoce 10 Their Ashes. Healing in Katuah - Poem: "When Left 10 Grow". Poems: Stephen Wing - The Belly· Food from the Ancient Forest ISSUE TWENTY-EIGIIT • SUMMER 1990 Carrying Capacity - Setting Limits to Growth • What is Overpopulation? • The Rood Gang • The Highway to Nowhere - The 1·26 Project· "Caring Capacity" • People and Habit.at - Design mg the Whole Life Community • Steady State· Poems: Will Ashe Bason • Tran$p0f!Crnativcs • Review: Cohousing ISSUE TWENTY·NINE • FAl.l./WlNTER 1990 From the Mount.ains 10 the Sea - Prolile of The Little Tennessee River· Heodwatcrs Ecology· "It All Comes Down to Water Quallty" - W:ucr Power. Action for Aquatic Habitats - Dawn W:nchcrs • Good Medicine: The Long Human Being • The North Shore Rood - K:uuah Sells Out - Watershed Map of the Kawah Provance ISSUE THIRTY • SPRING I99 I Economy/Eeology - Ways to a Regenerative Economy • "Money as the Lowest Form or Wealth" • Clarksville Mimcle - The Village· Food Movers· Lifework. Good Medicine: "Village Economy·· Sheltoo Laurel • LETS ISSUE THIRTY-ONE· SUMMER 1991 Dowsing • Responsibilities or Dowsing · Electrical Life of the Enrth • Katuah and the Earth Gnd • Coll of the Ancient Ones - Good Medicine: "On Aggression" • Time to T:ike the Time to Take the Time. Whole Science. Tuning In Back Issues Issue # __@ $2.50 = $._ __ Issue# _ _@ $2.50 = $._ __ Issue# _ _@ $2.50 = $._ __ Issue# _ _@ $2.50 = $._ __ Issue# __@ $2.50 = $._ __ postage paid $_ __ Complete Set (3-10, 13-16, 18-20, 22-24, 26-31) postage paid@ $50.00 =$_ __ :K.at ucih Journot. pa9e 35 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records Description An account of the resource <em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal</em>,&nbsp;was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. <br /><br /><span>The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name,&nbsp;</span><em>Katúah</em><span>, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant.&nbsp;</span><br /><span><br />The <em>Katúah Journal</em> was co-founded by Marnie Muller, David Wheeler, Thomas Rain Crowe, Martha Tree and others who served as co-publishers and co-editors. Other key team members included Chip Smith, David Reed, Jay Mackey, Rob Messick and many others.</span><br /><br />This digital collection is only a portion of the <em>Katúah</em>-related materials in the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection in Special Collections at Appalachian State University. The items in AC.870 Katúah Journal records cover the production history of the <em>Katúah Journal</em>. Contained within the records are correspondence, publication information, article submissions, and financial information. The editorial layouts for issues 12 through 39 are included as are a full run of the Journal spanning nearly a decade. Also included are photographs of events related to the Journal and a film on the publication. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived This resource is part of the&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal Records </em>collection. For a description of the entire collection, see <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Katúah Journal Records (AC. 870)</a>. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The images and information in this collection are protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. C.) and are intended only for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes, provided proper citation is used – i.e., Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records, 1980-2013 (AC.870), W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. Researchers are responsible for securing permissions from the copyright holder for any reproduction, publication, or commercial use of these materials. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1983-1993 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource journals (periodicals) Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Katúah Journal</em>, Issue 32, Fall 1991 Description An account of the resource The thirty-second issue of the <em>Katúah Journal</em> is a call for humans to return to a simpler way of life, following in the ways of the Cherokee, or Katúah, tribe. Authors and artists in this issue include: David Wheeler, Barbara Wickersham, Henry Wender, John A. Freeman, Tom Underwood, Lee Barnes, Will Ashe Bason, Ivo Ballentine, Brownie Newman, Robert Johnson, Rob Messick, Bess Harbison, Maxim Didget, Robert Johnson, Emmett Greendigger, Dr. Dennis Scanlin, Deborah James, Leonard Cirino, Melba Bari, and Charlotte Homsher. <br><br><em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to <em>Katúah Journal</em>, was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name, Katúah, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991 Table Of Contents A list of subunits of the resource. <p>Bringing Back the Fire by David Wheeler.......1<br /><br />A Bit of Mountain Levity by Barbara Wickersham.......5<br /><br />Climax Never Came by Henry Wender.......7<br /><br />Is the Southern Appalachian Ecosystem Endangered? by John A. Freeman.......9<br /><br />"Talking Leaves": Sequoyah by Tom Underwood.......10<br /><br />Green Spirits: Seed Saving by Lee Barnes.......12<br /><br />Walking Distance by Will Ashe Bason.......13<br /><br />Angle: Environment by Ivo Ballentine.......13<br /><br />Good Medicine.......14<br /><br />Poem: "A Rotting Log" by Brownie Newman.......15<br /><br />THE GRANOLA JOURNAL.......16<br />Livin' By Their Wits, recorded by Rob Messick<br />An Old Family Tale by Bess Harbison<br />The Slide by Rob Messick<br />How Can You Lose Anything as Big as This Ego? by Maxim Didget<br /><br />Paintings: "Mountain Stories" by Robert Johnson.......18<br /><br />Natural World News.......20<br /><br />Dying Soils, Dying Waters by Emmett Greendigger.......22<br /><br />Songs in the Wilderness by Charlotte Homsher.......24<br /><br />Save James Bay.......25<br /><br />Drumming.......26<br /><br />Off the Grid: Solar Ovens by Dennis Scanlin.......29<br /><br />Events........32<br /><br />Webworking........34<br /><br />Katúah Konfusion.......35<br /><br /><em>Note: This table of contents corresponds to the original document, not the Document Viewer.</em></p> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <em>Katúah Journal</em>, printed by The <em>Waynesville Mountaineer</em> Press Subject The topic of the resource Bioregionalism--Appalachian Region, Southern Sustainable living--Appalachian Region, Southern Cherokee Indians--Social life and customs Sequoyah, 1770?-1843 Appalachians (People)--Social life and customs Ecosystem health--Appalachian Region, Southern Acid Rain--Appalachian Region, Southern Solar ovens North Carolina, Western Blue Ridge Mountains Appalachian Region, Southern North Carolina--Periodicals Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937"> AC.870 Katúah Journal records</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a title="In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted" href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/?language=en 8" target="_blank"> In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted </a> Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Appalachian Region, Southern Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. <a title="Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians" href="https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/collections/show/79" target="_blank"> Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians </a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Journals (Periodicals) Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1990s Acid Deposition Agriculture Alternative Energy Appalachian History Appalachian Mountains Appalachian Studies Bioregional Congress Cherokees Community Earth Energies Ecological Peril Economic Alternatives Electric Power Companies Fire Folklore and Ceremony Forest Issues Good Medicine Habitat Katúah Permaculture Pigeon River Plants and Herbs Poems Radioactive Waste Reading Resources Recycling South PAW (Preserve Appalachian Wilderness) Stories Transportation Issues Turtle Island Villages Water Quality Wilderness https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/0791c74f61bfeccd6b0575a3e53240f5.pdf e919144545b326bd6e557ea5b917f958 PDF Text Text ISSUE 33 WINTER 1991-92 $2.00 �Drawing by Rob Messick ~UAHjOURNAL PO Box 638 Leicester, NC Katuah Province 28748 ti} C, Q,- Postage Paid Bulk Mail Permit #18 Leicester, NC 28748 ~ ... j\ Printed on recycled paper ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED �Fire's Power.................................. by David Wheeler 3 What Is Natural?.............................. 5 by David Wheeler Do Clean:uts Mimic Fire?.................... 6 Smokey and the Red Wolves................ 7 Fire in Jeffreys Hell.......................... 8 by Vic Weals Poems.......................................... by Barbara J. Sands 9 Fire and Forge................................ by Jan Davidson and David Brewin 11 The First Fire.................................. A Cherokee Legend 12 Hearth and Fire in lhe Mountains........... 14 by Barbara Wickersham Good Medicine................................ 15 Midwinter Fires............................... Poems by Jeffery Beam 18 Natural World News......................... 20 Who Will Have !he Power?................. by Veronica Nic/10/a.t 22 Litmus Lichens................................ by Rob Messick 24 Reading the Inner Tree....................... by Charlo1te Homsher 25 Review: Where rite Ravens Roost..................... 25 Around the Fire............................... by lee Barrres 26 Drumming..................................... 27 Poem: "Sky Mangler"........................ by Mike Wilber 29 Review: The Sound of Light........................... 31 Events.......................................... 33 \Vcbworking.................................. 34 Wlntcr , 1991 -92 Fire is one of the four Great Beings, the elements !hat move Creation. Fire is the catalytic spark of the life essence. Living, we are warm and moving; non-living, we are like ashes, cold and dead. No wonder ancient wisdom associated Fire with the directed passion of the will. It is fitting that through the ages the spirit of life has been depicted as "the sacred fire." Fire radiates all around us in the life-giving energy of the Sun. Fire is at the center; in the slick and sweat of love a spark is ignited between a male and a female and life is born anew. Fire in its many forms powers the movement and the production of our societies. The hearth fire is the center of the home. Fire cooks the food, warms the dwelling, and from the fireplace the old stories spring alive into the family room. In the heart of every green plant cell the sunfire drives the process of photosynthesis, upon which life on Eanh depends. But ftre is also the changer, lhe destroyer - a demon of voracious appetite that gobbles indiscriminately all it can ignite. Fire unleashed destroys the house it warmed. Under the power of drought, forest becomes desert. Fire is the nuclear terror, shriveling all life to ashes. The most terrible punishment the bishops could imagine was to bum a witch alive at the stake. Fire in the hands of the invaders torches Lhe village huts and razes the crops in the fields. Old cities are bombed and guued by Fire. Wildfire, the major force of change in !he forest around us, is capable of overturning in a matter of hours vegetative associations that have stood for centuries. The four elemenml beings circle in the Great Round, the world we know. Fire needs earthy fuel 10 eat, oxygen from the air to breathe. Fire and water are complementary - at firSt look they seem in total opposition, but upon a second glance they are seen to be in a careful and delicate relationship. There is fire on these mountains only because there is water to grow the wood that bums. Born of the union of fire and water, life is forever suspended in that balance. But what is the role of fire in our human lives and in the life of the mountain forests that surround us? Where is that balance? Fire flickers and dances...too quick, too changeable, 100 close to the essence of life itself for us to ever expect definitive answers to those essential questions. But it is worthwhile for us to begin the process of understanding. We need to know Fire, one of the great powers that shape our being in these mountains, on this Earth. The Editors Drawing by Rob Messick XAtuah J~mat PQ9"- l �EDITORlALSLASH: Heather Blair Emmeu Grcendigger Charlone Homsher Richard Lowenthal Rob Messick James Rhea David Wheeler EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE: Acasia Berry Christine Detweiler John lngruss Billy Jonas Bill Melanson Mamie Moller Donna Stringer Rodney Webb Thanks again IO Mountain Gatdens for hospiUllily and inspiration. Thanks to Larry Tucker for able computer assiSlBIICe. As always, thanks to JH. Thanks 10 Gene for the car, we couldn't ruive done ii without you! COVER: by Rob Messick ©1991 PUBLISHED BY: Kattlah Journal PRINTED BY: The Waynesville Mountaineer Press EDITORIAL OFFICE THTS ISSUE: Billy Home and Gardens, WRITE US AT: Katuah Journal Asheville Box 638; Leicester, NC; Kauiah Province 28748 TELEPHONE: (704) 754-6097 Diversity is an important element of bioregional ecology. both natural and social. In acxord with this principle Katuah Journal tries IO serve as a forum for the discussion of rcg.ional issues. Signed articles express only the opinion of the authors and are not necessarily the opinions of the Katuah Journal editors or staff. The lnlCmal Revenoo Service has declared Katuah Journal a non-profit ~anization undu section 501(c)(3) oC the lnu:mal Revcnoo Code. All contributions IO Katuah Journal are deductible from personal income tax. Articles appearing in Katuah Journal may be rcprinltd in Olher publications wilh permission from the Katuah Journal staff. ConLaCt the journal in writing or call (704) 754-6097. 'LNVOCA'Tto'.N When my skull lies with yours, Will you sing for me? The long sleep heals. We will find new life in the spring. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE Here, in the Ka1uah Province of these ancient Appalachian mountains where once the Cherokee Nation lived in freedom berween the Tennessee River Valley and the Eastern Piedmont between the Valley of the Roanoke and the Southern Plain on this Tunic Island continent of Mother Ela, the Eanh Here, In this place we dedicate ourselves to remembering our deep connection to the spirit of the land. We bring this connection inro the being and the doing of our daily lives When the land speaks, we Listen and we act We tune our lives to the changes, to the seasons We respect the limiis of the land We preserve, defend, and restore the land We give thanks for all that is good Harmony with the land is no longer an ideal; it is an imperative. The land is a Living being. She is sacred. As the land lives, so do we. As the spirit of the land is diminished, our spirits are diminfahed as well. Katuah Journal sends a voice... with articles, stories, poems, and artwork we speak 10 the spirit of all the living, breathing inhabitants of these mountains in hopes that we, the human beings, may find our place in this Great Life. The Editors Doug Peacock - Criuly Years Border by Ja.son TudlCf KATUAH JOURNAL wants 10 communicate your thoughts and feelings to the other people in the bioregional province. Send them 10 us as leners, poems, sroriu, articles, drawings, or photographs, etc. Please send yoiu contributions 10 us at: Katuah Journal; P. 0 . Box 638; Leicester, NC; Kattlah Province 28748. OUR NEXT ISSUE will be concerned with "Sustainable Agriculture and Regional Diet". We need your input on topics including: sustainable agriculture (alternative ag., low input, appropriate ag., permaculture, biodynamics, etc.); seed-saving techniques; wild-foods and medicinals; regionaVcommunity food production and marketing; Xatimf~ )ournot J>°'Je 2 seasonal diet and recipes; food preservation; green manures and composting; agroforescry; and especially recommended resources, guides, and contacts. Send all material by January 30th, 1992 to Lee Barnes; Box 1303; Waynesville, NC 28786. (704) 452-5716. THE SUMMER, 1992 ISSUE will be involved with the continually controversial topic of Councils, and how to create more viable methods of decision-making in the ful\Jre. Possible topics include: Native American sovereignty, the State of Franklin, Town Meetings, Council of All Beings, Regional Rainbow Gatherings, Grassroots Groups, Conflict Resolution, and more? Submit all material by April 30th, 1992. ,.,lnur. 1991-92 �FIRE'S POWER The Influence of Fire on the Evolutionary History of the Southern Appalachians by David Wheeler Thunder rumbles over the old hms. Ir is just after dusk, and the nwtmtains steam in rite humid air ofsummer. 011 the somlrwestem lrorizo11 great cloudbanks roil up i1110 tlte sky, arching over tlte land like a pouncing beast, blotting ow the stars. High in those clouds, invisible to the eye, thermal fron1s meet and clash. creating turmoil in the skies. The collision of hot and cold air creates violent gusts and downdrafts of wind. The clouds become enonnous electrical generators. Humid air condenses into raindrops then into ice crystals within the whirling confusion inside the cloudbank. The electrical forces generated by the clouds become polarized. In the space of only tens of milliseconds, there is a branched discharge of energy within the cloud called the "stepped-leader" that moves first horiwntally and then downward at one-third lhe speed of light. The Eanh is also electrically charged. As the tip of the stepped-leader approaches the Eanh's surface, an answering discharge rises from the Eanh. The two join and cause a "return stroke," a surge of intense ionization that moves back up the leader channel toward the cloud in the brilliance ,~e see as cloud-to-ground lil?htning. The whole process has 001 yet taken a whole second, but there has been an elecaical discharge of, on the average, 40,000 amperes although discharges of 340,000 amperes have been measured. The temperature within the leader channel reaches 30,000 degrees Kelvin. After 40 10 80 milliseconds a new leader is l.>i.ntcr, 1991-92 D,awmg by Jomes Rhea formed and again the process is repeated. Most visible lightning consists of two to four return strokes. The rapid expansion of the super-heated air around the lightning channel produces a shock wave, so that shonly after seeing the glare of lightning arcing through the sky, we hear the booming sound of thunder. Lightning strikes with awesome power. 011 a l11gh ridge a sta11di11g dead snag is seared by the blast and explodes imo flame. leaves 011 the ground ig11ire from the hear ofthe blaze, and the fire is 011 tlte move, traveling uphill.fanned by the wind. The experience of a thunderstonn with lighrning is intense, but it is a common and completely natural process. There are about 40 million cloud-to-ground lightning saikes in the United States each year. It is esumated that around the world there are 50 10 100 lightning discharges every second, although half of these remain in the clouds. Lightning is one of the great powers of nature. In the Southern Appalachians lightning saikcs are frequent during the summer storm season, which lasts from April through August. There are usually between 40 and 60 thunderstorm days/year. A review of the records of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park by Lawrence S. Barden and Frank W. Woods showed that between 1940 and 1969 lightning caused 77 fircs wit.hin the park boundaries. During the course of an eleven-year study they recorded six lightning fires per year in their one million acre study area. In the conifer forests of the West. with their dry summers, lightning strikes often start raging holocaustS that climb into the high 1JCC1ops and sometimes bum off thousands of acres. Our image of lightning fires is based on that model. But in the Southern Appalachians lighcning saikes during the summer rainy season when the deciduous leaves arc green and full of moisture and the fuel on the ground is damp. There are few dry lightning strikes in the Southeast, and lightning fires usually are soon extinguished by a drenching rain or subdued by a steady rainfall. It has been estimated that the average lightning fire burns five to 10 acres of forest. Thus, the effects of ligh1ning fires seem 10 have been small, irregular dis1urbances, localized on south-facing slopes and ridgetops at higher elevations which would show the driest conditions and be most prone to lightning strikes. The deep coves and nonh-facing slopes were so moist as to be vinually fireproof. But if the effects of lightning fires were limited, there was another source of ftre in the southern mounm.ins that unquestionably had more impac1: the human beings. The best archaeological evidence we have uncovered says that the first humans were present in this area 12,000 years ago. These were hunting-gathering people. Fire was unquestionably pan of their technological toolkit. Geographer Carl Sauer says in his essay. "Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth," "Speech, tools and fire are the tripod of culture and have been so, we think, from 1he beginning. About the hearth, the home and workshop are centered. Space heating under shelter, as a rock overhang, made possible living in inclement climates; oooking made palatable many plant product~; industrial (oonunuod annul P'&") X<ltuan Jouri!"f p ~ 3 �(c:onunued from page 3) innovators experimemed with heat treatment of wood, bone, and minerals. About the fireplace, social life took form, and the exchange of ideas was fostered. The availability of fuel has been one of the main facton. determining the location of clustered habitation." Besides using fire in the village, the human occupants of the Southern Appalachians during the Paleolithic period also set fires in the surrounding countryside 10 encourage the growth of grasses and forbs and thus improve the range for the grazing animals that were the foundation of their diet The humans also used fire as a hunting technique to drive animals either wward waiting spear-throwers or over steep cliffs. Around 10,000 years ago the life of these Paleo-Indians began to change as they moved into what is called the Archaic cultural period. As they became more familiar with the land and itS inhabitants, they began to settle more into sedentary villages. As we are told in the ''Good Medicine" column (see page 17), they burned the area around their villages to keep out pesrs and for better defensibility, and burned up the mountain slopes in the fall of the year for hunting purposes, to encourage berries, and to make nut gathering easier. Light burning every year also kept down fuel loads, thereby preventing the possibility of large, hot fires that would harm the forest and destr0y their villages. Keeping the understory clear greatly facilitated travel, particularly on the ridges and along the riversides, where the fires helped the beavers to clear the bouomland meadows. Between 800 and 1,000 AD the Cherokee tribe adopted maize agriculture and became firmly established in a mixed agricultu-m.1/ hunting lifestyle. They practiced a rotating "slash and burn" agriculture, burning their fields off annually and continuing lO fire the mountainsides every year. Unlike lightning, humans could start fires in any season of the year, wet or dry. Autumn, when a fresh layer of light, dry leaves covered the ground, was the preferred season for burning off the forest floor; spring was the time to bum over the fields. Thus, human-caused fires were of greater frequency, often of greater intensity, and covered larger areas than lightning fires. To be talking about the prehistorical impacL of fire on the SouLhern Appalachians is to be talking mostly about human impac1 on lhe mountains - through their main tool for change: fire. Fire was the the most imponant disturbance fa~tor i~ th~ Southern Appalachians; through the rrullenma since the retreat of the last glacier it has been a major shaper of the highland forest communily. In general, the light bums caused by lightning and the primitive people thinned out young trees and opened up the forest floor. When trees got to a certain age and girth they became less susceptible 10 fire damage, so that on fire.prone sites they loomed over an open forest noor that struck the first white explorers as "park-like," reminding them of Lhe carefully tended parks of Europe. Generally, it was the moist coves and north,facing slopes had the shrubs, the herbs, and the ephemeral flowers that we associate with the deep forest. We will never know many of the ways 1ha1 fire ha.c; influencc.:d the forest around U5. It changed the chemical and te,ctuml composition of the soil; it altered lhe microbial populations of Xat1&aW-Jou.rn«l ... p"4)v '-f ', p~sJ genlo,...,-- the forest: it killed insect and infestations of parasites and disease where it was present. Yet Lhere were visible signs of the force of fire's impact. Because of the abundant rainfall in 1he southern mountains, the forest cover recuperated quickly from burning, but openings remained to testify to fire's passing. Professor Kenneth L. Carvell of West Virginia University wrote, "When the first trappers and traders penetrated the Southern Appalachian wilderness, they discovered scattered treeless areas. These forest opemings were of several kinds; some natural. some man-caused (sic). In cenain localities these made up a considerable acreage. Treeless areas could be grouped into five categories: sphagnum bogs, resembling the muskeg of the nonh country; grassy glades, dominated by tall grasses; upland meadows, of debatable origin, but perhaps the result of Indian burning; "old fields," areas formerly cleared by the Indians for agriculture and now starring to grow up; and finally the high elevation balds, dominated by shrubs and stunted tree cover, but not a true tree line. Although obscured by the dense forest. these openings were discovered readily, since the first trappers and traders followed animal trails, and these often led from one glady area to the next. These openings, particularly the grassy glades and old fields, were sought out at an early date by the homesteaders and settled first, since they were spared the difficult task of clearing the dense forest cover to provide crop and grazing land. "ln spite of these scattered openings, more than 90% of the land was forested, and in the Southern Appalachians 90% of the forest was hardwood." The early European explorers spoke of grazing animals like elk and a small woods buffalo roaming the forest along with an abundance of deer. Deer are leaf-browsers that like forest edges; elk and buffalo eat grass, which grows in the open, indicating that. particularly in the bottomlands, there were substantial areas that were open and clear. The grassy balds were found at the top of the highest ridges (see KattW, Journal #5). They were thought 10 be created by extreme climatic conditions during the last Ice Age, but they were apparently maintained largely by fire since the climate warmed. Since fire suppression has caused natural succession to overtake the open balds, they are returning to forest cover. These bald areas con1ain species of grasses more commonly found in grasslands 1hat fire ecologist E. V. Komarek says "did not develop wilhout a history offire." Fire has changed 1he species composition of the tall tree canopy, exerting strong selection pressure among tree species on dry si1es. There are species of trees living in the forest today lhar are completely dependent on fire for their continued existence. There arc other tree species that 1hrive on di:aurbance and are thus pamcularly adapted to fire. Dr. Roben Zahner, formerly professor of forestry at Clemson University, tells us, "Most of the oak and pine forest stands in eastern North America were fire maintained. Oaks and Pines are not climax type species. Without d1s1urbance, they would have been displaced by maples. basswoods, hemlocks, beeches. and other cove hardwood species. In an area with rainfall as plentiful as the southern mounuuns, 1~ese 'cove· species would do well on anr good sne. However. they are not at all fire tolerant. so they were restricted from the dry south slopes . • I I ~ ano ridgetops that wire liable 10 burning. 'The mature trees of fire tolerant species can survive burning. White pines are the most fire tolerant trees. White pines have a thick bark and can withstand any kind of fire except a crown fire. They can survive when every1hing else is burned. Their seed requires an exposed mineral soil to germinate. Burning creates a good seedbed for them, so that when they drop their seed the following season it regenerates and produces a strong stand of natural white pine. "White pine does not have serorinous cones that pop open in the presence of heat, but the pitch pine and the Table Mountain pine do have serotinous cones. These species, too, require exposed mineral soil for seed germination. They like a crown fire that climbs into the trees, kills everything, and opens their cones with the heat of the names. Within a week they send down a rain of seed onto the newly cleared ground. Pitch pine and Table Mountain pine are completely fire-dependent for their germination, and since fire suppression has become the policy in the national forests, their populations have been diminishing. "Oak trees' reproductive strategy is to set a lot of young seedlings and saplings in the understory. The young trees are relatively shade tolerant, so they just stand beneath the canopy and wait for a disturbance to open up a hole for them to grow into. "Oak trees have tough roots, and are less likely to root-kill than most other species. When a fire comes through, it will kill the young and medium-sized oak trees right back 10 the ground, and then - with much of the competiuon wiped out - they will resprout into vigorous oak stands. "Yellow poplar has a lot of weedy characteristics and is another species that does well in areas likely to be disturbed by rues. Poplar has two major reproductive strategies. First, the tree will sprout at almost any age. Secondly, each mature cree will put out tens of thousands of seeds every year. Leaves fall and cover the seeds up. This process continues year after year making layers of seed underneath the leaf cover. Poplar seed can remain stored in the litter for 8-10 years. When a fire - or a disturbance of any kind - does occur, it strips off 1he layers of leaves. Many seeds die. but the seeds on the layer left exposed genninnte and begin to grow. "Black locust trees are not fire tolerant, but they are dependent on disturbance for regeneration. Locust seeds are generally not viable. The tree has become so effective at regenerating from root suckers that it has virtually lost iri; ability to reproduce by seed. But it doesn't need to seed itself. The extensive root system of a locust cnn recover a burned-over site almost immediately. "Sassafras, too, is an early succession tree. Like locust, it is a good sprouter, but it also sends out lots of viable seed. 'The ericaceous plants, such as rhododendron and mountain laurel, are also fire-dependent. Like the pines. they actually encourage tire by the fuel in their leaves. Rhododendrons can survive for 3 long time in the forest understory, but they can't bloom or set seed in the shade, so they drop their leaves each year and wait. When a fire does occur, it bums fast and hot on the depo~ited fuel and kills everything. including the rhododendron i1self • but also opens up the canopy overhead. (cor11111ood on pite 30) ,.,ultct, 1'!19 f.l-02' �WHAT IS NATURAL? The Fire History of the Mountain Forests The usual strategy for bioregionnl reinhabimtion is to restore the narural life processes and native species of a region while simultaneously working ro change human living patterns and limit the human presence to lessen the impact of our species on the land. We are largely unaware of the many subtle relationships that maintain the life ofa biorcgion, and we are usually ign_orant of_1he nature and imponance of the mynads of uny organisms that live around us and are so necessary in keeping up !he vitality of the community. In our ignorance, all we ca~ do to heal a place is 10 restore the macro- species and macro-processes of life support and allow enough space and freedom from h:1nun interruption that the land can find 11s own natural equilibrium. For rhe Kaufah Province this poses a problem: what is "natural"? It was hardly a "forest primeval" that the first European explorers encountered on the\r arrival in the New World. What they found JO eastern Turtle lsland was actually - at least in part - a managed landscape. Yet, particularly during the ninereenth cemury, wrirers continued to purvey the image of "a foresr so thick that a squirrel could travel from the Atlantic to the Mississippi without touching the ground." Francis Parkman, writing in 1892, described a scene beneath an impenetrable foresr canopy where "all is shadow, through which spors of timid sunshine steal down among legions of lank, mossy trunks, ... maued bushes, and rotted carcasses of fallen trees." While scenes like !his did abound, today we tend to see rhe old forest as a mosaic of different types, doued with openings, due largely t0 the presence and use of fire. At anolherextreme was forester llu Maxwell of the US Forest Service, who wrore an article on the "Use and Abuse of the Forest by the Virginia Indians" for the William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine in 1910, when foresters were coming 10 see fire as an unmirigated evil which had no place in the forest Maxwell had a decidedly uncomplimentary view of the First People and their fire habits. ''Though white men are rated high as destroyers of forest, they arc not JO Lhe same class with Indians," he stated. "...They are wasreful and destructive, as savages usually are, and the word economy had no place in his vocabulary...The Indian \s by nature an incendiary, and forest burning was the Virginia Indian's besetting sin." Maxwell described "open, park-like" forests unencumbered by undergrowth. He described lands cleared for agriculture along the riverbanks, and also spoke of damage done by unextinguished campfires. He quoted William B>Td, who surveyed the Virginia-Nonh Carolina line in 1728-29: "On their way, the fires they make in their camps are left burning, which catching the dry leaves which lie near, soon pu1 the adjacent woods in a flame." i.>lnt«. 1991 -92 The 1n1th about the ecological impact of burning by the First People lies somewhere between the extremes of viewpoint contrasted above. A multi-disciplinary research team from the University of Tennessee, which included archaeologists Jeff Chapman, ethnoboranis~ Andrea Shea and Patricia Cridlebaugh and paleoecologists Paul and I foz.el Delcourt, investigated the environs of old O,erokee village sites in the valley of the Little Tennessee River, and found seeds and pollen in stralified soil samples that enabled them to deduce some of the narive people's use patterns. Samples taken around the village of Tuskegee showed heavy use and burning of the bottomland and the low- and mid-elevation terraces by the Cherokee 1,500 years ago. Samples from an upland site near the village showed that the higher elevations surrounding the Little Tennessee Valley were under continuous forest cover for 3,000 years - fires may have burned Lhere, but they did not . pennanently thin out the forest canopy · unul 400 years ago, when weed seeds began to be regularly deposited in the soil. The team's research seems 10 support rhe general conclusion made by retired forestry professor Roben ?,aJtncr. "In valleys like the Little Tennessee River Valley there h.ad been conlinuous large se1tlemen1s by early cuhures since Jong before the Cherokees. When white settlers came into those valleys they found the land already largely cleared of forests by the lndian~. _The vall~ys and the !ow!lr slopes surrounding the villages w~re heavily and frequently burned. but the high mountains were not, as a generJI rule. Some balds \\Cre burned 10 maintain elk habitat, but deer and turkey were largely found 31 lower elevations, so that is where the bulk of the burning occurred." So what is the "natural" vegetative ,, . pattern of growth in the South';_ffl Appalachians? In !he sense of . natural _a.., .. "growth unaffected by human mtcrvenuon, Dr1w111g by J:«a1 Tuclla we will never know. Twelve thousand years of continuous habitation is a long time span. There have been major climate changes during the time the Fll'St People have been here. Evolutionary adjustmenrs have been m~e in that time, which must have included adJusnng to the presence of the humans - and their fires. Although their numbers were few, it seems that the native inhabitants, primarily through !heir use of fire, had a profound impact on the natural history of the Southern Appalachians. They did not dominare . evolution in the mountains, but they did influence the composition of the native flora in certain areas by opening them to the sun and encouraging fi~dependenr and fire-tolerant associations. They influenced predator/prey relationships by enhancing habi1a1 for deer, elk, and other game animals, encouraging their populations and thereby providing fo~ greater numbers of the other predator species who also hunted them. We will never be able 10 replicate the conditions of 12,000 years ago, or the changes that have happened since: But _we know that, in spite of human modaficauon, . this was still a magnificent land.i;cape when 11 was first encountered by the whites. The human inhabitants were clearly a factor influencing the process of change, but they were only one factor among the many that created the diverse mosaic of forest associations scattered throughout the mountains. While there were disturbed areas that supponed the early-succcss1on, shade rntolernnt trees, there were also nonh-facing coves 1ha1 went without a major disturb3ncc for hundreds of years at a time. Fire was an influential force in this region. Fire-dependent tree species have been (cominocd 011 ,,. ., Jll&C) Xat,101' Journm paga 5 �(canunued hom pqe S) maintained in these mountains for many generations. The grassy balds, that were created during the last lee Age but were apparently maintained by fire and grazing pressure since, arc only now falling 10 forest succession. The power of the element fire can still be fell in the forest, even after 75 years of fire suppression. The Firs1 People, largely through their use of fll'e, exened a strong influence on 1he regional life community, but not a debilitanng one. The First People found a balance, a niche, within that community that 1he natural life suppon systems could maintam. Unlike the Europeans, the native inhabitants did no1 render their environment dysfunctional, but only moved it 10 a different point of balance. The region still had itS integrity; it still was operating at full capacity. Since it is impossible to recreate a virgin mountain landscape, how then do we restore an optimally adapted ecological community? Clearly, fighting every fire is not necessary or advisable. Lightning fires have been allowed to bum for all but the last 75 years of human habitation. They are a pan of the natural landscape and should be allowed 10 return. But do we have to bum off the mountainsides every year 10 mimic the ruuive influence? If so, how much should we bum? How could we maintain the precious layer of humus 1ha1 contributes so much to 1he growth and health of 1he forest? On the other hand, if we let narural succession run its course, are we going to lose DO C LEARCUTS MIMIC FIRE? . The current policy of the US Forest Service is to clearcut lI"dCts of up to 43 acres where all the vegetation over one inch in diameter is removed and the cleared area i~ either replanted to ruws of monocullured while pine (around which is sprayed ht.-rbicidc to prevent competition from any intrnding native hardwoods) or allowed 10 regenerate by natural sprouting and seeding. This n:suhs in large areas of ''even-aged" tree s1andli that are easy and economical 10 cu1 when the loggers retum to "harvest" the adolescent regrowth 60-80 ye:m; later. ~ This method "mimics natural processes of disturbance, like fire." claims 1he Forest Service. But that is a hotly disputed claim. "Simply put, clearcu1ting docs not emulate nature in mixed hardwoods," declared retired Forest Service silviculrural researcher Leon Minckler in a recent anicle. "Oean:utting advocates argue thal clearcurs replicate wildfire bum parches. This statement is questionable in the arid Wc:;t ond almost irrelevant in the humid East where large. high-intensity forest fires rarely occur.'' Minckler is reinforced by all the environmental groups working in the Southern Appalachians today. "To begin with," says Haywood Greer. a local activist, "fires don't bulldoze 15 foot wide system roods that tear up slopes; cause erosion and siltation in ~trcams: and open the forest_ forever after 1 poachers, picnickers. 0 arsonists, campers, hunters, ORY'ers, and whoever else has st.renglh and commitment .. XotunI1 Joumot pCUJr. 6 .., • 9 t I r t, f t.,fJ valuable diversity and endangered species? Can we afford that? Two examples illusl!'llte the dilemma posed by this uncenainty. The first case centers around a concern that communities of Table Mountain pine might be eliminated from the moun111ins because of changing conditions due 10 fire suppression. Table Mountain pine occurs in association with mountain laurel and galax. All three species are fire adapted, and the Table Mountain pine needs fire to survive. The tree has serotinous cones. meaning that intense heat causes them 10 open and spill their seed. The species of the Table Mountain pine association encourage fires hot enough 10 "crown," to bum into the tops of the trees. Crown fires are hot enough 10 kill some large trees, bum the cover off the forest floor down 10 bare mineral soil, and cause the serotinous cones of the Table Mountain pine 10 open. Those fires would regenerate the Table Mountain pine association. which would then work to perpe1ua1e itself by making ilS habi1a1 area more flammable. Ftre suppression is clearly causing the demise of the Table Mountain pine tree. Existing stands are becoming old and decadent and there is little regrowth of new stands. Should we set intentional prescribed bums 10 preserve this fire-dependent species? That depends on whether we consider this species to be "natural." Lightning fires (as we saw on page 3) tend 10 be small in area and low in intensity. Lightning fires seldom produced the crown ftres necessary 10 regenerate the Table Mountain pine. enough 10 pul a vehicle in gear and gas enough to make it up the hill. "A fire doesn't come in with a chain saw and a skidder cut all the tree~ and haul them away out of the woods. Fires in the mounrnins - depending on the time of ye:ir and the dryness - arc usually cool and run lo,.., 10 1he ground. burning off the leaf cover and 1he underbrush. S11;all sarlings ;md understory trees are someumcs killed. hut unless a lot of fuel· like Jogging slash· h:i~ built up on the forest floor, fires seldom get large enough 10 kill 1he biggest trees. If the big trees are ktl led, they s1and n long time as dead snags, offoring 1he finest kind of den location for over-wintering animals. 1l1e forest biomass stays in the woods. Eventuallv the dead trunks rot out and topple over. and their bodies decompose 10 enrich the soil for the next generations of trees. "Also, fire~ around here don·t bum everything in a 20 or 40 acre area. Most fires hip-hop around and bum at random • maybe heavily here, but maybe only slightly burned over there. Fires tend m create mosaics of disiurbance on these steep ridges." Robert Zahner. formerly a forestry professor at Clemson University. talks more specifically about regeneration. ''The species that rclllm after a fire arc somewhat different than what comes back after a clearcut. l\aiural eanh-healing species sprout up after a fire weedy planL~ mostly. 1ha1 gro"' from :;eed that had tx.-en stored in the soil under the litter until the liner was burned off and 1he seed was exposctl. Most of the herbaceous seed that germinates following a fire is quite different from the seed th:il would grow follm, ing a We do not know about the fires set by the native inhabitanLS. There probably was great variation in the intensity of the fires 1hey sci, but generally, since they burned certain areas often, it would seem that they would keep the fuel loads down and have light, cool fires every few years. The great conflagrations occurred in the mountains after the logging era. The loggers left great piles of slash in the forest that, when ignited, caused hot, destructive fires that burned the whole landscape. The Table Mountain pine could be only minimally sustained by lightning fires. In the moun1ains, the tree inhabits only the driest sites or reclaims badly degraded areas. It seems very likely that, while it has long been present, the species came into its own through 1he over-burning of the white mountaineers, and expanded its influence due 10 the logging boom. h does not seem reasonable 10 perpetuate abuse in order 10 maintain a species that to a great extent was a product of human abuse. h seems that 1he ecological need for the Table Mountain pine has largely passed away, 1ha1 it is not a naturally endangered species, and that we do not have 10 talce special measures to re1ain it, but could lei narure 1ake its course. A second case is the oak tree family, widespread throughout the mountains and an important source of mast upon which many species of wildlife depend greatly. As we were told by Dr. Robert Zahner (on page 4 of this issue) frequent, light fires are influential in the continued regeneration of oak stands in (continued oo page 30) clearcut "I-ires also release nutrients in the residual ash which change the soil situation. Leaf liuer and sometimes foliage is burned in the fire. Carbon and nitrogen arc given off, but 1hc minerals stay on the site and oc·t as an instant shot of fenilizer, which changes the pH and the nutrient bal:lnce and generates a different populallt)n of herb.,ceous plants. ''After clearcuuing, some sites are prep:m:-d hy intentionally setting fires called "prescribed hums." In tcm1s of the site, thai's probably a better wuy of,.., orking than clearcumng alone - unfortunately they bum a site to prepare it for planting white pine tree~. Thal negates nny advantage there might ha, e been 10 1ha1 technique. "Right now there arc plenty of open areas con1aining early successional species. We don't have to create them. By way of immediate policy recommendations. I would suggest we let present old-growth stands continue to grow, keeping out uny fires except lightning fires. Lightning fires we should let bum. Because they bum during a rain, lightning tires don't usually burn very much, and they give a nke mosaic of disturbance. ''Why not just let lighming do it'! If we are trying to maintain natur.tl systems and narural biological diver.;i1y, then just letting lightning fires bum would be the best and easiest way to do it. Mo~t of this forest is so disturbed. beat up. and cut over anyway. It\ a long. long way from being a natural syscem. t would prefer 10 let lighming-ignited fires burn wherever they are going 10 bum, and just let them help the foreM 10 recover." , . Winter, 199 1-92 - fr... ,__,, J I f �SMOKEY AND THE RED WOLVES For many years after white settlers staned moving into the Southern Appalachians, fire pauems changed linle from the days of native habitation. The whites were farmers, coming from Europe where the great forests had long been leveled. They tended to see the forest as an enemy 10 be overcome. Wilderness equaled "wasteland" in their minds, and they started out energetically 10 overcome the forest to make it produclive fannland. But for their ally Fire, it would have been a losing battle. The whites used fire in clearing agricultural fields as the lndians had, but the immigrants first girdled trees with their steel axes, planted crops in the resulting "deadenings," and then later felled and burned the standing snags. Their numbers and their steel tools made the newcomers more effective at clearing land - and keeping it clear - than the Indians had ever been. The forest began to recede up the hillsides. The white people also began to mimic the Indians' practice of burning the forest noor. At first they did it for identical reasons, but as they became more settled and the predator species were thinned out, the Europeans began to free-range livestock in the woods. At frrst there were only a few scrawny cows and scattered bands of domestic pigs roaming the forest, but as the numbers of white inhabitants grew, they put more and more animals out to forage on the mountain slopes. And they staned more and more fires to encourage grass and open grazing areas. As old-timer Taylor Crockett of Macon County has said, "fn those days people vinually replaced the native wildlife with cattle, hogs, and sheep." Firing the woods became an annual ritual, supposedly economically justifiable - but also exciting and fun. The early white settlers found one purpose to which the First People had never employed fire: genocide. One example was Colonel James Grant's raid of 176 I. In retaliation for a Cherokee victory ai Fon Loudoun, Tennessee, in which 50 white people were kiUed, Grant was ordered on a campaign through the Little Tennessee and Tuckaseegee River Valleys. He rode with a vengeance, destroying crops and every village he found. In his journal Grant bragged that he had torched fifteen towns (including the principal town of Katuah): ravaged "l,400 acres of com. beans, pease, etc."; and driven about 5,000 men, women, and children "into the woods and mountains to srnrve." As more and more Europeans flooded into the mountains, the increased use of fire became detrimental to the forest. Although fire Winter, 1991 92 was still being used largely in the traditional manner, its use was so frequent and so universal that the forest was degraded in many areas because it was not allowed time to recuperate. H.B. Ayers and W.W. Ashe, in their repon on The Sowhern Appalachian Forest, published in 1905 for the US Geological Survey, wrote that, "More than 78,000 acres of the region examined have recently been so severely burned as 10 kill the greater ponion of the timber. but the greater damage has been done by light fires creeping through the woods year after year. scorching the butts and roots of timber trees, destroying seedlings and forage plants, consuming forest litter and humus, and reducing the thatch of leaves which breaks the force of the rain. Evidence of such fires is found over approximately 4,500,000 acres, or 80 percent of the entire area." At one study site in Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, researcher Mark Hannon found that the mean interval between fires on south-facing slopes between 1855 and 1940 was 12.7 years. Considering that observation, Peter White, also of the Park research st.aff, said that in Cades Cove, "During the period of Euro-American settlement, fires were so frequent that few treeS reached a size capable of surviving even cool surface ftres." The damage to the Appalachian forest and waters began to be noticed by the late 1800's. People began to complain of the erosion caused by the frequent burning and the resulting decline in stream quality. A history of the US Forest Service in the southern mountains, Mountaineers and Rangers, mentioned a survey of the Southern Appalachian forestlands published in 1902 by Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson and Gifford PinchoL The survey said that "the special hardwood forests of the beautiful Appalachians were being destroyed by lumbering, fires, and - perhaps worst - by mountainside farming. These agents of destruction were causing the soil 10 leach, slopes to erode, and streams to flood their banks with rain and melting snow." It was not a coincidence that the tum of the century also saw the beginnings of the forestry profession. The Biltmore Forestry School, the first forestry school m the United States, was located in Pisgah Fore.\t, North Quolina. It was begun by the German forester Carl Schenck, who was brought over by the Vanderbilts, and subsequently directed by Gifford PinchoL Suddenly the mountain forests were attracting professional imercs1. There was a growing awareness that the yearly burning was destroying a fonune in timber, and, since the railroads had finally penetrated into the mountains, there was at last a way 10 get at it To the foresters a forest was an investment, more than an ecosystem with its own processes and priorities. The newly-convened foresters saw burning the woods as the utmost stupidity. 1n 1923, Nonh Carolina Forester J. S. Holmes surveyed rural residents to determine the answer to the "burning" question: why did they ftre the woods? He fouod that some fires were staned by ''carelessness" and others by "negligence." "Locomolives," "hunters," "sawmills," and the blanket category "matches. cigar stumps, boys, etc." contributed their share. While the most common reason stated for starting woodland fires was "to improve the range," Holmes' survey showed conclusively that by far the greatest proportion of fires were sraned by people "without much object, 10 see it bum, etc." The damage to the forest was considerable, but the worst was to come. The large timber companies followed the railroad into the mountains. and the Appalachian timber boom was on. The timber barons were ruthlessly exploiting a resource. They lo;ged widely and indiscriminately. Whole hillsides were cleared. Yet the greatest descruction came from fires that staned after the loggers had left a site. ln their greed and carelessness, the logging companies left behiod on the desecrated slopes great piles of slash, the tops of fallen m:es. This build-up of fuel caused fierce, hot fires that destroyed the remaining crces, burned up the organic layer of the soil, caused massive erosion and siltation. and even degraded the potential of the forest to recover. 1n the eyes of the foresters, and increasingly among the general public, fl.l'C began to be perceived as an unmitigated evil. ln his book Fire in America, Stephen J. Pyne quotes lines from a poem of the period. 'They are loosed from their hiding And the red wolves are riding There is blood and blast and fury in their eyes And their packs go a-crashing There's a crackle and lashing Breathing smoke and sparks and splinters to the skies. - Anthony Euwer, "Red Wolves" (canunucd on next page) x.atuar, Journat pQCJe 7 �(continW'd from page 7) The Southern Appalachians came to be seen as a national disgrace, and a call grew for the establishment of timber reserves in the region. It seemed to be the only way to halt the fires and the flooding. The timber companies were agreeable. They had already used the forested eastern mountains. Now their sights were set on the tall old-growth stands of the Pacific Nonhwest. They were happy to sell out and leave. Timber barons and politicians alike found that it was sttategically wise to blame the problems of the forests on fire. Fire control enjoyed a political unanimity that controversial initiatives to regulate logging practices did not. "To save the forests, the main thing is to make laws to stop the fires," intoned timber magnate F. E. Weyerhauser before a congressional committee in 1908. The Weeks Act of 1911 provided for federal purchase of timberlands in the East, and the US Forest Service was born to care for and manage the lands. The new Forest Service rangers in the Appalachians saw their first task as stopping fire. They consn-ucted a fire lookout system and organized fire-fighting crews. They began a large-scale enforcement and public education program to convince local fanners to give up the practice of firing the woods. Throughout the l 930's and the I940's, as the forest gradually grew back and began to repair the scars of its mistreatment, firefighting and prevention was a major focus of the rangers' effons. In a stroke of advertising genius, they recruited the aid of Smokey the Bear. The national public relations campaign was successful beyond all eitpectations, and as a side-effect greatly enhanced the image of the by Vic Weals East Tennessee rivers were at their lowest flow in anybody's memory, and the 15.38 inches of rain that fell in the first seven months of 1925 were less than half the normal. The Knoxville weather station was in its 55th year, and 1925 was the honest a.nd driest yet recorded, meteorologist J.I. Widmeyer told the local newspapers. The temperature for Monday, Sept. 7, ~ 925, is still the highest recorded on that date in all the 109 years of the Knoxville weather station. The official reading was 102 degrees. Logging camps had their greatest exodus of workers. Heat without letup and short tempers had sent many a man packing. Benha and Frank Coppenger were still working for logging contractor Gold Millsaps a1 the beginning of September in l 925. Bertha remembers Saturday, Sept. 5, 1925, as a notably ominous, uncomfonable day in Jeffreys Hell. There was smoke in the air from the woods fire that had now burned more than two weeks across the ridge on South Fork. Frank was working at scaling logs that Saturday. He measured them as they were brought to the rail landing, and kept a record of 1he number and kind and size. Frank brought Will Graves, the camp foreman, home to the Coppenger quarters after their work day ended in the afternoon. ~~lU\» J(!Uf~t pm.JC 8 Forest Service as the friends of Smokey and all the forest crearures. Smokey's massive propaganda campaign did help greatly in the fire prevention effon, but it also had some negative results. Only in recent years has it become once again acceptable 10 talk of the positive and necessary effects of ' THEN JT HAPPENED! SOME CAREI.E55 PE.RSOIII i'LIPPEO A LIGHTED MATCH ••• From 'TM Tr,u Story a/Smoky tM B~ar· naturally-caused fire in some ecosystems. The Tall Timbers Research Station in Florida, for eitample, opened up new pathways in fire research and for 20 years has sponsored an annual scienrific conference on fi.re ecology. ln 1963. the Leopold Report. presented 10 the National Park Service, and th~ 1964 Wilderness Act both called on federal agencies to recognize fire's role in wildlancrs. But because of the degree of one-sided conditioning, the general public is having difficulty accepting the fact that fire is a process that is natural and, in some ecological communities. essential. One guide to the future is the fire policy in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park which has the avowed goal of maintaining an FIRE IN JEFFREYS HELL Frank filled his homemade poplar-board bathtub with warm water and invited Will to take his first bath. Frank told him to take his time, and Will did, soaking for maybe half an hour in the last great enjoyment he would experience on eanh. Benha says they had dinner early Sunday, and right after that, about 12 noon, the men were called out The fire was coming across the mountain into Jeffreys Hell itself. "Frank left with the other men to tty 10 smn a back-fire and maybe save the camp," Benha says. ''There was nothing fo.r me 10 do but 1alce the children and ge1 ou1 of 1hcre," Bertha explains at this point 1ha1 her two oldest daughters, Sylvia and Beatrice, had left camp only a week before for the Stan of the school term in Tellico Plains. It was the two youngest daughters, Bessie and Lula, who were in Jeffreys Hell with their parents on that fateful day. "I got my husband's suit and draped it over my ann," Benha continues. "I put the Bible into his front pocket. The Bible had all the family binh records in it" "I had a new dress from Sears and Roebuck. I had never worn that dress. It was still in the box that it had been mailed in. I ecosystem similar 10 that present before white settlement for the purpose of human recreational enjoyment. Flawed though the guidelines may be from the point of view of habitat preservation, the Park still represents 550,000 acres of (nearly) de /aero wilderness. Under current laws, the Park is not able to use prescribed bums and must suppress every fire ignited within the Park boundaries. However, a draft policy recommendation is being prepared which will suggest that naturally-caused fires be monitored and, in some cases, be allowed 10 bum. Under the new policy, the Park might be able 10 use fire in cenain situations - to suppress eitotic species invading the Park, for example, or to reestablish habitat for species like the red cockaded woodpecker, which once inhabited the Great Smoky Mountains. This bird likes open woodlands, and when the undergrowth in its nesting area grows up more than 10-15 feet in height, it abandons its nesting site and moves elsewhere. However, due to complete fire suppression, there is no "elsewhere'' in the Park and little in the mountains as a region. The woodpecker has been sighted in eastern Tennessee. but the las, confirmed sighting in the Park was in 1982, although in recent years there have been several unverified sightings of birds that could be red cockaded woodpeckers. Like the red wolf, a policy that allows narurally-caused fires to bum may be reintroduced in the Southern Appalachians vio the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Fire has a place in the forest, of that we are sure. We are less sure of how 10 bring fire back into its proper place in the scheme of things. ~ took it out of the box and draped iL over my arm with my husband's suit ttWe started down the railroad toward the town of Jeffrey. It was several miles, 1 forget exactly how far. "We walked the crossties. I couldn't make it very fast because I wasn't used to walking on crossties. "And my least linlc girl, I had to carry her most of the way. ''And it looked like every few minutes we were going to be cut off by the fire. ''The train came up the grade, but didn'1 stop for us. The engineer motioned us down toward the town," she recalls. She says the locomotive had been in the repair shed and was taken our hastily that Sunday to go on the emergency run. The screen that should have been in place on the smokestack to catch sparks from the fireboit was not in place. And as the engine scattered hot cinclerS into Jeffreys Hell, it set new fires behind it. Garfield A. Milsaps also worked for logging conttactor Gold Millsaps, and lived in the same camp with Frank and Bertha Coppenger and Bill Graves, the camp foreman. He remembers Sunday morning. September 6, 1925. "Bill Graves told me to get the horses out of there while I could. We had them fine big logging horses • Nonnans and Percberons (continued on page 10) loJ\.I\WT, J99J-9'2 I �Barbara J. Sands In Less Than Ten Moons A message for my Brothers at Lewisburg In less than ten moons, the moans of pleasure in a moment's quiet passion flow steady as the river into moans of labor. The blending of two spirits in sacred dance, in less than ten moons, the creator weaves beneath my skin into a new life. Karuah for Hawk I listen to you deny your power to change, to rise above the habits of self devastation that have always held you back. You tell me that you are too weak, that il is too hard ... In quiet understanding, l smile... Do you think you walk alone? In these quiet hills the swirling mist curls skyward, Mother Earth offering her pipe to the Great Mystery. It is easy to feel her in these ancient mountains. My bare toes dig into the damp soil. The breeze plays with my hair and shoulders. I am invisible here, part of the whole. My brother, when you can see the other road, the birthing has already begun. I grow roots, deep into the body of the Mother. Her energy flows through me, caressing me, warming me. I join the timeless flow of all things. Does it help you to know that it is useless to tell me what can not be done? Three times, I have felt the swelling of life within my belly, Three times, I have birthed between my legs a Jiving miracle, Three times, I have watched the first breath of a warm, wet, newborn And seen with my own eyes, and felt with my own flesh, and known with my own heart, the power of the Spirit That Flows in All Things to change the world ... In less than ten moons. I dream. I am a mountain lion. An eagle. A rock in a swiftly flowing stream. A leaf floating in the breeze. A seed, waiting in the earth. I am everything. I am nothing. The day breaks. Father paints the sky with gold. And I never want to leave this place. k1lntcr, Hl91-92 Dnwin& by Rob Mmiclo. �~ • • a. -- ... ..,. ' Drawing by Rob Levacn (cantinuod &om page 8) and ClydesdaJes and someoLhers. We had 18 head of horses. "We tied them Logether single-file and led them down the railroad track. Fred Allen, George Robens, Oley Hooper and Jape McClure (now deceased) helped me. There might have been some others. "We walked the horses between the rails where the ballast between the crossties made a smooth path. Sometimes there was a smoother trail beside the railroad. We took to the creeJc to get around trestles. Horses won't hardly walk a trestle. "We tied the horses below the store and post office at Jeffrey. Then we all went back up the creeJc to help fight the fire." Walter J. Evans, wife Grace and their first two sons, Leslie, about 4 years old, and Bill, 15 months old, lived just up the track from the Gold Millsaps' camp and within sight of it. "Me and Frank Coppenger and a bunch of men went to the fire line along the top of the mountain," Walter recalls. He says they thought they had the fire controlled there. "We got up there a linle ways and we heard the train coming up the railroad. "We ran back down and Frank was ahead of me and got to the train, him and several more of the boys did. "'The fire cut me and a bunch of the other boys off and we didn't get to the train. "We had to go back 10 the top of the mountain to where the fire had already burned over and get out thataway," Walter recalls. One of the people with Walter was a young relative who was quite drunk. "He was too drunk to be afraid of what was happening to us," Walter says. Walter himself was only 31 years old but he said to the younger man, "Son, I ha~ to leave you here to get burned up. But I've fooled with you till I don't know whether ru get out or not. I'm going to have to leave you." Walter says he began to run, and left the other man. "But in just a few minutes he passed me running. He ran over trees and rocks and turned somersets and outran me to the top of the mountain. "He wouldn't get scared until be seen Xawan )oumat I 4J t •: 1 )P'": 1t ,• pQCJa l O JI so • that I left him. He got scared then." Garfield Millsaps, returned from leading the horses down the valley, was caught behind the fire in the group with Walter. The men were running side by side when Walter threw away his ax. "What was that you throwed away?'" Garfied asked him "My ax," Walter said. "Don't throw our cools away," Garfield said. "Where we're going in a few minutes we won'c need none, and I ain't taking none with me," Walter told Garfield. "I was sure we were all going to die right there and right then," Walter says. ' Everybody in that group survived, though. And of !he dozens of men scauered over the thousands of acres of Jeffreys Hell that day, only Frank Coppenger and Bill Graves died. Fronk and Bill and the others !hat made it to the train were able to load the household furniture from Walter Evans' shanty car and one other onto the train. Then they had to leave, because the fire was moving in. Cinders from the locomotive's stack had set new fires down the creek and closed off that escape. Engineer Dave Dockery started the train on up the valley. There was no alternative. . Walter says there was a big, new log landing beside the creek in a curve of the railroad about 300 yards above the camp. The landing was smned in March, and the teams had been bringing logs in for six months now and only one trainload of logs had been hauled away from it. Frank Coppenger and Bill Graves left the train there. 'The men told me later that they wet their handkerchiefs in the water of the creek and started up over that landing " Walter continues. ' 'They thoughc they could make it across the mountain to Willis Tucker's camp to warn him about the fire." 'They got up just a litde ways and had to run out of the slddroad into a field of green touch-me-nots. That's where they got burned up," Walter says. _The wind was up and updrafts were carrying great masses of flame from ridge to ridge by now. Frank and Bill were thought to have died of suffocation before their bodies bumed. Big portions of both bodies were burned a~ay; Frank's was identifiable by !he gold in bis teeth. The buckles from Bill's overalls were found under his corpse. Too, Bill had on a hat and Frank didn't, and the hat insulated Bill's head so that it was burned less than Frank's was. . All the people who stayed on the train survived. They left the train on the first leg of a double switchback at the head of the valley. They were able to run to safety through a hollow that had burned out two days previously, Walter says. Bertha sensed on Sunday afternoon that Frank was dead. She waited beside camp most of the night while searchers depaned and returned. Her two oldest daughters came across the mountain from Tellico Plains to be with ~er. All four daughters, Sylvia, Beatnce, Bessie, and Lula, were wi1h her when word came that Frank's body had been found early the next morning. The watches of both victims, Frank and Bill, had been welded by the heat and stopped at 2 o'clock, two hours after their Sunday dinner. :;, R~pri,1ud wi11t pumissi()nfrom /M Knoxville Journal ofMarcJi 22, /979 and Marclt 29, /979. At,: Fisherman/ (t:.~= Fire Plevcntion Ad from 1923 Wlnur, 199 1-92 :r IIJIH i, ,•11 '•' �'!Tif'" .' • • t I t •• "# ~ • crossroads. These men worked iron for a trade, but it also was common for homesteaders to have a small anvil and forge on their farm. Just as homeowners today usually have a power saw and know how to drive a nail, so fanners in those times knew how to do many of the small repairs that wcrc always necessary. So, although the blacksmith was important and respected in the community by right of his skill, he had no monopoly on the trade. It was a common, egalitarian line of work. In that period, labor was cheap and materials were hard to come by. The smith provided a service, and so took whatever the community could provide in trade for his work. Iron was a valuable commodity. new or us~. ~d the ~~y was also a salvage shop. Sm1~mg and nulling were the high points of !he village technology; but the smithy probably looked more like a scrap yard than a prosperous local business. FIRE AND FORGE by Jan Davidson and David Brewin Just as the fire on the hearth was the cemer of the home, the bl:icksmith's fire was the center of community production in the mountain villages of the European settlers. Before the Southern Appalachians and the other rural areas of the country were tied into the mass market and che nattonal manufacturing system, a simple local technology was shaped at the blacksmith's forge. Upon it was based a self-sufficient rural economy. The guiding principle was, "Figure out how to m~e it and hammer it out," according to R. 0. Wilson, of Speedwell Community in Jackson County, NC. Shelter was the first thin~ a frontier family_ thought of on arriving at a likely locanon. With a double-bitted axe, a broadaxe, a foot adze, and a square, they could put a log house together. The next necessity was food. The blacksmith made the tools for food production. Unless a fanner wanted to work with a wooden plow, he went to the blacksmith. The smith also made equipment for handling the draft animals, not only the horse shoes, ox shoes, and mule shoes, but also the bns and rings of the harness. The t00ls to cook the food with were also made in the smithy, as well as the wagons that hauled the produce to market. ~ot every blacksmi~ could make a wagon of iron and wood, but m those remote mountain villages, where people had to be self-reliant, a lot of them could do the job. Any good blacksmith's shop could fix a wagon and pUl "tires" (as the steel rims were called) on the wheels. The whole transportation system depended on the blacksmith. The blacksmith made all the edged tools lo>tntcr, 199 I -92 Iron Work by David Bttwin · knives, axes, saws - that a farmer took into the woods when going to hunt meat for food or to cut wood for building or heating lhe home. The gun he carried was often made in the same village he lived in. Guns were critical to the early mountain families for food and for defense, and gun-making was a branch of blacksmithing. The blacksrruth could make a loom. The blacksmith could make a grist mill. "You had to have hoes, you had to have plows and horses, cradle blades, mowing blades, axes, mauocks and wedges, go-devils, all of these things," says long-time mountain resident Mary Jane Queen. ..•And single-tree hardware, hinge pintles, staples. naiJs, cooper's adze.-;, ginseng hoes, bear traps, bullet molds, cowbells, augers, barking spuds, pothooks, sickles, post-hole diggers, froes. spatulas, ladles - all of these were products of the blacksmith's an. For food, clothing. shelter, and tronsponation. almost every aspect of the community except its spiritual life, people were dependent on the blacksmith. The smithy was a focal point for the village. It was a center for the village economy, but it also was a men's social center. ln those days a person did not drop something off and say, "!'II be by to pick this up after J do some shopping." When a man brought a job in, he and the blacksmith worked on it together. "They would go there, the men folks would, if they had tools to have fixed, and they would help grandpaw run the forge, and they'd sit and talk· then they'd get up and work a while, and then they'd talk awhile." remembers Mary Jane Queen. There was at least one blacksmith in each town and often there was a smithy at the Blacksmithing was always associated with magic. For a srni!h to lake what looked like ~lain rocks from the ground, draw out hard iron, and transform that iron into tools and weapons that gave their social group an immense technological advantage must have seemed magical indeed. In Christian Europe when the technology of ironworlcing had become common, the blacksmith was still held in some awe, but it was not the elevated stature the smith had held in the early days of civilization. Particularly in PoJand and Russia blacksn:tiths ~ere thought 10 be in league with' the devil. h 1s easy to see why. The smith's sweaty, blackened face and torso dinied by working all day at the sooty forg;; the forge fire. hot and bright; the incessant ringing of metal on metal; the showering sparks in the smith's gloomy shop. which had to be kept darkened so the smith could ·:iccurately sec the color of the metal he was working: all the images associated with Hell were drawn from the blacksmith's trade. The mountain story of "Wicked John and the Devil" carried the connection over into the New World in the tale of a blacksmith who was "meaner'n the devil himself.~ Well-known mountain storyteller Ray Hicks tells a "Jack tale" that relates how Jack magically trapped seven devils in his sack. Jack took his sackload to the blacksmith, who pounded them 10 cinders on his anvil. In a different tradition, iron was supposed to defeat the magic of the fairies or the Little People. In the British Isles some travelers would wear an iron pin to protect tl\emscl,ves from ~sfortune along their way. The smithy, where iron was the stock in trade was obviously a safe place, free of magic. ' Other folklore followed the blacksmiths' trade across the ocean. One custom held that the water in which the smith quenched the hot iron was a cure for poison ivy. There were many others. Even today some blacksmiths tap the anviJ three times at the end of the workday to ''chain the devil." In Europe, the basic tools of the blacksmith • the nnvil, hammer, forge. and bello~s - had all taken their classic shape by the Middle Ages. Their design has been little changed to this day. . The other primary tool of the blacksmith 1s fire. People do not usually think of fire as a (a,ntinued OIi DCJCI ~ ) Xatilall Journa£ paqc 11 �which earned it into the forge 10 aerate the f1re. In the forge, lhe ore was formed into a "bloom," a roughly spherical blob of semi-molten iron, air bubbles. and impurities. The bloom was beaten under the uip hammer to remove air and foreign materials. When it was done, it had been beaten into a nauene.d "ham." The Hanging Dog Bloomcry Forge turned ou1 1wo or three hams a day, each weighing about 20 pounds. The hams were shaped into b~ with curved ends like sled runner,; so thnt a bundle of them could be dragged behind a t¢.'lm or oxe~ to local blacksmiths' shops within a five or six county area. This level of production me1 1he needs of the area until the railroad came and tied 1he region in10 the national industrial system. It quickly became more economical to dig iron Photo councsy of Ille Mountain Heniagc Center (continued Crom page II) 1001 because it is no1 a solid objec1 that is picked up and manipula1ed wi1h 1he hands, bu1 fire is crucial 10 every stage of the blacksmilh's work. Woodworkers shape 1heir ma1erial by removing some of it. bUL, while it is hot, iron is a plastic me.dium thal can be reshaped with li11le or no material being losL The forge is the specialized fireplace that holds the blacksmith's superheated fire. In early times, blacksmiths used charcoal as fuel, but shonly after the Civil War coke came to be the most common fuel used in the mountains. Coke is soft coal burned slowly at low temperatures to remove the impurities., as charcoal is made from wood. The bJacksmjth made his own coke, healing it slowly and with almos1 no air around the sides of 1he forge. The blacksmith's fire was kept very hot by the continuous ac1ion of a bellows. (foday a blacksmi1h is more likely to use anelecuically-powen:d blower.) For each process perfonned by the blacksmith, the metal must be a1 precisely the right temperature. For some processes the metal must be heated to over 2000 degrees FahrenheiL As the temperature of the metal changes, so docs i1s color. The color changes arc the blacksmith's thermometer, and the smi1h must learn to distinguish the various gradations of color in the heated metal. The iron changes from pale yellow to straw yellow, purple, blue, gray, dull red, sun rise red, cherry red, light red, almos1 orange, and then white as its internal rempe.rruure rises. More time in the heat of 1he flames turns white heat to incandescent white and then to a liquid yellow, which indicates that the surface has become semi-molten. • When the metal is hca1ed 10 the right degree, the smith can flntten it or taper it, in a process known as "drawing out." Or the smith can "upset" the metal by drawing it back on itself. If a tool needs holes, the smith can punch them out. Two pieces of hot iron can be joined together by ''forge welding," hammering them together on the anvil. Blacksmiths' hammers come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Some are swung, while others are sci on the piece and StrUClc with a sledge wielded by an assistant, "the striker." In a small shop 1herc is usually only one anvil, but it is capable of doing many different jobs. The flat face of the anvil is used 10 hammer the metal into the various shapes. The Xatunfl JOU-ma! page 12 horn is used in bending circles or arcs of various sizes and can also be used to speed up 1he drawing out process, since the roundness of the hom acts as a lens to focus the energy of the blow. Af1er shaping, the tool or part being worked is heat treate.d to give either the hardened metal of a axe head or the springy, shock-absorbing metal of a saw. As in forging, the color of the polished metal tells the smith what kind of hardness, brit1leness, or springiness the finished tool will have. Axe heads or chisels can be treated to vary the hardness wi1hin the tool. A cold chisel tempered by a smith can be hard and tough at the cuuing edge and relatively soft at the baner end so 1ha1 the force of the blows is cushioned and the chisel is less likely to break. Today the hardening and tempering of tools is done in computer-controlled factory ovens. Treating tools in large batches may be economically more efficient, bul an old blacksmith would consider the tools that we use today to be of inferior quality. Contrary to a commonly-held stereotype, mountain life was not completely agricultural and not all a matter of handwork. Blacksmithing was pan of a sclf-rontained, localized industrial process. Even the iron used in the blacksmith's shop was produced within the region at "bloomery forges," like the two located in Hanging Dog, North Carolina. Wood for charcoal and limonite, iron ore, were found near 1he site, and 1he operation was powered by wa1er power. The ore was washed under a scream of water and crushed to powder beneath the weight of a 750 pound water-driven hammer suiking at the rate of 100 times per minute. The powdered ore was mixed with chan:oal and healed in the bloomery forge. The forge fire was kepi hot by the "trompe," a simple, ye1 very sophisticated mechanism that fed a continuous stream of air to the forge. Running creek water filled a tank at the top of the trompe. The water fell through rwo tubes, which were pierced with small holes. The falling water drew air through the holes into the tubes. At the bottom, the water and air entered what was known as the "wind box." The rising level of the water forced the air upwards and out through the wind 1ubc, out of big pit mines, smelt it in huge blast furnaces, and ship ii great distances. By 1920 the local blacksmiths were being usurped by large hardware companies who were sending out catalogs by mail tha1 offered almos1 everything in the tool line. Small-town country scores would keep a catalog and make orders for their customers. People became accustomed to purchasing standard tools from the catalog, but there were special tools that were never included, and there still were people who would go to the local blacksmith, because they did not have the cash to order through the mail. But they became fewer and fewer, and gradually the local blacksmiths disappeared. When the automobile was introduced, it was a natural step for blacksmiths 10 move into mechanics, body work, or welding. Tourism provided one outlet. In Yancey and Mitchell Coumies, for instance, 1he Boone family succc.c;sfully made a transition to ornamental and decorative ironwork. The company still makes andirons, chandeliers, flre sets, and other ornamental pieces for customers on four continents. Their succes~iul business means that in Spruce Pine, North Carolina there is still a blacksmith shop where a tool can be made or repaired.Other small smithies still operate in the mountains. In recent years, 1he John C. Campbell Folk School has been a center for smithing instruc1ion. Students have come from every part of the country to study there under Oscar Canircll or the internationally known master smith, Francis Whit1aker. Ah.hough it may have been displaced from itS position as the keeper of the village fire, _the tradition of blacksmithing still conunues. p/a,J' Jan Davidson is curaror of the Mou111ain Heritage Center on the campus of Westem Carolina University in Cullowhee, NC. Dtn•id Brewin also works QJ the Cenrer. bur blacksmithing is his first Jove. The exhibit "lron.f in the Fire· is currently 011 display OJ tht MoU11trun lfrritoge Centu. Tht prtse1110twn brings to life tht hinory of black.smithing, shows m llll(l(lrlance 10 tlU! Europt0/1 stllltrs in the IIIOUntuins, and illustrates contemporary app/ica11ons of the art. Tht uhibit includes a 20-minuu mu/ti-image slidt show and is open Monday- Friday from 8 am 10 5 pm. For mare informtJtion, call (704) 227-7129. 1.,1,n~r. t99t-92 �THE FIRST FIRE out again at the same hole, but his 'body had been scorched black, and he has ever since had the habit of daning and doubling on his track as if trying to escape from close quarters. He came back, and the great blacksnake, Gule'gi, "the Climber," offered to go for fire. He swam over to the island and climbed up the tree on the outside, as the blacksnake always does, but when he put his head down into the hole the smoke choked him so that he fell into the burning stump, and before he could climb out again he was as black as the Uksu'lu. Now they held another council, for still there was no fire, and the world was cold, but birds, snakes. and four-footed animals, all had some excuse for not going. because they were all afraid 10 venture near the burning sycamore, until at last Kanane'ski Amai'yelii, the water spider, said she would go. This is not t.he water spider that looks like a mosquito, but the other one, with black downy hair and red stripes on her body. She can run on top of the water or dive to the bottom, so there would be no trouble to get over 10 the island. but the question was, How could she bring back the fire? ''I'll manage that.." said the water spider, so she spun a thread from her body and wove il into a rusti bowl, which she fastened on her back. Then she crossed over to the island and through the grass to where the fire was still burning. She put one little coal of fire into her bowl, and came back with it, and ever since we have had fire, and the water spider still keeps her msri bo~. ~v In the beginning there was no fire, and the world was cold, until the Thunders, who lived up in Ga/un'/ari, sent their lightning and put fire into the bottom of a hollow sycamore tree which grew on an island. The animals knew it was there, because they could see smoke coming out at the top, but they could not get to it on account of the water, so they held a council 10 decide what to do. This was a long time ago. Every animal that could fly or swim was anxious to go after the fire. The raven offered, and because he was so large and strong they thought he could surely do the work, so he was sent first. Ile flew high and far across the water and alighted on the sycamore tree, but while he was wondering what to do next, the beat had scorched all his feathers black, and he was frightened and came back without the fire. \Vahultu, the liule screech-owl, volunteered to go, and reached the place safely, but while he was looking down into the hollow tree a blast of hot air came up and nearly burned out his eyes. He managed 10 fly home as best he could, but it was a long time before he could see well, and his eyes are red to this day. Then U'guk.11, the hooting owl, and Ts/dli, the homed owl, went, but by the time they got to the hollow tree the fire was burning so fiercely that the smoke nearly blinded them, and the ashes carried up by the wind made white rings about their eyes. They had to come home again without the fire, but with all their rubbing they were never able to get rid of the white rings. No more of the birds would venture, and so the liule Uks11'Jii snake, the black racer, said he would go through the water and bring back some fire. He swam across 10 the island and crawled through the grass 10 the tree, and went in by a small hole in at tne bottom. The heat and smoke were too much for him, 100, and after dodging about blindly over the hot ashes until he was almost on fire himself, he managed by good luck to get ::!II' Version collected by James Mooney inl>tywo{llutC/iuol<LeandSa.:r~ FtxmMlaso/llut CMrouu, published in 1900. A tusLi bowl wos o cloy vt.r~I. scribed w11h o urtain design \l'ht her was the vusel itselfor was the name of the po11tr11 of markings is n •I known, but the IIISU bowl was o .wcred ium. IUSU ' 1.i~nt~r. 1991-92 A Cherokee Legend Drawings by James Rhea �HEARTH & FIRE IN THE MOUNTAINS by Barbara Wickersham The Highlands of Roan is a place of spectaculru- beauty. Seven1.een miles of the Appalachian Trail cross the massif and are reputed 10 be some of the mos1 beautiful stretches of the 2,000-mile 1rek. Settlers started moving into this tumble of mountains in the very late I 700's and discovered vast forests filled with big timber and abundant game; plenty of fresh, clean water, teeming wi1h trout: and possibilities for subsistence farming, "sona hard come by." They brought wilh them to this wilderness a strong need for hearth and lire. . The hearth, called "hath" by the ol~-~crs, was the cc~ter of f!IUCh family acnvny and took prominence m the building of a home. Much care and time was spent in its creation since ii was not only 1he center of family life, bu1 essential for survival. . While I was in Roan Mountain recently, a fnend and I smpped by to see my friend Jim. a mountain man of great presence who is a story teller quintessential, a natural historian, and a philosopher of sons. He has survived many a harsh fire-demanding winter in the Roan Mountain Community and seemed to be a perfect source. His blue eyes squinted thoughtfully as he peered out from under a shock of grey hair, a work-worn hand resting gently on Joe, his big Gennnn shepherd lying protectively at his side. He leaned back comfortably in his grea1 chair and agreed 10 share with us some thoughts about the use and importance of heanb and fire during his growing up years. "First," he explained, "You built the chimley to a house, and you jest got big field stones and clay mud, and you'd lay up a rock and then you'd lay up a bunch of clay mud, then ano'1!er round of rocks and more mud 'till you get high as you wanted, and then you built your hearth." His voice trailed off as he seemed lost in another time, another place for the moment, then sighed, remembering, and continued. "You hunted as big a flat rock as you could find to make a heanh out of. Gen'ly had to build up small rocks under it to make it level with the floor. What it was for was to catch the fire 'till it wouldn't get out and bum the house. They'd be three to four fec1 long and a1 least about that deep back. Then you got a big backstick that was to go in the back of the fircplace ... throwed the heat out Sometimes hit would be 16 to 18 inches through, sometimes bigger, and jest half it, and il'd take two to pu1 it on. "Sometimes you'd have 10 roll it in, but it'd last all day behind there, and you'd pu1 smaller wood in front. Then you had a fire, and you usually never let ii go out 'til along after April when they'd have an old cookstove a'goin', and hit went through the summer 'bout all day." Matches to start the fire were not easily obtained. [f available at all, a box of matches cost about a nickel and "it took sometimes an hour to work ou1 that nickel back in the late '20s and early '30s. l can remember well when people would borrow fire, bring a little old bucket, come to borrow a chunk of fire. I've Xatuah J?14n~t J1Q9lt 14 PholO coune,y of lbe Mounwn Heriiaac Caller even know'd 'em to take the shot out of a shotgun shell and put a piece of co1ton where the sho1 was - the powder would still be in the shell - and they'd lire 1ha1 into some real dry kindlin' or punk and it would set that co11on a-fire. Then you jest blow'd on it and you'd have a good fire in jest a minute." Punk is very dry rotten, crumbly wood found inside some hardwood trees. "You could get it beuer out of a hard maple and usually ever'body kepi a little around where it would be dry. Hit wouldn't blaze bu1 made big coals, and once it was a'fire, it s;ayed a'fire." Sparks from soiking cwo pieces of flint together were also used to fire punk. All the fireplaces had an iron rod built into the chimney, usually made of wagon wheel ir<?n. Double pothooks (S shaped) were hung on this rod and meals were cooked in hanging pots. . ''When Mom cooked beans or anything hke that, she pm 'em on early in 1he mornin' and let them cook 'till noon or she'd cook boiled cabbage, lots of soup beans, or when she cooked pork or beef, she cooked ii in a three-gallon iron pot. That's what it took to do us for 1wo meals. "You had to have a fire, and that saved a lot of wood and more time. Stove wood had to be gonen in the mountains where it was dead and dry. Sometimes, owin' to how long you'd been livin' in a place, you'd have to go a puny good ways to get it. You'd drag it in 10 the woodyard with a horse, either on a sled or drag the whole tree, and 1hen chop it "Usually mother wanted dead locust hardest stuff in the world. You'd be three minutes before you'd get one stick off, and 1ha1 would get a stove or a fire really hot, burnt slow, and had a big coal with it, left coals in there. You'd get one good fire, and it'd cook a meal." The cook stove had a bread oven, but in the winter they often used a ponable, lidded. cast iron oven that could be put among the coals on the hcanh rock. They raked back the coals, se1 the oven down, and 1hen covered it with coals. The bread inside the oven cooked to a fine tum. "Mom could tell by the smell when it wns done. Now tha1 was good cornbread! Sometimes she made pone wheat bread, and I have eat some rye bread made that-a-way." Family life centered around the heanh. The room that housed it was called 1he ftrero0m (our present living room), and the mantle was called_the fireboard. It was generally the largest room in the house and held at least two big beds. Sickness was a real problem. since there was little medical help available. and it was not uncommon for a woman to be "sittin' under the (sick) baby" by the hearth all day. Toothache was trealed by putting hot ashes in a rag on the jaw to ease the pain. Smoke was blown in the car to soothe an earache. "Hit worked. Hit was jest something 10 git it warm, I guess. rve had it blow'd in mine many of a time when l was little. They'd jes1 puff it in their mouth, put their mouth right up close to your ear, and blow right slow. When they'd quit, you could see that liule curl of smoke comin' out" Colds were a menace; treatn)ent was simple. Water was boiled in a cast iron 1calceule and poured in10 a pan. Vicks salve was added and the person with the cold leaned over this with a quilt covering both the person and the pan. It worked magic! Babies and small children often had what they called croup. Ir was treated in much the same way. "Kids'd completely choke up and that was the only way they had to break it They'd jest quit breathin." A person with rheumatism clid wha1 they called "bakin' it" by putting a quilt on the hearth and scooting as close to the fire as the intense heat would allow, thus lcilling the pain. A baby animal, unfonunate enough to be born on a cold winter night or just rejected by its mother, was brought in by the hearth and hand fed. Wlnter, t 99 t -9Z �"We'd bring liule pigs in a lot of times, and lambs, and I have brought calves in by the heanh. I remember having baby pigs in a confined place close where they could keep wann when they would come unexpec1edly in the cold time. If they could ever get to suck a pig or lamb, you couldn't freeze it 10 dea1h. But a weakly pig, sometimes you'd have to bring it in and boule-feed it, or a weakly lamb that couldn't get up. Once you fed it a time or two, you bad a pet, and hit was a pest - a sheep or a pet pig is the biggest pest in the world. An old pig would trot after you all day long and squeal, and it not a bit hungry. You've heard the sayin' 'Aggravatin' as a pet pig' - that's whur that come from." Before the advent of kerosene lamps, the room was lit at night by bundles of small pieces of knots from black pitch pines. "They'd go into the mountains whur 1he old black pine had fell over and the wood rots out and leaves them pines a-layin' there. They'd take a 10w sack and gather a big sack full of knots, and they'd be about 1hree inches through." They wouW talce pieces a bit smaller than finger diameter, split them to length, and tie them in bundles "aboul what you could hold in your hand." Rawhide ties were placed at intervals down che 12 to 18 inch long bundles. When needed for light, a bundle was carefully secured in a hole among the chimney rocks and lit. As it burned down, a tie was removed and the next one down held the bundle together. Some people had what they called pitch holders which were made at a black:.mith shop. It, 100, was stuck back among the rocks in the chimney. Kerosene ushered in a new era wilh lamps and lanterns. In the beginning, many of the lamps had no globe and were made 10 be used with wool rags pushed down into the lamp, then covered with kerosene. A bit of the wool rag was pulled through the opening and lit, sucking up the kerosene as it burned. Lanterns soon replaced pitch torches for walking to church at nigh1, going 10 parties, or seeking a missing or sick animal on the mountain. Fire wa.~ used 10 make life easier in lots of ways. Down by the creek 1hey would have a 30-gallon iron keule hung from a rack a fool or foot and one -half above a fire. This was filled with water from the creek and clothes were boiled using homemade lye soap. If clothes were especially dirty, after boiling they would be taken to the creek and beaten on the rocks with a bauling stick. Dry wood was used for the fire, beech, sugar tree (maple), oak, "old apple tree made awful good fire," and the coveted dead locust. Ironing was made easier by starching clothes with a cooked solution made of flour and water. There were no ironing boards back 1hen, and ironing was done using a whi1c clo1h on the dining lable as an ironing surface. Fial irons were h1!.1tcd on the cooksiove, two at a time in order to switch when one got too cool. Most v.omen quilted, and ironing small pieced scams flat with a heavy Oar iron thai wa, often too hot or 100 cold was no easy task. Trying 10 follow a soap or chalk-marked quilting line in the light of a pitch pine bundle or a kerosene lantern was a challenge as well. And lhen...mcn's work. On the mountain farm, neither men's nor women's work was ever done. 1.i11,rcr, 199 1-92 On the evening before hog killing, the men dug a big hole and layered wood and big rocks in it. Very dry kindling was placed on top. About four o'clock the next morning, they would "lire that up, and them rocks would get hot, and we'd fill up a 60-gallon wooden barrel with water, and we'd lay that on an angle, kinda tilted, and we'd throw them big red hot rocks in there, and when you got it whur it would burn you, it was ready. "They would have the hog up on a scaffold and it would take three men to put it down in there and then they'd keep feeling 'till they could tell the hair was comin' off. Then they would tum it and get that side. Usually you scraped it afler you scalded it. They would tum it around and do the other end. You kept your fire agoin', and the water would be gitlin' some cold but not much, and you hung them on the scaffold then, and take the entrails out and hang them to drip, and then they'd git the next 'un. Kept your lire agoin' and kept the rocks hot all the time. Take the rocks out when the water got too cold and reheat them. Would have more rocks all ready 10 put in while the first ones was gettin' hot again." A special smoke house was used to smoke pork. A lire was built in either a hole dug in a dirt floor or smouldered in an iron pot. The meat was hung above this. "Jest let it smoke... had a place in the roof for the smoke to go out...smoked it auer it was cured with salt. Smoked it with hickory or mountain ash wood 'cause they wouldn't black none." Two survival-related uses for fire simply have to be mentioned here. Moonshine was an important source of cash for these mountain people, and fire was essential both for heating water and cooking mash. Another lucrative business was the cutting and sawing of wood. Sawmill boilers fired with wood made the steam that generated power for the big pulley wheel Belts ran from !here to the saw and made it possible to cut giant logs into lumber. M,010 lalcn 01 lhc home of C. E. Willwns 111 Rom Mount.tut. TN by Sort.a Wickcrr.hun There were for 100 many other uses for fire to recount them all, but one more important use was for agriculture. ~New ground" had to be cleared for a garden about every chrce ~ Everything was cut from as close 10 the ground as possible on rhree 10 four acres of land. The brush was put in a big pile, and the log~ were left for a big "log rollin'. "This was a git-together, jest one man a'helpin' another, have 10 or 12 men. They'd roll the logs and the women would cook. You've heard that expression "Jest like cookin' for a log rollin' ...that's what it was. Now they really cat!" The logs werc rolled into piles and set ablaze, burning sometimes four or five days. Once "Old Man" Wes Miller got impatient and decided 10 bum his logs by himself. He rolled the logs together and fired them. As they burned away in the middle, he pushed them closer together to encourage them to bum completely. While so doing, one big log suddenly rolled over and caught his left leg, jamming it tightly between two burning logs. No matter how hard he tried, he could not disengage his leg. His axe lay about a foot beyond his reach. He began clawing at the dirt until ftnally the axe slid toward him. Then he chopped off his leg, tore his overall pants leg into srrings, made a tourniquet, found a crooked stick which he used for a crutch and managed to get back home. "He hewed out a wooden leg for himself, the straight kind, peg-leg they called it. He was real young when this happened and he lived to be a healthy old man. He was a rough customer, he was. He could walk on the mountain even and talce care of his animals....They was tough, back then!'' Jim suddenly fell quiet, a gen1le giant of a man, his hand once again trailing Joe. Truly, they "was tough back then," and !hey still are. / �signify the arrival of the new year, the people would strip, bum their clothes, and then put on fresh garments to begin the new cycle. The mam purpose of that ceremony was 10 make the connection between all the people. The Ancient Red These are tire words ofa traditional Cherokee medicine person: Let me st.an at the beginning. This is what my grandfather told me. The 0:eator made the Eanh and all things, and then the Oeator set up the Jaws of nature to govern everything - so that the wolves wouldn't eat all the deer in one day, and so on. And the Creator set Grandmother Moon and Grandfather Sun in their places. The Sun was supposed to talce care of the humans. The Sun, being a bit arrogant., thought that some lesser being could talce care of such a petty species. So he sent the Fire to the Eanh to represent himself on the planet. The humans were to communicate to the Sun through the fire. The element ofFlfC is known as the A_ncient Red. Ancient Red always refers to Fsrc, although there arc several spiritual beings who are called by that name. The First Man on the planet, Kanati, became the spiritual essence of lightning and thunder so be is called Ancient Red because of that ' conn~tion. In the formulistic language there are different words for Fire that sigrufy Fi.re as Kanati, as lightning, as the wood fire, or as the Sun. The color red signified Fire and was also the symbol of Heaven. Our concept of Heaven is called the Sun La.nd, Beyond the Sun and it is in the East. Red is the color of the ~ t and it is also the symbol of success. When th~ warriors went to war, they painted red and black on their faces; red for victory and black for death. 1n all the medicine fonnulas, the Ancient Red is the most powerful being a medicine person can call. The translation of the word for medicine people is "the sacred fire bums inside of them." Hel_lt _was a prime element in doctoring. The med1cme people would rub their hands together rapidly before going to work to provoke that sacred fire that bums inside and move it into their hands so that they could transfer it to the patienL Some would heat mud daubers' nests and put them on their patients' bodies to cure them. Fire was brought into the sweat lodge in the heat of the stones for healing. Fire is for purification. A sacred pipe is purified over a fire. There arc several taboos about Fuc. People arc not to piss on a fire. Even if they arc up in the woods where there is no water close by, and they have st0mped out their campfire except for a few last coals, they should not piss on it to put it ouL One does not throw anything in the fire that is unclean. Cedar, rhododendron, and mountain laurel woods arc not lO be used as firewood; they are Xatuan )o"maL pQ(Je 16 thrown into a fire 10 change its personality. If rhododendron or mountain laurel are put on a fire when they are green, they scream when you throw them imo I.he fire. The old variety of sacred lObacco is also put into fires to change them. This used to be important to the native people, but to a great extent we have lost that, and it's sad. I have been to stomp dances in Oklahomn, and I have seen people showing remnants of that former attitude around the fire. It is rare to see that any more. Today there are people who piss in the fire or throw irash in it witho~t giving it ~ second thought. The most 1mponant thmg to remember is tha! FlfC ~s a living _ being - a living being with an ~ncredible appeme. You can be frightened of 11, or you can be respectful of it and at one with i~. It will_not harm you if you do not do anything foolish. But people have to recognize Fire as a living being. My grandfather told me that at the Kaniah village there was a sacred fire that was the central fire for the whole Cherokee nation. lt was kept alive with the sacred woods. The sacred woods were sourwood, hickory, cedar, locust, yellow pine, white oak and sweet birch. ' Cedar and sourwood trees, which are considered very sacred to the people, are both connected to the color red. Sourwood is the first red-leafed tree to change. The wood of the cedar has red in it The cedar does not grow in these mountains, but it is really av~able in Tennessee or southern Georgia, so in the old days people would just run over there to get it. Once a year, at the time of the Green Com Ceremony, all the fires in the whole Cherokee territory were all put out. The sacred fire at the mother village was then relit by a person who was designated as the firekeeper, and runners would take the fire 10 all the villages in the Cherokee nation. The old people used lO say that the flfC was the bond that kept the tribe together. It did not matter that the people were members of different clans and spoke different dialects: it did not mauer that we might have different enemies and different friends; the fire was the same. Wherever our village wll!>, we all cooked at the same fire and heated our lodges with the same fire. It was the fire that held us together. . The Green Com Ceremony marked the begmnmg of the new year. It was the tribe's most powerful ceremony. It was the bonding ceremony. When the fires were put out, the people forgave all the crimes of the past year and made resolutions for the next My grandfather said that, after the sacred fire was li~ and the runners were ready t0 leave for their villages, the people would do a special dance around the sacred fire. That dance had its own particular songs about the fire-lighting. To The Green Com Ceremony was celebrated when the first roasting ears of com became ripe enough to eat, sometime after the eighth or ninth of July. No one could eat the new com until then. In the last days before the ceremony, it was hard LO keep the kids out of the field. The adults used 10 satisfy the young ones by letting them eat the com worms, and the com smut off the ears. Com smut is delicious! They would take it before it got black, cut it up a.nd fry it. I understand that among the Mayan Indians only the emperors and the wealthy were allowed t0 eat com smut. The com worms are good too when they are fried. ' ' After the Green Com Ceremony, when the runne~ brought the fire to the villages, they took It to the council house at the center of the town. The grandfather of my ~n~ather told him about the ceremony at the hghung of the fire. One person did a spider dance and carried some smoldering embers in a clay pot to each of the four directions in the village because Spider had carried the FtrSt Fire in a clay pot which she made (see page 13). Then they returned to the town house, and the elder who was designated the firekeeper brought the fire to a blaze with the sacred woods. That fire was kept alive in the council house all year. Just as the One Sacred Ftre was the focal point for the nation and the fire in the lodge was the focal point for the family, so the fire in the council house was the focal point for the village. If a family's lodge flfC went out, they went lO the town house, and the firekeeper would light their fire, honoring all the taboos around it, because Fire was a sacred being. The fire in the council house stayed alive all Y:8'"· :nie _firekeeper was responsible for keepmg u gomg and then called it up with the seve~ sacred woods when they had council meeungs. James Timberlake, when he visited Attakullakulla's village. went to a meeting in the t?wn_ house. Although it was daylight outs1de, tt was dark inside the building, but he could see that the firekeeper had laid out short piece~ of dri~ river cane, one overlapping the next, m a spiral that stanc:d from the fire pit and moved out in a great circle. The elder who was the firckeeper started 10 chant a fonnula. and at the end of each verse he clapped his hands four times and rubbed them together. At that, I.he fire ignited, and the cane started burning. It seemed as though it was spontaneous. Timberlake was amazed. As one piece of the cane spiral burned up, the one overlapping it would catch fire, and the flame went around until the whole sprral was consumed. The people sat in a CIJ'Cle around the burning slivers of cane and used them for liiht during the meeting. Toe fire was also a nmer, because when it went out the council was over. . There was another com ceremony, but thlS one was done at planting time. 11 involved �Waiting; Under the Wing of a Dark Hill We are waiting to break every vow We have made. Hunting the butt-ends, Smoking them under the trees, Dra·wing closer to the lantern We read The razors In bloodKin eyes. We goin idle Search of him, Of the silver one Who is only a flash That crosses our path From time to time (But familiar like the amber And the spittle Or the shadow that falls on our dreams Eyes wide.) lighrning-srruck wood, which, if it was taken from a cree that survived the blast, had the Ancient Red in iL Before planting the com, a large group of women would dance around the cornfield, leaving a small group of women at each of 1he cardinal points. Each of these smaller groups would include an elder grandmother who had a big splinter of lightning-struck wood. When there was a group in each of the four comers, they sang a special song and rushed 10 the center of the field. Al the center of the field, they would plunge their lightning-struck wood into the earth, like lightning striking the ground. This was a powerful symbolic act. The lightning-struck wood represented Kanari, the First Man and also the lightning, and the women represented Selu, the First Woman and also the Com Mother. That was to make the com grow. 1 think it probably did. Com just grows beuer if the women plant it and do things like thaL Fire was of great spiritual imponance, but it was also the people's most powerful tool. Besides using it for basic cooking and heating, I told how ii was used for healing. It was also much involved in weapons-making. The people used fire in making blowguns and in flintknapping. To make arrowheads, they heated up the pieces of flint and then poured drops of cold water on them. And in the earliest days, before they knew flintknnpping, they would bum the ends of sticks and rub them to harden them. Outside the village, the people used controlled fires to bum away the leaves and woody debris around their town 10 protect it from wildfires. When clearing new fields they used fire 10 bring down the trees. They would girdle a tree, and after it was girdled and dried, three or four people working as a team would stan small fires at its base. They would just sit around and chat while the fires burned, from time 10 rime geuing up to chip away the charred wood with their axes, until the tree fell. Jn this way they would also bring down large poplar treeS 10 make their canoes. Once down, the log was also hollowed out with fire. After the riverbonom fields were cleared, the people would continue 10 bum them off every year co get rid of the cane. My grandfather's grandfather told him that he remembered the sounds of the cane crncking and exploding when they burned the fields. 1t sounded like an army - Boom! Boom! BOOM!! They would also bum the mountains 10 gel the chesrnu1s. They would set fires at the bonom of the mountain, and bum the leaves off all the way up 10 the top. h made it easier to get the chestnuts, easier to move around, and it enabled them 10 gather honey. Burning made hunting easier because it 100k away the brushy places in which the animals would hide. Burning the hillsides encouraged grass and sun-loving blueberries and huckleberries to grow up underneath, making better forage for the game animals. From my grandfather, I got the impression lha1 they burned the mountains every fall. I think 1ha1 to a bird flying over this area in the autumn 300 years ago, ii would look like the whole Cherokee territory was smoking. Fire was an imponant pan of the old# way of life. fr' We foam in the bowels We shit and quake at the light Of killing him. (If we could dare Or ferret him out, Tell him apart Prom us While we slept ... ) If we could find What we'd need, We'd cul his green throat, Dance on his green blood, And bury him beneath the sodden leaves (Bury him in the mud and lime Like us) We'd bury himOnly an inch or so Below the surface. Mile and miles From the black coal, And just as far From the Warm, Translucent SKY. David Earl Williams Orn ing by Rob Messick lolu1tcr, 1991-92 By God, We cast pale omens Into camp fire And breath them in. JCnti'mh )ounW J)QIJC 17 �MIDWINT POEMS BY JI MIDWINTER FIRES All branches bare Apple persimmon acorn chestnut hazel The peach gone December the dying month The cold sunken giving up of ghost By the fires your moon-heat wrestling spent harvest winds A knock Admit them Admit them Three keen-faced bulls hindquarters manly shaggy crouching bearing mistletoe and holly berry THE HOLLY Beads of blue Grieve not! The golden bough and holly sprig greet you! blood the air transfigures crimson A crown of thorny green YULE The sun does not die The earth tapers then savors Let's make a fire to cure poison its shine In the wood's gloom a blazing evergreen We'll smolder a log shoulder sorrows away in brass buckets of ash Luck will be ours The singing flint within us Embers glowing glowing �ER EFFERY BEAM EATING THE GOD Having been Ox and Shamrock Having been Queen and Peasant Having been Tern and Blow-fish This strange land takes me Restores my strength The land's fleshy length Such was our custom With jug and grain I by thanks am given SATURNALIA I left the place l was accustomed to COW-BORN DIONYSUS Here you are again Friend of the winnowing heart Back from your far journey I will help you work the lath and hoop to set the stars on an unbitter loop so your sacred frame will hang low and succulent like the eyes of new calves Where the rooster ignites and hails the sun You find me Agoat with a black beard Drawings By James Rhea Borders By la.son Tueller �..... LOGGER -VIOLENCE! •• ' • ' N"1Uril W«ld Newr ~ice On the morning of November 25 1991 Bruce Hare was in the Long Creek Ho~ Restaurant, the local cafe in the little town of Long Creek. Hare had grown up in Long Cre~k and presently owns the Chanooga Wh1tewater Shop that offers rafting trips down the nearby Chattooga River. And because he cares about his home and the river, Hare has also been filing appeals on timber sales offered by the US Forest Service (USFS) near Long Creek in the Sumter National Forest Hare is a former president of the South Carolina Forest Watch environmental group. Forest Watch has been very moderate in pushing forest management reforms, but the group had recently assisted the Georgia Forest Watch in filing several appeals in pans of the Chatrooga watershed that lay in the state of Georgia. This angem:l logging contractor J~s Smith, who also lived in Long Creek but did a lot of work across the state line in the Chattahoochee National Forest Smith came into the cafe with an employee, David Phillips, who has made no secret of his dislike of Hare and his work. Smith was believed to have participated in vandalizing Hare's business several months before. The two loggers came over 10 Hare's table, threw hot coffee in his face, tackled him and started to beat him mercilessly. They brok~ a wooden chair over Hare's back and one of the men held him while the other hit him repeatedly in the face. . "Keep this up, and we'll kill you," they said, refemng 10 Hare's environmental work. They also threatened by name Dr. Billy Campl?c:11 of Wesaninster, SC, a local general pracnnoner and Forest Watch member and :nan Roben Alexandei- of !labun County, GA, a member of the Georgia Forest Watch. They then walked out of the restaurant leaving several shocked witnesses and a battered Bruce Hare, who suffered multiple body bruises a face that was described as "a mass of brui~s " a di~located finger, a chipped tooth, and a ' spramed neck. The two assailants were later picked up by the sheriff's pan-ol and taken to the county detention center in Walhalla They appeared before Magistrate Becky Gerard on charges of aggravated assault and battery and were released on their own recognizance in lieu of $500 bail apiece. ~arc's i:esponse to his bearing is simply 10 conunue his work on behalf of the forest _"l hate 10 see this," he says. "lt's a neganve turn of events. It's like the irresistable force meeting the immovable object. They1I have to kill me to stop me, and I'm afraid that some of the loggers feel the same way. "We're not going to get any help from the couns or the government. It's a real world. ~hether it's Nicaragua or Ireland or right here, its a real world we live in." The reaction of the commercial media to the beating of Bruce Hare has been subdued even though the a~sailants made sure thm H:i:re knew lha1 this was an act of intimidation. The men who damaged Bruce Hare arc now loose on their own recognizance. The court's verdict on the seriousness of their actions will be a clear signal 10 environmentalislS and loggers alike as to how Xatuar, )ou1 not PClCJC 20 ·1-T-ENNESSEE·FIRES ' Narural World N._,, Sc,rvice Afl.C( lwo monlhs of unusually hght rainfall, the <bys 111 the end of lhe monlh of October, 1991 posed a great fire hazard. Wilh lhe rising of a dry wind. conditions became extreme. All it took was a match, and on the western slope of the mount.ains in the Cherokee National Forest. arsonists provided the matches on October 23. For the next lWO weeks approximately 40 wildfucs burned in lhc Cherokee scorching approximately 3.SOO acres of woodlands. The Roclcy Top area was severely burned by several fires, the biggest or which alone burned 1,700 acres. In Greene County, a fire in Polly Hollow burned over such precipitous terrain thnt firefightcrs had to Jet it bum for a full day before iL reached an accessible location where they could begin to fight iL That fire burned over no acres before it was contained. There was a 300 acre fire on Green Mowuain and 225 acres burned on LiuJe Pond Mountain, also in Gn,ene th~ po~ers-that-be view "greenie-bashing" in this region. Not all loggers are like Smith and Phillips, but as the national economy continues to come unglued, people become afraid. Non-violent environmentalists could become likely scapegoats for the social ills that are making some men angry and fearful Desperate men are dangerous. How are violence and intimidation to be de~? Are the couns up to the job? The reacaon to the aggravated assault on Bruce Hare bears careful watching. DISAPPEARING WETLANDS Narunl World News Scivloc Wlul do you do if o wetland area ge1.5 in lhe way of )'QUT bulldoze(! If you arc President George Bush~ ~. US Anny Corps of Engineers, you simply say it 1sn t there and keep on pushin'. The 1989 edition of the Wetlands Dt1l~ation Manual. used by lhe ColJ)s and I.he Envuonmental Protec~ ~g~y to~~ wcllands qualifying for protccuon LS be.Ing reviScd. However, the revisions are more political lhnn scientific. The proposals arc coming from the highest echelons of lhc Bush administration, and they speak more or lhe success of lobbyists for oil, gas. development, and agricultur31 interests than of any new breaklhroogh~ in scientific research. In practice, the change has already gone lhrough. ln the summer of 1991 the US Army Corps of EngillC.CIS was ordered to go back to using a four year old manual lhnt has less stnngcnt definitions for wellands lhan lhc current manual. "The '89 manual was lhough1 to be leaning a lillle too much toward lhe wetlands side." Roben Johnson of the Ashe vii le Corps or Engineers office told lhe Ashtvillt Ciliun -T~s. The chllngc in lhc rules will result in I.he lo.~ of 10 to 3~ of the wetlands in the country, according to the NauOlllll A ~ Society. ~ly, "it is already mnkmg ,;ome d1ffcrtnce," said Johnson. The Corps is a~vm_ mon: construcuon, filling, and dredging g proJCCts m rucas that previously V.'OUld ha,-e been COllSJdcred wetlands. Commcncs on the change in wcdands policy can be direcltd to: Grtgory Pt'dt. En,iron~nta/ Pro1ec1ion Agtncy County. The fue on Rocky Top seemed LO be the worst, wilh flames reaching six feet in heighL Some of the fires crowned, or burned into the tops of the trees, in stands of Virginia pine. There were no homes damaged or dcstr0yed, although there were seveml close calls. During the Rocky Top fire. firefightcrs at one paint abandoned one home to the fire, but because of a sudden drop in wind speed. they were able to retwn and save lhe dwelling. Where possible, bulldoi.crs coostructed fire lines cleared areas in front of which backfucs were set 10 ' consume fuel in I.he palh of the oncoming blllUl. However, 80 J)Cl'CClll of lhe lines were cleared by 20 person crews working 16 • and sometimes 24 • hour shifts to clear brush in rough rerrain. They were n:infon:ed by air tanker$ thnl flew overhead, dropping water-based chemical fll'C relal'dant on the b ~ Helicopters slinging large warer bucketS also cooled backfires lhal looked like they might jump their J;nc and patrolled the edges o( the fires, guiding !hem away rrom buildings and ~ lhat looked like potential hot Spots. Al10get11er, counting fu'Cligluers on lhe line and suppon personnel, more than 1,000 people fought the blazes. 401 MSt SIi' \Vashmgron, DC 2046() Ciuioon by Andrew l.A,hman ,.,inrcr, 1991 - 92 �- .-, -.s WASTES TO BURN USPS IS ARROGANT NUii World~ (TIDS IS f'liEWS?) Nounl World New An article in lhe Sunday, November 10 Kno:cvillt Ntws-Stntind reported lhat the US Department or Energy (DOE) 1w requested the Si:u.c or Tenncssc:c to accept ..tupments or mll!ed hat.ardous and radJoocu, e waste (o, bu ming at 00 R1dgc·s 'TSCA incinerator' (so called because 11 1,1as established under the Toxic Substance:$ Control Act). The TSCA 1nc1ncrator came up to full burn in April, 1991. J~is presently burning liquid wiutes stored in the mile-square K-25 building 81 the Oak Ridge Reserv:iuon. It is esumatcd lh:lt the facility w,11 be able 10 burn two million pounds or waste per year 81 great eitpcnsc ond great d:ingcr to the cnvironmcnL Within two yClll'S the mcincrnt.Or wiU be burning the solid wastes scored in K-25. The DOE ha~ permission 10 import wastes from their facilities at Fernald and Portsmouth, Ohio, and Padooih, Ken111Cky But the agcncy is oho asking to bring 111 7S truckloads or-te from the fac1h1y at Weldon Springs, Missouri as well, pleading that it should have been included in the original wa~te hauling COllll'OCL The Oak Ridge Enviroomcnlal and Peace Alliance (OREPA) is calling on Tcnncsscc governor Ned McWhcrter 10 lllkc a st,ong stance against acccptanee or ony addiuonal wa...ics over the contraeted amounL The DOE ha~ no comprehensive v,1aste management pl.an, and governors in Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada have cited this lack in firmly forbidding was11: shipments into their Slates. OR EPA staff member Ralph Hu1cl11son says, "DOE's waste is Wee elccll'icity seek.mg 8 ground - 11 will 1alcc the palh of lc.ast resistance, and where it finds a ground, people will get burned." People all over the K.atuah Province would be affeclCd ,! Tcnncssce allowed extra loading al the TSCA lncincl'8tor. OREPA is calling on people throughout the region to write to: Go~r""' Ntd McWhtncr Stott Capitol Nashville, TN 37219 asking him to prohibit extta twardous and radioactive waste burnings in TcnlleSlitJC. It would also be an opponunity to ~11ggcs1 closing the TSCA mcincrator entlrely, to stop it Crom o;pewing toxic polluUIIJIS into the lllmOsphere. US 01,trict Judge G. Ross Andcrion, Jr. issued a temporary n:$tr.Uning order to 5IOp won in the long-dispui.:d Long Cn:cl umber 'wile m the Picuni. Ranger Disuict or Soulh Carolina's Su nter National Forest. In deciding on I SUit brought by South C.arolin3 Forest Wau:h. the judge berated the US Forest Scrvioc for its "unparalleled arrogance" in its handling of the su~tion. The agency cleru'ly hod been trying to avoid tails with the environmental group and had logging companies poised to begin cuumg. even though the cnse was sull m ooun. The sale gained w i ~ ottcntion when, m the spring of 1991, 1 protc~tcr who identified hu,uclf only &s "Forest B. Green" s!OJIPCd work on the logging project for five days by siu.ing in • tnle. At that lime the USFS was di.rcctcd to come up with a new environmental a.ssessmct1t 3nd discus:s 11 with the Forest Watch group. The USFS did come up with• new environment.al assessment· one which was complcl.Cly unaccepmble 10 Forest Watch - nnd then piclccd up the umber S31e cx.aclly where it had been lc!t off, directing the companies who had previously offered the low bm to begin cutting, meanwhile Slalling on meetings wilh the Forest Watch group. Thi., did IIOl lcnd credibility 10 the agency's environmcn ta! assessment in the eyes of either the Forest Watch group or the judge. The Gruntvi/le News qoOICd Judge Anderson as saying, "I get the impression your arrogance is unp81211eled. You jUSl don't care 10 "' down and talk. 10 anyone except yourselves.• "I'm noi imprc.<t'icd by a governmental agency_lh:11 lends IO forget who's paying its sata,y; the judge said later m the procccd1ngs. !~uatij: ~ USF11lg,ced., ~ihAia.... the s:ilc contraets 111d hold moctinil,' with FotcSI Walth manbcrs. They also agreed to notify Forest W81Ch 30 days before taking any action on the oralc, to prevent any olhct blitwitg Jogging raids and allow the group ample time 10 go to coan should they deem II ncccs.ury. CHEOAH SALE NAILED Nwnl "'\\tor U News Service More than 300 spikes wen: found embedded m ltt.cS slated 10 be cut as part of the Gra.~y Gap and W=a umber -.;iJcs 111 the Chooah Bald area the Nantahala National ~ On Scplember 23, 1991 or US Forest Service employees checked the urea arier receiving a leucr postmarked in Olarlotte announcing the !piking. Oieoah B.ald, formerly• 21,000 acre roadlcss area, ""'11.1111ack.cd quickly after being dtlistcd as a RARE n (Roadlcss Arca Rc.cnrch and Evaluation) ~ite and reduced to 7.000 roadies~ acres. It still is the !ariest unprolCClcd road~ are3 m the N:uuah:lla Nalional forest and on important link between the Great Smoky Mountains National Pan; and the surrounding fon:st areas. The Wildtrncss Society and the Siena Club lhis summer came to an agrccmcnt with the Forest Service th.It allowed timber cutting but no roodbuilding m the W=r and Gl"3liSy Gap s:ilcs. Chcoah District Ranger Glenn McConnell w:is qootcd in the A ,lttvil/t C11iun-Tunes &s saying. "I don't consider this (spiking) a protesl. This is terrorism." The cry was wen up by the newspaper 1L,;clf in its editorial column. The charge was mu because spikes can be dangerous to saw mill opcra1ors if they arc working without safety procecuon when a 5Pike is h11. Neithcl McConnell nor the newspaper unplic.iled umber mmagcrs or logging company owners ,,.ho order workers to continue cutting timber "31cs rcgasdless of the known risk or spikes. ANOTHER GE SUPERMESS N uni World N •.,, The EPA ha.~ recommended three locations in Henderson County, 1'C for a single federal Supetfund cleanup site - ~ith General Eloctric Corporation bemg identified as f'C.\'J)Oll'ible for the contaminauon. GE now has at least 48 Supcrrund sates to 11.S "credit" - more than any OU1Cr corporauon. GE opposes huing the lhroe locauons as a ~mgle site because, although the EPA ha~ found similar contamination by organic compounds, PCB, 1111d pcn:loroethylcnc (a su~I.Cd aircmogcn) 11 the various locations, GE m1111win, lh:ll the propcrues arc not connccl.Od and are underbid by SCIXll'3te bodies of ground water. The cost of the cleanup, which would be borne primanly by GE, has yet 10 be dtltrmincd since the extent of the contaminauon ,~ sun unclear. The EPA 1s "concerned about the potential for tong-term exposure; and recently asked GE 10 sign a consent agreement so cleanup or the site ll\JIY begin 1mmcdialcly, but so Car GE has n:fuscd to do so. Arca tCSldcnts have expressed concern lh:ll property values m the adJOining areas will plummet ii the site is placed on lhc National Prioritit.$ list. Wtntcr, l99l -92 !1RTlOt'1.R. L 'FO'.KFst.S Xawah Journot pa.c:,e 21 �Natural World News SPECIAL REPORT WHO WILL HAVE THE POWER? Winners and Losers in the War to Control the Utilities Industry At fm;r glance it looks like a dull and confusing ''battle of initials": the war over energy and the who, what. and why of its production that is being waged in Washington. If one says them aloud, the tenns FERC, PURPA, SEC, and IPP, (or how about EWG?) sound like body functions gone amok. Rather, they are the initials of agencies, processes, or classifications of electric power generating organi1.ations. We need to include these important abbreviations in the lexicon of our lives. Congressional baules or bureaucratic brouhahas in Washington sometimes seem 10 be far removed from Ka1uah, and yet they are of vital concern to us, because lhey often have dircot effects on our lives. This "battle of 1he initials" is no exception. rt is, quite literally. a mauer of power and light, Duke Power and Carolina Power and Ligh1 (CP&L) specifically. and how those two companies (among those that SCIVe our urea) have wound up on opposing sides in what appears 10 be a regulation dispute. Their split is indicative of a split in the power indusu:y. The battle is over whether or nor 10 change the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PU HCA) of 1935. CP&L feels threatened by the proposed changes; Duke feels that the new act will benefit them. Two years ago, Senator J. Benneu Johnston (D-LA), who chain; the Senate Energy and NaturnJ Resources Commincc, ed draf1 the Competitive Wholesale Electric Generation Act of 1989, which was designed, he said, "1 remove the obstacles to competitive 0 wholesale generation in the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935." This year, his "National Energy Security Act," and specifically its Title XV, "would open the energy generation market to a new form of independent power producer ([PP), called an 'exempt whole!>ale generator' (EWG). that would exclusively marker power io utilities and that would be free from regulatory constraints imposed by the 1935 act" according 10 Leonard S. Greenberger in the April 15, 1991, issue of the P11hfic Utilities Fnnnight/y. At the moment, Bcnneu's bill has suffered death by filibuster, done in by its ties 10 legislation which would have allowed drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic's Coastal Plains. But there is a similar bill in 1he I louse, and the Senate's Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Commiucc, which normally has jurisdiction over PUHCA, is thinking about redesigning the bill. President Bush's National Energy Strategy focuses on PUI !CA as well. It is clear that in 1992. PUHCA will undergo some changes. This bodes ill for citizens and rntcpayers. To under.;tand what is at stake in this ongoing debate, a brief history lesson is in order, The Wheeler-Rayburn Act of 1935. later 10 be called the Public Utilities Holding Company Act, was passed as pan of 1he New Deal legislation designed to break up trusts that exercised monopolies over many aspects of . Xntimh Joun!a ~ p n~c 22 ' ' 0 American life. Chief among these was the utilities industry. PUHCA was successful in making the utility companies more manageable by dismantling the layers of ownen;hip beneath which they hid their assets. The result, as James Cook describes in his Forbes anicle "Camel in the Tent," is thar although US u11Jirics continue to operate as monopolies in their distribution areas, they are no longer so large or powerful as those that existed prior to the Great Depression, and their prices are controlled by the PUHCA regulations. During the energy crisis of the I970's, there was anxiety about the availability of dependable energy supplies :ind our dependence on foreign sources of energy. As a result of these concerns, Congress passed th.: Public Utility Regulatory Policies Ac1 (PURPA) in 1978. The act encouraged anyone capable of producing energy 10 do so - using windmills, water power, solar power, or biomass. The inducement 10 create these al1ema1e energy sources was this: public utilities were obliged 10 purchase whatever energy was produced ac a price equivalent to the amount it cost them to produce it. If chese small energy producers or "qualifying facilities" (QFs) could produce power more cheaply than the utility's cost then the difference between the two prices was the size of their profit margin. lt was a good deal for small operators, particularly at a time when pettoleurn resources were uncertain and nuclear plants were receiving bad press and worse repon cards. fl was unwise to build new generating facilities when small QF's might appear on the scene 10 supply the increasing demands for power. Besides, the competition was viewed as healthy - so healthy that big business and even the utilities decided to try for a piece of the action. Enter the Independent Power Producer (IPP), a larger scale version of the QF. Some IPP's are owned by non-utility industries, others are run by utilities themselves. These IPP's generate power and sell it 10 utihues m the same way that the smaller QF's do, but with this difference: they are subject to regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under provisions of PUIICA. There are several reasons why this arrangement 1s accep1able 10 the utilities. First, il is attractive in the same way that the QF wns: i.e .. it allows the energy supply 10 expand 10 meet the public need without obliging the utilities 10 invest their own capillll. IPP's are also allowed to operate on higher debt ratios (80%, as opposed co 65% for utilities). Second, the 3JT:IJ\gcment is effective. IPP's now make up an estimated 12% of the nauon'li energy supply. Third, and most imponanlly, there is money 10 be made. Cook describes the profit motivation this way: "Because there is no regulatory limit on their returns. the independent power producers have plenty of incentive 10 cut costs anywhere they can. For an independent producer. a penny saved is a penny earned. For a regulated utility, a penny saved over the allowed rate of return risks being returned to the consumers in lower rates." The present attempt at limiting PUHCA, Senator Johnston's National Security Act of 199 I, proposes to create a new type of !PP called an Exempt Wholesale Generator (EWG) that would fall out.~ide PUHCA's scrutiny. As Leonard Greenberger put it in an anicle in Public Utilities Fortnightly in March, 1991: "Anyone could own an EWG. including today's registered and non-registered holding companies. Facilities now under construction could only become EWG's with slllte approval, while affilitatcs of registered holding companies already in existence would need a green ligh1 from the SEC." n ,e new ruling would point the power companies back toward the days before PUI fCA regulation when the energy industry was a maze of holding companies and subsidiaries - a confusing tangle in which ii was often easy to conceal hidden profits and diffuse accountability. Power purchased from EWG's would be sold to consumers at a price regulated by the state utilities commissions, or by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission if the power crossed state lines. But any profits realized from the economical generation of power by these EWG's would go back 10 the EWG or 10 the utility company that owned 1he EWG. Savings would not have to be handed back to the consumer. While it was totally predictable that the public consumers would be the last to enjoy any benefit from this shift, there are also some utilities that are skeprical about the impending change - thus the squabble between CP&L and Duke Power. Spea.kjng for utilities like CP&L, Don D. Jordan of Houston Lighting and Power states: "Tampering with the highly evolved and complicated s1ruc1urc of our nation's electric industry is nothing shon of imperiling the security nnd reliability of a vital part of the nation's economy. The real test of reliability is whether the power will be there when ii is needed." So they say. But the real issue for CP&L is the balance of power within the industry. Some of the uLilities. like Duke Power, have been ambitious and aggressive, acting more like Fortune 500 corporations than service organizations. Other:;, like CP&L, do no1 share Duke's appe1i1e for unmitigated competition. They have relied more on the legal structure that protected their 1erri10ry and their status as regulated monopolies. They are afraid of being carved up and eaten alive. They fear that bit by bit their territory and functions will be taken over by EWG's that are subsidiaries of companies like Duke. Another area of concern for this group of utilities is the access 1ha1 EWG's will enjoy to 1he utilities' transmission lines. They fear that the EWG's. should they be able 10 gain access 10 the public utility transmission lines and use l,lmtc r 191Jl-92 �-··"'JI energy that developed after the war. The public, mindful of the burning oil fields in Kuwait, will be willing 10 embrace Johnston's new bill, the National Energy Security Act. because it promises to create new supplies of energy - a comforting notion 10 consumers v.ho witnessed mass quantities of pett0leum energy going irretrievably up in smoke. And it wa:; definitely unsexy 10 join Jimmy Caner in turning down the thermostat 11nd wearing a wool sweater in the house. The Gulf War may ultimately prove 10 be our undoing - abroad and at home. Veronica Nichnlas was formerly a cmuiry commissioner in Jackson Counry, NC. For ten years she lias dnne bartk with the Nantal,ola Power and Ugh1 Company,fim 10 keep in 1he moun1ai,is 1he henefils ofpower generated from 11wU11111in lakes, and 1hen oi·er I~ siting of a high-w,_lrage power line 1hro~1gh ~ Transyl\·0J11a and Jackson Counnes r.' NWN (con1111uedfro,n par, 21) RATILERSENDANGERED N:ll\lnl World New, Sc,..ice In Scpccmbcr, 1991 I.he Biodiversity Legat Foundauon or Bouldct, CO and IC$Cal'Cher Andrew Wci.~burd fonnally pctilioocd the US F"ISh and Wildlife Sernce 10 list the timber raulesn:ike (Crota!ILJ horr,diu} 3li .i tndangcrod ,;pccics unde1 the Endangered Species Act . them as they liked, would choose to do business with only the most profitable customers and leave the utilities with a base of high-cost residential customers and small business customers. On the other side of the issue is Duke Power, the leader of the coalition of utilities advocating changes in the PUHCA and a company anxious to gain a share of the EWG business. In the withdrawal of PUHCA oversight that the Johnston bill seeks, Duke can expect a return to the good old days of monopoly before the Great Depression when the trusts were fTce to work their will. They are looking for the day when once again "big fish eat little fish." Whatever the tum of events, we, the rate-payers, will be the losers. Marie N. Cooper, director of research for the Consumer redcration of ArncriC3 put it this way: "Captive consumers bear all the risks of deregulatory schemes (like Senator Johnston's) that say 'let the market work and see what happens' because they (consumers) arc the weakest actors in the market. If the market does not work, it is the residential consumer who pays." So, no matter what changes come to PUHCA, the consumer stands to lose, because utilities, no matter which side they choose in the PUHCA debate, fail to understand that the real key to their profitability lies not in mcreascd production but in conservation. For instance, in 1989 the 1ocassee Wlnter, 1991-92 Watershed Coalition was organized to prevent Duke from building a pumped storage .station in the Coley Creek basin of South Carolina. According to Bill Thomas. co-chair of the group, "When we looked into the proposed project, we rcali1.cd that energy efficiency was an even bigger issue than Coley Creek itself." The coalition hired the Energy Systems Research Group of Boston to analyze conservauon and mnnagc:ment programs that could help reduce energy demands on Duke. This investigation showed ulrimatcly that the replacement of all the lightbulbs in the service area with energy-efficient models could save as much energy as the Coley Creek project would produce - at about one-third the cost If this is so. then the question is, "Why arc the utilities persisting in their plans 10 create more energy projects instead of pursuing conservation tactics?" The answer to this question is nor very difficult when one remembers that it is the US Department of Energy (the same people who brought us Oak Ridge, TN and Rocky Flats, Colorado), that is making the judgments about our future energy needs. With this in mind, it is easier 10 understand why utility companies behave the way they do and why they fail to realize that conservation can spell profitability. We can understand even more clearly if we put the expected PUHCA reforms in the context of the Persian Gulf War. Energy legislation has become sexy, in the wake of the heightened national consciousness about Orawina by Rob Mcssidi: The timber raider once ranged from Minnesota to Texas. from the Atlanlic C01$1 wes1 to the urpc1 reaches oC the MJssoun Riva. It occurred in brgc number.; throughou1 the woodlands th:n once covcrod the whole or eastern Turlle Island. Raum play an imponant p.111 in the forest ecology, feeding prinwily on ~mall rodcms. and young rauJcsnakes thcmsel,ea being prey to hawks and owb. The timber ratllcr was Utsa'nori in the liinguage or the Cherokee Indian!!, who con~idctcd the aea!ul'c a "grandfaihcr," or spintually powct(ul being. M.iny of the naovc tnbcs coosiJcr the umber l'IIUla the guardian or the Earth's sacred place$. The species was once so common that the nauvc people s:ud that it ~ put oo Earth to rem ind the humans 10 wau:h wbcsc they 51ep. The lllllbcr rawer IS cxrn:mcly scns1bve to human di sturbmcc and Cll'IDOt Ii vc rn I.be pro~un1ty of human beings. The budding of roads and ORV traib into previously isolaled snaJce h.lb1tat areas, incn:asing resort and !ICCOlld home devclopmenr. commc:n:ial snake hunung. I.he clearing ol bouomland forests for agric:ulrure. and d11cet persecution ol timber nullen by human beings in informal or govcrnmenl-sancboncd raulcsn:lkc hunts and roWldups 1w caused the near-dclnise or the species. Tocby thcrc are on1 y a handful ol kx:atiom "'here I.he bmbcr raulcsnake exists in numbers that arc sufficient to aUow the species to SUtVivc. Most of these critical sites have inadequate pro4«uon. Many other popul3lions arc II a point where lddi6onal persecution wall ~ult in ciu.irplllOO.~. In the SOlllhcm Applllachllll\S, wnber raulets-,: n:stnctcd to the mos1 rugged and rcmoet locauons. The F"I.Sb and Wildlife Service IS cxpccled 10 n:tum a finding on the Biodivasity Lep1 Found:u1011 pcbtion 'l0fflcumc in December. For addition.al 1nformation, contact Jasper Carlton or the BiodivcrsiLy Lcpl Foonda1ion: Box 18327; Bouldct, CO 80308 (303) 491).@9I. (conllmll!d on paac 32) �r LITMUS LICHENS The pages of Karuah Journal have reponed eittensively on a well-known indicator species known as the Black Bear. The health and well-being of Ibis large mammal has been shown to reflec1 that of the mountain bioregion we inhabit. I recently came across an article in the November 1991 issue of Discover magazine lhat brought to light another form of life that directly reflects, or indicates, the condition of a crucial clement of any bioregion; namely the air. This form of life is called Lichens, of which there arc over 20,000 species worldwide. The article by Edwin Kies1er Jr. poimed 001 tha1 lichens have no roots. They collect all their water and food from the air. Through their life processes they also absorb wha1ever contaminants are in the air. Unselective caters that they arc, they can soak up carbon dioxide, sulfur dioitide, heavy metals, radiation, and dust Lichens can hold on to lhese chemical and radioactive contaminan1s even if i1 kills them. Yct every form of lichen is not susceptible to 1he same pollu1an1s. There is a spectrum of sensitivity lha1 can be drawn for each lichen species, and among lichen species in an ccosys1em, wilh regard to accumulations of different contaminants. For instance, some varieties can tolerate relatively high concentrations of sulfur, while it may only sicken some and kill others. By using this kind of grading system of the known tolerances of different species of lichen to various contaminants, scientists can make a record of a region's air quality over time. Pollution sources can be uaced by plotting prevailing wind patterns for ao area and noting whether the species of lichen that arc sensitive to a given pollutant arc cl3maged or not. This sensirivity of lichen hos been used in European countries to study the paths of aunospheric contaminants. Lichenological studies are just beginning in the United States and Canada, yet there arc some telling eumples emerging from work I.hat has been done so far. In the Cuyahoga Valley in Ohio greater than 80% of lichen species have disappeared since they were tracked by naturalists I00 years ago. In the valley called the Delaware Water Gap between Pennsylvania and nonhcrn New Jersey, 60% of Lichen species that have been recorded there in the last century have perished due 10 the effluvia of nonhcrn industrial cities. Lichens arc actually a composite of two different organisms known as fungus and algae. The united organisms fonn a mesh called a thallus in which a fungus threads itself around algal cells and enclose them. The algal panicipam provides sugars through photosynthesis which the fungus uses in making its own nutrients. The fungal participant in turn gathers moisture and minerals from the air that arc used by the algal cells. One way 10 describe this symbiotic relationship would be to say that the alga and fungus arc eating from each other, only they do not cat each other fast enough or in such a way I.hat the whole organism tenninatcs. Lichens are found in nearly every Xoti«lrl Joun~ j~~c 24' continental ecosystem on the planet. from underneath the cover of ice and snow in An1aretiea, to tundra, temperate forest zones, and dcsens. They cling to stone statues, rocks, and trees in the apparent shapes of shrubs, disks, hair, and even as dashes of brightly colored ink. Some of them can live more 1han 4,000 years - think about lha1 next rime you start up one of those sulfur-spewing devices! Lichens can provide a way of monitoring the potcnriaJ for ecological damage due 10 air-borne pollutants I.hat is far cheaper ch.an using electrical gauges. Electrical gauges can be spread out in a given area and linked by computer 10 indicate when cenain pollutants pass a safe level. However, the costs in staff' and equipment are prohibitive 10 their widespread use. A scientist studying lichen can collect samples from specific sites and do tests to find ow what contaminants arc present and in what concentrations. These lichenologists can also transport specific lichens, on logs for instance, from less contaminated sites to more contaminated sites to monitor air quality. One method of testing lhc chemical composition of lichen is 10 heat it in a furnace until it convens into gaseous oxide forms. From there this gas can be piped into a detector to read its chemical signatures. Another method involves plasma atomic emission specttometry in which the lichens are liquified with an acid and injected into a plasma (or hot ionized gas). This process gets the chemical elements to emit distinctive waves of energy that can be identified on a specttomcter. This method can record over a dozen different chemical elements in lichens. When lichen dies it means that it:. chlorophyll has been destroyed, and ii usunlly turns white. Yet it is now possible for rates of photosynthesis in the algal cells of lichen 10 be measured for damage long before the lichen turns visibly white. This has been discovered in work done by Thomas Nash from Arizona State University. He has discovered that in Drawing by Rob Messick Los Angeles one major reason why a species of lichen known as Rama/itl(J menziesii has died out is that the lichen absorbs nitrates from car exhaust which impairs its ability 10 perform photosynthesis. Human beings have used lichens for dyes, as in the tweeds of Scotland, and the Chinese have used a fonn of "old man's beard"' lichen as an antibiotic. One of the most well-known uses of lichen can be found in a species called "cudbear". This lichen produces the chemical erythrolimum which is used to make lianus paper turn blue or red in the presence of alkalies or acids. Their "liunus" use now appears to be eitpanding to include bio-geogmphical air quality testing. Some kinds of lichen arc even edible; but they have a bitter taste (which may not mauer 10 you if you were starving in the forest but for most folks it isn't anything of a delicacy). Some deer routinely cat cenain species oflichen. This proved particularly dangerous in Finland, Norway, and Sweden, as cesium 137 from the Chernobyl nuclear accident drifted into the food chain there entering via lichens and passing on through the deer and on to people. The return of heallhy lichen 10 an area, however, will be a ~ harbinger of clean airs to come. Rob Messick FLAMES The: spuit, its passion. desiring imcns,ty, WM!ing to feel the heat, longing to iouch, to caress the creative spark The same heat tha1 wanns the garden soil, opens the rlIC pine to birth. and runs down the largest hem lock scarring its majesty. this now, is the: force you wish to call your own With cnch step the d::inger intre3SCS, with each movement towards lllere 1., no lhought of turning back, or deny mg the allunng pull. Own the flames • Ille only wny through Plunging inio the inferno The pyre now asscns dominion Thal long ago lhough1 of harnessing Her power now seems ridieulous, The: flames rise. the flesh scrcams 0111. each cell bums as on ember Tum back, hurry before all is destroyed. No! D:lre 10 face Hu, IOUCh Her, become Her, A gasp, a sigh. a surrender, you are Home LyMFink Wlnter, 1991-92 �READING THE INNER TREE by Charloue Homsher There are many ways to get visual clues from the inner 1ree, 10 recognize which trees are more powerful or have a special function in the area. Age and beauty are detennining factors, but not the only ones. Last summer I hiked the Shanry Spring Trail on Gmndfa1her Mountain with a group that included two women who "read" trees in very different ways. The Shanty Spring Trail is a very old Indian trail. The treeS there seem particularly lively and aware. as though they have been observing humans for eons. When we crune 10 a large red oak with long branches hanging over the trail and roots growing into the path, one of 1he tree readers exclaimed excitedly that we had arrived at a gateway tree. She described gateway trees as guardians of an area and enirance gates to the mysteries of a specific trail. The second woman hesitated, remarking that it was indeed a powerful tree but that she saw sad faces in the bark. We examined 1he red oak and found symptoms of disease under the bark. The tree was indeed in severe distress, and it was probably dying. Farther up the trail, the woman who had recognized the gateway tree pointed out another oak which she identified as being the elf throne. The seat of the throne was a large, flat rock which was auached to the tree and supponed by the limbs. This tree reader's primary way of seeing rrces is to recognize their function in the devic kingdom. We found the queen's throne nearby and also the large auached rock garden which was supposedly the fairy queen's nursery. This mammoth rock was covered with dainty, miniature flowers and a variety of well-tended mosses and fems. Between two layers of the rock was a delicate crystalline outcropping. The gardener in question would be a nature spirit or one of the Huie people. Interestingly, there was a side path from the trail all around this rock, made by the many hikers who have been intuitively drawn to that special garden. My methods of reading trees visually have changed over the years. One of the most profound changes in sight and attitude was after a brief encounter I had with an old man who had studied various esoteric traditions. He had offered to teach me a new way 10 see. I did not have the foggiest idea what he was talking about at the time. I was a college student taking art classes and I defined the visuaJ world with aesthetic j~dgments. His idea was that any kind of value judgment was a limited way of seeing, and that the only way to see beyond the outer form was to look at an object with no preconceived notions about what it should or should not be. We spent the afternoon in the school cafeteria practicing the technique with coffee cups. By applying this technique to narure I learned to see in a deeper way. but I was not entirely successful. Like most people. if I describe a tree poetically, it is in anthropomorphic terms, which. of itself i_s :1 value judgment - actually species chauv1m~m. Probably the tree reader who recogmzed ~es as fairy thrones is closer 10 the truth of seerng the inner tree, since she is able to see the tree as having a function completely outside the similarities 10 human existence. The best I have done as a purely visual kind of intuition is to l'1mtcr, 19!11 -92 Drawing by Rob Mcniel recognize that trees do have individual personalities which may have something 10 do with the growth pattern. I can sometimes sense a tree's power, calmness. or distress. But it is still the visual judgments which give me the quickest and sharpest clues. This way of seeing or judging a tree is based on outward fonn. almost like classifying body types. The Tanaic yogis in India still worship at holy shrines inside pipal trees which have cavernous openings reminiscent of the womb. These huge trees are supposed 10 contain more of the Shakti energy or female creative energy. The yogis also consid~r trees_ sacr~d whic~ have female-like crevices or in which the hmbs, burls or bark have grown 10 look like the female torso. These are called the female yoni trees. Determining the sex of a tree this way is purely visual and has nothing to do with the botanical function. There are trees which are divided in10 male and female. Among these are 1he ginkgo, Kentucky coffeetree, and holly. I see a lot of yoni trees. l think that they are the teacher trees of our time. The male equivalent of the yoni tree in the mountains would be the giant hemlock trees. The hemlocks are the sentinels of the woods. They are like the antennae of the Eanh. They take the cosmic energy and shoot it into the Eanh. thus energizing the whole area around which they grow. There are guardian trees, gateways, teachers, grandparent trees, and trees in which spiritS or fairy people live. Trees also have . relationships to each other. The natlll1!1 world 1s an organic whole, and the larger the p1ct11n: we can encompass, the greater our understanding. l don't think anthropomorphic clues cnn tell us everything, yet using them is a valid way (O observe the inner tree. If trees nre the scnucnt, aware beings that I suspect they are. then they are quite cognizant of the crutches that we need. They communicate with us, via a crude sign language. They give us clues by the shape of the trunk, faces in the bark. by 1he mushrooms or rocks that have become a pan of the tree, the animals that live inside 1he trunk or on the branches, or any other obvious signs which we can learn by observation. ~ WHERE THE RA VE!\S ROOST: Cherokee Traditional Songs of Walker Calhoun Will West Long was a well-known craftsperson and spiritual leader of the Cherokee tribe in the first half of this century. He knew the old tribal traditions were dying and worked to keep them. He passed much infomuuion on to c1hnologis1 Jnmes Mooney and also taught his family and other tribal members who garhered at his home in Big Cove on the Cherokee Indian Reservation. One of those he taught was his nephew Walker Calhoun. Walker remembers tr.tiling along after the dancers at the community Ceremonial Ground 50 years ago. Walker, too, saw that the dances and songs were in danger of disappearing, and several years ago he, as his uncle had done before, resolved 10 see that they were carried on. Walk.er (as he told us in the las, issue of the Katualr Journal) has revived the Green Com Ceremony and the monthly stomp dances at the Raven Rock Nighthawk Ceremonial Ground. He is teaching the traditional social dances to a group of young people. among them several of his 23 grandchildren. who perform as the Raven Rock Dancers. At the first great convocation of the Eastern and Western Bands of the Cherokee nation at Red Clay, TN in 1988, Walker was presented with the first Sequoyah A ward for his service 10 his people. ln 1990 Walker was a recipient of the North Carolina Folk Heritage Award. As part of his restoration effort, Walker has recorded a tape of traditional songs (with two Chrisrian spirituals as well) for the . Mountain Heritage Center of Western Carolina University. The tape contains several of the best-known Cherokee dance songs, as well as short commentaries on the songs and the stories and practices that surrounded them. These are undeniably authentic - unbroken traditions that extend many generations back into the human history of this region. An explanatory bookie~ with an introduction an~ a complete transcripuon of the songs and stones acoompanies the tape. Jn Where the Ravens Roosr, Walker Calhoun has given us an irreplaceable gift: a glimpse at the native inhabitantS' a:ibal past and an inspiration for 1he community of the future. Where the Ravens Roostfear11resflure music composed and played by Eddie Bushylread. Tire rape was rec~rded_ and edited /Jy Michael Kli11e. Sou11d engmuring /Jy Kevin FirzParrick For a copy, send S/0.00 plus $/ .00 shipping and J,andlillg to the Mo_untain_ . Herilage Center; Wesrem Caro/ma Unn·er.nry; Cullowhee, NC 28723. X.Otunh Jou.nm{. p<l{)e 25 �; ........ w .,.,.. ., , ~ ,.11 I x ·· AROUND THE FIRE Wood Selection and Firemaking by Lee Barnes Green SpiritS gift humankind with the captured warmth of sunshine, providing fuels for warmth, cooking, and the luxury or campfire stories. Campfires act as a center for our human activity, a focus forlanguage development. socialization, and srory-tclling (oral histories). Having spcn1 years backpacking and building campfires, I offer the following suggestions for reducing your impact on the forest First, carry a one-burner camp-stove for cooking - a stove will quickly provide hot foods without depicting the local area of slowly accumulated firewoods. If you must make fire, keep it small and efficient. Tfind most novice campers insist on a campfire, even in summer, suggesting that campfires wann our deeper selves. Large campfires arc wasteful of Green Spirits, releasing years of harvested sunshine in seconds. Burning plant cells robs lhc local canh of recycled nutrients and organic bulk which would otherwise result in improved topsoil tcxrurc and nuoient holding ability. In respect to Green SpiritS, try to keep fires 10 a minimum for your needs - build small campfires which provide light and steady heat; use them for as short a time as possible. While backpacking during a hurricane, and prior tO carrying a camp-stove, I learned how to find dry woods for campfires. Sufficient dry wood for small personal campfires can be found after even a week of hard rains. Wood collection begins with lhe gathering of dry tinder, and sufficieni dead and dry tree limbs. Gather "squaw-wood" (historically named for woods easily collected and broken by squaws) from young trees, especially lower dead branches of hemlock, laurel, birch-bark:. and "lighter wood" (the "fat-wood" of resinous pine and many evergreens). Laurel (Kalmia /01ifolia) produces poisonous fumes and should not be used as a primary fuel source for cooking. The best tinder-woods are the resinous conifers (pine, fir, spruce, hemlock) or the easily-peeled birch barks. Collec1 only woods which snap cleanly in two. Throw back any woods which bend or twist. I find that I can scout the camping area and find sufficient dry wood for cooking and campfires without carrying a saw or axe. Select dry branches which can be easily broken over your knee or by elevating one end on a log or stone, then stomping oo the them to yield firewood of uniform length. I generally look for dead branches which arc supported off the ground. Search the low branches overhead for wind-fall branches and for small dead trees. Ct's easiest to look for wood on the high ground around the camp since i1 is easier to drag an armful of branches down to camp rather than up! Look for a variety of small to IMget" sized dead bnmchcs, seeking a larger supply of branches in the 1/2-to- 4" diameter size. In camp, sort your woods by breaking the smallest twigs into uniform lengths. A large handful of the smallest twigs (1/8-1/4 " in diameter and 5-6" long) should be sufficient. Xotiiah Journot p!UJ& 26 Break I.he remaining branches into longer, say, 12-20 inch lengths. I find it easiest to progress with the smaller branches, breaking up the same diameter branches into similar lengths. Th.is process should result in several piles of uniform sized twigs which will make adding fuel to the fire easy and efficient. Avoid collecting much "spit-fire" woods which randomly "pop" and eject chunks of burning coals. These woods are great as small tinder, since they rapidly bum and ignite larger diameter branches. "Spit-fire" woods to be avoided include juniper (red cedar), hemlock, fir, spruce, sassafras. soft pines, sugar maple, beech, and hickory. Overall, the best fuel woods for campfires arc hickory, chestnut oak, black locust, dogwood, and ash. White ash is considered one of the bes1 woods for campers, since even the green wood catches fire easily. Tulip poplar is abundant in Ka1uah Province, but bums quickly without developing any long-heating coals. Horace Kephan, a well-published authority on camping and woodcraft, suggests a rule of thumb: "Avoid drift-wood accumulated along stream banks, since most of the timber which grows along streams are softwoods." Small teepee-shaped piles of tinder arc easily ignited. Once a small blaze is going, add 10 the it from the pre-sorted piles of dry branches nearby. These near-vertical piles bum quickly and provide maximum light. Build your fires between 1wo rows of stones which arc open on the windward and downwind sides to allow better airflow. Staek additional wood on the downwind side for better burning. Once a good base of coo.ls have developed, lay larger branches more horii.ontally over the coals, allowing good air-spaces between branches. Push the remaining unburnt ends of branches into the fire so that all woods arc burnt and only ashes remain. Before you leave your campsite, remove lhe stones and spread (or bury) the cold ashes so that there is no sign of your passing. Leave nolhing but footprints ! Firewoods for modem stoves vary greatly in their heat-values, both for absolute stored energy and lasting heat. Air-dried hardwoods average 5,800 British thermal unitS (BTU's) per pound, whereby it is estimated Drawings by Rob Mc.sick that 10,000 BTIJ's are required to heat water for an average sized load of laundry. The NC Division of Forest Resources provides estimates comparing energy equivalentS for a standard cord of wood (a cord of wood is defined as a stack of wood 4x4x8 feet or about 80 cubic feet of solid wood). Based oo laboratory derived values for heating values of wood, a cord of wood is roughly equivalent to a ton of bituminous coal or 5900 kilowatts of electricity or 143 gallons of#2 heating oil. Preferred woods include hickory. oak, and locust. Avoid softwoods such as pine. A modem wood stove avernges 50% efficiency whereas burning wood in an open fireplace is only 10% efficient. Home-grown fuel and fiber sources are critical for the independence of au1onomous bioregions. Homesteaders have estimated that 10 acres of Eastem Atlantic mixed deciduous forest should be sufficient 10 provide for the sustainable heating needs of an average household. Sustainable fanns must promote the production of renewable, locally produced fuel resources, such as fast growing legumes and other nitrogen-fixing trees planted as windbreaks and hedges. The first step to minimize your impact on the forest is to build small, energy-efficient homes. It is imponant to the survival of humans and our plant allies that we no1 waste their wooden gifts. 12th Song of Venta the Naturalist beneath the polished blue stone of sky and suffering its ancient oppression with ancestral stoicism i slowly finger my rugged beard and question the grass and ils idle greening no major answers were given; and no miracle of nanue rolled forth on the lawn 10 bury my soul beneath mystical rebuttals about unreachable conclusions. beneath the polished blue stone of sky and recognizing its ubiquitou.~ face as a fellow freak of fate macerated for lack of knowledge on a planet where blue and intelligent things die. bray mcdona/d t.,iotcr. 1991-92 �grabbing my old box guiiar and headmg mlO lhc forest so nature and I could trade our songs with each ocher. Nawre's songs arc far mo~ beautiful and comforting, bul lhe Grea1 Gn1ndfalhcr spirit knows my healt. and my small songs are acceptable. Often I leave the guitar al home, so i1's one on one. I lhough1 you mighl wan1 to consider this (which is a form of worship lO me) os a possible iopic of di51cussion. Keep up the faithful work, and Mr. Messick. !hank you for the inspired and inspiring DRUMMING LETTE RS TO KATUAH anwork. Ught, Love, &. Life, Jeff Zachary Deru- Ko1uah Family, This pan of Turtle Island cnlled home is the ecoione of Kaulah and the Cumberland Green Bioregions. The divide is here on lhe IOp of the Cumberland Plaleau. We arc fanning a community whose drainage goes inlO Kauiah Province. My wife Joan and I have stayed in lOUCh with both regions for a long lime. Ka1uah is home lO us. The people, plllces, and energies arc alive and connected. I have passed on many copies of your joumal over the yea.rs as I have promoted the nelwork.ing of kindled spirilS. Keep up the grtal work. Receiving lhe journal is always an exciting evenL You do more than you n:aliu, and J wanted you 10 know thru your voice is heard far and wide. We feel lhal we call Kau1nh home even though we rcsl on the far weslem edge. I wanted you 10 know that we are with you. Bravol Namasie, SanfOtd McGee Tkfollowing is e.xu rpttdfrqm o longer ltllu. Dear Fncnds • Five years ago, K01uah Journol published an anicle on the CenlCt for Awakening, described as a plllcc where people can "consciously live and consciously die." llS purpose was 10 provide termin!llly ill people with the suppon they needed lO make the tranSition inlO The Medilltion project has the mission or "peaceful conflict resolution." HSE rccognius Ihm mediation has a greater chance o( achieving hnnnony than docs litigation. There arc no J)(lid employees a1 HSA. There are no fees for clicnl scrvtCCS. The Boord members each votun10er more than 50 hours a month, and not a single Board member has missed any or the Board meetings since HSA came inlo being. Volun!UtS are welcome regardless of their experience level. HSA makes il easy for people with children lO volun1ocr. Janice Ayers, a long-time volumccr, says, "By volun1eering with your children, you can teach them how 10 care about others." If a volunteer shows an interest m a particular area, he or she is lralned 10 be effective in lhal a,ca. Room and boaro are provided, and the volunLCCrs come away with a sense of being part of something grealer lhan themselves, of having given sorn cthing back lO life. The spark which embodies this service organization has resulted in HSA's recognition by Prcsidcnl Bush as one of the Thousand PoinlS or LighL To see this sprutc continue lO grow, Board members would be glad lo help others SUIJt their own facilities lO serve humankind. dcalh. The spa,k behind the Ccnw for Awakening has continued 10 grow inlO a sicady. burning rue. through five years of tranSfonnation, lO wha1 is now called Human Service Alliance (HSA). HSA is now localed between Greensboro and Winsum-Salem, easily accessible from lnterslate 40 and available lO an expanded populruion of clients and voluniurs. II serves clients in four diffcren1 programs: Respiie Care Program. Center for the TC11T1inally Ill, Health and Wellness Program, and the Mediation ProjccL ln the Respi1e Carc Program, weekend crue in a supportive environment is offered lO physically or developmenlally disabled children, gavmg their parents a break from lhe Slte.SSCS of dealing wilh special needs day in and day OUL A brand-new 8,000 square fool btulding houses the Ccn1er for the Tenninally Ill (CTI). errs purpose is lO give gucslS the personal a1ienllon and Jove lhat they deselvc, IClting them know as they approach the uansition from life IO death that they are wonhwhile people. One volumccr observed once thru all Ullflie Sl01>$ lO allow a funeral procession 10 pass, in essence )Xlying tribule lO the deceased indJV1dual. CTI is here to "stop lhc t.mflic" for a dying pen;on while he/she is still alive. The Health and WcUness program is alc;o housed in lhe CTI facilily. Its goal is 10 help clients assume responsibility for their own health. A !Cam of votunlCCl's with a vocation or avocation an health-related areas assists each cliem in gciting lO 1he underlying cause of health problems, rather than jus1 ucaling the sympioms. lv~nt.er, 1991-92 t - t I 1. • • ").' Jo Ellen Ca,son Human Service Alliance 3983 Old Greensboro Rd. Winston-Salem, NC 27101 Dear Koruah, I loved lhe Fall '91 issue from fron1 lO back. "Songs in the Wildcmcss" by Charloue Homsher (p. 24) brought an idea 10 mind, one I'm familiar with. Native music. be il nute, drums, voice, whruevcr - and its impon on na1ure (Bild vise versa) would be an excellent focu.\ for a future Ka1uah Journal. All my life, pe1.1Ce of mind has been as close as Orawin& by Mane Moms I " " Dear K01uah Friends, I think it's lime to renew my subscription. l really enjoy all your issues, good articles and flllC artworks. Someday I'm going to order a few of them from Rob Messick. WeU I'd fjlce to let you know lha1 Ills! September I was a1 lhe "Shasta Bioregional Gathc.ring." I had a greru time • deep feeling. I meet many beautiful people there; from Judy and Peier Berg. Freeman House, Jim Dodge CIC ••• and especially Ga,y Snyder, a vuy special person. I wished to come and visi1 you loo, bul works at home piesscd me lO jcl back early. O.K., my daily ecoccntric practice is improving. The llalilln Wildemcss Association has rccenlly instituted two Wilderness Areas in nonh and south llaly. The llallan Bioregional Movement is going fine. Last month we had lhe "Founh Bioregional Camp." I was there speaking for the wilderness. Hope this lcuer finds you well and an good spirit For lhe Eanh, Moretti Giuseppe ManlOva llaly nott: lfey. Mort/Ii, don't wait t<>C Ions It> order ort -work. Arri.SIS don't live forevu you luww! RM Dear Friends, WE NEED HaP ! 11 Despiie ever-increasing protest, a dam in Czorsnyn in the Plcniny Mount.ains in Poland has been under COIISltUClion since 1968. Since 1989 young ecologists and annrchists have crganaed blockndes of the dam. A geological cawuophc lhrealCnS 10 desuoy Pleniny National Park's hisiorical relics: castles from 1hc middle ages, manor houses, churches, lnldilional buildings, exceptionally inieresung villages, and valuable natural clements. There is no rational reason ror buildulg the dam. lnlellcclUals oppose lhe dam; among these professionals are nwncrous well-known scicnllSlS. This year's blockade suutcd on July 1. The police action was exceptionally brulal. II was an exueme show of foroe and power. The following damages occurred from this suong-a,ming (as of July 4 injuries): a girl with concussion. a boy with a damaged kidney. The couns have thus fa,imposcd f"ines of 40,000 • 800,000?1 on the young ecologists. A hunger strike was sWled in fron1 of the Environment Minasiry on July 6. We REQUEST HELP through lhe picketing and bloclclde of Polish Embassies! Members or the bloc:k.ade in Czo~1>11 6July 1991 P.S Please make these f.lcts known; ,;pread thi.~ infonnation further. Pragowrua KulUU')' Tcay Siowawyokeme 35--016 Kraslcow, uL Polcaiego Sf].1 Td 53- 772 I Xatucin 1oumQ{. ooa& Z7 I " I ,, IJll1 I rn·;_.,,, • - �Dc.KatUllh, To tbc cdit0r. r have just moo articles on lhe repeated violiuions charged agrunst lhe Champ,on Pulp and Pnper Co. and its continued indifference toward lhe honible c:ondil.ion or lhe Pigeon River. We don't expect the Slate of Nonh Carolina lO enforce laws intended 10 prevent Oulmpion's flagrant indiffcrcncc to lhc wishes of the people, but it would seem lh3111llhet than plea-bargain the pclUllties for turning lhe once beautiful river inlO an industrial sewer. lhe Environmental Pro<cction Agency would apply the full foru or lhe lnw Gt iis disposal fot lhc.,c vioouions. Al the S111T1e lime I.hat Champion has been lClling slorics about the great fishing in Clyde and au.empting to beliulc lhc warnings of lhe known danger of dioxin Lo anyone foolish enough 10 eat any fish caught in lhc river downstream from Champion's decrepit old mill. more and more people are becoming awurc of lhc damage Champion bas done, and continues 10 do, IO what could be one of God's greatest gifts co lhe people and wildlife of this region. I am expccung 10 hear any day that lhe famous fish fry Champion puts on foe lhe newly decied politicians in Raleigh will now fcalll!C fish from the Pigeon River, probably lhe most dangerously polluied sewer in this otherwise bcaullful area. Because of the state of Norlh Carol.ina's indifference to lhe Pigeon River scandill, we should all be thankful 10 our neighbors in Tennessee for lhe in!clliguru and courageous Stand !hey have taken to clean up the river, from lhcoutfall 111lhc mill all lhc way into Tennessee. Thnnks and sinccrc appieciatiOn for lhc growing support we arc getting from environmental groups and lhc people in general. Dick Mullinix Pigeon River Action Group Dear Ko/Uah, We arc a group of students at the Arthur Morgan School, and we'd like IO shllrc our feelings about lhc milillll')' maru:uvcrs Iha! will be going on ID Yancey County on November 4lh - 9lh of 199I. As u:enagc,s of !his coun1.1y we believe !hat our opiniOns should not only be IJlken into account, but should be rcspec:ICd as well. It's so peaceful bese. We really don'1 likc 10 have our home turned 1mo a praclice wn, rone. I1 feels like you arc really going to bomb us. Do you rcali7.e wh:11 you arc practicing for? Why docs lhere have 10 be a ncx1 time? You arc crossing the line of our beliefs, because we don't suppon the use of violence 10 solve problems. Even if the miliwy got permission from some people, !hey did not gel permission from us. We don't believe lhcse mow11ains or any other land should have anything 10 do wilh war. How is !his helping the people of Yancey County work for peace? Thank you foe list.cning, David Barrett Monrovia Van Hoose Byron Eastman MoUy Levin Cedar Johnson Rose Testa Alice Delcoun (The three social studi~ classes ot the Arthur Morgon School ore studying contemporary issues. Similar le11us were receivedfrom the rwo other closszs al tilt school.) DcarKotuah, I am saying lhllnlc you to Cbarloue Homsher for ·songs in lhe Wilderness.· Again she has jogged my inherent nature memory, awakening a beauty of my own 1h31 s.hps inlO slumbers more often than n0t. Among.st the many hardened facts and 1rulhs of our reality on Earth today, it is mosi welcome and healing to be strengthened and rcvitali7.Cd by Lhis kmd of ruticle. I'm looking forward 10 l110fC. Sinccrcly, a sister in voice in Asheville Dear Katuah, Hello rrom up north! A few weeks ago a friend of mme returned from lhc Pcnnaculture Conference in Tennessee and brought back wilh him a copy of Kaulah Journal, which I was excited 10 sec and read again. us1 lime I read Kauiah was in Washington D.C. a year ago and since lhcn I haven't seen 1his WONDERFUL journal anywhere in this Non.hca.uern region or the sl.:ltes. I don't even lhmk a journal like ~umh exislS here ID New H:unpshitt/Vermon1 area. I write this !cu.er 10 you with lhMks. and wish 10 give you money for a year's membership. Thanks again! For lhc Ennh, Michael S1onc Painting by Susan Adlm Well l WIOlC "2" first drafis of a teuu 10 you all hoping Iha! 1 could come up wilh a way 10 keep my leuer from sounding dumb, but no such luck. So I figured the best way 10 Lell you my feelings about Katuah is 10 write 10 you all lhe same way you write 10 us in lhe journal. like we're old friends. I was lucky enough to find Karuah in a used book s1ore while my family and I were antiquing in old downlOwn Asheville- I've never come across anything as neru and infonnalive! Florida jUSI doesn't seem 10 be interested in Native American culture. l'm not sure if they're iniercsted m IOO much more lhan m:ikmg money, sending up lhe shuUle, and ripping our environment apart so lhey can build more moc.els for the tourists. I know it's supposed 10 be the mainstay of our economy but why can't lhey leave some trees and wildlife for lhe ones of us who enjoy them. I guess thal's why I love lhe mouniains so much. ll's scary to lhink !hat lhcy might be cleared off in a rcw years too. I lhink that's why I lmve always admired the lndiMs, lhcy used wlmt lhcy needed, and lhru was iL Over lhe past yenr or so I've become vc,y inlClCSted in lcarmng more about the Native Americans, their culture. and heritage. Issue #32, Fall, 1991 was full of great slllm Your interview about "Bringing Back lhc rll'C" was wonderful!! Reading about how lhe Cherokee's got so swept up in their stomp dance lba1 they went au night and bad to stan singing Old McDonald because !hey ran out of songs was so exciting for me! (Corning from a "stiff" southern Baptist background, the thought of being able 10 praise God with everything you can mUStCr malces me wan1 10 get up and do the same!) From lhc little l know and have learned, the Native Americans stnke me as a ru;h and beautiful people who learned to live by faith and the simple lnlth that God provided lhem wilh everything lhey needed because they respected lbe earth and trusted in Him! If we could ever stop and look at how !hey build and try lO incorporate their ways into our evc,ydlly lives - man, wouldn't it be great? I guess the best way IO start is wilh ourselves. One person =hing 2 and in tum those leaching 2 more. Maybe m time we could heal the eanh, as well as ourselves. I've also wondered, are there any books comnining instrucllon on Native American languages? Thanks for talcing lhe time 10 read I lcucr from a young dreamer. Peact Always! Rebecca Hogan Dear K01uah Joutlllll. Last year I bough1 iwo of your issues from a small bookstore in Ellijay, Georgia. I still have !hem with me and they continue 10 help me understand thing$ as I guess I'm mean1 to understand lhcm. Even though we live oversc35, I'd like to 1rubscnbe. Enclosed is money to cover a year's subscription and the extra pos1age. Also. th3nks foe lhe energy you all are releasing. In spiril, Scou & Miriam R1eh:lldson Baguio City, Philippines l.llnUr., l00kt92 �Sky Mangler, from silver halite Image of thy snow twisting The template of thy helix Formed thee when a snot-throutcd White trash lay down your passage to subordinate thee with bullets No permanent dwelling did thou build Possessing no deed - au was the soil of thine own kind The white Earth-mover claims his machine has a mind of lls own On account of falling drunk on oil overland Thou art so praiseworthy for Earth skill Thy impressionless path was purposeful by its appropriate scale The fire-harnessing soldiers executed policy And have soldierly descendants who have yet to conceive and deliver a successful way of coping with the cold and dark Thy way did peris h until the rost Industrial Tribe picked it up The disease of O,ristian Europe, mutated By stresses in the underpinning rock And brains of soldiers - the rotted, broken virulence The settlements laid to waste But for him thou wouldst have slept on the soil of thine own kind But for the war for white convenience of manufacture For lines on maps Dottering trifOcs At the very length of history when We could have gone thy way .. . Lain claim to thy sustainable homelessness Mike Wilber Drawing by Marte Mems Shhh- . .Listen ... ~ FUTONS ETC. ~ 'The area·s oldest and l.1rgcst natural foods grocery • ... the new alt.emative to the sleeper sofa with over 4,000 years of customer satisfaction built in. Bulk Herbs, Spices, & Grains Vitamins & Supplements Wheat, Salt & Yeast-Free Foods Dairy S11bstit11tes Hair & Skin Care Products Beer & Wine Making Supplies 200 W. King St, Boone, NC 28607 414S.ROAN DOWNTOWN JOHNSONCtTY (7~) 264-5220 929-8622 rl 'J"hu W WHOLE FOODS Saru!J Mush Htrb N urse. J ' WREATHS • POTPOURRI VITAMINS ORGANIC PRODUCE • HERBS • TOPIARY 160 Broadway AshevilleJ North Carolina Complete Herb Catalog - $4 Describes more than 800 plants from Aloe lo Yarraw Open 7 Days a Week Monday - Friday 9 am - 8 pm Saturday 9 am - 6:30 pm Sunday 12 pm - 5 pm Wi.nter, 1991-92 A.I.A., Resource Information Analysis Neil Thomas and Andy Feinstein 305 Westover, Asheville, NC (704) 252-6816 Rt 2, Surrett Cove Road Leicester, North Carolina 28748 Phone for appointmerrt to visit (704) 683-2014 �.,. ~r (canunuod liom page 6) the Southern Appalachians. A1 present, oak species seem to be in uouble - they are declining due to a root rot fungus and are no1 regenerating well in sites where they were once strongly represented. Since oak lumber is a valuable timber product, this situation has been well-investigated. Oak ll'CCS have always had a place on drier. south-facing sites in the mountains, but it is only since the demise of the American chesmu1 that the oak IJ'Ce has become critical as a food crop for so many species of wildlife. Since the chestnut blight wiped om the chestnut as a seed-bearing tree, oaks have greatly expanded their niche, moving into sites. formerly inhabited by chestnuts and filling at least pan of that great tree's role as a food-producer. Due to "unnatural" intervention by human beings in the past, loss of the oak species at this rime would be devastating co the life of the forest. What is to be done? If we were co abruptly remove our influence without ensuring the continuation of the oaks, we might precipitate the loss of irreplaceable components of the ecological community and thus make the restoration of natural processes impossible. This is a situation ~ degraded that it appears human management may be needed 10 neutralize past human mistakes. This is a common <tilert'lma. Ecologist Reed Noss says: "Conservation ecologists unanimously rccogniu: the necessity of scientific management in restoring and perpetuating natural areas. Active habitat restoration should apply the best srate-ofthe-an management techniques 10 mimic the natural environmental regime, keeping human intervention down 10 the minimum..." The first step 10 reinstate a natural order in the Katuah Province is 10 proceed with effons to reintroduce the American chestnut tree with all possible speed. Until those effons literally bear fruit, steps will have to be taken 10 maintain the oak tree. Since light ground fires seem to be instrumental in maintaining oak stands, it may be the oak trees that give us the ~swer, at least for the present; I.& t.he quesuon of how much fuc is desirable. Doing controlled bums to maintain habitat for the oak family would also serve 10 restore the macro-process of fire to the woods. The oak irees could guide us to the proper balance for fire use. To restore natural relationships to a community, the minimum amount of !n~erference is the best, and only for as long as 11 ts necessary. In undertaking any restoration policies, it mUSt be remembered that we are "Irrespective of man's viewpoint, change is necessary to maintain a healthy ecosystem." crying 10 help the Earth heal Hen.elf. We would be intervening to allow the recovery of "natural" processes. Paradoxical as that may seem, that may be our present situation. The examples of the Table Mountain pine and the oak family show us the level of paradox we may encounter and the degree of ecological understanding necessary 10 make knowledgeable decisions. We know so little. There is so much 10 be done. While we can never return to a "natural" condition as it was in a mythic past, it is still valid as a guiding conc:epL The great old u-ees of the ancient old-growth forest are still the grandest testaments to the potential of this region. And, while ii would be fruitless to mindlessly mimic the practices of the ancient native inhabitants, they still can serve as a guide for our present actions. The only baseline we have for "original conditions" was the landscape managed by the Cherokee nation. lt was a beautiful landscape by all ac~unts, and it was a stable equtlibrium, as evidenced by the fact that the Cherokees were able to maintain a consistent presence here for ~ore than 2.000 years. The experience of the First People teaches us that humans in small numbers, living respectfully and reverentially, can integrate ourselves into a viable landscape. Perhaps by pursuing these elusive examples we may be able 10 anive at a new and original equilibrium, one that will serve the needs of the future. Perhaps by seeking 10 fulfill the unattainable mcxlel of a ··natural" landscape free of human intervention, we may be be able to reach an equilibrium that is "natural" because ii proceeds from the forest's own dynamic and follows the forest's own needs. In aniving at that state of balance, we would have to change ourselves so we could live within those natural processes rather than in conflict with them. One way in which we could stan would be 10 put our skills and our passion to the task of serving the forest, deeming it an entity greater than ourselves, that surrounds and holds us, and recognizing that the quality of the forest's life conuols directly the quality of our own. Our goal is the circle of life rejoined. We can only sketch ou1 the elements of a functioning natural communiry in broad strokes, adjust our technologies and lifestyles accordingly, and then fine-tune our relationship 10 our environment as we gain a deeper perception of human causes and natural effects. lf we are to continue to live in these hills, we will have to strive 10 keep the life community as close as possible to the evolutionary optimum for this region. Our work on behalf of the nawral life processes and the native species as best we can know them protects the integril)' - or ecological wholeness - of the region. Our goal is a community of life capable of sustaining itself in the face of inevitable change. ~ David Wheele r (continued from i-sc4) Rhcx!cxlendron sproutS up quickly and in its first year in full sun will set flower buds. The followi.ng year the buds bloom and Lhen open, producing an amazing amount of seed." On rhe high ridgetcp, under new sun and new rain, grass has grown over the charred ground, hidfog it away from sight. It was almosr as ifthefve never had been, except/or the lushness of the new sprillg growth and rhe blacuned suletons ofberry bushes and rhod.Jdendrons reaching grotesquely imo the air. Tiny, leafy shoots spring up from the roots. In rlvee years, during the longest days, the meadow will appear to blaze again in a profusion ofpurple rlwdodendronf/owers. later in that same s,unmer, the blueberry bushes will bear fn1il, turning the fresl,/yfertilized soil in10 a prodigious liarvest Fire has brought change - and new life. ;, --~Jo,. -l'tr1 sorr'l Mr. J"ohnson. We found ~our 'llc.coJ'nt to be ·m arrears . "'"' · ~1P'I l.,intu, 1991 92 �REVIEW: TRIDENT TO LIFE SUPPORT CHUCK ROE! "All nuclear stares are composed ofmaJ1y 11a1io11s, bw each is controlled by a single nation that has the bomb. Britain's bomb is English, not Irish; the Soviet bomb is Russian. not Ukrainian; the French bomb is Parisian, not Corsican; the Chinese bomb is Han, not Tibetan; and the US bomb is White American, not lakoran." Each year during the Christian holiday of The Feast of the Holy Innocents, people gather in S1. Mary's, Georgia in opposition 10 the Trident submarine base and in suppon of peaceful alternatives to the militarized economy. This year the theme of the action is "From Genocide to Peace: Celebrating the Conversion of Our Economies." The marchers will remember the native peoples who were decimated during the 500 years of European conquest and protest the presence of a modem tool of genocide: the Trident submarine and its nuclear weapons payload. The event is scheduled from December 27-29 and will include a vigil, fellowship, a Listening Project, and the march to the gates of 1he Trident base which will take place on Saturday, December 28. St. Mary's is on the South Georgia coast, so the scenery is beautiful, and accommodations and camping facilities are plentiful. For more information, write: Feast of the Holy /1111oce111s Pla1mi11g Committee clo Jody Howard 215 McDonough St. Decatur, GA 30030 or call: (404)377-7109 TURTLE ISLAND BIOREGIONAL CONGRESS V May 17-24, 1992 A convocation of bioregional people from across the continent and beyond at Camp Stewan in the hill country of the Great Prairie biome. To register for this event, contact: Gene Marshall Realistic Living Box 140826 Dallns, TX 75214 Upper Blackland Prairie Bioregion hhntcr , 199 1 92 If. ' ' 't read by Thomas Rain Crowe accompanied by Eugene Friesen, c:cllo, and Paul Sullivan, piano "Love is the perfect work" Words on a page sometimes blossom into meaning within the reader's mind. But poetry read by the author is a three-dimensional experience in space, time, and spirit. The listener hears the words as they were intended to be heard and touches the mind that binhed them. When the reading is accompanied by musical instrumentation, it becomes another experience. The woros are then the frame supporting a work that is a collaboration of influences altogether different than words alone. For those of us who were not al the Jubilee Center on Valentine's Day evening, 1990, Thomas Rain Crowe has recorded readings from that event and from another evening at Furman University in Greenville, SC on July 20 of that year. Accompaniment is by Eugene Friesen, bassist for Lhe Paul Winter Conson and a resident of Asheville, and Paul Sullivan, pianist, who heads a musical enterprise called River Music Records in the Gulf of Maine region. Since the recording was made live, the quality of the tape is variable, but the meaning and intem are clear throughout. Crowe, formerly a Katuah Journal editorial siaff member, lives in rural Jackson County, in the Tuckasegee River watershed. He is a gardener and a printer as well as a poet, but he is always watching the interplay of opposites · sound and silence, motion and stillness, the light and the dark - in the seasons of time and of the human hean. He writes of the changes he has seen honestly and deeply, yet always with hope. The musical sounds interweave with the verbal and offer their own meanings, communicating with the listener on different levels. The sensitive instrumentation adds greatly 10 the depth of the presentation. Together they present a pleasing work. Nothing, of course, can match the subtle exchange of energy that occurs at a live performance, but the casseue Sound of light is in itself a wonhwhile artistic statement, full of sound and insight. And knowing what love is, I aw~. In this place in my body. Full of dream 17WSic, Full oflighJ!" • reviewed by KO near Kerrville, Texas • J THE SOUND OF LIGHT .. Selcctlons from lhe poem 'i1ie Pcrl'cc:1 Work" by Thomu Rain Crowe The Sound of Light was produced by John lane and Tlwrnas Rain Crowe. The tape is available for $7.95 plus $1 .00for shipping and handling from Holocene Books; Box 10/; Wofford College. Spartanburg, SC 29303. '- I For years Chuck Roe worked 10 inventory and protect wild lands and native species in the State of Nonh Carolina as the director of the srate Natural Heritage Program. On a shoestring budget, with linle suppon from the state bureaucracy, Roe consolidated resources and labor from a variety of sources and not only kept the Natural Heritage Program functioning, but made it into an effective force for natur.11 preservation. In the spring of 1991, Roe was fired from his job by the Secretary of the NC Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources, William Cobey. The reason given was that Roe had overstepped his authority in writing a leuer to support Karin Heiman, who had recently been fired as a botanist for the US Foresr Service. The real reason for both the firings is that lleiman and Roe were being too effective in their jobs and were becoming obstacles to the goals of the powers that be. Chuck Roe is appealing his firing. His legal challenge is an important battle for free speech, employees' rights, and environmental protection. "The costs so far for my legal fees have been $5,000," Roe says, "which has not been easy for my family to afford. Standing up for principles is not only dangerous but expensive, bm I did what was right, and I have no regrets." He is asking help from anyone who is willing and able to contribute 10 his defense. To help, send a check made our to the "Chuck Roe Legal Defense Fund" to the Western Nonh Carolina Alliance: Box 18087; Asheville, NC 28814. Contributions are tax-deductible. FRENCH BROAD FOOD CO-OP • • • Consu= Ov.,wd Sinre 1975 • • • We Sell Food that Nourishes I Iumans and Sustains the Earth OPEN TO THE PUBLIC Monday-Friday 8:.30 AM to 8:00 PM Saturday 9;00 AM lo 7,00 PM Sunday 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM (704) 255-7650 90 Biltmore Avenue Asheville, NC 2 Blocks South of Downtown �NWN (co,uinllldfrom page 23) HELP WANTED amc:ndmcnl lh:il would allow logging in areas LO be designated as recreation and stenic are.is. CALDWELL COUNTY: SAVED FROM THE SHAVE Naturul World News Scivicc A new chapt.cr of the WCSJcm Non.h Carolina Alliance (WNCA) has fanned in ~'JIOn.se I O ~ limber sales in lhc Grandfalhcr Ranger DistricL The Foothills Environmental Alli:ince (FEA) is lhc fll'Sl organit.ed crron 10 appeal timber sales in CaWwcll Counly. Hunt.crs, f1Shcf5, and ccologiSIS alike ruc dis1wbed about loog range impaclS due IO excess umbering. Citing excessive cumulative cffcclS from c lcarc:u1ting on both private lands and lhc Pisgah National Forest, an nppc:il has been filed w1lh lhc J"orest Service on proposed sales in the Wilson Creek wau:rshcd. The habillll preservation group Sou1hPAW also ~ubmiucd four appeals of sales on lhe Grandfather District to prcvcnl foresl frogmcnuiuon. degradation of sltC.'lm quruity, and ncg11tive imp:iclS on biodivcrs11y from lhc logging. In November, 1991 siays were granted on lhe proposed soles. and lhc WNCA is prepared tO continue oppeals if R:inger Mike Anderson decides to continue lhc logging. In a meeting belwecn members of lhc WNCA and lhc Forest Service, thc laucr admill.Cd !hat Caldwell Coun1y has had more lluln its share of clC31CuUing. It is lime to pf'Olcct Lhcsc valuable lands. The Poo1hill$ Environmen1al Allianu mrtts al the county library ,n unoir on ,~ ftr$t Thursday of every monlh. US REP. CHARLES TAYLOR: FOE OF THE FOREST One of the siJcs slated for release III Taylor's so-called "wilde.mess" bill was thc Blue Valley area near Hjghlands, NC. Taylor's acllon prompted a storm of proccst from residents who loved lhc area and wnnicd 10 keep it as il is. In response he called an "cducaiional" mecung in Highlands lhat con~ist.cd or a full program of USFS personnel iclling why thcy want.cd IO delist Blue Valley. The citu.cns who packed lhc hall were invit.cd 10 air their concerns by sending lctlet~ 10 Taylor after the meeting. Residents howled. and Taylor bler wilhdrew his bill from consideration. His move agai1151 wildbnds in Georgia was prompted by a bill proposed by Rep. Ed Jenkins (D-OA) which would dcs1gn:ite lhe Blood Mountllln and Mark Trail IIICa.~as wildctnc.-;.~ and add 1,100 acres to the Bn&SSIOwn Wildemcss An:3. h would also create n 36 square mile recreation area oo Springer Mountain, lhe head of lhe Appalachian Trail, and an 11 square mile scenic area on Coosa Bald. Taylor's amendment would have allowed logging in lhe laucr are.is. even lhough Jc:okins took pains 10 mention lhat his bill would hnvc liulc effect on timber quOlllS in the Chau:ihooc:hcc. Jenkins' bill was =enlly passed lhrough Congress SO/IS lhc Taylor amendmcnL ll is 110{ surprising lhat Charles Taylor is so ddigent in the service of lhe timber indusiry. Twcnl)' pcn:cnt of his 1990 campaign contributions ($40,000) c:amc from individuals nnd groups connected wilh the wood producis indusuy. He himsel f is a dc\-clopc:r and tree farmer in TnlllSYlvania and H:iywood Counties. flfonnl Wadel News Service for BIODIVERSITY LEGAL FOUNDATION The Biodiversity Legal Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of all native wild plants and animals, communities of species, and naturally functioning ecosystems.The group is involved in li1igadon in the biocenaic defense of the elements of natural diversity lhat other, more mainstream groups are typically unwilling to undenake. The Foundation closely monitors the programs of the US forest Service for sensitive, threatened. and endangered species and their ecosystems. It concentrates on habitats across the country that are integrnl parts of large, natural, diverse ecosystems. The group's legal actions always stress a multiple species/ ecosystem approach. The Biodiversity Legal Foundation is looking for help in the eastern foresis. They need activists with a strong biological interest to develop a comprehensive review of the status and disaibution of the eastern wood.rat (Neotomafloridiana) and the eastern diamondback mnlesnake (Cota/us adamenters). Both these species are believed to be in serious trouble and require legal advocacy. Those interested should contact: Jasper Carlu,n Biodiversity legal Fowidation Box 18327 Boulder, CO 80308 The congressional reprcscnwivc from Nor1h Carolina's 11 lh District has been busying himself wilh aucmpts to destroy wild h:ibi1111 during lhe past tcnn of Congress. Rep. Charles Taylor this summer uuroduced lhc Craggy Mounr.:tln Wilderness Act, a "w11demcss" bill that released I l,700acrcs of wild lands lO commercial cxploiiation while prot.ccling only 2,400 aacs that arc alre:ldy heavily used as a scenic auraction. He was one or lhc 24 sponsors in the House of lhc "Family and Forest Protection AJ:1; a limber indusuy bill designed 10 hinder ci1i1.cns who would stop destructive n:iuonal forest timber sales. Taylor also tried 10 weaken a forest protection biU mitiau:d ror lhc Chauahoochcc National Forest by Georgia Rep. Ed Jenkins. Taylor proposed an flti. Programs to encolSOge &elf aid Eorth OW01enes.1. celebrotton. klrdhlp ond hope. • You1h Camii- • School Programs • Fa,my Cami,.· Teadler Training • Commuroty Provam• •~Sia~ Tra.,ing • 0uldoor Program~ PO 8ox 130b Go11r>tlL<g. reme- 3n3a 61~ 1'otimfl JoumoC J)n'}C 32 ~\I',\ TaJJcin1 ua...a is a DlOlllhly ,JOUrUal of deep ecology, inspired personal acuvmn rooted in earthen sp,rirualny. Pasl i$SUC$ have featured ar11cles by Gary Snyder, Starllawk, John Seed, Joanna M,cy, Bill Devall, l..onc Wolf Circles. Bubara Mor, etc:. Tn/Jnng ~ for the natural wt'4'1d and for the rekindllOE of our own wild 5Ptnt. uo,-a Suh:\cnpllOIIS an: S24.00 one year/ $48.00 outside U.S. Ta/J:JnglLm-a 1430 Willamette 1361 Eugeoc. OR 97401 5031342-2974 Dra'IVll!g by Rob Musick REGIONAL RADIO Featuring Crossroads music, ?\iPR news and music programs, regional news and information concerning health, education, government, recreation, and the environment. WNCW - FM r 0. Box 804 Spand.ilc, NC 28160 (704) 287-8000 l.,L11tcr, 1991-,92 , �•·,I.I, I FEBRUARY €V€0t'S DECEMBER BLACK MOUNTAIN, NC Bill Melanson, reggae rock. at McDibbs. $4.00. I 19 Cherry S1.; 28711, (704) 669-2456. 20 21 BLACK MOUNTA[N, NC Pini and Gaye Johnson at McDibbs. $4.00. See 12/20. SWANNANOA, NC Full Moon and Winier Solstice Lodge a1 the Earth Center. Begins a1 noon. ConlllCl lhe Earth Center: 302 Old Fellowship Road; 28TT8. (704) 298-3935. 27-29 ST. MARYS, GA 9th annual Peace Witness at Kings Bay Submarine Base. Program includes Listening Project training, direct action, candlelight vigil, and shnred meal. Pre-regisrration encouraged; donation accepted. Contact Kings Bay Witness; c/o Joy Howard; 215 McDonough St.; Decatur, GA 30030. (404) 377-7019. ASHEVLLLE, NC "Breaking Barrier.;, Building Bridges.• Workshop 10 focw; on brcalcing down barriers of racism, sexism and classism, and on cswblishing cross-cul1ural connection:; for more effccti,e grassroolS organizing. Al W.C. Reid Center. Prc-rcgiSlcr. SS. ConlaCl uwra Deaton, Western Norlh Carolina Alliance; 11 Clock Tower Square; Frankhn, NC 28734.(704)S2A-3899. l HOT SPRINGS, NC "A New Years Rcln:aL" Meditation lO welcome the new year, led by John Orr nod Man:in Rose. Pre-register. S28S mcludes vegan meals and lodgmg. Contact Southern Dhanna Rctreal Center; RL I; 28743. (704) 622-7112. 27-4 VALLEYHEAD,AL Winter Solstice Celebration. ConlllCl Hawkwind Earth Renewal Cooperative: PO Box 11; Valley Head, AL 35989. (205) 635-6304. 22 Winter Solstice 2 SWANNANOA, NC Foll Moon Lodge al lhc Enrth Center. See 12/21. MARCH JANUARY ASHEVILLE, NC Tim Abell, ·songs and s1ories for lhe young of all ages. Bring lhe kids. SS. 8:30 pm a1 Stone Soup Cafe, comer of Broadway and Walnu1. (704) 255-7687. 4 SWANNANOA, NC Full Moon Lodge al lhc Eanh Center. 18 Feile Oridghe or Candlemas (01 id"in1er) 21 ?l-23 . .... ~8 GREAT SMOKIES PARK "Environmental Education and lhe Arts" annual workshop. Sessions on slOJylelling, dramatics, mum, puppetry and other cmfl.s ~gned lO inspire new ideas for ieaching aboUI lhe narural world. Fcalured gucsl is Denny Olsen. Prc-rcgisitr. S80 includes meals and lodging. Conuict Great Smoley Mounl8ins lnstitute at Tremont: RLl, Box 700: Townsend. TN 37882. (615) 448-6709. See 12/21. ASHEVILLE, NC Christmas uce chippers in locntions Lhroughou1 Buncombe County. For locations, call Quality Forward 254-1776. 26 ASHEVILLE, NC Tree planting in Afion Parle co-sponsored by Quali1y Forward and lhc Ashevillc,Buncombe Youlh council. For info: Quality F«wnrd: Box 22; 28802. (704) 254-1776. 7 ASHEVILLE, NC Jim Magill, plays mountain music in Lhe Celtic tradition on a varic1y of instruments, original music, and stories. SS. 8:30 pm al S1onc Soup Cafe. See 1/4. 18 21 SWANNANOA, NC Full Moon and Spring Equinox Lodge al Lhe Earth Cenl.Cf. Sec 12/21. Get a set of 10 assorted folding cards 1Nith artwork you see in Katuah Journal. 28 ASHEVILLE, NC Girl Scoots' 80th birthday tree planting along Broadway. Public p:lrtieipa1ion inviled. Pisgah ~~~-~-'!!!~t~G~ir,;Sco Council and Quality Forward. Sec 3/1. ; I ~ ;,:ut (Envelopes included.) by Rob l/.:esskk Send $11.25 postage paid to: Rob Messick P.O. BOX 2601 BOONE, NC 28607 Drawing b} Rodney Webb whole earth grocery Hawk Littlejohn Sourwood Farm Rt 1, Box 172-l Prospect Hill, NC 27314 (919) 562-3073 NATURAL ALTERNATNES FOR HEALTHFUL LIVING 446 c.p,ukway rr~h center • suite 11 g.11hnburg. tcnnCSS<"C 3n38 615-436-6967 W1Htct', l9!11-92 ' ' An Alternative i NATIVE FLUTES Two styles mode of cedar or walnut woods in the traditional manner Union Acres - - lscrtage for Sale - Smoky Mountain Living with a focus on spiritual and «ologicol values For more information: Cont ad C. Grant al Roule 1. Box 61] Whillier, NC 28789 (704) 497-4964 NATURAL MARKET WI IOLE FOODS • BULK rooos. VJTA!liflNES . HERBS • FAT FREE FOODS • TAKE OUT FOODS • SNACKS • NO SALT, NO CHOLESTEROL 265-2700 823 Slowing Roell. Rd Boone, NC 28607 �SAVE OUR RIVERS • CllSSClte album by Baro= and Jolm DunC311 and Ille Foxftrc Boys. Onginal tunes by Barb.ira DunclUI; old umll go.,pel lnllllS by the Fodirc Bo),. S10.00 includes poswge .llld handling. All profit\ go to Save Our Rivm, Inc. PO Box 122: Franklin, 1'C 28734: or call (71») 369-7877, For the Cullasaj:i. • Webworking has changed! There is now a fee of $2.50 {pre-paid) per entry of50 words or less. Submit entries/or Issue #33 by Feb. 15, 1992 to: Rob Messick; Box 2601; Boone, NC 28607. (704) 754-6097 PEN PA.LS WANTED. I am 30, single, a traditional religious leader and Greenpeace acuvist. I live far from town on a rivcrf'rom hom<:SIC3d. Bear's.Over-Rainbow: HCR 77. Box 382; Cosmopoli.~. WA 98537 I W\'E 'f llE E.ARTII. a ca.~uc: nxord,ng of MUSIC BY BOB AVERY-GRUBEL awilablc on three casscucs. Treasures in IM Stream and Circlt!T Rerunung are folk/rOCl.·,i:lzz, and a rccenl release of original chants and songs, l1g/11111 1/~ Wind. is a ca~Ua Lyric sheets includ..ld Send SJO for each r.apc or S26 for all Lhrce IO Bob Avery-Grubel; RI. I, Box 735: Floyd, VA 2409 I. IIIGHLANDER CENTER· is a community-based educational org;inl7.alion whose purpo<;e is IO provide SJ130C for people IO learn from each other, and 10 developc solutions 10 environmenUJI problems based on thcir values. cxpcnences. and aspirauons. They also put ou1 a qurutcrly ncwslcw:rcallcd 1/igh/andu Reports. For more Info conlaet Highlander Ccn1et; 19S9 Highlandct Way; New Mnrtkel, TN 37820 (61 S) 933.3443 BODY RI/YI/IMS from Plancwy Molhets • a beautiful and pnlCticnl clllcndar for women io ch3rl Lheir ·moonthly" C)'l:les. Send S3.00 plus S 1.00 pOSUlge to: Plnnc&ary Mothers Colloctive (c/o Nancie Yonker): 5231 Riverwood Avenue: Snrasoin. A.. 34231. "BLOW YOUR MIND" • wilh 1hc celestial ~Ing music of "Medicine Wind" by George Tortorelli. Also exotic !ino-1uncd bamboo nuics in many keys aod modes. For more informauon send 10: George Tonorclli; 86 NW 55111 Stttet; Gnincsvillc. A.. 32601. (904) 373-1837 WANTED: FUNDRAISER for the Grassroots LislC.nlng 311d Organizing Program or Ille Rural Soulhcm Voice for Peace. We provide uaining end organiring assislllllCC 10 grossroots groups 111 the South worlting on justice, peace, and environmental issues. Localed 111 micnr.ional community m Blue Ridge Mountams. Modest salary. 30 to 35 hrs/wit., good benefilS. Send lcucr and rcsumt 10 RSVP/GLO: 1898 H31lll3h Branch Rd.; Burnsville, NC 28714. (704) 675- 5933. LAND FOR SALE • M:ignif1ce111 view wnh small ho1.1.~ 111 beau1iful Spong Creek, NC. Ten males soulh of Ho1 Springs, NC (off Route 209), and one hour west or Asheville. $25,000 for bnd nnd house. Pcrfcc1 for the self sullkiem life. Crul Lindn Deyo at (704) 675-9575. SLASH YOUR HEATING COSTS· simple and i001pcnsive method 10 locate and stop costly air leaks. Send S3.00ond a SASE 10 M.J Olson: 816 Norlh 4Lh Avenue: Knoxville, TN 37917. Refund if unsatisfied JOIN US -111 lhe Olob:il CeJcbrauon oflhe um versa! day of World Peace and Pl.lnctary Heahng Doo:mbcr 12th 1991. The universal silent rn>cr begins at 12:00 noon. For more infonnation conr.act PO Box 78813: Tucson AZ, 85703 or call (()()2) 326-7522. . Xntu.afl Journot P<UJ'l- 34 . ' cnvironmenial songs by lhc Oreal Smoky Mountains lnsti1u1c at Trcmon1 in celebruuon of the 20th annivcr.;ary of Earth Day. Includes ·scAT Rap," "The 0:lrbagc Blue.~." and more. $9.95 plus S2.50 shipping for each ca=uc. Mail order plus check to Grcru Smoky MounlOins Natural Hi);lory Association: 115 P-Jtl 1-!cadquancrs Rd.; G3tlmburg, TN 37738. Alternatives ... The Dirt:c1<>ry of fn1~n11onul Con1111w,111e.< 1s lhe prod· uc1 or 1wo years or 1111en..1vc n:sc.m;h, .1nd tS lhe most compn:hcnsive and 111:turate Jircclor) a,·ailablc. IL documents lhc: vi~1on and the dally hie or more lhan 3SO commu11111c.~ 111 Norlh America, and more than 50 on oilier conlinents. Each community's hsung includes name, address, phone. and a dcsc11pwn of the group. ExlClls1vc cro-s n·fercocmg nnd ,nJ..,1ng mak~ lhc 111formation easy tn act"C$~ for a wide vancay of user-1. Includes maps, over 2SO atld1uOOAI Resource listings, and 40 related aniclcs. 328 pages K-lnxl I Pcrfcc:1bounJ Ocwocr 1990 1S81' Number. 0 96()27141-4 Sl6.00 Add S::!.00 poMagc & handling for first hook, s.:m rorcach .i.Jd111onJI; 41l% d1'>Coum on ordc~ of 111 c,r more. Alpha Fann. Deadwood. OR (503) 9'w-5102 LIV(NG OPPORTUNmES • Needed, Solar Dcmonstrnlion CC111cr CoordinalOr by Spring, 1992. Preferred retired and/or mdcpendcm mcome pcrson(s). Hou,ing provided w11h op110n IO own within ien years. Expertise in Ofi.llllic gaidcnmg and/or appropriaie iechnology required. OJ,ponuni1y IO a.«-~t low-mcome Ccnunl APJX1lach1ans. Wn1e; Appalachm Science in Ille Public ln1ercs1: PO Box 298; Livings1on, KY 4().145. DOG • a chque of Pocuy, SJ)lril. God-is-Life not God-runs-Li fc. Art. Journeys. IMer Powe11;, Munk review~ and Zinc review~. Anlclcs, Dislribu110n of Gypsy Music and more. Inspired 111 Asheville area of NC and in Southern TX. Be positive and cnioy the world arouod you. M:ul 10 Colouf!; or Monroe: PO Box 18752: Corpus Christi, TX 78480. Cost S2.00. VISIT MEXICO· in summer of 1992 wilh lhe Exchange Program between WNC and S!ln Crist6bal de las Casas, Chiapas. The purpose of lhe exchange is 10 build world peace lhrough personal conUICIS across national boundaries. Spend 2~ weeks with a hos1 family, receive language ansuucuon and reciprocate by offering hospiLllily in your home community Minimum cosl IO permi1 wide panicipalion. For more information write: Jenifer Morgan: 2050 Hannah Bmnch Road; Burnsville, 1'C 28714 or call Becca (70-I) 298-6794 or Jane (704) 625-5620. NATIVE AMERICAN A..UTE MUSIC- Richard Roberti, a well known west TN new age nutist (M:a Zero Otims). is now av;ulablc an the Easl Tl'\/NC area. For relaxing aod uplifling pcrfonnanccs or iopcs con1JC1: Richan! Robcrtli: Box 821: Noms. TN 37828 (615) 494-8828 01' Rt I, Box 136 RD; Lamar, MS 38642 {601) 252-4283. PEOPLE OF THE WEB· 224 page book (1990) shows how lnwan mounds, anciem ritunls, magnetic CJtJ)Crimentation on lhc: brain, neru-dcath c.~pcrience, ll1!d UFO obduclions are rclaled. Wilh 94 piclurcs and illustrnlioos. St9.95 sofl.back. S24.95 hardback- Eagle Wang Books: Box 99n. Memphis, TN 38109. NATNE AMERICAN CEREMONIAL HERBS· we offer a large variety of sages. sweet grass, naiurlll resins, and evcrylhing ncccs.,;ory for smudging. Native smoking mixtures, 0uLO music, pow-wow 111pcs, and ceremonial songs. Esscnr.ial oils. and incenses specifu:ally made for prayer, offering, and meditation. For caUllog call or write: Esscncia.l Dreams; Rt 3, Box 285: Eagle Fork. Hayesville, NC 28904 (704) 389-9898. LOOKING FOR OTHERS • fOI' mutual suppon and encou111gcmcn1 111 sc:udl of a bcucr life. Loolung for ~ l e formru.1011 of a rcsidenr.ial community. My 1ntcres1S and strengms are: feminism, pcrmllCUIIUrc, commun11y supponcd agricul1urc, radionics, rot111111 he3ling, and much more. Write Peggy Price; 5807 Poplar Strcei: Doraville, OA 30340 or aill (404) 447-9829. PIEDMONT BIOREGIONAL INSTITUTE· For !hose who live 10 the Piedmont area, !here's a biorcgional cffon v.-cll underway. Jom Us! We would 3pproc1ll1C any donation of umc or money to help mce1 opern1ing expenses. For a gift of S25.00 or more. we will !iol!nd you a copy of John Lawson's JOumat, A New Voyage 10 Carolina. Also come find out about 1he Lawson ProjccL PBI; 412 W Rosemary Su-cet: Chapel Hill, NC 27516; Uwharria Province. (919) 942-2581. MUSICIANS, MAGICIANS, ACROBATS, ACTORS, jugglers, poets, roadies, cte. wanu:d to JOlll The Bicycle B:ind, a iribal-foU. trnvcling musical circus/medicine show. Must be 101ally self-propelled (no gas-powered vehicles). Conlllct Billy Jonas; 31 Park A,·c.; Asheville, NC 28801 ROOM AV An.ABLE • in exchange for small odd jobs and some cooking. To inquire please coniact Knrcn W,ulcins at Rt 4, Box 389; Burnsville. NC 28714; (704) 682-9263. ,.,lurer, 199 t-92 �BACK ISSUES OF KATUAH JOURNAL AVAILABLE ISSUE THREE· SPRING 1984 Sustainable Agricullure - Sunnowers • Human lmpac, on lhe Forest - Childrens· Educa1ion Veronica Nicholas: Woman in Politics - Lill.le People - Medicine Allies ISSUE FOUR - SUMMER 1984 War.er Drum • Water Quali1y - Kudzu. Solar Eclip.,;c · Clcan:ulling • Trou1 • Going IO Waler - Ram Pumps· Microhydro • Poems: Bennie Lee Sinclair, Jim Wayne Miller ISSUE FIVE - FALL 1984 Harvest • Old Ways in Cherokee - Ginseng - Nuclear Waste • Our Celtic ReriLagc - Biorcgionalism: Past. Present. and Future - John Wilno1y - Healing Darlcness - Politics of Participation ISSUE STX· WINTER 1984-85 Winlcr Solstice Eanh Ceremony - Horsepasture Rjvcr • Coming of the Light - Log Cabin ROOI. Mounuiin Agriculture: The Right Crop • William Taylor - The Future of 1he Forest ISSUE SEVEN - SPRING 1985 Sustainable Economics - Hol Springs - Worller Ownership - The Great Economy - Self Help Credit Union - Wild Turkey - Responsible Investing . Working in Ille Web of Life ISSUE EIGHT - SUMMER 1985 Celebration: A Way of Life - Katuah 18,000 Years Ago· Sacred Sites - Folk Arts in the Schools. Sun Cycle/Moon Cycle - Poems: Hilda Downer Cherokee Heritage Center - Who Owns Appalachia? ISSUE NINE • FALL 1985 The Waldoe Forest - The Trees Speak • Migrating Forests • Horse Logging - SLBrting a Troe Crop • Urban Trees • Acom Bread • Mylh Time ISSUE TEN· WINTER 1985·86 Kate Rogers • Ci:cles of Sione - Internal Mythmalcing • Hol.islic Healing on Trial - Poems: Steve Knaulh · Mylhic Places - The Uk1ena·s Tale. Crystal Magic - "Drcamspeaking• ISSUE THlRTEEN • FALL 1986 Center For Awakening - Elizabeth Callari - A Gentle Death • Hospice. Ernest Morgan • Dealing Creatively wilh Death • Home Burial Box - The Wake - The Raven Mocker - Woodslore & Wildwoods Wisdom - Good Medicine; The Sweat Lodge ;'. 33 Ke°UA~9URNAL PO Box 638 Leicester, NC Katuah Province 28748 For more info: call Rob Messick at (704) 754-6007 Name Regular Membership........$10/yr. Sponsor.........................$20/yr. Contributor.....................$50/yr. Address City Wl.ntef', 1991-92 ISSUE FOURTEEN· WINTER 1986-87 Lloyd Carl Owle - Boogcrs and Mummers. AJI Species Day - Cabin Fever Univcrsily - Homeless in KatWlh • Homemade Hot Water. Stovemakcr's Narrative· Good Medicine: ln1Crsp0Cies Communication ISSUE FIFIBEN • SPRING 1987 Coverlets· Woman Forcsr.cr. Susie McMahan: Midwi~e • ~tcrnative Contraception - Biosexuality B1oregionalism and Women • Good Medicine: Matriarchal Culture - Pearl ISSUE SIXTEEN· SUMMER 1987 Helen Wai1e - Poem: Visions in a Garden • Vision Ques, • First Aow - Initiation • Leaming in the Wilderness - Cherokee Challenge - "Valuing Trees" ISSUE EIGHTEEN· WINTER 1987-88 Vernacular ArchitCCtW'C - Dreams in Wood and Stone • Mountain Home • Eanh Energies • Eanh-Shcltercd Living· Membrane Houses • Brush Shelter. J?oems: October Dusk - Good Medicine: "Sheller" ISSUE NlNETEEN · SPRING 1988 l?en:landra Garden - Spring Tonics - Blueberries. Wilctnowcr Gardens· Granny Herbalist - Aower Essences • "The Origin of lhe Animals:" Story Good Medicine: "Power" • Be A Tree ISSUE nVENTY • SUMMER 1988 Preserve Appalochian Wilderness - Highlands of Roan - Celo Community· Land Trust - Arthur Morgan School - Zoning Issue. "The Ridge" • Farmers and the Fann Bill - Good Medicine: "Land" - Acid Rain • Duke·s Power Play • Cherokee Microhydro Project ISSUE TWENTY-TWO-WINTER 1988-89 Global Warming - F"1te This lime. ThOIIUIS Berry on "Bioregions· · Earth Exercise. Kort Loy McWhiner· An Abundance of Emptiness. LETS. Chronicles of Aoyd • Darry Wood • The Bear Clan ISSUE 1WBNTY-THREE- SPRING 1989 Pisgah Village • Planet An· Green Ci1y - Poplar Appeal· "Clear Sky"· "A New Eanh". Black Swan - Wild Lovely Days· Reviews: Sacred Land Sacred Sex. Ice Age· Poem: "Sudden Tendrils" State Phone Number Zip Enclosed is $ , - - - - - to give this effon an extra boost ISSUE TWENTY-FOUR· SUMMER 1989 Deep Listening • Life in Atomic City - Direct Action! • Tree of Peace - Community Building. Peacemakers· Ethnic Survival • Pairing Project. "Batl.lesong" • Growing Peace in Cuhurcs - Review: The Chalice and the 8/Juk ISSUE TWENTY-SIX· WINTER, 1989·90 The Ecoz.oic Ero • Kids Saving Rainforest • Kids Treecycling Company - Connict Resolution • Developing Creative Spirit - Birth Power. Magic of Puppetry • Home Schooling - Naming Ceremony • Mother Earth's Classroom • Gardening for Children ISSUE TWENTY-SEVEN - SPRING, 1990 Transformation - Healing Power - Peace to Their Ashes • Healing in KatWlh - Poem: "When Len 10 Grow· • Poems: Sicphen Wing - The Belly - Food from the Anciem Fores, ISSUE TWENTY-NINE· FALI../WlNTER 1990 From the Mountains 10 lhe Sea • Profile of The Lltl.le Tennessee River - Headwaters Ecology. "It All Comes Down to Water Quality". Water Power. Action ror Aquatic Rabimis . Dawn Walehers . Good Medicine: The Long Human Belng - The Nonh Shore Rood - Katuah Sells Ou, - Watetshed Map or the Kalliah Province ISSUE THIRTY· SPRING 1991 Economy/ECOiogy • Ways IO a Regenerative Economy· "Money is the Lowest Form of Wealth" • Clarlcsville Miracle - The Village - Food Movers. Lirework • Good Medicine: "Village Economy• Shelton l.aW'CI • LETS ISSUE THIRTY-ONE- SUMMER 1991 Dowsing - Responsibilities of Dowsing • Elearical Life or the Earth • Kaulah and the Earth Grid • Call of the Ancient Ones - Good Medicine: ·0o Ag&JCSSion" - Time 10 Take the Time to Take the Time· Whole Science - Tuning ln ISSUE THIRTY-TWO. FALL 1991 Bringing back the F"1te · A Bit of Mountain Levity • Climax Never Came - "Talking Leaves": Sequoyah • Wal.king Distance· Good Medicine: "Serving lhe Great Life" • The Granola Journal - Paintings: "Mouniain Siories"- Songs of lhe Wilderness Back Issues: Issue# _ _@ $2.50 = $,_ __ Issue# _ _@ $2.50 = $,_ __ Issue# __@ $2.50 = $,_ __ Issue#_@ $2.50 = $ Issue# _ _@ $2.50 = $ - - postage paid $,_ __ Complete Set: (3-10, 13-16, 18-20, 22-24, 26-32) postage paid @ $50.00 = $. _ __ 1 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records Description An account of the resource <em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal</em>,&nbsp;was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. <br /><br /><span>The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name,&nbsp;</span><em>Katúah</em><span>, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant.&nbsp;</span><br /><span><br />The <em>Katúah Journal</em> was co-founded by Marnie Muller, David Wheeler, Thomas Rain Crowe, Martha Tree and others who served as co-publishers and co-editors. Other key team members included Chip Smith, David Reed, Jay Mackey, Rob Messick and many others.</span><br /><br />This digital collection is only a portion of the <em>Katúah</em>-related materials in the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection in Special Collections at Appalachian State University. The items in AC.870 Katúah Journal records cover the production history of the <em>Katúah Journal</em>. Contained within the records are correspondence, publication information, article submissions, and financial information. The editorial layouts for issues 12 through 39 are included as are a full run of the Journal spanning nearly a decade. Also included are photographs of events related to the Journal and a film on the publication. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived This resource is part of the&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal Records </em>collection. For a description of the entire collection, see <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Katúah Journal Records (AC. 870)</a>. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The images and information in this collection are protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. C.) and are intended only for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes, provided proper citation is used – i.e., Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records, 1980-2013 (AC.870), W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. Researchers are responsible for securing permissions from the copyright holder for any reproduction, publication, or commercial use of these materials. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1983-1993 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource journals (periodicals) Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Katúah Journal</em>, Issue 33, Winter 1991-1992 Description An account of the resource The thirty-third issue of the <em>Katúah Journal</em> focuses on Fire: its power and uses. Authors and artists in this issue include: David Wheeler, Vic Weals, Barbara J. Sands, Jan Davidson, David Brewin, Barbara Wickersham, Jeffery Beam, Veronica Nicholas, Rob Messick, Charlotte Homsher, Lee Barnes, Mike Wilbur, Jason Tueller, Rob Leverett, James Rhea, David Earl Williams, Andrew Lehman, Vince Packard, Lynn Fink, Susan Adam, Bray McDonald, and Mark Morris. <br><br><em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to <em>Katúah Journal</em>, was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name, Katúah, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-1992 Table Of Contents A list of subunits of the resource. Fire's Power by David Wheeler.......3<br /><br />What Is Natural? by David Wheeler.......5<br /><br />Do Clearcuts Mimic Fire?.......6<br /><br />Smokey and the Red Wolves.......7<br /><br />Fire in Jeffreys Hell by Vic Weals.......8<br /><br />Poems by Barbara J. Sands.......9<br /><br />Fire and Forge by Jan Davdison and David Brewin.......11<br /><br />The First Fire: A Cherokee Legend.......12<br /><br />Hearth and Fire in the Mountains by Barbara Wickersham.......14<br /><br />Good Medicine.......15<br /><br />Midwinter Fires: Poems by Jeffery Beam.......18<br /><br />Natural World News.......20<br /><br />Who Will Have the Power? by Veronica Nicholas.......22<br /><br />Litmus Lichens by Rob Messick.......24<br /><br />Reading the Inner Tree by Charlotte Homsher.......25<br /><br />Review: Where the Ravens Roost.......25<br /><br />Around the Fire by Lee Barnes.......26<br /><br />Drumming.......27<br /><br />Poem: "Sky Mangler" by Mike Wilber.......29<br /><br />Review: The Sound of Light.......31<br /><br />Events.......33<br /><br />Webworking........34<br /><br /><em>Note: This table of contents corresponds to the original document, not the Document Viewer.</em> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <em>Katúah Journal</em>, printed by The <em>Waynesville</em> <em>Mountaineer</em> Press Subject The topic of the resource Bioregionalism--Appalachian Region, Southern Sustainable living--Appalachian Region, Southern Forest fires--Environmental aspects Blacksmithing--Appalachian Region, Southern--History Hearths--Appalachian Region, Southern--History Cherokee Indians--Social life and customs Cherokee mythology North Carolina, Western Blue Ridge Mountains Appalachian Region, Southern North Carolina--Periodicals Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937"> AC.870 Katúah Journal records</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a title="In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted" href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/?language=en 8" target="_blank"> In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted </a> Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Appalachian Region, Southern Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. <a title="Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians" href="https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/collections/show/79" target="_blank"> Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians </a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Journals (Periodicals) Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1990s Acid Deposition Appalachian History Appalachian Mountains Appalachian Studies Bioregional Definitions Book Reviews Cherokees Earth Energies Electric Power Companies Fire Folklore and Ceremony Forest Issues Geography Good Medicine Habitat Hazardous Chemicals Katúah Poems Radioactive Waste Reading Resources South PAW (Preserve Appalachian Wilderness) Stories Turtle Island Villages https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/501565e7337d54952a1f1a4f817e1d07.pdf e2930310495291405c931b80c288e056 PDF Text Text $ 2.00 ISSUE 35 SUMMER 1992 ..:··.:·'. .. .... ·· ······· ...... ....... ·..······· ·-·-:.··········· ····,. ..~.. ··..··,. �Drawing by Rob Messick ~UAHJOURNAL PO Box 638 Leicester, NC Katuah Province 287 48 Postage Paid Bulk Mall Permit #18 Leicester, NC 28748 f .,c.\ e o,. @ C, ,l {IC () r. Printed on recycled papcT ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED �eoNrENTs0 Consensus........................ 1 by Caroline Estes Decision-Making Process....... 4 by Joyce Johnson Problems with Consensus...... 5 by Rob Messick Tribal Council.................... 6 by Bear With Runs Elda................................ 9 by Lucinda Flodin The State of Franklin............ 11 by David Wheeler Where the Trees Outnumber the People.................... 14 by Stephen Wing In Council with All Beings..... 16 by Lee Barnes Steve Moon: Shell Engravings............ 17 Good Medicine................... 18 Natural World News............ 20 A Look Back..................... 23 by caroline Estes by Will Ashe Bason Are Bioregions Too Big? ....... 24 by Rob Messick Practices for Full Self- Rule... 25 by Clear Marks Drumming........................ 26 Jury Nullification................ 28 by Karen Fletcher Review: Beyond the limits............... 29 by Rob Messick Events............................. 32 Webworking..................... 34 Summer, 1992 Consensus is based on the belief that each person has some pan of the truth and no one has all of it (no matter how mui::h we would like to believe so) and on a respect for all persons involved in the decision that is being considered. ln our present-day society the governing idea is that we can trust no one, and therefore we must protect ourselves if we are to have any security in our decisions. The most we will be willing to do is compromise. This means we are willing to settle for less than the very best - and !hat we will always have a sense of dissatisfaction with any of our decisions unless we can somehow maneuver others involved in the process. This leads to a skewing of honesty and fonhrighmess in our relationships. In the consensus process, we start from a different basis. The assumption is that we are all truscwollhy (or at least can become so). The process allows each person complete power over the group. The central idea for the Quakers was the complete elimination of majorities and minorities. If there were differences of view at a Quaker meeting, as there were likely to be in such a body, the consideration of the question at issue would proceed, with long periods of solemn hush and meditation, until slowly the lines of thought drew together toward a point of unity. Then the clerk would frame a minute of conclusion, expressing the "sense of the meeting." Built into the consensual process is the belief that all persons have some part of the truth, or what in spiritual terms might be called "some part of God," in them. and that we will reach a better decision by putting all of the pieces of the truth together before proceeding. There are indeed limes when it appears that two pieces of the truth arc in · contradiction to each other, but with clear thinking and auention. the whole may be perceived which includes both pieces, or many pieces. The either/or type of argument does not advance this process. Instead, the process is a search for the very best solution to whatever is the problem. That does not mean that there is never room for error - but on the whole, in my experience, it is rare. This process also makes a direct application of the idea that all persons are equal. If we do indeed trust one another and do believe that we a!J have pans of the truth, then ac any time one person may know more or have access to more information • but at another time, others may know more or have more access or bett.cr understanding. Even when we have all the facts before us, it may be the spirit that is lacking and comes forth from another who secs the whole better than any of the persons who have some of the pans. All of these contributions are impo11ant. Decisions which all have helped shape and in which all can feel united make the canying out of the necessary action go Oraw111g by Rob Messick (contirwed on page 3) Xatimh Journat page 1 �~UAHJOURNAL EDITORIAL STAPH TIHS ISSUE: Maria Abbruzzi Lee Barnes Heather Blair Chris Davis Judith Hallock Charlotte Homsher Willow Johnson, lheQuwcctor Thanks to Jim Rob Messick Nancy Odell Michael Red Fox James Rhea Rodney Webb David Wheeler Houser for inspiring the "Councils" theme for this issue. COVER: by Rob Messick ©1992 STATEMENT OF PURPOSE PUBLISHED BY: Karuah Journal Here, in the Katuah Province of these ancient Appalachian mountains where once the Cherokee Nation lived in freedom between the Tennessee River Valley and the Eastern Piedmont between the Valley of the Roanoke and the Southern Plain on this Tunle Island continent of Mother Ela, the Earth PRTNTED BY: The Waynesville Moumaineer Press EDITOR JAL OFFICE TI TTS ISSUE: Billy Home and Gardens, Asheville, NC WRITE US AT: Kattwh Journal Box 638; Leicester, NC; Katuah Province 28748 Here, In this place we dedicate ourselves to remembering our deep connection to the spirit of the land. We bring this connection into the being and the doing of our daily lives When the land spealcs, we listen and we act We tune our lives 10 the changes, to the seasons We respect the limits of the land We preserve, defend, and restore lhe land We give !hanks for all that is good TELEPHONE: (704) 754-6097 Diversity is an important clement of bioreg,onnl ecology, both runuml and social. In accord with this principle Karuah Journal irics to serve as a forum for the discussion of regional isrucs. Signed articles express only the opinion of the authors and arc not necessarily the opinions of the Katuah Jounial ediun or staff. The Internal Revenue Service has declared Katuah Journal a non-profit organiuition under section 501 (c)(3) of the lntemnl Revenue Code. All contributions to Katuah Journal arc deductible from personal income lllX. Ham1ony with the land is no longer an ideal; it is an imperative. The land is a living being. She is sacred. As the land lives, so do we. As the spirit of the land is diminished, our spirits are diminished as well. Articles appearing in KaJuahJournal may be reprinted in other publications with pcnnission from lhc Katuah Journal struT. Contact the journal in writing or call (704) 754-6097. Kattwh Joturwl sends a voice... with anicles, stories, poems, and artwork we speak to the spirit of all the living, breathing inhabitants of these mountains in hopes that we, lhe human beings, may find our place in this Great Life. 'LN VOCA.TLON - Empowering the Cowu:il Feather Great Spirit, Divine Mother, we know this feather came to us from you, we know it's first purpose in lhe Oeation is to fly empower it so !hat each of us who talces it in tum may look down as the great eagle circling over our Council, empower us so that each may speak as the wind speaks from our own comer of lhe Creation, looking down over the long shoulder of the horizon The Editors KATUAH JOURNAL wants to communicate your thoughts andfeelings to other people in the bioregional province. Send them to us as letters, poems, stories, articles, drawings. or plwtographs, etc. Please send your comriburions 10 us a1: Katuah Journal; P.O. Box 638; Leicester, NC; Kan,ah Province 28748. OUR NEXT ISSUE will be about the role of wood in lhe life of the mountains. Please send anicles evaluating the present timber industry. logging stories. and visions of ecological and sustainable ways to cut and use wood. Please also send pictures and drawings of trees. wood, and woodworkers. Deadline is August 8th 1992. - Stephen Wing/ '\'"' ..... ~ •1 \ • • t.,1 I • I •• J ' .. ... THE WINTER ISSUE will be an assortment including stories for good winter reading and possibly renewable energy systems. Deadline is October, 30th 1992. 8 ti b"• .\Jo/ I ~~~·/~~ �(continued from page I) forward wiLh more efficiency, power, and smoothness. This applies L persons, o communities, a.nd naLions. Given the enonnous issues and problems before us, we need LO use the ways thaL will best enable us to move forward Logether. The above is an ucerpt/rom an essay in Home: A Bioregional Reader, tdittd by Van Andruss, Christopher and Judith Plant, and Eleanor Wright (New Society Publishers, 1990). (First printed in The New Catalys1, 1tJ. Spring. 1986) Speaking with CAROLINE ESTES: A Phone InLerview - May, 1992 Kanwh: When you are faciliLating, how do you see yourself acting in the group? CE: As a servant LO the group; to help them come 10 the best decision they can make wiLh those present. Katlltlh: And 10 do that you have to be assiduously neutral. CE: That's right. Katuah: But it also goes beyond that, because when you are working at the Bioregional Congress, I feel you are putting out a lot of energy to...cemer yourself spiritually, could you say that? CE: Yes, you could say that. The way I put it is that when I am doing consensusmaking facilitation r try to keep myself as a clear stream. I am noL impeding; I have nothing in me that is directing. and yet l am there, in the spiritual sense, LO be as much help as l can possibly be. Ninety percent of facilitation is knowing your group on that level. Only te n percent of iL is knowing the subject matter and understanding the words and all of Lhat. MosL of what you are working wiLh is totally subjective and understanding the "vibes." l don't have all the new age tenninology down, but it's definitely true that as a facilitator of large groups. you have to be in tune with the group. If you're not, don'L facilitate. Karuah: It's not a mechanistic thing at all. CE: Absolutely. That's the reason I get slightly hysterical when people say anyone can facilitate. Katttal1: What is the most difficult job you ever had LO facilitate? CE: I can think of times when it didn't work, bu1 the one thot strained the group the most and we actually got the group Lhrough it, was at the second Bioregional Congress at Lake Leelanauw, Michigan when the group tried LO pass a spirituality statement. A resolution on spirituality was brought before the group. Everyone was favorably impressed and, I think, was preparing to Sum mer, 1992 i\...) . adopt it, when two people who had been on the fringe of the Congress all week moved forward 10 say that they blocked it. That was very hard 10 hear because they had not been integral Lo the Congress, and yet they had been there, and since the Congresses are open groups they had the right 10 do this. They were not articulate, so we could not figure out easily what Lhey wanted or why they were blocking it. I asked the . patience of the group for two or three minutes so I could dialogue with them directly, and in doing so after a few minutes it started 10 emerge that the problem we were looking at was the separation of church and state, which no one up until that point had thought about. Once that was articulated in a way that people could understand it. a numbc!r of people rose. including some who had been on the commiuee, and said that they would withdraw the statement. Others wanted 10 sign it in order to show support for it, but it could not move forward in the group. It was blocked. That was one of the most di fficuh ones in that we had a block from inarticulate people who "'eren't integrally pan of the group and were holding up a group decision that until then looked like it had a "go." l think that was the most lenmin& a group has done on why we have blocking. h also tested the paoence of the group the most. It showed a lot of things. It showed that sometimes Lhe facilitator needs 10 step in to try to find ouL what is really going on. It also tested the group in whether they re:illy believed in the consensual process enough that they allowed the time for it to happen even when it was at the end of an incredibly pushed day. . r,_ It got very emotional, but...the system worked! We hadn't thought about that point., and we needed to think about it before rushing into a decision that might have been 100 hasty. Kattlah Whar do you think is the imponnnce of the continental bioregional congress doing its work by consensus? CE: It's incredibly important. In a sense we have been co-opted by the larger society. Bioregionalism is now an accepted word. For instance, California is now looking at bioregionalism governmentally. They are starting to look at how they could break down the state into sub-regions, instead of towns, cities, and counties. And part of it is, 1 think, the power that goes behind any decision of any group that works consensually. You just have a lot more power behind what you say. Even if it doesn'L get into the mass media, it intrinsically has more power. when everybody in the group is behind a decision. Ka11tal1: That leads to the clincher question: which is the most imponant., the process or the result? CE: (Pause) I'd say Lhe process...if your process is flawed, your decision is going to be flawed_ When people don't want to use consensus it is usually because they are attached to their position. And they are right: if they are attached ro a position and unable to see or allow a better position L be brought o Drawing by Rob Messick (continued on next page) Xat.uah )o"i-l'IQ[. P<J9C' ·3 �(ron11nuoo from p;,i;c 3) resen·ations. Proposal is altered after reservation:, are considered, or it is accepted as is. forth, then they can't work within a consensus process. The resuhing position is not going to have the ~ame power. bu! that\ what's going to happen. I understand It. And I think that a second rea.~on that people don't use consensus. and I really . believe this, is that they don't understand n. Every time I teach a course, I'm teaching it 10 people who have used consensus for years, and they are just learning what it means. So I think that lhose are two points that people are blank about: they're attached 10 a position and/or they don't know the process. ,1greement with reservation recorded - Caroline Estes is a fo1utding member of the i111entio11ai community Alpha Farm in the Cascadia Bioregion of the Pacific Northwest. She lwfacilitated al/jive Turtle Island Bioregional Congresses held co date. People watching her ac work are awed by her strength and clarity. It has often been said that the ability ofthe continental Bioregio11al Congresses 10 operate on the basis of consensus has been due to Caroline's ability as a facilitator, a claim which Caroline vigorously denies. This will soon be put 10 the test, however.for Caroline has said that next year, when she 111rns 65 years old, she plans to discontinue facilitating the Bioregio,1111 Congresses and begin to actively ,,# organize in her bioregion. j7' Disagreement or reservations arc considered. Proposal is altered or is accepted, and reservations arc recorded. Unable 10 write - If one individual is unable to unite with a proposal and is unwilling to stand aside, then the chairperson must decide whether to delay action on the proposal or to ask the individual if he or she would be willing to be recorded as opposed. At the next meeting, very often. agreement is possible after more time 10 reflect on the proposal. Recorded by DW CONSENSUS DECISION MAKING PROCESS by Joyce Johnson Purpose: The group must have a unity of purpose and must clarify the purpose 10 all in the group. Everyone involved must have a clear understanding of the group's purpose. Members of the Group: The group must know and trust each other. That is essential for trust-building. Members must be willing to listen 10 each other with open minds. Willingness to learn from each other; participate in cooperative problem solving and conflict resolution if necessary. Members must believe in the consensus process or be open 1 the process if 0 unfamiliar with it Proposal: An individual or the chairperson can phrase this for presentation co the . group. Adequate time should be taken m order to ensure thorough understanding of the proposal. The proposal might not be clear at the begiMing. It is the responsibility of the chairperson to state the proposal so that everyone understands it. Responses to the proposal: Agreement - Agreement without reservation; consensus reached and proposal accepted. Agreement with reservations - Proposal is generally supported, but there are some Xotuofl Journot page 4 \'· j ,I f 1 I • 1 111/l,t Possible Decisions on Proposal: Accepted - Consensus with full agreement reached. Committee discussion - More information is needed before a decision can be reached. Those with strong opinions should attend this discus:;ion. Sometimes a commi11ee can be empowered 10 act. Usually it will then bring the proposal back 10 the whole group. Delay decision - Group not ready to make 1h1s decision now. Discussion tabled to later time. Dropped - Not enough interest at this time by the group 10 discuss this issue. Chairpcr~on (or "facilitator" or "clerk"): Good guidance is very 1mponan1 10 the consensus process. A good chairperson is very often the difference between a meeting working well or not working at all. There are a lot of tools that a chairperson can learn to use, but only experience can tell a chairperson which tool will work best in a given situation. issue warr.ints, cspec1ally if making a major policy change. • Discipline - Ask someone to cut shon 1hc1r comments if they arc repeating themselves or talking too long. Can also ask someone who has spoken on an issue to wait until others have had a chance 10 make comments. Diplomacy - Chairperson must be responsible for dealing with a chronic objector. Deal with this person considerately. This might be the time to say that we are aware of your disagreement, but it seems that the sense of the meeting is 10 accept this proposal. Be gracious but firm. Dialogue - Members should speak 10 the clerk and not dialogue with each other. Silence - Allow time 10 pause after decision before rushing on 10 the next agenda item. Call for silence if there is need 10 pause when there is conflict over an issue. This gives members a chance to think of a way to-.ephrase a statement or to cool off if angry. Clearness - It is sometimes important to ask the recording clerk to read back the decision to make sure it is clear to everyone what has been decided. Clearness Process - The clerk might ask for individuals 10 meet outside the meeting 10 resolve conflict or misunderstanding. Judging What Is Important - Be careful not 10 be so goal-oriented that the decision becomes more imponant than the process. Some decisions might need more time. After some discussion, the chairper~on might say, "I feel that the group is ready 10 make a decision of this proposal." If some feel that they arc not ready, this will give them an opportunity to say so. The Most lmporram Role of the Chairperson or Clerk is 10 judge the sense of the meeting. lt is the clerk's role 10 aniculatc the unity that he or she discovers in the community and to facilitate the formation of that unity. Consensus Does not Mean Unanimil): Consensus means reaching unity or concorda11ce. Tt has been described as a pianist blending complemenrary notes into a chord. It does not mean that everyone encl~ up on the same note, but 1ha1 complementary notes are blended into a chord. Consensus is not reaching the "lowest common denominator." It is instead the,_# "highest collective consciousness." fr Rt!.fources: Judith Webb and John Olsson, A Consensus Dccision-Makrng Model Miduzel J. Sheeran. Beyond t\.1ajority Ruic: Vo1clcss Decisions in the Religious Society of Friends Responsibilities of Chairperson: Agenda - Put issues in order; do not leave imponant decisions until the end. Try lo set time limits on each agenda item. Group can aid this process. Frame the question or proposal with neurrality. Elicit comments from silent members present. Have show of hands so that those members won't be intimidated by more vocal members. Poll participa111S - Go around the circle for comments from each member present if the Joyce Johnson is a ml!mbcr of the Ctlo CommUJJity and the Ctlo Fritnds Mteting. She i.r currtnily working a.rdevt!lopmtnt coordinator for tk Arthw Morgan School. Slrt has/ocilitated many meetings/or the Meeting and tilt! Arthur Morgan School and help.r the students there practice the consen.fu:r proce:rs 01 thtir sclu,o/ meetings. Joyce conducts workslu,ps on the con.•tnsu.f process/or inJtrt.fted groups She may be reached through 1hr Arthur Morgan School: 1901 /JanMh Branch Rd.; Burnsvillt, NC 28714 (7{},I) 675-4262. Oraw.ng by Rob M~s,ck Sum.mer, 1992 • . • •. ' ,'J, �Problems with Consensus I have finally found the major beef I have with the Consensus Process of group decision making. Namely il revolves around the fact that consensus can too easily boil down to Minority Rule, and this has a specific way of frustrating the proceedings wilhin a group or council. When one person or a minority can block consensus, or in effect decide an issue for Lhe group, then that is Minority Rule. How does this differ from Realms, which in truth are not councils at all but Monarchies? The struggle in human life between inLegrity and the corruption of power has raged for centuries, and we have yet 10 find means of reconciling the two into a process 1hat is both just and livable for all concerned. Consensus is often touted as a solution 10 the many problems of Majority Rule voting systems, such as Congresses or Parliaments, yet it seems co me tha1 this emphasis merely replaces one useless fonn of council with another. It is clear 10 me now that both Majority Rule and Minority Rule forms of council usually result in splintered groups. Is there any way to maintain unity among people or various groups in the human family? Perhaps noL It makes sense lo me that an oppressed individual or group would be attracted to a consensus form of council. Such people have surely been under-represented in the politics of the United States of America and elsewhere. Thus they seek compensatioR in small groups where they can insist that their position be adequately represented. or in some cases OVERLY represented. _l d<? not think that rigid Majority Rule or Minonry Rule systems of council will work in the long run in human group dynamics. I say lhis because we as a species have nasty hisLorical habiLS of not being able to share the power of decision making when people's opinions crystallize. There seems to be a much_ stronger potential for many people 10 ge1 behmd a mob, and get lost in it, than there is for individuals to think for Lhemselves or act on their own conscience. Majorities have a tendency to disregard the righls of minorities, often feeling justified in de~9!uing those who contradict the majority opm1on. How then can people participate in a form of Council that can accommodate the multiple concerns that modem human beings have? Scale becomes important to the accuracy of the decisions being made. Geographical size is also an imponant factor. A council 1hat is too small may nol have enough influence, yet a council that is too large may be irrelevant l0 local concerns. The village, which is composed of a limited number of households, is one of the best examples of an appropriate or workable scale of human council. When Lhese village groups are slable then larger councils can evolve that involve a limited cluster of villages, such as a county or shire. Consensus may have worked better in eras where villages were primary to a given cultural way of life. The consensus process may also have worked beuer when times were not as complicated, or when there were fewer decisions to be made. The Summer, 1992 consequences of decision making in the dislant pasl also were no1 as far reaching as they have become in the industrial era; wilness the existence of plutonium and television. It seems lo me that many small or medium sized groups of today could benefit from having a formal Mediator lo help guide the process of decision making; panicularly when difficulties emerge or when a group becomes deadlocked. This form of mediated debate would differ greatly from an ingrown strain of politics that has stagnated due to a few dominant inclividuals. Instead of bec_o~~g compl~tel~ i_mmersed in battling maJonues and nunonues, a good mediator or facilitator would remind participanLS of their common interesLS and emphasize the an of compromise where it is appropriate. Compromise is a learned skill that individuals in a small or medium sized group can develop to auempl to work out solutions 10 problems in a wa~ 1ha1 does noL leave out any responsible adult who wants to participate in the decision making process. In the case of family disputes a facilitator could assist in clarifying the rights of children as well as the rights of parems. Issues of fairness in a setting where no weapons are allowed would naturally become an ongoing concern. A valid council would not allow weapons a1 their proceedings. It is clear lo me now, Lhrough a beuer understanding of human behavior, thal there are some approaches 10 forming council that work beuer than others. Finding ways that panicipants can let go of the spirit of conquest and still be a pan of the group is primary to working toward a successful approach. There are cenainly no guarantees that this process would work over time, yet adequate spans of time seem to be necessary to forming councils that link people at least as much as they divide them. Most of the politics of today are 100 rushed and inconsistent to even begin to consider susLainability or future generations. Good facilitators would have the skill of being able to suspend their judgements enough, or be sufficiently impartial, to mediale lhe vested interests within a given group. A good facilitator would also be skilled in ways of building truSt among members of a group or council. Once such an atmosphere of trust has been created the various secret and obvious agendas touted by people within the group can be identified, slowly brought out into the open, and confronted. Even though solutions or decisions may not emerge spontaneously, at leasl a good faci.litator can provide a forum in which all posilions are aired. Members can go away from a meeting and contemplate the meaning of these positions. which become imponant lo dialogues in future meetings. Those individuals who are most auatched to their own agendas would probably balk the loudest at having a facilitator or "outSidcr" come into their group process. But, as is often the case in human psychology, it is those who refuse good medicine or good _ ,# council the strongcsl who need it most! J!7' · Rob Mes.sick Dnwing by Rob Messick X.Otunft Jouniat PIUJe 5 �TRIBAL COUNCIL • I n the center of each of the larger Cherokee villages were the square and the town house. In the larger villages the 1own house was buiJ1 in10 a large earthen mound. Seating areas were dug into the mound, so 1hat if you looked at ii from the top, without the roof on it, it looked Like a spiral coming up out of the ground. AI the bottom and !he center of the spiral was the sacred fire and !he seven poles that supported the building. The visible walls were only four feel high, and !he whole building was covered by an immense thatched roof. Some of the town houses at the major villages were enormous. The town house at Old Echota, for example, had 900 poles. Many of !hem were 18" through. A lot of them were locus1. They used the seven-pole construction all the way around and made 1he building very strong. But not every village had a town house. The smaller villages used the square for !heir mee1ing place. There would be seven arbors, traditionally called ''beds," arranged around the square, one for each of the clans. Four of !he beds were localed at the cardinal poinis, and !he others were loca1ed around 1hem. During meetings, all 1he members of the clan sat in their clan bed. In each village there were people who spen1 a lot of lime at the town house, in the square, or n1 1he chunky (a popular gambling game - ed.) grounds, which were locaied just to the side of 1he town house. The old men, in particular, spent a good deal of 1heir time there just talking. Thus, 1here was an ongoing meeting around the town house that was happening more or less all 1he 1ime. Sometimes the meeting got mor..: intense when everybody came to the 1own house to talk about some mauer of importance to the village, bu1 01her times ii was just the old men continually discussing the village affairs. When the whole council met, the meetings became more fonnal. Twelve of the elders sat around the sacred fire at the center of the town house. (In the smaller villages there was one representative from each clan.} The rest of the people of the viJJ~ge sat in the seats by clans. One member of the council represented "The Unborn Yet To Be," and spoke for their poin1 of view. II was important 10 the council tha1 in decision-making The Unborn Yet To Be were always taken into account. They don'1 do that any more. I wish 1hey would. They would talk about problems the village faced, like a bad com crop that year or another village which was requesting theuhelp to make war on the Creeks. Consensus was the way decisions were made. The old people in the center spoke first They did not give commands. They would make suggestions based on their wisdom. And oflen the people would follow that wisdom Part of their wisdom was taking into accoun1 the Unborn Yet To Be. Anyone could speak in the council, but it was done respectfully. The old people spoke firsi, 1hen the 01her people could speak. They had to wait until 1he conversation at the center was done, then they would Xati1nh Jo;ucnnfriP'-90i•i111X stand and wait to be recognized by one of the elders in the middle. They didn't scream or wave 1heir arms, they jus1 stood 10 be recognized. Women could speak in the council. Even a child could speak. Everyone had a right to speak their heart. Once I was privileged to sit at the ceremonial grounds wilh a group of old Cherokee men in Oklahoma while they talked about a problem in their village. l saw an example of how lhe old tribal councils made decisions by consensus. There were 12 or 15 old men in the group. The younges1 one, besides myself, was about 73. These were the people who used the Council House. They 100k into consideration The Unborn Yet To Be. The problem ai 1he time was not really clear to me, bu1 I remember tha1 everybody spoke. They sinned off with the younges1 man and went around the circle, each man speaking his piece and saying wha1 he had 10 say. It wasn'1 a "meeting" the way whi1e people run a meeting. They didn'1 hammer out a decision. In fact, 1hey did not come to any specific conclusion a1 all. If any white people had been presen1, 1hey would not have known tha1 a meeting was taking place at all. To a white person ii would have appeared 1hat some old men were silting in a circle talking casually about a mauer of common concern. They just talked aboul it. Each of them spoke abou1 the problem from his own point of view. The world tru1h among these people was the same, so they already shared a broad agreement By 1he time they went around the circle the silua1ion was so clear from every angle tha1 the answer was obvious. and the old men just got up and lef1. There was a consensus. It was all over. It was decided. I fell very fonuna1e 10 ge1 a glimpse of something that rarely happens anymore, With 1he advice of the elders, the council chose the chiefs, called uku's, for the village. There were two chiefs: a peace uku and a war uku. A person was chosen as an uku because he had a lot of personal integri1y and made good decisions. He was a person the people chose to follow and also a role model for the young people. A chief held his position until he made l01s of mistakes, and the people would choose 10 follow someone else. But if he made wise decisions, he could be chief for life. The war chief was probably the mos1 popular person in 1he village, bu1 he was also the mos1 vulnerable. ff he used bad judgmen1, his mistakes could cost many lives, and his career would be ended. The chief was a leader, bu, he did not tell people what to do. h was no1 like "OK, we'll all go 10 war 1oday," or "Everybody go pick com." Like the elders, a chief could only make suggestions. White people do not know anything about democracy and freedom until they know 1he way tha1 the native culture worked. by Bear With Runs Another important person chosen by the council was 1he Beloved Woman. She was chosen for the same reason as an uku: 1ha1 her character, as a woman, was highly regarded by the men and women of the village. Like an 11Jr.u, she would have to show in1eg:ity and personal power. At one time every village had a Beloved Woman, un1il after a 101 of white influence there came 10 be only one Beloved Woman for the whole tribe. The Beloved Woman could no1 start a war, but she could stop one. She decided what happened 10 captives. She spoke up when !he village was lllinking about moving i1s location, and she had a say on 1rea1ies. Other women came to her frequently for spiritual advice and help with everyday mauers. The Cherokee are called a nation, bu1 the word "nation," in the Western sense of the word, does not explain how the people saw rhemselves. They saw themselves as "The Human Beings" or "The People." In the early days of white contac1, the "nation" was only a very loose federation of individual villages. Each village was a power 10 i1self and could follow i1s own hean to a great extent. The tnbe had red villages (war villages) and while villages (peace villages}, and there were also special sanctuary villages. A person 'Yho committed a crime of passion in his own village could find safety if he could gel to a sanctuary village before being caught. He could s1ay in the sanctuary village without being molested by anybody until the following Green Corn Ceremony, when judgments were decided, and compensations were paid. People would have to make retribution for mistakes they had made. They might pay in com, or sometimes a person would indenture himself for a time of service to make retribution. The sanc1uary villages and the "cooling off period" were probably good ideas, because they allowed people's personal passions to wane somewhat, and judgments were made out of reason instead of hot anger. The Katuah village was a sanctuary. and also 1he Nikwasi village in Franklin, North Carolina. I believe tha1 the seven oldest, "mother" vilJages of the Cherokee were sanc1uary villages, although I am not sure of the status of Echota. There were a lot of warriors based 1here in la1er times. While the villages were self-determining political unilS, it was the shared ceremonies, lifestyles, customs, and world view that kept the tribe together. And there was also the influence of 1he clans. There were seven clans in the Cherokee tribe (ahhough a long time ago there were 14). PeOple were born in10 their mother's clan, and tha1 was 1heir clan for life. The women kepi crack of the lineages. Each clan had its own rules and i1s own taboos. The clans 100k care of 1heir own (tonhnucd on P•&c 8) Suni'ttttr, 11992 "" , �• DnWllli by James Rhea �(continued from p;,gc 6) members. They specialized life within the villages somewha1 and k:PI people ~rom marrying too close 10 theLr own family. A person could not marry within the same clan. Incest of any sort, eilher biological incest or clan incest, was lhe worst crime a person could commit The clan system kept out inbreeding. It also helped 10 govern lhings. Besides lhe family cornfields and lhe communal aibaJ cornfields, each clan would also have large clan cornfields. Any excess com from lhese fields would be given to the old and the elderly of that clan, if their families could nor provide for them. The clans also had somewhat dlfferem functions. The Wolf Clan was the warrior clan - the military and the police if that function was needed. The Wild Poiato Clan was more into agriculture. The Paints were interested in crafts. And the Bird Clan was probably hunters - birds, deer. Each clan had different rules and different taboos, depending on their function in lhe community. While the clan system did serve to sepanue things and provi_de some stru~rure within the village, on a different level tt also served 10 hold the tribe together as a whole. Clan members were obligated to care for each other. This was the basic rule of the clans. A traveler could go 10 a small outpost village up in Kcnrucky that he had never seen before and could find clan relatives who would take him in and care for him. lt held the people together. Even though the dialect they spoke might be different, they would still be clan relatives. They would still be Cherokee. And 1hen there was clan justice. This is often misunderstood. Any time the rights or person of a clan member were viol~ted, then everybody else in that clan was obligated to make swe retribution was paid for the cnme. For instance, if someone murdered a member of another clan, all the other members of that Xotimfl 1 ~ n l:1,.\ 'hll(Je 8 • 101m,nt ,f \""l~'T'!m 1,t I ~·1~,1..., (I i,1111 'lnn:mol 1lrilll \ clan helped 10 hunt that perso~ down and take his life in return. If the offending person ran to a sanctuary village. he could stay there, but if lhe clan members caught him first, it was au over. This was not revenge. This was the clan being responsible for its members based on our reality. The clans kept a balance between each other. That kept a balance wilhin the whole aibe. group - but at the same time they were ~iven tremendous freedom. There were areas m which an indjviduttl could get glory and personal recognition. Someone who was a great hunter was revered. and a gOO? provider was sought af1er by the lad1~s. There was glory for the young males 1n warfare. However, if someone did not conduct him- or herself properly, they did not receive any approval. People would just ignore them. In most cases, their behavior would be modified in a very short time. Native people wanted at all cost 10 avoid losing face and being shamed. Depriving someone of attention or ridiculing him or her was a powerful way 10 get a deviant person back into accord with the group. The ultimate threat of force was banishment from the village. An action that serious was carried out by the whole village council, because it required the support of the whole community. In that situation, somebody was put 0111 of the circle instead of into a jail or prison. The idea of cagin_ up g somebody's spirit was a totally alien idea. The purpose of this village justice was not 10 punish people, but tO change them. The Cherokee did believe in vengeance, but only against other aibes. fn the whi~e. people's system, people who caus<: mJury are punished. They are made to suffer m an equal amount to the harm they have caused - either by years of imprisonment or by ouaight execution. The dominant culture of today is actually a lot of confused culrural biases which share very little consensus as to what is true culture. Within our culture it was clear. There wasn't anything else. It was either this or nothing. If you didn't belong. it was terrible. The urge to belong was so str0ng, it governed the people's actions. Our consensus was based on a world view that was shared throughout the whole aibe. Because of that the Cherokee needed no couns, lawyers, judges, or prisons. We had very few laws. They were mostly just rational, reasonable rules.based on observation. There was a law agamst urinating in the river. There was a Jaw against defecating around the village. There was a law against talcing 100 many deer, because everybody knew thar if they killed too many deer, there would not be any left the next year. There were clear and obvious reasons for laws like that They were based on common sense rules that nature laid down in front of us. One of the biggest barriers between us and the white people was that we did not have any concept of privare property. • Possession meant that "when you were there it was yours." But the white people did a good job of teaching us differently. The word "fndian-giver" came from the fact that a white man would give some Indians a load or goods for their piece of land and the next day the Indians would be back. The Indians had not realized they ~ad sold their land. They had never had any idea of owning it! They took the presents because it would be rude to refuse gifts of friendship. It is hard for white people to understand our ways and how they worked, because they do not understand how the old Cherokees related 10 the aibe. The old culture was holistic. The tribe was the whole, and the loyalty toward the whole was very strong. The desire to contribute to the whole and to move evenly with the rest of the group was ingrained by many generations of cultural reinforcement ll was so much a part of the culture that it was quite abnonnal to ~ an individual. Cooperation was t~e governing force within the community, and m the old days, before we were too muc~ influenced by the whites. our personal integnty meant a lot more 10 us. People were rewnrcted for their cooperation by approval and love from the In the Cherokee aibe, spiritual life was not split a pan from the political l!fe of the village. It was always there. but It was not recognized as something separate. Because of the emphasis on character and personal integrity, the elders tended to be te~chers and spiritual leaders as well as leaders m the council. At one time there was a religion and a priest society in the Cherokee aibe. I ~ave heard stories about this from several different sources. My own thinking is that in !he tribe's early history when we first migrated south, we encountered the late stages of the deteriorating Mississippian culture. The Mississippian culture "."as ~ on M_ayan and Aztec beliefs. Tht1r pracoces, beliefs, .1l ,'J:n :, 1odcr_ 1..1~ · ~1111o•('to'(Q1 DrawinabvlamuRh~• r.r. ~ :),ill ra~, -..-UJ 1 U w • (Continued on page 30) ,.,, ,,r·.4a1, .JU i ~ ..1:~~ ,.'"1~-''·"M"" O\.\TnJ'TUrr"", l!J:J~ tll t1 ' l )~UHI • �O,.wing by Rob Messick © 1992 by Lucinda Flodin Maybe she's the reason I came to live in the mountains. I know she's the reason I swp when I'm near that panicular place. Sometimes I stop nowhere near that place because the feeling comes over me, and I stop. After all this time I still fookfor Elda ... In 1974 I spent the summer with friends in Limestone, Tennessee, recovering from a shattered romance. I would sit on the porch watching the mountains, but more often I would drive to the mountains and hike through long afternoons. On one of these hikes I became absorbed in following a liule stream and lost track or time. When r stopped to rest, I realized that it was getting late. Night came quickly in the forest and I found myself unable to negotiate the path, I finally stopped in a small clearing only to realize that r was now losr. Around me were trees and darkness and ever-increasing fear. A sound sent me into total panic. I had visions of bears and mountain lions and snakes and bugs! l tried 10 get a grip. I smacked a mosquito who was definitely out for blood. My hean started pounding wildly. I'd probably have a heart auack before a bear could even find me. I was hungry ... so thirsty... but there was no food anywhere... not a bite 10 be found! I leaned over to drink from the stream, but I had no idea where I was or what the origin of the water was. I knew I shouldn't drink any water in the wild unless I was at a spring head. How thirsty I was and I couldn't even drink the water! 1 sat and cried - no, yelled - at the trees around me about the unfairness or it all. Finally I ran out of energy and sat down. Just then the.moon came shimmering through the su-mmcr, 1992 ELDA trees, and I rudn't feel so alone. As I looked across the clearing, it seemed that if I just walked around the big tree in front of me, I could get a clear view of the moon's face. As I pushed away the low branches to duck around the tree, the Earth s11dde11/y fell away beneath me. There was nothing gradual about this moment. One second I was on the ground, the next I was in space - learning gravity as I'd never learned it before - tumbling, falling, rolling. It happened so quickly I had no time 10 fear as I bounced through bush and briar. I tried 10 clutch the Earth, but I wasn't sure where it was - sometimes above me, sometimes below, pounding at me wherever we met. Eternity was caught in a single moment. Would it ever stop? At last I became more of the eanh than the sky, and I rolled into a resiing spot in a patch or briars. Pain and eanh grJbbcd me back from space. My last thought was wondering if the spinning would ever cease ... Warm sunlight on my face, my bed felt so good. The dream had been so real. I'd never dreamt so vividly. I decided to grab the journal at my bedstand and write it down . before the memory faded. It was the reaching for this journal that brought abrupt physical pain. I tried to open my eyes. How I hurt! Oh, no! This wasn't my bed! This wasn't a dream! Hope crashing, I opened my eyes to the canopy of young tree growth above me. It hun to look ouL lt hun to breathe. The thought of moving hurt. Maybe I was dead. lf not. I surely would be soon. A tear burned down my face. I could feel my fingers. l could feel my toes. Pain filled them all and soon a strange sleep enveloped me. A sense of not being alone brought me back 10 consciousness. Was this the mountain lion I'd feared? As l tried to move, pain seared through my body. A voice like music. or was it the wind through the trees, said, "Don't move, young one, and don't be afraid. I won't hurt you." As I struggled tO tum toward the sound, r felt movement around me until a woman came into my sighL First I saw her hands, veined like the gnarly roots of an oak, yet wonderfuJJy supple. My eyes moved up to a face which surprised me with itS ancientness; somehow it didn't match those capable hands. The face was an intricate mnzc of lines and wrinkles - there were no flat planes. Then our eyes met and I felt myself falling int0 an ocean of blue clarity. Never had I experienced eyes like those - clearer, yet deeper, than a child's. Suddenly those eyes and her whole incredible face broke into a smile with more facets than a prism in sunlighL And that music - no, it was her voice. "You arc amazed, young one. Good, that amazement will help you to heal yourself." "Are you an angel? Am I dead?" Again that smile, followed by a laugh that would have made me laugh, too, except for how much it would have hun. "No, young one. I walk an Eanh path. Some call me Elda. I answered your frightened call in the moonlighL" I realiz.ed that I no longer was lying in briars. Hadn't I landed in briars? My eye caught a thiclcet of them a little way from when: I lay. (continued on ow page) )(.Qtimh JoUf'tlat PQIJI'- 9 �(CQitinued f'rom pego 9) "Briars don't make for sweet dreams; soft pine needles and grass make for more comfon. You'll rest easy in this baby forest, and the Eanh will help your healing. You have strong bones, none are broken. Your muscles are strained. Only a few of your cuts are deep. This gash is deep for it bleeds stil1, but it has bled enough. Feel it closing and healing in your thoughts, little one." She reached into a pouch at her side and took a pinch of some powder and blew it into the CUI. "What's that stuff?" "A pinch of puffball to stop the blood. It has bled enough now. You are curious? That is good. I like curiosity. I will teJJ you of the plants." I grew anxious at all these answers to unasked, sometimes uninfonned questions. "And you are afraid. Are you always afraid, little one? Breathe or hum a song. It will help." She took a bowl -1 think it was a bowl, though it may have been a hollowed-out tree gnarl - and with a feathery leaf began to wash my cuts. "This is yarrow, cooked in water in the sunlight. It will numb your pain and let us work on your injuries." As she gently washed them. I could feel the pain numbing, lessening. "Th.is will allow us to bathe them again." With the numbness, I was able to move to see myself. Everywhere I could see my skin, it was covered like a roadmap with scratches. The skin around the scratches was deepening as bruises formed. I wanted to throw up, but that would have required movement. "Skin mends, young one." "I'm not that young, and my name is Lucinda." "To me you are very young, Lucinda." As I looked at her ancientness, f felt silly at having snapped at her. Throughout the day as I moved in and out of sleep. I felt her near me. Her words wafted through my consciousness as she washed my legs with chickweed, little star woman, comfrey, burdock, more yarrow. She helped me sip red clover from a bowl. It all was like a confused dream. Sometimes r would hear her talking. Actually, it seemed that she was having two-way conversations with the plants. / must be mad' And then I'd doze again. "Are you magic?" I asked in a moment of lucidity. "No, child... Lucinda. I am a child of the Earth, like yourself. I've tended this forest garden, and it has tended me, for longer than 1 can even remember. We take care of each other." At dusk, a drink with a strong taste... "Skullcap, 10 mke the pain for a deeper sleep." I did sleep - deeply - and without fear. I could hear her voice as I drifted. "You are safe under the trees, on the Eanh, with the stars. Sleep sweetly. Dream wellness." I awoke to the twittering of birds. I stiU hun, but I could move. Again I wondered a1 ~~~ J?~~~. p~!Z ,10 ~e.reality of Elda. then she stepped into my v1s1on. Yes, she was really here. It was like she was invisible one moment and there the nexL Yet I knew she had really been there. She was real. I was overcome by the wisdom I sensed in her presence. "Today you might feel hungry. I've brought you food." She opened a giant leaf which I later learned was burdock filled with violets, clover blossoms and sweet-tasting leaves and berries. She would name them. "It's so much. I'll never remember them." "You don't learn them all at once, dear one. You learn one plant at a time. Each is your teacher." I contemed myself with the nourishment I felt pervading my body. AU that day Elda fed me and I told her of my journey. She only laughed when 1 got to the part of being so hungry and so far from food. She found that delightfully funny, and I felt foolish. But then r looked around, and I, too, was struck with the humor of it. Somehow it seemed that all the plants around us also laughed, but I wouldn't swear to that. Moving became easier as the day went on and I was amazed at how much better all my scratches were. Elda made a poultice (I remember her using that word) of plantain and elder for my bruises. I could feel the soothing relief and the healing begin. 'Tomorrow you will be able 10 travel," she said as the sun was gold in the west. We sat with a bowl of salve which tasted full and thick as soup. "I will show you a shoner route." I didn't want 10 go, but suddenly I thought of my friends, Dan and Ruby, and I knew they must be panicking by now. "I would like to know more about plants, Elda." "Well, talk to them, dear. They like to be remembered." I went to sleep imagining myself in conversation with a fem and wondering about my sani1y. Walking down the mountain \l.ith Elda in the morning was an adventure. It was a completely different path, I think. I wasn't really payiog much auention on the way. She pointed out plants, talked to them as friends. and treated them with re:;pect. Before I knew it, we were at my car She laughed, "Ah, just the friend you need now." And she told me to pick the sticky flowers growing around my car. "Calendula. Make them into a tea to soothe your wounds." "How do I thank you, Elda?" "You don't, dear one. You pick the flowers and make yourself strong." It seemed like just a moment later when a state trOOper stanled me. I looked toward Elda, but she was gone. My friends had reported me missing. He had been looking for me and had found my car. "Did you see that woman?" "No, miss. Just you here. No one Jives up in these pans. I'll drive you." I went home and healed up, though one scar remained on my leg as a reminder of the adventure. But 1 still thought about Elda and wanted to see her again. Several times that summer I returned to that area, but I could never again find that exact spot where I had met Elda. l asked campers and hikers, and I stopped at every house in the area. No one had heard of anyone sounding like Elda. They sent me up 10 Granny Pierson who was the oldest person around and who reponedly became confused at rimes. We talked. She drifted in and out of memory, a sharp contrast to the clearity of Elda's mind. She couldn't recollect much at first, but finally she began, "There was this old woman. What was here name? Something like that, but, Lord, hooey, hit's bin since l was a girl An old 'erb woman. She was old when I was a child. Lord, she'd be in the grave more'n seventy year now. J remember her, though, but my mind's leavin' me." My friends listened patiently, trying to be supponive, but occasionally suggesting that maybe I'd dreamed it. Maybe I'd made her up to keep myself alive. I don't know. Could I have made up the richness that was Elda? Her wiseness? I couldn't have made up her eyes! Thar was sixteen years ago. I live in the mountains now, in the same county tlwugh miles from where I met Elda. I dan't ask abolll her now, excepi when I meet old people. But as I walk tliroughfields and woods, gathering plants and learning abolll them, Ida think of her. In fields where flowers seem to be laughing, I sense her presence. I feel tit.at if I could just turn more qt~ickly, I'd see her there ware/ting me - her wise face full oflife, giving nouris/unent. . After all this time I still look for Elda. # P' There are stories from cullurcs around the world and from ns far back ns the Stone Ages about lhc elderberry. UsWllly lhey involve o woman who lives in the tree and ha~ powerful medicine 10 heal Iler children. (I created the feminine fonn Elda for !hi.~ cho.roclCJ'.) But she con be dangerous at times when she is not shown re,.c;pcct. Old supcn;lilions maimain lhat cuumg elder without pennission or the plant brings illnes,~ nnd/or death. Lucinda Flodin lives with her family in Katuah Province near Hampton, TN and is. among other things, an herbalist and a Mory!Alllcr. The story "Elda" is included oo a new audio tape cnlled Mountain Spirits available for SI0.00 ppd. from: Lucincm Flodin: Rt. I, Box 726; Hampton. TN 37658. �THE STATE OF FRANKLIN Land, Liberty... and Mastery by David Wheeler "A beautiful valley and the almost boundless West lay before them, beckoning all to adventure themselves. The thing most worthy of remark is the far reach and wide range of the vision and the plans of the people of Franklin, and the projective power that gave them and their descendants a very considerable mastery of men and measures througlwut the generations that /rave followed." - Samuel Cole Williams in The Lost State of Franklin they could hunt. They built their own log homes, provided their own clothing, and made their own whiskey. Work parties of neighbors built and maintained what roads !here were. The presence of the tax collectors was !he main evidence of the Norlh Carolina state government. The settlers were poorly represented in the state legislature. They had to cross the mountains to find a court in (1933) In the years immediately following the Revolutionary War the runnoil of the war years continued almost unabated in the former colonies. These were heady times the imperial power of England had been defeated, new theories of government were materializing, and a new continent lay open for the taking. In !he new nation, talk of politics was on everyone's lips, and "libeny" was the watchword. But in the minds of many people was the thought of land - land to be the material basis for their hard-won right to "the pursuit of happiness." In spite of such lofty hopes and dreams among the European settlers, however, the new country was in a shambles. The government of the State of North Carolina, in particular, was pauperized. The war had taken a heavy toll on !he personal resources of the former colonists, and !here had been much destruction and ill-feeling. The central government was weak: and in debt for promises made during the pressing struggle for independence. By its original charter, the jurisdiction of North Carolina extended west 10 the sea, but under the prevailing conditions it was lit lie wonder that those closest to the capital at Hillsborough received the most attention. The mountains of the Blue Ridge were still a formidable barrier at that time. Settlers following the Great Valley of !he Tennessee River had established a bastion in what is now the northeast comer of Tennessee. During the war they had shown themselves to be stalwan pattiotS, pro<ecting North Carolina's rear from hostile attacks by the Cherokee and Chiclcasaw tribes and turning the tide of the war in the South by surging over the mountains to play a decisive role in the battle of Kings Mountain, But now, not only were the wartime claims of these soldiers being ignored, but Nonh Carolina was levying heavy taxes on au its citizens to rebuild itS shattered infrastructure and restore its government. To the settlers in the west, this was blatant "taxation without representation" - just what they had fought 10 end! This feeling was justified. The lands west of the mountains were self-supponing, living off the crops they raised and the game summer, 1092 which to setlle their differences. Although constantly threatened by hostile natives, their state government would send no ll'OOpS across the mountains for their protection. But the worst blow came in 1783. In order to capitalize its recovery, the State of North Carolina passed a law offering land west of the mountains for sale to setllers and speculators. The bill put up for sale the land from 20 miles south of the town of Jonesborough 10 the French Broad and the Big Pigeon Rivers, conveniently ignoring the fact that this land had been guaranteed to the Cherokee in the Avery Treaty of 1777. This made the natives understandably restless, and in 1784, largely to avoid the expense of sending a military force to defend the western settlers from angry Cherokees, North Carolina passed a bill giving up its claim to the lands west of the mountains and ceding !hem to the newly-formed national Confederation Congress. Congress was too weak and 100 far away to protect the settlers over the mountains. Nonh Carolina had reneged on the task. The seulers were used to protecting and providing for themselves. A decade before, earlier settlers had even established the Watauga Association, the first "free and independent community on the continent," in the words of Theodore Roosevelt On August 23, 1784 delegates from the counties west of the Blue Ridge gathered and declared their area a free and independent state. Their declaration was immediately challenged. Norlh Carolinians were surprised and angered at this tum of events, and when a new legislature convened that autumn, North Carolina rescinded the C.ession Act and restated itS cl.aim to the western lands. It was a vain attempt. On December 14, 1784 a second convention at Jonesborough decided to name the new state after Benjamin Franklin and set about the work of drawing up a constitution. The following March, that work was continued, and John Sevier was elected governor of the State of Franklin and David Campbell was chosen as its chief justice and given the task of setting up a court system. John Sevier (pronounced se-VEER) had been at first reluctant 10 become involved with the movement for independence, but from 1784 he was a moving force in the history of the State of Franklin. By all accounts he was brave, charming, and handsome · a charismatic leader. He was a hero of the battle of Kings Mountain and was a renowned "lndian fighter." Instinctively, Sevier was a consummate politician. He knew the value of diplomacy and the power of force. In his dealings wilh whites he could use a winning smile and charming words to win his way; with the native people he was rulhlessly violent Although he was educated and articulate, Sevier's strongest support was always among the rough settlers on the frontiers of the whites' territory. These were his comrades in arms, the mythologized pioneers. It was moslly from these people that Sevier drew the militia for his campaigns against the natives. The backwoods whites loved and trusted Sevier. They counted on him for their defense, and he never let them down. For three years Sevier led the State of Franklin. In that turbulent era the exact powers and role of a state was unclear. Whether the states were to be semi-autonomous republics or divisions of a strong central government was as yet undecided. One thing was certain: "Liberty," meaning self-government, was the overriding ideal. During the three years that the State of Franklin existed, it set up its own govemrncntal scructure, electing delegates and appointing commissioners. It established a judiciary; minted coins; provided for schools; and, of course, designed a "great seal" and a flag. The frontiersmen were already organized as a de/aero militia, but that arrangement was officializcd. The State also began collecting taxes - frontier Style. "Be it enacted," decreed the state's first General Assembly, "that it shall and may be lawful for the aforesaid land tax, and all free polls, to be paid in the following manner: Good flax linen,... woolen and cotton linsey,...good, clean beaver skins,...cased otter sk.ins, ... rackoon (sic) and fox skins, ... bacon, well curcd,...good, clean tallow,...good, clean beeswax,... good distilled rye whiskey,...good peach or apple brandy,...good, country made (maple) (eontinucd on nc:ll page) Xati4af1 Journal: page 11 �(continued from page 11) sugar,...deer skins, ...good, neat and well managed tobacco, fit to be prized, that may pass inspection,..." In certain instances, Franklin also acted like a national power. The state made treaties wilh the native tribes, which in those times with the central government so weak and ~ id~ of self-government so strong in the mrnds of the people, was not unusual But in 1788, when the effort to maintain their ind~~dcn~ was falling apart, Sevier began a ~non wtth the government of Spain. w~ch held the mouth of the Mississippi River. To the Spanish representative Oardoqui, Sevier hinted that the citiuns of Frank.I.in might ally themselves with Spain in exchange for protection, money, and weapons. It was almost assuredly a bluff, but. even in those times, it was a bold bluff indeed. • The foundation of the "Liberty~ of the white immigrants was the very material ~sidcration of land. From the beginning of its history, the acquisition of land was the other driving force in the remarkable story of the State of Franklin. That the native inhabitants had clear tide to their lands that o~ten went back 1,000 years made no ~erence. The p~ure of the migration of whit.e Europeans from over the mountains was irresistible. Also, disagreements over the authority of the different states, the Confederation Congress, and the State of Franklin to sign treaties and ma.kc agreements added 10 the confusion (which was no doubt exploited when convenient). . Always ready 10 make agreements., the whites did not prove so willing to keep them, and the Cherokee in vain pointed to tteaty )CQtuQn )oumQC PQ<Je 12 after broken treaty. On the Cherokee side the Chickamauga villages, under the leadership of the war chief Dragging Canoe, believed in no treaties made with the whjtes and honored none. Their disbelief was quite correct but their actions gave the Europeans ample' reasons for reprisals. It was a war, 10 be sure, and each side could point 10 outrages and depredations committed by the other. But in this war the treaties were meaningless; the real power was in the superior numbers and weapons of the European occupiers, and they would take whatever their military strength could win. A fine tract of land in the Great Bend of the Tennessee (or "the Bent of the Tennessee"), near the present-day city of Muscle Shoals, Alabama was a lodestone to white investors. In 1784, a company of speculators, including John Sevier and prominent men in Nonh Carolina, arranged a "purchase" of the land from some of the native residents, although the area was deep in the territory guaranteed to the red people. Fro~ then on Sevier's eyes were always looking toward the south. It is felt that his initial opposition 10 the establishment of the State of Franklin stemmed from concern about the future of his investment in the Great Bend. When he came around 10 favor the s~ssion, he began to think that the new state could help his venture, and under his leadership the policies of the State of Franklin were always expansionist and pointed toward the south. Franklin encouraged immigration by whites, even when the government knew that the only available lands lay in Cherokee country. ~igration meant profits, yes. land speculanon was a booming industry in the ne.wly-opened lands to the west. But, more unportantly, immigration was crucial to the very survival of the fledgling state across the mountains. Cleared lands and dense settlements were the best protections against anacks by the natives. The Nonh Carolina Act of 1783 had violated the terms of the earlier Avery Treaty by !f!OVing the boundary claimed by the whnes down to the French Broad River. However. the act strictly prohibited entry or surveys by whites south of that line. But as soon as the State of Franklin was formed, settlers began 10 move south of the French Broad. They were encouraged by the state government. In fact, the State of Franklin had a land office in Jonesborough that raised revenue by taking purchase money for land claims granted south of the French Broad. Sevier felt that this siruation needed formal recognition, so he called together a meeting of Cherokee chiefs in May of 1785 and laid out the Treaty of Dumplin Creek, ~h~c~ moved .the ~undary south 10 the ridge diVJd1ng the Little River and the Little Tennessee River watersheds. However, it was only six months later that the United States' Confederation Congress felt that the central government should assert its authority and negotiated the Treaty of Hopewell with the Cherokee. This treaty moved the line back 10 the north . so far nonh that the town of Greeneville, which had just been named the capital of the State of Franklin, was made pan of the native territories! The treaty specifically repudiated the Dumplin Creek agreement and the Great Bend land purchase. It was intentionally vague about the status of the settlers occupying the lands north of the French Broad River, but it clearly stated that all other trespassers would have to leave in six months or lose the protection of the central government. lt appears that the State of Franklin simply ignored the Hopewell treaty. Certainly their defense of the settlers south of the French Broad was no less diligent. After fruitless appeals to the national government, the Cherokee took matters into their own hands and in the spring of 1786 began attacks on the settlements in ll)eir rightful territory. The FrankJinites responded by burning the Cherokee towns in the Hiwassee River Valley. Later in July, Sevier and 250 men revenged the killing of two other white men by b.uming another town. They then camped outs1de the central Cherokee village of P.chota and called the peaceful chiefs Hanging Maw and Tassel (Com Tassel) to make another treaty. Sevier minced no words. He told the chiefs that the whole country nonh of the Tennessee River as far west as the Cumberland Mountains would be setded by the whites who would take it "by the sword, which is the best right to all countries." Though the treaty contained ample references to peace, love, and brotherly friendship, it was obvious it was obtained under duress. Wiuh such a large armed force outside their gates, the chiefs had little choice but to sign. The historian Williams says in his book: The Los1 State of Franklin, "No act of the State of Franklin is Jess creditable to her than this Treaty ofCoyatee." During this time, the Franklin government was constantly pressing its case Summu, 1992 �; I I for recognition as a s1a1e before the Confederation Congress. Champion for the cause was William Cocke, a backwoodsman, marksman, and a fierce fighter, who had put himself through law school and had found a gift for inspired oratory. By all accountS he gave brilliant. impassioned presentations on behalf of 1he Sta1e of Franklin, bu1 it was no1 enough to shake the political support mustered by North Carolina to block Franklin's recognition. By 1786 the strain of carrying on the border wars single-handedly had begun to tell, and the firm resolve of the Franklinites began to waver. North Carolina cleverly exploited this shif1 in sentimenL Under the leadership of John Sevier's archrival, John Tipton, North Carolina attempted to hold an election 10 send representatives from "the western counties" to the state legislature. The Franklin government answered the move by holding their own elections for the North Carolina legislative seats. The Franklinites won overwhelmingly, but this recognition of North Carolina's authority proved 10 be the first stroke of the wedge that split open the Franklin government. Tipton also sponsored North Carolina couns, which operated parallel 10 Franklin courts, often in the same county. Vigilantes from both sides broke up court sessions and took valuable papers. There were angry public meetings, and some brawling took place, involving Tipton and Sevier themselves in one instance. The situation was fast deteriorating into civil violence.. John Sevier made several valiant attempts to save the faltering State of Franklin. Knowing the unifying value of war against the native people, he proposed one idea that would hopefully save his government, win the coveted Great Bend area for the_whites (and his investment company), and gain some respite for the settlers on the southwest frontier. At the time, the State of Georgia was continually at war with the Creeks. Sevier proposed 1ha1 in the spring of 1787 soldiers from Georgia and Franklin join together in a punitive campaign against th111 tribe, which jus1 happened to control the Great Bend are-a. Instead of cash payments, the soldiers who undertook the expedition would be rewarded with land grants in the Great Bend, which they would afterward help 10 retain. The plan never materialized, as Georgia made a temporary peace with the natives. Early in 1788 the sporadic hostilities between the two factions in Franklin flared up. John Tipton seized several of John Sevier's slaves under a Stale of Nonh Carolina court judgment and transported them 10 his home for safekeeping. Sevier was in the las1 few days of his governorship and was tired and discouraged, bu1 rhis was a slap in 1he face that could not be ignored. The separationists surrounded Tip1on's house in force and, although Sevier urged restraint, a melee erupted. Two men were killed and Sevier's two sons were capiured. Tipton wanted 10 hang the young men, but was persuaded to release 1hem. Sevier subsequently lef1 for the border wars on the frontier, "where no writs ran and lhe rough seulers were devoted to him," as John summer, 1992 VIRGINIA --------~.~~.r~ttf)lfWl~if1}r-------------..:::~-,.R-... 1-&KLiN·:·,::"' .. NORTH .-,::.\(}iY:.:\~f{/· CAROLINA _, ~,-- - - - ·- -.,, - - - - - - ------7,.... ' , '------,... ' ',, ' ', \ ' ', 11SS Map Preston Arthur commented. This is generally marked as the end of the State of Franklin. It was in 1790, with more wars with the Cherokees looming, that North Carolina finally gave up and ceded control of Franklin to the United Srates Congress as part of the "Southwest Territory." Franklin was finally admitted to the Union as pan of the State of Tennessee in 1796. The first elected governor of the Staie of Tennessee was, no1 surprisingly, John Sevier, and he la1er served as a congressman as well. appeared as I.he stubborn independence so admired in the Appalachian mountaineers. At other times, however, it appeared as 1he will for mastery, whether over the land, events, or those who would oppose them. Even today, we still see traces of this, the tangled legacy left by the early while seulers of the mountain region. Special thanks to Barbara Wickersham for the valuable research work she contributed to this article. Resources: The wild Appalachian lands brought out both the best and the worst in the firs1 Europeans to inhabit the Katuah Province. They were fiercely devoted 10 ideals of freedom and justice; they were at the same 1ime greedy and ruthless. A deep-seated detennination drove them. Sometimes this Gerson, Noel B.; Franklin: Atrurica·:r Lost State: Crowell-Collier Press (New York, 1968) Williams, Samuel Cole; Ilistory of the Lost State of Franlclin; The Press of the PiollCCIS (New York. 1933) Cornstalk Dreams Poverty is living in a shotgun house with chimney bookends Listening to rain tapping on a cheap tin roof Huddling around the fireplace like a dark medieval clan. Poverty is running barefoot through a maze of corn fields Splitting open a watermelon just for its heart Worrying until payday if we would be fed at least with butter beans and cornbread - Sandra McClinton - .. X.Otimh )ournnt page 13 �WHERE THE TREES OUTNUMBER THE PEOPLE: I<atuah's Regional Rainbow Gatherings In the Mtigical U1nd of the Rainbow, a neo-tribal culture is teacl1ing and learning the arts of Cooperation and Commu,1ity by Stephen Wing "Welcome Home!" The implications arc enormous. Somewhere back in the mythical mists of the Scvenries, a tribe of multicolored folJc called the Rainbow Family began to hold a "Gathering of the Tribes" every summer deep in the wilderness, where the trees oumumber the people. They were "Family" because they considered all people brothers and sisters; they were ''Rninbow" for the harmony of their many colors; and they called out "Welcome Home!" because wherever they gathered on the Mother Earth they were home again. Every Fourth of July lhey observed a silence, praying for Peace and Healing, each in their own way. They fasted and prayed and danced and drummed, and many magical stories have come down 10 us. In the nco-Plcistocene Eighties, our tribal ancestors founded the Katuah Rainbow clan and began to bold a solstice gathering every summer in the meadow below Sam's Knob. Because pan of their inspiration was lhe 1980 Rainbow Galhering in West Virginia, it became one of the first of many regional Rainbow gatherings. It carried on the Family consensus to be free and non-commen:ial, open to everyone, dedicated to cooperative, ecological living, without leaders or rules. It grew and flourished, and Xatuah Journal Pac.Je 14 was known as one of the strongest and most spiritual in the land of the Rainbow. Now at age 21, the Rainbow Family has grown into a large-scale, long-term, worldwide experiment in living out the ideals of the mythical Sixties: a full-fledged al temative culture, woven of many different spiritual, political, and philosophical strands. Outwardly. perhaps it imitates the Nntive American tribes; mwardly, it taps the biological vestiges of one million years of oi baJ ancestry. Everyone involved in Rainbow has their own vision of what it is and what it could be. The vision that is crystallizing for me lately is of a school. Everyone has something 10 teach in the magical land of Rainbow. And somcLhing to learn. Many of us are teachers of something already, perhaps, or know a special craft or skill or even a livelihood worth passing on. You learned your first rai chi step or bcadworlcing stitch from someone. Why not bring it 10 the gathering _and offer a free,. informal workshop? Think of the gathenng as a kindcrganen, not as a university. Even if you feel you have nothing 10 learn there, each of us has something 10 pass along to those following in our footsteps. But there's a deeper level of learning. 0..wUl&J by Rhea Ormond Running away like a bunch of kids playing hooky in the woods is like school turned inside out - a space in which we can a.U enter a kind of second childhood and re~ate ourselves. We heal ourselves instinctively by re-imagining society in a sane way, becoming each other's long-lost extended family, learning how to love and accept each other, and feel loved and accepted in turn • some for the first time our lives. It is incredibly therapeutic just to be in a place where it is okay to love. But in order 10 maintain this magical healing space, we have to work together 10 feed everyone, deal with sanitation, medical needs, children, authorities, parking, drinking water, and camp security. We have 10 make decisions that acknowledge everyone's poinl of view, including the trees, the streams, the wildlife, the genemtions 10 come. This is a yet deeper learning. We are learning to come together as a community, a circle, a tribe - rather than a collection of self-centered individuals - and act for the best interest of the whole instead of our little part. Few of us had the benefit of a tribal upbringing. Ninety percent or more of the ordinary families out there arc dysfunctional, studies now say, producing dysfunctional people. Our tribe is made up of refugees from that world; we cannot create World Peace without some healing. Most of the problems that plague the "national" Rainbow Gathering are problems of scale. But a few stubbornly show up al regionals, too. They are the chronic dysfunctions of the dominant culture, "Babylon": abuse of alcohol and drugs, scamming, inflated egos, male-female imbalance. These arc the things that we cannot leave behind when we leave our cities and cars. l ust4 to worry about them. But then l realized that it is okay. Rainbow is a school. These are our assignmenrs. That is why we leave all the civilized disu-actions behind: to focus on what counts. At the scale of a regional gathering we can do that - but not without a conscious commitmcnL I have seen miracles happen when the wisdom and the will of the people have been summoned to a serious council. Through the magical ans of passing a feather in a circle and listening, of communication and compromise, I believe we can learn 10 resolve any conflicL But we have to practice. And the presence nnd guidance of people who have done some of the inner work themselves is invaluable to those who might otherwise stumble over the same mistakes. Becoming a Tribe may not be an idealistic fantasy from the mythical Sixties forever. We are learning how to live without money, lawyers, governments, police· even gasoline - because it may soon be necessary. We arc learning it, 1 believe, because the future of our families down 10 the seventh generation depends on our learning 10 live together as a functional Family. I hope we are learning it in time. For dirtetioM to tM Ka11,ah Rainbows-, Solstiu Ga1hviltg, JUM 12-22, son~p/ace where the trees OUIIIUl1IMT IM people, coll the A1/a111a Rainbow Ughllillc: (404) 662--6112 or write 10 /IOI. address below. To help out In adllOIICe, contact Katu.ah Roillbow direc1/1 clo l.ulit Wagenheim: 996 Yellow Breeches Rd.; Cosby, TN 3m2 (615) 428-4633. Summu, l!IN �warp ancl "We Call It a Gathering..." At first sight, it seems to be pure magical anarchy in the woods. But there are levels you learn to see. Just under the swface is a layer of hard wolk: people who are not immediately vi~ble because they are in the kitchens, out hunnng firewood, al the parking lot, on a supply run. They carry lhe whole thing literally on their shoulders, often to the point of straining. As soon as we realize we are the tribe and volunteer, the whole thing is easy. Underlying everything we do is the consensus of the council, a periodic circle to pass a feather and listen 10 each person's perspective in turn. Daily councils are a chance to share what makes us different and what we have in common. When something comes up that requires a decision, we enter that siate of unified undersianding called consensus much more easily if we have been practicing. (If ~ere is no co~~cil,just ~u.t up a sign. "Main crrcle at noon 1s the tradit,ion.) Invisible everywhere are the Shann Sena - all of us who are conscious of health and safety and alen for trouble, who have learned to keep the peace in loving ways, deal with emergencies, communicate with authorities - and anyone willing to learn. You can pretend the gathering is a free ride or a carefree utopia; you can avoid the problems and still have a wonderful time. But "sister" and "brother" really begin to mean something when you accept responsibility for the well-being of the folks around you. Then there are the people who are praying. Our circles before meals, sweat lodges and Sufi dances, ceremonies at equinoxes and solstices, etc., carry the natural sense of community one step higher. Participating in the Divinity of each moment helps focus the natural srate of awareness called a tribe. Underneath it all is the root-system of our friendships. Slogans of peace and love do not make us brothers and sisters; a Family forms out of time spent together, real time. Year after year we work, eat, council, and celebrate together, between gatherings we live and travel together. We gather in the parks back home. Travelers come through. We grow 10 know and to trust each other. The Rainbow Family is a vast network of relations. a fabric woven by the physical s,unmcr , 1992 .. , 1 , ~pfrhtlal ~efi-of our•~n& tOgethet. . ruo ~!1-nrr . .-.- {·n· ~ rr·,77-,v.z We have over a generation of history between us now. We are much more than just a "counterculture.'' Traditions have developed, a slow evolution of consensus agreements, along with a tendency to keep evolving. Naturally we have our elders of the tribe - but in this tribe each one of us chooses our elders. Listen for the voice of experience. But don't take anybody's word for iL Look under the swface, and watch who's doing the work. People will be noticing the same about you. To some of us baby-boorners it's news, but work is necessary to survive anywhere. Babylon sacrifices the daily labor of millions to feed a privileged few; a tribe shares the work equally out of Jove for one another, so no one has to do too much. The people who created this magical village in the woods are working hard, making sure you will be safe, warm, and fed. But many of us grew up in middle c~s households where that much was a given we were the privileged few. Don't take it for granted in the woods. Join the dinner circle, pay attention to announcemenrs, spread the word! Go to council; remember to listen before you speak. Say your peace. And if you want to join the tribe, just find a place 10 piteh in and help. As for the panhandlers at our gate, the ego-wrestling and ripoffs, the truckloads of rrash, the bliss-ninnies and rainbozos - it's helpful to remember that compared to most tribes we're still in our awkward adolescence. Most of us weren't born in the Rainbow Family. We were,bom in Babylon. A lot of us got pretty messed up out there before we found our way Home. A lot of Babylon's mess got tracked in on o~r heels. Much of our effort to heal the Eanh 1s an ongoing struggle to heal ourselves and our relationships - to learn how to really be a "Family" - and to raise truly.healthy ki~~Meanwhile for better or worse, Its our Family. As Einst~in's mother put it, "Everyone is a relative." Getting to know o n ~ another over twenty-one years of gatherings ,,: has tended to substantiate the theory. Council Fire Pilgrimage to the old power spot, our abandoned council circle I meet all the pilgrims packing out their tents and trash-bags I find a giant fire-pit dug here since we counciled hard for three hours in the sun to move the council closer to the center of camp Three pilgrims rest here on a log: they too casually join the council of all vanished tribes around the coals of the original fire - Stephen Wing (E.xurp1ed. with "visions by the awhor.from 110!. a ~wsllove /mer to the Rainbow Tribes of the Southeast, Spring 1992 iss~. Contact llO! at Box 5455; At/0/lla, GA 30307) Sun, evening shadows, mist that drifts to rain: the food is ready and we join hands. It's only the clear day's light refracted through the wet nights that makes this Rainbow on the ground. Our circle makes a hole in the ground spirit rising like water in a well, falling like the light on a po11d, the round earth and the rolling sky joined in a circular kiss ... The Circle makes us Whole. Oraw,ng• b)I Ray Ramcs Poems wriuen by Stephen Willg at tire 16th a111111ol Rainbow Garhering, Nanw/,a/a National Forest, Kataoh Province, J11/y, 1987. ~ti1nfl )durnat pnqe IS �In Council With All Beings ;,· , -,r,~ :: •. 3TE by Lee Barnes Human(un)kind's ability to council with All Beings is limited by our human egos, our historical fall from Oneness-WithAJJ. Several "en-Lighten-ments" have aided my personal path towards council with All Beings, including accumulated personal experiences and insights from several books. Council comes to me when I rest my active brain and allow thoughts from All Beings to enter my mind. (Term this as you may - telepathy, insight, second-sight, etc.) We humans have not evolved in limbo from All Beings; rather, we have become insensitive and unconnected from our relations with the great Webs of Life which sustain us. From long experience, I realize that my thoughts (and deeds) do not remain restricted within my bony skull - we can and do touch other Beings with our thoughts. managing to interconnect, apparently without regard to time or distance. Time, mauer, and space appear to be complex illusions created by our physical and spiritual perceptions, historical and modem cultures, mammalian senses, and personal experiences. l totally accept the iraditional beliefs that all things (All Beings) a.re alive and interconnected. We can relate to the other Beings of the world with either an expansive or contractive "attitude." With an expansive "attitude," we can expand our consciousness and encompass All Beings within ourselves. A series of physical and spiritual experiences while hiking over 4000 miles in Katuah forests (and in other regions) has auuned my personal council with All Beings. Usually after about three days in the forest, away from modem "civilized" life, I find myself more in tune with the "real" world. l more closely follow changing day-lengths; more carefully realize the moonlight's effect on animals; better understand the words in the wind; hear the many voices in falling waters; feel the energy of metamorphic and igneous boulders; and recognize the individual tree within the con1ex1 of the forest. I am an unashamed tree-hugger, for trees, especially the forest giants ("wooden Grandfathers") do share energies, and focus Earth energies (although l have felt "indifference" from some trees... ). I have (infrequently) attuned with animal energies by watching hawks soar above, and suddenly becoming "one" with them, glicling over the valley. This was not empathetic daydreaming, but rather I was there in the sky, soaring on wings! I have shared the scene of the land through the eyes of another, equal Being! A specific experience that occurred within a guided group workshop influenced my insight into council with All Beings. During an early morning circle and council based on guidelines from the book Thi11king Like a Mountain: Towards a Cou,rcil of All Befogs (by John Seed and Joanna Macy, 1988, New Society Publishers), I was Xatuah Journnt pnge 16 greatly moved and led 10 a greater appreciation and communication with All Beings. Tllillking Like a Mountain is an inspiring collection of meditations, readings, and most imponan1ly, a guide 10 interspecies communications, which has led humans to greater empathy and union with All Beings. The workshop is usually led by a facili1a1or who guides individual participants 10 "voice" their (telepathic/etc.) thoughts from whichever Beings enter their minds. Typkally in these guided workshops, specific Beings are allowed to voice their cries and frusira1ions wilh human destrUction of their environment and 1be lack of human care about their council. In this particular circle, a "Talking Stick" (brought by a reacher and missionary from African cultures) was passed and used 10 designate each individual speaker. ln council, we heard from several Beings · circling hawks, lowly slugs. and even the voice of the Mountain bcnemh us. 111ese Beings were in anguish, voicing their ~uffcring at the hand of modem human "civilizations" - spoiled waters, fouled air, and their pained existence due 10 human(un)kind's actions. This council would have aroused great disgust towards our human selves, except for the positive counsel offered as 10 how to rcconnec1 with All Beings. While each instance of this method is unique, depending upon the specific seuing and the different panicipants, it remains a powerful personal experience. We two-lcggcds muse seek better council with the universe and with All Beings. We must open our hearts to council, reduce our wasteful over-consumption, and halt the destruction of our fragile planet. Live simply; use only what you need; recycl~ and in all decisions think how the next seven generations of All Beings will be affected. Give thanks 10 the water spirit.~: thanks to green spirits; thanks to the living soil spirits! Give prayer and thanks to All! And then you may learn through council witl1 AH Beings. I encourage all of the two-leggeds, especially the city-shocked brothers and sisters, 10 go simply into the the depths of your existence, leaving your egos (and every restrictive training) behind. and 10 seek open and unrestrictt.'<I council with All Beings. Be open 10 new insights and experiences: be rcspec1ful of all other Beings (whether, stone, fire, water, air...); and offer thanks for council with the rest of Creation. Voice prayers, offer thanks, and continue 10 seek council with All Beings.j - ' # Drawing by Mich11CI Thompson Ho. Sum,ncr, J 992 �STEVE MOON ·1 , " SHELL ENGRAVINGS" The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, a distinctive culture of the native First People, flourished from the east coast to Texas between 500 and 1600 AD. The culture was marked by mound building and elaborate rituals and ornamentation. Among the primary items produced were carved ceremonial drinking vessels and gorgets (chest ornaments hung around the neck) made of shell. Designs were often engraved on the concave or inner side of the shell, which is naturally smooth and glossy. They were sometimes rose tinted. These anifacts are now highly prized by collectors and many of the old mounds have been looted by avaricious grave robbers. Steve Moon is an artist and a defender of the native grave siteS. Descended from a Cherokee-Shawnee great-grandmother, he is proud of the native branch of his bloodline and works in the spirit of the ancient native artisans. He creates museum-quality reproductions of the old shell engravings and also creates original designs based on traditional motifs. "I just sit around and things come to me sometimes," says Steve. "I don't know why, but things pop into my mind, and 1 draw them on the shell and carve them. "It's like closing your eyes and letting the tool do the work. There's really no way to explain it. I just go down into the shell until the color looks right, and r don't go any further. Sometimes rcan control the color all the way around. "I may pick up a shell and it will look like an ordinary mussel shell; another time I will be able to acruaJly feel with my mind down into the shell. The shell gorgets and drinking bowls found in old grave sites were ceremonial objects carefully placed by the body during burial. 'They are sacred objects,'' says Steve, "and it's wrong for people to dig into graves to go after them. The old people were put in their graves to rest. They were not put there to be excavated. "On my father's side, 1 had some ancestors who served in the Civil War. I would be real mad if someone went to Flat Shoals Baptist Church and staned digging them up 10 get the buttons off their coats or something. "In Spiro, Oklahoma during the l 930's, grave robbers dug up a burial site. They were taking stuff out by the wheelbarrow-load to sell to the private collectors. When they found out that the State of Oklahoma was going to stop them, they packed the central burial chamber full of powder and blew it up. The chamber was made of cedar logs, and it had preserved cane mauing, textiles, even textiles made from woven rabbit fur. All of it was blown 10 smithereens. "I've talked 10 looters who went in with burlap bags, and I've talked to looters with doctor's degrees. What's the difference? They arc doing the same thing. 'The bowls and ornaments from the ancient mounds were grave goods. They were not lying around in a plowed field. TI1ey were taken off a skeleton. I think they should be left alone." For Steve, this is a hean-felt commitment. Ile offers 10 donate his work 10 collec1ors who will acc~pt reproductions in return for replacing shell artifacts in their original burial silcs. Steve Moon's reproductions and original carvings arc things ofhl!auty. They shine with a luster and a depth that photographs cannot convey. Their varying textures satisfy the hand that touches them. They truly are representations in tangible form of the spirit that moves Steve Moon 10 his creative work. the spirit that inspires his sense of mission. Stev,· Moo11 can /,c co11tacte,J at Rt. 1, Box 256; Cm,011, CA 30520. -DWA' ~ Original from Moundville, Alabama. Carved in the shell of a lightning whelk. Originals with this design were found in Tennessee, Missouri Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Carved in the shell of lightning whelk. Original from Carthage, TN. Carved in the shell of a lightning whelk Orig111al from Spiro, OK. (The design y, as also found at sites across Tennessee, Alabama. and north Georgia ) Carved in Mankillcr pearl shell. �visiting my grandparents occasionally. "MEDICINE TRAINING" (PARTII) These are the words of a traditional Cherokee medicine person. My gr.mdfather would direcl my training by saying, "You need 10 go spend some rime with this guy. You need to go see him." I would go sec that person. and he wouldn't even know I was going 10 show up. would have no idea at all why I was supposed to be there. I would show up, and I would jusl stay 1here for awhile. I would learn just by being there. It w~n·l at all structured, like lhis guy had Course Three for me or something, but after awhile l could tell when they were aclually going out of their way to teach me something. Some people were more theatrical than others, and they'd make me do crazy things. The strangest one was lhe chicken house. J had gotten 10 where I thought I was real special. I felt that I was really imponant, thal everyone ought to bow and scrape and just be honored lhat I was near them. J was making an ass oul of myself, and. ahhough I never recognized il, everyone else did. And my grandpa 1old me il was time 10 go stay with a man named George. He said that l would have to stay there for awhile. When I got to George's, I asked him, "Where am I going 10 stay?" and headed toward the house. He said, "Hey! C'mere." And I looked and said, "What d'ya want?" He said," You can't stay in the house. We've got lots of guests, and lots of people come by, and we need room for them. We should give 'em the best we have. You stay there." Xatuah Journat page to And he pointed toward a funky old sway-backed chicken house that had a patched-up roof and was about to fall down. r just looked on past it. All f could see was lhc rhododendron thickel behind it, but I thought maybe he had ano1her cabin or a building back there. He said, "Righi there. Goddamn chicken house. Yeah," "Chicken house?" He said. "Yeah. Lislen. that's all I can do." We walked over there. ll was about l5 feet long and about 10 feel wide, with big cracks between lhe boards, and chickens running all about He said, "These chickens are renl 1mponant lo us, we get eggs and meat from them, so I want you 10 use that pile of old lumber out in back, put up a partition, and fix up a room for yourself in the chicken house." I just couldn't believe it. A person of my caliber, my standing, in these conditions! Then I thoughl to myself, "They're trying 10 teach me something," but it was nol until a couple of months Inter that I actually realized what it was. Nobody lold me I was egotistical. I found out myself that I was egotistical. r found out after r had dug tons of chicken shit out of there, put up a wall, split shingles, fixed the roof, got lice. I was absolutely inundated by lice. Sol made lye and covered the whole chicken house with it to kill all the lice. I fixed that chicken house up beuer than it had ever been before. Heck, I didn't have anything else to do. In lhe process of fixing up the chicken house, I became the world's greatest expert on chicken conversation and habits. No one knows chickens any beuer than I do. I spent more than a year in that chicken house, I did chores and helped out, and rhat was the way I paid for my keep. Then people started asking me 10 doctor - small things like wounds and scrapes. After awhile, though, they would ask me questions like, "Johnny, he's off someplace, do you think he's okay?'' And I'd say, "Well, I need to think about this.'' And J staned to give them advice. I had seen the other men do it. 1 had seen Owl do it. I had seen how lhey lalked lO people and consoled them. I soon learned to separate true knowledge from knowledge that you pick up just by hearing things. True knowledge is something that you intuitively know from inside. My grandfather would call it "true knowledge magic." Knowledge that you hear on lhe side like you might have heard some other people lalking about how Johnny was al some whorehouse or in the county jail - thal klnd of knowledge I call "side knowledge." And I knew how Owl took that information and used it to make himself more powerful. He said that he only used medicine in one percent of his work. He said information is much easier to come by. He said that the more knowledge, lhe more magic, and the more power you have, lhe less you use it. When the elden; who had been training me thought I was prepared, they sem me out 10 spend time alone in lhe woods. When I relurned, they beld another nnming ceremony and gave me my true name, my medicine name, my spiritual name, that l never have told anybody. It was done at a campfire way out in the mountains, at sunrise on the new moon, a beginning time. We rook the black drink, vomited, and then we plunged in the creek. They collecled the woods and set the fire, smoked everybody who was 1here, then they sang songs and did different things. Then my true name was whispered in my ear, and I walked to each corner and the elder called the relatives. They would come 10 me, and I uttered my new name in my mind. It was hard lo remember, and I had to get used 10 it. These were men who had hand-raised me. They were all of lhe same generation. They were all old. I think the youngest Sumrm:r, 1992 �pi:rson of th:it group was .50, and he was ai I think that in anybody's hfe there is a the bouom in the pecking order t)f age. I le ~en!ie that things arc se1 out for you. The \\ns a fc1d1er and .i carrier. people who raise you have cenain They were very spiritual in the sense expec1a1ions of you, and if you have a that they followed the t.rndition. They lived loving, caring. nurturing, mutual son of everything that they believed. They had their relationship. you want 10 do everything in own son of reality, like they would leave your power 10 meet their expcc1a1ions. food for the Little People here and there, and You might have long fingers, so mama they talked 10 the spirits regularly. They thinks you ought co be a piano player, so she would all be holy people compared 10 the drives you to the piano. If she goes about it Cherokees of today, but they weren't like our in a good way, you might end up to be a Hollywood concept of a medicine man at au. concen pianist. But you may have been belier They were not what the anthropologists suited 10 be a plumber than to be a pianist. called "priests." They were a different group. You could go on until you are 50 years old The "priests" and famous medicine men lived and srill playing in honky-tonks before you closer 10 town. But these old people were all realize that the piano is not your calling. members of the Katuah Medicine Society. I received a lot of my understandings about Katuah from them, things that l am not ever at liberty to talk about. Because they were in the society, they considered themselves better than most people. They were actually arrogant about tha1. They considered themselves the true Ka1uahs, and there's probably pans of me that still feel a lirtle smug, because I grew up ,-: - with that cenainty. They had signs. Back then, everybody ~ wore a little feather in their hat. But the \ \ ~ ) Karoah people would take the marrow out of 1' ::,J\..... '• the feather, so that when they walked, the ( .r,,., feather would make a fluttering motion. That -\. was a sign. \., \\~. Another sign was a linle silver snake. Owl said his snake was made by Sequoyah. It could have been. Several 01hers had little \. silver snakes. They frequently wore old suit coaLS, welfare clothes donated by white people, and would carry the snake under the lapel. When Karuah Society people from Olclahoma would come, I would see old Owl lift his lapel for the briefest second and let ii fall back. And the other people would make an acknowledgment with their eyes without winking or doing anything obvious. I can't tell you how they did it, it just was I acknowledged. ' Then, without any other invitation, we would go back to the creek. and soon four or five of these people from Oklahoma would just show up I.here. They'd talk and smoke pipe and do Katuah ceremonies together. This would go on all night. I would usually fall asleep, because I was young then. But l am amazed about how much I learned by just hanging out. "Be invisible," grandpa would say. "Be invisible." When I look back at the good and the bad in my life, I always feel incredibly fonunate and content. Despite the pains and sufferings that everybody goes through in Life, I have aJways believed that I have affected my own destiny more than most people do. Sometimes l interfered in the process, and other times I just let the process happen to me. 1 give credit for that to the fact of my growing up experiences, all the things I learned from that strong circle of elders. If the spiriLS had not had another intention for me, I probably would srill be living near my childhood home among the offspring of those old people who raised me. I would either have been an alcoholic or struggling inside the system. '-I ·) i''\,-, ~mmcr, 1992 Drawing:, by Troy Sc,ILlc:r Jn my case, my grandfather saw ~omc physic.11 signs and m:1de an interpretation based on the sign5 and his knowledge. But it was still someone else's in1erprc1.1rion. Back when r was 10 years old, my grandfather taught me how 10 carve little animals out of soft basswood. I can remember that l was fascinated with that for a year or so. Then I went on to other things. That was the extent of my early carving career. The figures I made were crude, but a seed was set for something 10 come. The seed lay donnant until a few years ago when ! saw a carving on a shelf in a house I was visiting. I picked it up and held it. It didn't feel right. It seemed disproponionate and out of shape. The man said. "Can you carve anything?" I said, "I used to fool with it when I was a kid." After I left the house, I said to myself, "I can make something better than that." And so I made a bear. It was 001 very good, but it still was a little bener than the figure I had seen. I fooled around making different kinds of animals for a year, experimenting with different styles and expressions. The animals I made then aren't anything like the animals I carve now. They were somewhat similar in design, but not in quality. I went through the whole process. A lot of the techniques I learned were already known by people all over the world. I probably reinvented the wheel several times over. But I also developed a couple of ideas that, as far as I know, no one else has thought of. And when J finally made an animal that looked like it was alive, it just blew my mind. I said, "Look at this!" The next one I made came alive in my hands, 100. ! said, "Look at this! 1 did this! Mc! No one else! No one set me down and taught me 10 do this. No one told me." Now I am staning 10 get thunder from my carving. Thunder is when other people acknowledge your ability, and it's absolutely wonderful. But what has made all the difference is that r feel an inward drive and detcnninarion 10 do this that I have never felt about doing anything else. I have been detennined 10 accomplish other goals before, but this is purely an expression of myself. II is a force coming from inside of me. This was not/ preordained by anyone; this is the real -: person. Xatuah Journat JIOIJC 19 �BAD NEWS AND GOOD NEWS The j9b of t ~ government o(ficials is to protect the health or citiuns and or the environmenL At best. they have displayed an attitude or unconcern about their responsibilities. Al worst, they have wilfully misled lhe public about a matter of grave danger. Such disregard or Ille lives lhey arc supposed 10 protccl is unconscionable. This 1s a Sillllltion thnt needs to be thoroughly investigated at both the state and county level. Such flagrant irresponsibility must not be allowed to conunue. Nanni World New, Service The Burlington Industries CIIIJlCI plant at the hClldwaa.ers of lhe Little Tennessee River in Rabun County, GA is closing iis doors. That is bad news and good news. The plant employs about 425 people in Rabun and Macon Counties. The plant closing is bad news for~ people who will be summarily dismissed and left wi 1h no means of li vclihood in an increasingly competitive job marlccL However, &ho Burlington pbnl has long been a major polluter of lhe Liu.le Tennessee River, and Ille factory's demise will mean beuer heallh foc lhe river's aquatic ecosystem. '"The plant has been a severe, but not an acute, polluter," said aquatic biologist Dr. William Mcl.amey. '"There have been no fish kills, foe 111s1811CC, but cit tensive sampling of both fish and insect populations have shown that the plant has definitely had a negative effect on the river." If another company buys lhc Burlington plant, it will be regulated by stricter environmental laws than lhosc in effect when Burlingion staned diacharging into the river. Also, a newly-initiated citiun's monitoring group will be traclcing lhe wat.er quality al lhe planL "We will continue to lake samples above and below lhe Burlington plam until there is no noticeable difference between them.· said Mcl.amey. As long as our industrial system operates environmentally destructive means of production, Ille closing of worlcplaces will be at once bad news and good news. RAPE PREVENTION Natural World Newi Scrv,cc For the first time in the Southern Appalacluans, a federal lawsuit has been filed on behalf of biological diversity, challenging the Land and Resou= Manngerncnt Plan proposed for the Cherokee National forest by lhc US Forest Service. Representing a blood coalition of conservation groups. the lawsuit nled by the Southern Environmenl3l Legal Center (SELC) contcstS the Forest Service practice of below-cost timber sales. The suit also contends that Ille Jogging progrnm outlined in the pbn would do urepruablc domagc to native habitat and result an a corresponding loss of biolog,ical diversity in the Cherokee. D:ivid Carr or the SELC rcporis that the CWTCnt plan opens up 60% of lhe national forest to logging and ro:ld construction • much of it on steep slopes and mac=iblc terrain. By FOfCSI Service estimates, there arc presently 80,000 acres of potential wilderness in the forest; more than half of this vital lnnd b:lsc is open to desccr.mon under the plnn. By promoting rood building and cle:ucuumg, the Forest Service 1s practicing t.hc ecooom1cs or extinction. Peter Kub)', regional director of the Wildcrnc!..s Society, note~ lhat the Chcrolcc Plan threatens the extraO(dinary natur.il diversity or the foreM. Kirby points out that tl1e Cherokee Nauonal forest 1s home to 1,000 ~pccie., or flowering plants, 400 species or vcnebr-.uc,, and appl'oxm1atdy 13.S sp<lC IC$ of (hh, "[Ilic fore:,1 plan) calls for the logging of over one-hair of the cove h:lrdwood forcsis. an ccol<'lg1cal treasure trove in the Southern Appalachrnn,; he said. The new Fore.,t Plan wuuld also va.,tly mcn:..1~ rood density (which already exceeds lc(:111 guidelines) providing OC.CC.'i.~ for o greatly mclC:l.<cd amount of commcrci.il and recn:;itional :ict1vi1y - not to mention illegal poaching. Th~ Asheville Citizen-Tunes and Green Line - ~ r s provitkd ,nfor""11ion for this ortk~ USFS TO STOP APPEALS Nanni World News Service BUNCOMBE LANDFILL SCANDAL Nanni World News Environmental sleuihs from lhe Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League blew the cover olT what was apparently a conspiracy of silence among Sl8tc and local governmental officials about leaking contamination from the Buncombe County landfill. In October. 1991, investiga10rs from the Environmental Protection Agency sent a rcpon io Buncombe County saying th:11 u:st results showed "elevated coneentmtions or numerous volntile organic compounds and metals" in lhe groundwater around the Buncombe 1.nndflll. TheAshcvll/c Citiun-Timu reponed that monitoring wells showed six to 3S times Ille legal limit of live indUStrial solvenis - tnchlorcthylcne, benzene, dichlorelhane. methylene chloride, and dichloropropane. Water quality cxpen Richard Maas of the University of North Carolina Asheville told the newspaper lhat the contamination levels were "higher than several Supcrfund sites in the area. In my experience the.~ levels are surprisingly high." An estimated l,125 people living within four miles of the landfill site drink wnter from wells. Yet neither the State nor the county government made any public announcement about lhe landfull lenk or possible hazards to residents' drinking water. At an April 10, 1992 press conference, BREDL activistS dlSJ)layed papers they had dug out or state liles 1n Raleigh that proved that the l:mdlill wns leaking. This W$ the first word given to the public that anything wa~ amiss. Why did government officials not inform residents about the groundwater conUlmination1 County Manager Steve Metcalf blamed 11 on M.uvin Waddey, who w:is Director of County Engineering Service:. al the time. MclCOlf srud that he ju.~t pas.scd on Waddcy's assurance that there were no problems at the l:andlill. W:lddey has conveniently moved out or ~cue. Stale hydrologc.t Bob Lufty said that the ,utc h.id not informed anybody of lhc trouble< because of undcNtnffing. He wW Grun Line ncwspapcr that 1hc st.1tc hrul a two-person hydrology \taff to monitor 150 landlills, Half or thc.sc on: leaking wor;c than Buncombe's. he said, and the re.,idcnts of those commumues do not know nbout the danger.;. either. Now the ch~rn1cals arc moving toward the Fn:nch Broad R111i;r. 'The C,11:en-lim,•., stated lh:n l.ulty s:ud lh:11 lhe subl,unccs would reach the nvcr, · 1,c diluted and evcntually dcSU'oycd." llle solvents 111110l11cd are deailly and per:;islCIIL It may be hundreds of yc;tr.; before they nre ·eventually de.woyed." The US Forest Service has chosen to sell more and more of the last remaining virgin and old-growth fOl'CSIS to the timber industry. But concerned citizens have bad the right to challenge lhese sales through an adminis11'8ti..e appeals process. Many people have fe:irs that to continue ovctCUlting our forests will mean irreparable ecological harm. The appeols process has helped to bring some measure of accountability to the management policies and practices of the Forest Service. However. on Morch 20. 1992, Agriculture Secretary Edwnrd Madigan announced that the Forest Service was proposing to eliminate the appeals process. In ltne with the Bush administration's announced plruls to eliminate "unnc.cded" federal regulations, these appeals were deemed too time -cor.swning and costly, and it was decided that lhey would be replaced wilh a toothless •30 day pre-decisional notice and comment period.· The Forest Service is trying to ignore the fact that most of the appeals filed have resulted in improved dccisons, better management or the fOtcSts. and often citposc inodequat.e environmcnllll analyses. TI1e agency seems to think that any decisions it makes should go unchallenged, and the public should have little or no voice in how Ille Mlional foresis arc managed. ForesL~ arc more than vettical logs. It is insane to continue to cut our last few old-growth stands of timber and destroy native habitat communitlcs to feed the ever-hungry saw mills. The Forc.,;t Service often needs IO be remanded or this. PROTECTING AQUATIC HABITATS Nmural World News Service April 23. 1992, the Nonh Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NC WRC) held a public hearing in Boone, NC to consider a proposal origill3ting within the agency to dc.~ignatc 33 wawrshcds m IO of Nonh Carohnn's miuor river ba.~in.~ as critical habitat for species of mollusks and fish endangered m the Slate. The plan would offer protection a.s "High Quality Waters" 10 portions or the New. Watauga. Little Tenncs,;ce, Johns. and Linville nvcrs and the Warrior Forl; 111 the mounlaln area of the si;uc. Env1ronmcnt:1I acti'lsts present at the hc:iring IO support the mca~urc, commented that 11 was a pl~surc IO appear at a hC'..mng to compbmcnt the m1ua11vc of a ,1a1c ngcncy tn\lC.'ld or nJ1P(Xing iL llic comment J);nod on tl11! WIIJhfe Comm1ss1on's proposal extends until July I. Lener.; of suppon may be sent m: North CtJro/1fld ll'i/dlife RcJo:,ru; Commimon 512 N Salisbury .St. Raleigh. NC 2760-I .. . S11111111cr, lll!IZ a 6 t t I I 8 �.,. .. • WOLF' FLUNKS PILOT TEST Na.tural World News Service One of the four led wolves (Canis rufus) released in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in November, 1991 was recaptured and penned, according to Park spokesperson Bob Miller. Red wolf Male (#219) was recapwrcd in JanWIJ')' because he showed undue tameness towards humans, and because he caught and killed a chicken in Cades Cove and several domestic turkeys just north of the Park. The livestock owners were reimbursed for their losses from an indemnity fund created specifically for such contingencies. Male #219 may have been a poor choic.e for release s:inc.e he had spent seven years in zoos, where he had become unnaturally tame. He was selected because he was sterile 10 ensure that a bl'eeding population was not established in the Park prior to the completion of the iniual study. He w :J most likely spend the rest of his life in captivi•y. Two new adult wolf pairs arc cum:ntly being acclimated to the area by being held in large pens for the next six months, and may be released in the Park in November. Members of the IVesttr11 North Carolina Alfiance gagged by the US Forest Service. The Alliance prot,:sted removal qJ the Forest Service's appeals process at a press conference held outside the USFS Ashevitte offices on April Phoio Laura Dcaton/WNCA 17.1992. ONE H O NEST MAN N.i1ural World Ncv,,s Sen ice When Dr.William Reid signed on as oncolog1st (cancer specialist) at tlic Mcthodi!il Medical Center in Oak Ridge. 1N early in 1991, he knew little about the production procc.-.scs al the Department of Energy\ nuclear weapons plants and less about the nuclear politics of Oak Ridge. But he did know a sick p:iticm when he saw one, and he saw four Cll'iC.'> of a rare kidney c:inccr, an unusual concentration for such a small popul3tion sampling. I le also saw a ~ignificant number of people exhibiting auto-immune system disorders. Exh of the p:mcnts wilh kidney disease h:id ~n exposed to ·major radiauon." Dr. Reid rcponcd. and the p:itients with auto-immune deficiencies showed "n consistent p.,ucm of blood irregularities." In August, 1991 Reid approached Dr. Daniel Conrad, the medical director for Martin-r-.1:uiCU3 Energy Systems, the priw1c conlJ'3clor for virtually all the opcrauons at the Oak Ridge Rc.'iervauon, 1uking for access to c.lal.l about pos.~ible metal toxicity al the Oak Ridge plants. "Th<.,rc are no problems wuh Mattin-Marictl3 employee~." Reid was told 1111d 11,~1~ ahruptly shown out of the olfice. The young doctCII' wa~ surpnsed ut the brush-ofr he n:cc1ved from Conrad, t>t11 he was more surpnsc-d ,;everal months btcr m December, 1991 when he w1Ls called before a medical review board at his 1nsu1uuon for "treuung pauent~ 100 aggressively," •spending too much money in the treatment of cancer patients." and :illcgcd complaints of incompetency. A<; a rcsult of the review, Dr. Reid WIL~ served ummcr, 1992 an ultimawm: either to pack up and leave Oak Ridge or have his name entered on the national medical black list known as the "National Pr'.icutioncr Data Bank for Adverse Information of Physicians and Other Health Pracutione11>." Since the review hearing. the hospital has p:iid to have another physician monuor all of Dr. Reid's cancer ueatments. Instead of caving in lO this blatant blackmail, Dr. Reid filed a lawsuit challenging the allegations agamst him and comc.~ting the consmutionaluy of the National Pr'dctitioner Dalll Bank. "Tilesc actions arc a ~ham," said Lewis Lcvm, Reid's attorney, of the hospu.1J's measure.~. "The)' were perpetrated again.,1 Dr. Reid only aft.er he refused to be intimidated by threats." And in the te.lt of I.he lawsuit, Levan st:ucd, "He (Reid) opposes the prcvuilmg lct-them-d,e attitude toward cancer puticnts. lie oppo5es dcni.31 of treatment even when 11 1s nOt fully covered by insurance payments. He oppose.~ those who refuse to seek the c.auscs of bi7.arrc patterns in the quality and quantity or cancer seen in Oak Ridge.• The lawsull goc, on to say, "The physicians and hospi111I who benefit from 1he generosity of tlJC Martin-Marietw health c:irc pl.ln 11.ant him to lc:ivc. 1hs p31icnts want him to st:ly. • Reid reports that he has nxc1ved many fate-night pl1one tj1lh from anon>mous supporters. Other caller.; have offered mfonn:iuon lo help llllCk down people suffcnng from health problems clue to radiation and heavy metals tox1C1l)·, His work· and the late-night lips. have shown results. Dr. Reid has found pockets of 1mmuno-supp,cs~ive disorders in the Oak Ridge area and even downstream as far as Kingston. TN. A NOTHER ONE FOR THE GOOD OL' BOYS NawnJ World News Service Yet another example of govcrnmenrav bureaucratic arrogance and insensitivity: the North Carolina Dcpanmem ofTranspocuuion (NC DOT) decided in May to postpOne public hearings scbcdulcd in May on the 1 Transponation Improvement 992 Program (TIP). While this mecis the leuer of the law requiring public hearings, it keeps citizens from having any input on 1992 transponation priorities - in effect canceling any value the hearings mighl have. Without public hearings, citiuns arc effectively blocked out of the decision-malcing process. This becomes even more dist.urbing when one realius that lhe Board ofTransponation iS appointed by Governor Jim Martin on the basis of political favors. It is the plum of state political appointments. Noticeably missing from the Board of Transpoltlltion arc tranSit advocateS, individuals with rail background. environmentalists, and reprc.senrativcs from communiLy groups, neighborhood associauons, and minorities. Perhaps the reason lhe DOT has decided to dispense with public hearings is that the importanl decisions have already been made. Journalist Barry Yeoman has produced a thoroughly researched s1udy publi.shed in the lndependem thal shows a close relationship belween the sources of large political contributions and where highway construction projects are built in the Srate of North Carolina Do you want the NC Department of Transportation to hold public Juuuings? Write to: Larry Goode: ChiefEngiuer (Programs); NC DOT; Box 25201; Raleigh. NC 27611. Reid ha.~ nlso received support from the 03k Ridge Envll"Ollmcntal and Peace Alliance (OREPA), which has accumulated experience in dealing with the authorities and tmcl.ing tOxiC emissions nt the Oak 1 Ridge Rc...crvntion. Stc,·e Smith ofOREPA and the Foundation for Global Sustain1bili1y. said, "This is the first lime a medical doctor within Oak Ridge ha.~ stepped forward 311d begun to identify :idvcrsc h~th cffCC1S in and around the Oak Ridge facilities. "When Dr. Reid first saw these pntu:ms emerging, he was acompletely di~inten:.stcd observer. He had no axe to grind with the DOE. He had no conccpuon of what he was getting mto when hc ~tarted work 111 Oak Ridge." Under pressure from the St:ltc of Tennessee, the DOE 113.S funded a panel of health e.\J)CttS to study cxpo:;urc to radiation among people Ii ,·ing around the Oak Ridge facilities. Dr. Reid has been appointed to that P3ncl, and will reveal hi~ tull fi11ding.q in the cour:.c of that invcsllgnti()n. Hiscao;e i, also under scrutiny by Sen. John Glenn's Government Affairs Commmcc and Rep. John Dingle's lnvcsugauon Subcommlltcc m the US I louse of Rcprc.'iCntJllvc.~. A rccC11t anicle in 1,me magazme c•uvmg H11ppdy ~eat a NuclearTr.ish Hc.ip," 5/l lfl2) ten1'ring on Dr. Reid nlso called aucnt.ion to the situation al Oak Ridge. Now thai the hd of secrecy 1s orr I.ht\ lode history 01 the Oak Ridge Reservation, 11 seems likely that dccJ)CI' probing will n:~ cal more c:uimplcs of abu!iC of the health of hum:ins 11ml the envllQnmcnL II L~ startling lO think that tl1is whole furor began because one person v. 1th true compa..sion entered unawwes mro the heart of the sordid nuclCJr we.1pons industry. It shows the pov.er ol one honcsl man. XGtuoh Jounmt pnqe 2 1 �REGION O'RAGIN' ,: ,. .. •, Nanni World News ServiClC April 21st brought not only a healthy dose or rain io 1.he region, but also a healthy dose of reality people in K:m1ah are outraged with the US Forest Sc,vice! As p:in of a national Earth Firsll effort honoring John Muir's birthday. protCStS organiz.cd by the environmental grollP SoulhPAW and il.S cohorts in Asheville, NC, Atlanlll. GA. and Oevel:md. TN were among lhe more than 30 prou:sts held ruitionwidc. Activists at the Forest Service Regionnl Hcadquaners m Allant.a mllied behind a 4S f00t banner that read: "Environmenlol Assessment of the US Forest Service- Finding of No Significant lnl.Cgrity." Twenty-five dcmonstraoors gathered outside lhc Cherokee National Forest HeadqumterS in Cleveland. while in Asheville 50 people chanted and hollered ouLSide the Pisgah/Nanlllhala National Forest offices. In each city, the message rang ou1. loud and clear: decision-making proc:essc$ which destroy thousands of aaes of habitat come from little cubicles inside concreie and Slecl office buildings. //'you'd liu to wim your frusuaJions with IM Fores, Service in a concerted effort, conJJJcl SowhPAW: Box 3/4/; Asheville, NC 28802. SENATOR WAFFLES Nau,,al World News Scrvia SenalOI' Terry Sanford is threatening lO give in the mauer of the Fontana road, the famous "Road IO Nowhere" in the Great Smoky Mountains National Palk in Swain County.NC. Sanford bas ptOp0.5td legislation I.hat would include aSl6 million payment to Swain County and allow consuuction of the comrovcrslal road. The road would destt0y the possibility of wilderness design:11ion for the southern end of the Parle and open the isolated area up IO possible (ulllrC developmenL Sanford stalTer Alan Thornbwg said 1h31. the Senat0r "just wanLS to pol lhis ITlllller behind us. He is willing lO do w~ver lhe county commissioners dcs1te in lh is local issue.• Sanford apparently does llOl undel'Sland that it is not jost a local issue any more. The s111tus of several thousand acres of h3biw and an imp0Clllllt wildlife migration routc are at stalce, and there are many visilOrS co the Parle who each year apprcciatc the qmet and rcl:ll.ive isolation of the north shore of Lake Foruana. Sanrord's move seems LO be an election year ploy to brcalc Helms' enclave or powct in Swain County. That he would scll out I.he future of a critical habitat area for a palll}' handful of VOies shows a skewed sense of values. lO Senator Jesse Helms' inll'BllSigcnce in To con1ac1 Stlllltor Ttrry SOft[ord abou, his proposal, write him QI 716 llart Senate Office Building: Washington. DC 20510. WE PAY FOR CLEARCUTS! Nlllnl World New• Serv~ Once again the U.S. Forest Servicc has issued a report stating the amount trutpaycrs pay tO subsidize timber sales on North Carolina na11onal foresLS. In 1991 U.S. citi7.ens paid $2.4 milhon ID order lO have roads buih and plOIS of national forest land clcrucut to the state. Even though less limber was harve.~ted in 1991 l.h:m m 1990 (there was a loss or S2 million in 1990), we paid even more to keep Congress nnd the timber IDlcrestS happy. Xnt(iari lournnt ,.,- r, l Z2 nmm lf ll f • If •r 6 t = • ~-WHEELERS ~AT POR&ST Nanni World New, S<tvicc All-terrain vehicles (ATV's) are a pcoblem in lhe region's national forcsLS. In lhc view of the US Forest Service. the desires of different human inteteSt groups lake precedence over protcetion of the rorcs1 ecosysiem. Thus, ATV joyriding is seen as a legitimate "mulitple use· of the forest, and the little bull-bouncers are permitted whetc no mot0ri2cd vehicles should be allowed co chum. Case in point: lhe Wayehutta (locally pronounced •worry-hut") Creek watershed or the Nanlllhala National Forest in Jackson County, NC is riddlcd witlt A TV irails. Sixtccn miles of old logging roads have been given over t0 the mud-slingers for their fun. But that is not cnoogh for the wheel jockeys. Now the Forest Service is considering a plan to add 20 more miles of ATV trails, pcneuating two more water.iheds. Internal combUSlion engines, especially obno11iously loud ones over four knobby-treaded tires, are incompatible witlt deep forest habiw needs. The acres that woold be impacted by the noise, debris. and massive erosion from ATV's are needed much IIIQle desperalCly by wild animal and plant life as homespace. or However, Uie ltanquillily lhis JX)rtion of wild land is tltrca1encd. Adjnce.n1 lO the city uact is the CliITs of Gla.\sie development, a 1,000 acre golf rcson. The Cliffs wants to buy 134 acres of 1bcciLy's propeny 10 expand their domain. The Greenville City Council was agreeable to the sale. but when local conservation groups he:lrd of the proposed transaction, tltey unilCd in vehement opposition. The local Bartram Group of the Sierra Club described the property and revealed the details of the sale in a televised press conference. The land had never been inventoried, said the group, and lhey insisted 1h31. a sludy of lhc area be done before any sale was considerod to dcterminc if it was habilat for any rare or endangered species. The TV broadcast provoked a flood of letterS from local citizens apposing the proposed sale. Under I.hat pressure, the city council bacud off. TI1ey agreed to inventory the 134 acres proposed for sale. Moreover, they have decided to study the biology of the whole watershed to consider a mnnagemcnt plan for the entire traeL The city might still try to sell tho area when the study is completed, but public pressure has proved co be a powerful LOOI. The Highlands Ranger District is scliciting commurls on the proposed A7V trail expansion. Write them 01: Rt. I, Box 247; Highlands. NC 28741. BUYING BAD AIR Namral World New. Scrvice The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is baying 10,000 cons of coxic nitrate and sulfaie compounds rrom the W l ~ Power and Li&hl Company co release inlO lhe air over the Tennessee Valley and the Soulhcrn Appalachians. Docs that sound LOO bimrre to be true? Not at all. Under a clause or the much-toulCd Clean Air Act or 1990, companies that are in •over.compliance" (companies that exceed the minimum smndnrds for air cleanliness set forth in the act) can seU "pollution credits" to polluting companies who don't want to clean up their operations. This provision is a safeguard bw11. into the law ID see that the air does not get cleaned up beyond a minimal level apparently on the theory lhal if air geLS too clean iL is bad for business. Money can buy off the legal system, but it cannot bring dead lJ'eeS back to life. nor can it make polluted air any hcallhicr for those organisms who have lO breathe u. "Pollution crcdiLS" may make TV A think that it has license tO pollute, but 11 will only worsen lite situation in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park where 96 plant species ore already in doclinc from niuogen•gcnerrucd owne and other atmospheric pollutanl.S. The grealeSl irony may be that rai.epaycrs puchasing power from TV A will now know tltn.t, instead of investing in air pollution controls, they ore buying themselves an extra helping of air IO~ichy. Comnu!nls may be stnt 10 the Ttnntssu Valley Aulhoriry; Norris. TN 37818. GOLF DESERT OR WILD WOODS? Nanni World New. Service The City of Greenville. SC own.~ 25,000 acre.\ of land in nonh Greenville County. The ll'3cl is a rugged and beauuful alC.'.l at the foot or the Blue Ridge CSClllplll(nL Bought bad ID lhe l 920·~. lhe land has not~ a bulldo1,er or a chain saw in 60 years. i4 D ACTIVISTS RALLY FOR CLEAN AIR N11unl World News Service A raucous crowd of about 50 people and one coswmed bear demonstralCd beforc the Great Smoky Mountains National Park's Suga.rlands VisilO( Center in GatJjnburg, TN on May 18. 1992. This time the activists or the group SolllhPA W were not protesting government actions, but ~ galhcrcd IO support lhc Dep:inmcnt of the Interior's policy of opposing any new insl.allations within 120 miles of the Great Smokies lluu would add lO air pollution -particularly low-level ozone - in the Park. Signs welcomed curious visitors lO the "Great Smoggy Mouniains" and decl3rcd "We Support the No-zone!• The dancing beat grophically demonslt3llld what happens when wildlife take on overlo:ids of air pollution. Atlanl.8 folksinger Robert Hoyt serenaded the Monday morning crowd with copical songs about the state of the environment and our society. The Soul.hPAW ac11v1s1.S wcce JOined by 20 eighth grade s1udcn1.S in the KARE (Kids Agamst 'Recking lhe Environment) Club at Bridgepon School m Newport, TN. The studcnl.S, who live in the watcrShed of Ilic Pigeon River, knew lin;tband about lite effects of waler pollution, but came 10 learn what air pollution docs co C(()~i.tems. They m:ide tl1c connections quickly and were soon parudpat mi; cntltus1asucally in 1.hc dcmonst.111tion. Su mm.er, ){192 uu �The first building constructed at Sycamore Branch was the community center. It had a large kitchen and dining/meeting area upstairs and ample bathing and laundry facilities downstairs. The next project was a complex that came to be called "the apanments." These were twelve good-sized rooms, each with a couple of sleeping lofts, arranged in two tiers going up the hill above the river. Many families lived for several years in the apartmenrs while they worked on their houses. Today the community rents them out to young couples, the elderly, and visitors. The people decided that most of the houses were to be built in a cluster near the community center. These houses were built by the homeowners who organized themselves into a masonry crew and a carpentry crew. Some homeowners hired replacements for themselves because they had jobs that would not allow for the necessary rime off. These clustered homes were connected by a common water, electrical, and sewer system. They were arranged and landscaped for maximum privacy, set into the hillside, and turned a little this way or that so that each home could have a small private garden. There were many outdoor decks and patios. Another eight homes were built in various places around the property. These homes were simple and designed to be low-impact, most of them lacking in conveniences. There was widespread unemployment as the old international economy collapsed. Many families who lived at Sycamore Branch lost their livelihood and the community started businesses to help. Soon after forming, the village started a cooperative that owned and ran a sawmill, a woodworking shop, and managed the community's garden and kitchen. People could belong to the cooperative that ran the garden and kitchen or they could buy meal tickets. Many people from outside the immediate community bought tickets and some joined the cooperative. Members of the cooperative are currently required to work 14 hours each week. In practice, about one fourth of the people chose to work these hours themselves, one fourth chose to pay, and half chose a combination, doing farmwork during the planting and harvest seasons. This arrangement allowed some people to make a liveli.hood almost entirely from farm or kitchen work. The Village Cooperative kept a small herd of cows and ran a small dairy that also A LOOK BACK by Will Ashe Bason processed milk from local farmers. A village bakery supplied fresh bread that was sold locally. Tofu and tempeh were made from beans that were obtained in trade from a community in a neighboring county that had a better season because of lower elevation. Twelve acres of blueberries were cultivated and most of the berries were dried and sold. There is a blueberry festival at harvest rime, and the entire community helps with the picking. One hundred fifty acres were planted to a mixture Lhal included chestnuts, black walnuts, black locust, and bramble fruits, and this has proved to be a very valuable asset over the years, with chestnut flour becoming a major source of income. Many local farmers and landowners planted blight resistant chestnuts that were supplied by the village and brought tons of dried chestnuts to the sheller and mill. Toe village woodworking shop produces drums, harps, dulcimers, guitars, and flutes. These products have gradually gathered a fine reputation among musicians far and wide, and the shop employs about one third of the people in the village. Sycamore Branch was of vital imponance to Floyd County during the economically unstable rimes of the late '90's and the primary years of this century. It helped formulate the plan for the decentralization of the county's schools and social services. The community has set up four small band saw mills in various parts of the county and organized a crafts collective that markets area crafts on a mail order basis through the satellite communication network. The community has provided blueberry plants, nut trees, shiitake mushroom spawn, and vegetable StartS at low cost (and sometimes free) to local farmers. Sycamore Branch gave technical assistance to many local communities that were creating their own power systems after the breakdowns of the late '90's. They powered several other villages directly and gave assistance 10 many more. There were many economic refugees in the late '90's, and Sycamore Branch offered a plan by which these folks could mostly house and feed themselves. They were influential in Habitat for Humanity's decision to build ecovillages with their own economics instead of isolated homes. The community produced a video series tilled "The Owner-Built Village" which was used by thousands of new cormnunities. The goals of Sycamore Branch, as stated in their by-laws, included not only being of service to the larger community in Floyd County but also reaching out on an international scale. This was accomplished through a sister community program that linked the village to other small communities around the world. Especially close tics were made with the Mayan village of Yonin. Young people from the communities were exchanged every year and sometimes older folk would go down for a year or so. Sycamore Branch marketed xylophones, weavings, and dried fruit from Yonin. Sycamore Branch has cooperated from the beginning with the UN's efforts lo set up international community-to-community trading and cultural contacts. The village has for years sponsored a team ofteehnicians who work to help upgrade poor communities by providing better water sources, waste treatment, and health care. Villagers from these communities are trained to run the solar satellite link and to access weather, health, and technical information in their own language. This gives them access to world markets within the limitations of the distribution system. There is an emphasis on self-sufficiency and the development of a few trade items that can be transponed to the nearest world irading center for shipment to irs ultimate destination through the UNPS network of freight dirigibles, trains, vans, and donkeys. The village of Sycamore Branch was a leader in the move by small communities to take over the economic role of the corporations. We now take it for granted thar small communities work together economically for their common betrermcnt. and we forget that there was a rime when this was an unusual pattern. The breakup of the corporate economy in the '90's left a vacuum that was naturally filled by small communities. The pauems developed in Sycamore Branch and similarcommuniti~# were a vital part of this process. fr Reprinted/rem Tek:iah newsleuer, which is available from the ln.sritwe for Sustainable Living; Windswept Fann; Rt. 1, Box 35; Check.VA 24072. Will Ashe Bason is a farmer and visionary who lives in the Floyd County, Virginia community. Mountain Counsel Blackberry bushes, heavily leaved, Bow as I approach; Offer bounteous gifts Deep black, soft and sweet. Yet remind me of the need To pick with gentle care Or else be pricked by thorns That spring from everywhere. And so it is with friends. - Taylor Reese DnlWUl& by Rob Mcs11ck Summa- , t 992 Xatoofl Journa! JIQ9C 23 �BUlTERFLY In a lazy larval state I ate Everything Fresh and green That lay before me Until I could consume No more DRUMMING Dear KaJuah, This is the sound of Nonh Carolina. ll is the voice of Kilmer Forest - it is the New River Gorge - it is the Haw River - it is ML Mitchell and the Black Range. Little Santeetlah Creek and the French Broad River also speak here. I am Native Choctaw-Scot-Nonh Carolinian and l dare speak in their names. From the mountains to the coast, I see areas rendered unrecognizable due to overdevelopment and misuse. It huns - the street lightS that ruin night vision, the litter, the washed out sides of previously pristine lakes due LO motor-boating. This is not the state I grew up in. What was attractive then is now the money maker of the day. Why do those who come here to "get away from it all" need LO "bring it all" with them? Back LO Nature? My family raised me that way - my grandfathers and greatgrandfathers fanned • a Choctaw greatgrandfather was a proud man in his community here in the Piedmont I still have the land he farmed. At age 37, I still practice what my ancestors left to me - a guardianship of property and the knowledge or how to do it. I love this state, but not what it is becoming. It needs help, and l feel we are losing. Last year I was a volunteer for the Kituwah Festival here in Asheville and will be there agnin this year. I would also like to work wherever possible for your staff on representing Katuah Journal - it has a place! Thank you, Nancy Odell Dear KaJuah, While I have enjoyed the Journal more than I can say, I have not sent in my subscription renewal because J feel you could help me a bit more than you have tried lO in the past. My Llfe's goal is to help re-establish the American Chestnut in the mountains, and to that end I've been trying to locate acreage on which to do this. I wortc with devotion on anything undertaken, but my problem is lack of money for purehasing the size acreage or farm needed to plant, nunurc, and monitor these seedlings to maturity. I sincerely felt there must be, among your readers, someone intersted in seeing this tree again reclaim our forests: some who may not have the time or inclination to do the work needed, but who may be financially more able and who would be willing to help. I would gladly give full accountability for any funding offered. I looked at Land last Saturday near Spruce Pine. Bui I would need some $26,500 to acquire it. along with giving some inherited fine jewelry 10 make up the difference. I'm willing to give everything I have, bu1 cash is something I don't have, unfonunately, and tha1 is what sellers wanL Truely. l felt your interest in this was as deep as mine. l am not some scam artist, simply a person with a limited amount of assets that will gladly give for the finacial help l need. Some of these assets are quite exciting, for instance, r have an original printing of the very first meeting of the Continental Congress (authenticated by the old books department of UNCC); an original copy of Washington's Farwell Address and many very old deeds, etc. l'm not wanting something for nothing, you see. I have quite endless energy and much determination. This determination would go into the raising or the chestnut If you do wish to help me get started (I'm looking at land from the Spruce Pine area west through Madison Counry), you will be proud of what l'II accomplish. Fat and sleepy I slep1 deeply Safe from a hungry world Alone in my own Silk cocoon bed That trembled and twirled Suspended by threads From slender limbs Overhead Waiting Until the warm suns Of summer come And I summon the courage To emerge Transformed and renewed Wings brightly-hued To carry me Free • Rebecca Wilson Hicks Sincerely yours, Dorothy Dickson 113 Autumn Lane Harrisburg, NC 28075 !f\ "he. 5UMe Y- -th e -fiowe.YS b\,oOM f- he beo.Y" w i 11 'rOMe VJ ; f\ 'f"'e 5qVi1TelS 1 e ()\ t WQ'f K °'WO\ifi "~ Wi "t e r Cold +or C\ T\d We+her l'llolobyR.-lyBall tre r 5 P\ in re~ Of Jee cl ".f'or the bi ue TS v\ nJ --fo'( -r~e crow -t~erf Cor Y\ Pl , n teu 0-f +1'.o.-1-· J (poem by Tiyo) age 9 Dear Karuah, I'd like to subscribe to your journal, finally. We love it most abundantly cover to cover. Couldn't bear to slash the graphics on #34, so I send this sheel of paper wilh this message. Beyond the garden, consensus decision making, and bioregionalism, my interest and vocation arc renewable energy systems and sheller. Our house is off the grid and soon our income will be, tOO. Please conac1 me if you ever do an issue on renewable energy in Ka1uah. Blessings 10 ya'II Star and Otter Summer. 1992 �Dear Kanwli, Thank you for the flood of pleasant !Demories evoked by your Spring, 1992 issue. As I pored through your pages, I could see my father pointing out things as we walked through the woods. I learned of wild onions, greens, mushrooms, persimmons, and beechnutS. Berries grew abundantly where I was raised - strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and gooseberries. I was fortunate enough to live close to a small wooded area, an ecosystem all its own. To this day, I can tell an Oak from a Maple from a Birch from a Willow, etc. ' I'm still fascinated by the life forms in even a small creek. The fish, crawdads, leeches - I even learned to make suckers into a very fine substitue for salmon/mackerel patties. Thank you for bringing it back when I'm ready to see the deeper meanings of the Earth's give-and-take relationship with man. Keep up the good works, Mr. Messick. Stay on the Path, Jeff R. Zachary Dear KaullJh, This is still the best bioregional rag I've seen! Thanks for keeping me in touch with all the real news from home. Gene Dilwonh Dear Friends, I send to you all my thoughts of peace and well being... I hope that this Jen.er finds you all enjoying happiness and good health! I appreciate all your hard work in producing Ka1uali Journal and including Stil-Llght in your calendar of events. ll helps to keep us before the public eye. Thank you!! I am writing to comment on your recycle logo on the Spring, 1992 issue: "Recycle or Die." Recycling in and of itself and one hundred percent population will not solve our problems and create a sustainable economy. Recycling is at best a stop gap measure, something easily understood and do-able by the masses. Until we stop consuming and u111il we stop having so 1111Jny babies (especially in the more afj111e111 countries) we will continue 011 our collision course with exrinc1io11 as a species as we use up all our nomral resources. I agree that we should continue to reri:ind people to n;cycle because it helps, but crying wolf and usmg scare tactics hns never wo~ked. people only do that which is in their own selfish best interest. .. a sad commentary on human nature, but the truth. Just a few thoughts ... Your Friend and Brolher, Leon Frankel Summcr, 1992 Dear Ka11W1, Well, they've done it to us again! Praise be to the "Gcxl Squad" for overiding the couns and sentencing more forests out west 10 lhe saw? The sponed owl may be protected, but only by the edict of loggers and the Almighty Gospel of the U.S. Congress. r thought there was supposed to be a balance of power between the three (to name but a few) branches of our government. Where is the justice in taking a case to coun and then have the "Gcxl Squat" (sic) come and say "Praise the Lord. we gonna Lord it over every forest we can"? Constance Birch From the Groun d Up "You gotta start from the ground up ... " - That's what they've always said - and lhat's it in a nutshell - where civilization's gone wrong "If you don't have yo~ feet on the ground... Then where are you? How do you get sustenance without roots? "We're all going so fast we're gonna crash" - where? - on the ground? The Ground? We've put that in the hands of MEGA CONGLOMERATE ii-?tJ~~Wo.MILLIONAIRE, 20TH FLOOR HEADQUARTERED farmers - Who probably won't touch the ground even when they die But are buried up to lheir necks in their financial statementS - the only thing they care about And speaking of lhe ground... From the Earlh's point of view it must think we're made of rubber for that's all that touches it when we move. We're Gods of power... We have bulldozers to move mountains. A river can't flow without our permission We've gOL landfill expens - like our mission is to fill the land "Landfill" - like a free lunch for the Eanh! (ns if it liked the encrees) Many of the Earth's peoples worship Jesus, a man's creation of the universe (or Gcxl, if you will...) Who gave unceasingly of beauty and healing... even as he died slowly and painfully in the hands of the Earlh's people. If such as he were still alive would we try 10 save him? Or, would we treat him as we do her, lhe Earth? Dear Karuah, I read awhile back the article on the !-,ETS sy~tem and sent for the preliminary mformanon. lam real interested in seeing one get sra.rted in the Karuah region in rural mountain areas. At this time I have not the time, energy, and resources 10 start one by !11YSClf - l wonder if you know of other interested persons you could put me in touch ~th who have the whole study course who might let me borrow it. In the meantime I am starting a simple bancr networking newsletter in this local area (Bryso~ City, Sylva, Franklin). Perhaps you would like a ,~·rue:-up for the summer journal. The Spnng issue of Kauiuh Journal is by far the most interesting one to me in a long time - great articles intended for the already some~hat informed. Erbin Crow's pissing poem 1s a real gem. Airin Green P.O. Box 382 Whittier, NC 28789 Dear Karuah, I have enjoyed recieviog your paper, but there is one matter of deep concern l have. I have noticed several times in recent years the theories of Buckminster Fuller have been mentioned in a positive light, as if he were a worthy mentor for ecology-minded people (see John Ingress in Spring 1992). I recently went back and looked a1 Fuller's opus Critical Path (St Martins, N.Y., 1981), and was alanned to find it was even worse than I had remembered. In the preface he introduces lhe notion that human beings are so smart we can easily provide an "unprecedented higher standard of living for all Eanhians," and claims that "four billion billionaires" would be a worthwhile and admirable goal. Can you imagine how shredded to ribbons the Earth's ecosystems would with "billions of billionaires," a concept Fuller warmly endorses throughout his book?! The rest of Fuller's thesis is well known. High technology is the savior we have been waiting for. lo the future, humans will live packed in floating cities, space platforms, nnd so on, in fully automaied, controlled environments. On page 297 he claims "lhe power of the Amaz.on warershed will be harnessed and considered by designers as an integrated moving assembly line." On page 251 he gets so carried away he proclaims that man has now taken on "lhe competence of Gcxl." I could go on with such examples, but perhaps the point is made. I disagreed with the late Ed Abbey on some things, but in his evaluation of Buckminster Fuller, l lhink he was right on lhe money. ln the meantime there are lOLs of other writ tings on technology out lhere worth reading, such as Lewis Mumford, Jacques Ellul, or Jerry Mandcr's new book. Best Wishes. Bill McConnick • Breeze Burns Xorunfi Jottn«i( p09c 27 �Jury Nullification: Democracy at Work M ost of us have noticed that our rights arc being whittled and chopped away as surely and relentlessly as our foresis. But there is a little known right which can be a defense against an offensive government. II is a right we have because we are entilled to a jury trial. The Fourth Circuit Coun of Appeals in U.S. v. Moylan (1969) put it this way: '1f the jury feels the law is unjust, we recognize the undisputed power of the jury to acquit, even if its verdict is contrary co the law as given by a judge, and contrary 10 the evidence." People on a jury have the right to free people from laws they wouldn't want imposed on themselves. The right and the responsibility. Jury nullification, as this almost-secret right is known, goes way back. Back to ordinary men. Some of the ordinary men were the 12 who served on William Penn's jury in 1670. The British king proved beyond a doubt that Penn was "guilty." He had broken the law against preaching a religion other than that of the Anglican church in a public place. But the jury didn't wane to punish William Penn. They thought it would be a beuer idea to punish the law itself. The king's agent was furious and tried co convince them that the law was more imponant than their conscience. The judge did his convincing by imprisoning the jurors in the Tower of London until they agreed to convict Penn. But pubUc opinion - possibly related to the expense of imprisoning the jurors - forced the judge to let them go, and to admit that a jury had the right to decide not only whether someone has broken a law, but whether the law is just. The right of jury nullification bas consistently been upheld in British and American courts. According to Alan Sheflin and Jon Van Dyke in law and Concempory Problems 43, No. 4 (1980), 'The repeal of (prohibition] laws is traceable 10 the refusal of the juries 10 convict those accused of alcohol traffic." And Hagbard Celine points out in Trajecl()ries newsletter that "the anti-pot law, the silliest of all our drug laws, could not survive in a nation with at least 70 million pot-heads, if juries knew that they had the right of nullification." So what's happened? Back in the 1890's, the U.S. Supreme Court was about as freedom-loving as our current robes. They upheld Lhe right of jury nullification - but simultaneously ruled that Lhe judge not only doesn't have to tell the jury Lhey have this right - but can prevent the defense attorney from telling them that they have ii! power. Only Maryland has a state constitution which requires a judge to inform the jury that they may acquit if the facts prove a defendant technically guilty but the jury believes the law is wrong. (Lots of states, though, have elected judges.) There is a movement in many states to pass Fully Informed Jury (FU) Amendments to state constitutions. For more information, you can write to FUA; Box 59; Helmsville, MT 58843. Jury nullification is a secret that needs to be told. I asked my son if he knew his rights as a citizen. He looked at me and exclaimed, "Mom, I'm in school." Isn't the power of juries a fundamental part of how democratic government - of the people - works? I wonder what would happen even without an amendment if people knew that juries have the right to judge not only people, but laws? If the people knew the power of juries, and the power we would have a grassrootS movement - towards democracy? I am indebted to Robert Anton Wilson and Trajectories newsleuer (Vol. /, No. 8; Awwnn /990)/or m11cli of the infonnation in 1/iis article. Trajectories covers many spheres of interest. Write to them clo The Pennanenc Press; Box 700305; San Jose, CA 95170. - by Karen F/etc71er All juries have the power 10 nullify any law, but any government judge can do everything in her or his power to prevent them from knowing that they have this I: Reprintulfrom IM AuJumn, 1991 ,ssue of /. green light, Mwsleuer of the Cumberland-Grel!II Bioregional Counril; 2513 Essex Place; Nashville TN 37212. The Story of the Man Who Wanted to Become Moss He tried very hard he wore himself like French lace and went to the core of cells where the green lives and pulled out chlorophyll trying to reinvent his structure to take in the sun When he kissed his mother that lay in the moss When he washed his belly that lay in the moss When he sat outside himself that lay in the moss lay in the moss lay in the moss in the moss in the moss the moss moss moss - Jenny Bitner Sumtm:r, 1992 �BOOK REVIEW BEYOND THE LIMITS: Confronting Global Collapse Envisioning a Sustainable Future In I971 , a book was published called The Limits 10 Growth by Donella and Dennis Meadows and J(lrgen Randers. It was a landmark in ecological thinking in many ways, causing many people 10 debate and question the whole idea of unlimited growth in industrialized societies. The notion of growth as a cure for economic problems is deeply ingrained in many people, and this book questioned the very basis of such an assumption al its root. By using the Systems Approach to problem solving and taking a long look at trends in escalating human numbers and the subsequent pressures put on the Earth's resources, these three scientists proclaimed that if present trends continued within the next one hundred years there would be a steep decline in lhe ability of human societies to sustain themselves. This catastrophe could be changed, they argued, by creating a kind of steady-state where human populations and material needs would level off and a new balance achieved between binh and mortality and between extremes of wealth. It's twenty years later, and these same three folks have been working on the Systems Approach regarding the choices we have in creating a future that does not depend on growth as a means of propping up our economies. Their new book, Beyond the Limits, states clearly that human societies have already moved beyond the limits of what ecosystems of the Eanh can handle. Il does not make excuses in order to go lightly on industrialized countries. It radiates respect for the diversity of life in the world and offers some much-needed perspective about the human place in it. The authors are deeply moved by the severity of the problems we face, and yet in many ways they offer hope by providing paths we can follow to ease away from the trend toward collapse and simmer down into a mode of human economy that actS within the limits of Eanh's sustainability. I find that it is much clearer to use a Systems Approach with thorough explainations of feedback, exponential growth, overshoot and collapse, and planetary sources, throughputs, and sinks than the ambiguous notions surrounding human carrying capacity (as seen for instance in Issue #28 of Kat(wh Journal). Human beings are not exempt from limitS to material growth or the perils of overpopulation by any means, yet it is high time we recognized that we have exceeded many of the regulatory limits 1hat exist for other mammals and that we clearly have the capacity to overshoot this carrying capacity at any time. Cultural knowledge may not be enough to restrain our frenzied pace, but it can offer us some of the wisdom necessary co pull back and keep from overstressing life support systems. Whether we will paractice this wisdom remains to be seen. yet Beyond The limits offers some hard-earned distilled knowledge and should be read by those interested in learning how we can panem human societies within limits. We humans do have the potential to be effective problem solvers. Unfortunately we rarely choose the right problems to solve. Beyond The Limits is pub/is~ by Ch,!lsea Green Publishing Company: R1. I 13, Box 130: Posl Mill.f. Vf 05058. Please ccn1ae11km aboui ~ ,P" informtUion on the book. Rob Messick B~byJll!OIITucllct "I told the Prograns to encourage self and Earth awareness. celeblollon. kinship ond hope. • Youlh Camps • &;hool Programs • Family Campa· Tead!o, Training • Community Programs • Camp StaIf Tra111lng • Ouldoof Program Conwtt,ng Look. Y1111 Ill ill l ltld ISklnQ mt ti help kAI • Oonch ot Pffllll down tlltlt I don I k"°" Md I"m 11n ~ I did kMw u..m 1-lclnt wt/I ti ~1111 ti their dNIJII forgd l l TIii an,_ 11 no F«av11 no•·· -'Naly~lbon ..,_ Don ·t Pay Taxes for War Fo ntnrm11.1on ,if'ld o, ,1 c.;i, PO. Bo• 1300 Gotti'lburg. T e<Y'lessee 3n38 615-436-6203 National War Tax R esistance C oordinating Committee PO Bo~ 774 Munroe, ME 04951 1 2071525-7774 Summer , 1992 la'O!\: •nrr 1 ,t - REGIONAL RADIO Featuring Crossroads music, NPR news and music programs, regional news and information concerning health, education, government, recreation, and the environment. WNCW • FM P 0. Bo" 804 Spind.ik•, NC 28160 (704) 287-8000 �(cootinuo,d from P"&C SJ and decorations were very sunilar. They carried out the same kind of sun worship. I think they were priest-ruled. The Louisiana nibes showed that influence strongly, and there is much evidence of that among the Creeks and Cherokees, probably more among the Cherokees. Because of that influence, we had a priest society for awhile. We became more sophisticated and more warlike and gathered up more territory and more people. But the priest society among the Cherokees became so arrogant and so barbaric that the people rose up against them. I think it must have been about the time when the clans dwindled from 14 to seven. The revolt centered in the Katuah village. The priest society was ovenhrown. After that episode, the spiritual functions of the nibe became more decentralir.cd. There were ceremonial medicine people, song keepers, and the chiefs of the ceremonial grounds. There was a medicine man who could give hunting formulas, and that's all he could do. Another one who could give fishing formulas. And women who lcoew how ro deliver babies, and soon. The medicine people still had influence. but they were not almighty. There were , definitely people who shone among those groups, and they gathered some degree of power, but that was because of ability, not because of their office. The people also gave more power 10 the village councils and balanced the influence of the clans within the villages. so that no one clan became dominant. Thus, it came about that when the white people came, they found us to be a loose federation of villages, more lroquoian in our government than most of the tribes around us. But our power was growing. I think that if the white people had waited 100 or 200 years they would have dealt with one or two governments in the Southeast. We were definitely influenced by the Iroquois. As it was, we were eventually forced by bitter expenence to adopt the white man's system of choosing one civil leader who had ultimate power. Then we got chiefs like John Ross, who passed a law saying no Cherokee could sell land. Until that time. each village acted on its own, and we were overwhelmed. / In spite of his droll pen 11ame. Bear Wirh Runs is a full-blooded member of the Cherokee cribe. He Jives in quiet a,umymity offthe Cherokee Indian ReservaJion. FREE CHEROKEE from Ahwi Brown What is a Free Cherokee? That's an honest question, and ru try ro give an honest answer. Most often a Free Cherokee is a person with a family legend about an "Indian" grandmother or grandfather. While these legends persist in famiUes throughout the land, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has made it virtually impossible to enroll these Free Cherokees on federal rolls. The Free Cherokees are seen by many of these Xotuah JPurnat page ao people as a way to go "home." We do not seek BIA recognition or any other benefit not available to other citizens. We do appeal to our BIA "approved" cousins to join with us in keeping our heritage strong and in resurrecting Tsalagi as a spoken language. It is the hope of this Free Cherokee that the more affluent of the Free Cherokee people talce advantage of the current recession and low interest rates to acquire land parcels in the Cherokee homeland, Katuah, with the intention of establishing Tsalagi kibb1uzim within the borders of the homeland. To explain the meaning of the liebrew word kibbwzim: the Jewish people used this same method to reacquire their ancestral homeland. It took them about 100 years to do it. I hope we can beat that! . . This idea may sound crazy, but so did Z1on1Sm 100 years ago. J reel that this is an idea whose time has come. I release it to the Ancient Red. Allw18rown Chic.kamaugan Band of Fru C~ro/cus 19/SBudleySt Clialtunoogo. TN 37404 Summer, l 992 �:BUN M-OU'.NTA.'L'.N (b. 1979 • d. l 992) It was over a dozen years ago that a man named Jerry staned cooking small batches of tofu in the back of a food co-op in downtown Boone, NC and distributing it around town. This effort was passed on to others who tried to expand the tofu, tempeh, and sprout market to the rest of the state. The soy dairy was small, but it had a wide distribution within North Carolina. A series of owners found it difficult to manage, and it was passed along until John Swan bought the business in 1987. He sought to make Bean Mountain into a viable business by moving it from the slowly dilapidating building it had been housed in for years to a new building in Weaverville, NC. The hope was that with bcner access to distribution routes and better facilities, larger contracts could be gained and the business would nourish. We have recently learned, however, that Bean Mountain could not make enough money to survive in today's market. Bean Mountain tofu and tempeh have been legendary not only in the southern mountains but also in many towns in the piedmont. h will be sorely missed by many people. Hats off 10 you, John Swan, for your gal/am effons to revive this most useful of services to the community. Thanks also to the men and women who put in their sweat and blood 10 keep it going. May the memory of all that good food linger in our hearts forever. - Rob Messick SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN BLACK BEAR REHABILITATION AND RELEASE CENTER Or. Michael Pelton, a wildlife biologist from the University of Tennessee who specializes in black bear research, frequently receives calls from people who have found orphaned bear cubs. Panicularly in the spring when cubs are young and inexperienced, they are at risk if they are separated from their mother by poachers, free-ranging dogs, a flood in their den, or any of a number of other causes. Until now, there have not been adequate solutions for this situation. But a dream long held by Dr. Pelton seems about 10 mnterial ize. Under the auspices of the Dragonette Society for the Preservation of Endangered Animals, work is proceeding on the Southern Appalachian Black Bear Rehabilitation and Release Center. a facility specifically designed to renccustom and relocate orphaned, injured, or starving black bears into the wild. The Center is certified as a non-profit organization and has established a board of directors. Backers have donated a site for the project in Townsend, TN near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Architect Tom Caldwell volunteered his skills to draw up a plan for the facility, and the Oragoneue Society is now preparing for a fund-raising effon toward a $350,000 construction budget. The institution's primary focus would be 10 temporarily house and r.reat bears in order to re-establish 1hem in the wild as quickly as possible. "We want to do what we can in a confined situation to enhance the possibility of survival in the wild," said Dr. Pellon. Bears would be held for their protection only with as little contact with humans as possible. When they become strong, healthy, and acclimated enough to function in their natural habitat (a maximum of six to eight months), they would then be released 10 remote areas of the mountains or possibly in black bear reintroduction projects, like the one proposed for the Big South Fork area in Kentucky. The Dragonettt: Society for the Preservation ofEndangered Animals Box669606 Mariella, GA 30066 to"'°'ifka. IOO'U ~t\~S \ I ,-o &c>~ , a04 by Rob M, .. 0$.icl; v ( 7041 69~1 Q.8"118" An Alternative NATURAL MARKET WHOLE rooos • OULK FOODS • VITAMINF..S • Hf:R!lS • FAT FREE FOODS • TAKE OUT FOODS• SNACKS• NO SALT, NO CHOLESTEROL 265-2700 823 Blowing Rock Ad Boone NC 28607 ~ » speaking fpr fhe earfh. --, Union Acres Rob Messick Rt. 8, Box 323 Lenoir, NC 28645 't lllll • &.234 t1<nc1enonw,..,..c;ie1)!1 C~t\b~~, M.C. Get a set of 10 assorted folding cards with artwork as seen in Katuah Journal. Send $11.25 ppd to: /•j i - - Acreage for Sale - Smol.y Mountain Living with a focus on spiritual and ecologie11I values For more informalio11: Contad C. Grant at Route 1. Box 61/ Whittier, NC 28789 (704) 497-4964 whole earth gro~ery . ·. .;·,: .. ,, r,.. ~ NATURAL ALTERNATIVES FOR HEALTHFUL LIVING 146 !.'.parkway craft .:<'ntcr • suit<' 11 gatlinburg, tcnncss"<' 37'738 615-436-6967 �JUNE 12-22 AMONG THE TREES Katuah Rainbow Tribe Solstice Gathering. Somewhere in the national forest. sisters and brothers will gather 10 create a magical village of love and light. Location to be announced. For information, write to HO! Newsletter; Box 5455; Atlanta, GA 30307; or call Atlanta Rainbow Light Linc at (404) 662-6112. €V€0t'S BLACKSBURG, VA Soc1e1y for Conservation Biology Annual Meeting. Symposia on biodiversity issues. Contact DepL or Fisheries and Wildlife: VPI & SU; Blacksburg, VA 2A061 27-7/1 HOT SPRII-.GS, NC "Jndcpcndcncc Week 7.en Holiday." wilh Genlci Snndy Stewart. Medi1ation rcU'C3t held in s1lcnce, culminating ma walk up lhe moum.am. Pre-register: S225 includes lodging and vegan meals. For info on lhi.~ and other rctreais, contact Soulhcm Dharma Retreat Center: RL I. Box 34-H; Hot Springs, NC28743. (704) 622-7112. 27,7/4 IS FULL MOON/ STRAWBERRY MOON 19 ASHEVILLE, NC • AFSEEE's Vision for N:lllon:il Foresis in the Southeast," a public meeting with Jeff DeBonis, founder of the Associalion or Fo~, Service Employees for EnvironmcnU!I Ethics. 7 pm at Humanities Lccwre Hall, Univers11y of North Cnrolinll • Asheville. For info, C31I Dr. Gary Miller, UNCA. (704) 221-6441. 28 BLACK MOUNTAIN, NC "Sunday m the Park," a moveable reast of emenninmcnl, will be at Lake Tomahawk today at 2 p.m. Performers will include Jerry Read Smith, Lisa Smilh, and Bonnie Blue's puppcis. For info on this and other Sunday evcnis, call Quali1y f-orward. (704) 254-1776. JULY (INTER)NATIONAL Day of Action for the 07.one layer. Don a "radiation suit" and demand a ban on CFC's and HCFC's NOW! Picket your nearest EPA office. Local eoniacc John Johnson (615) 26S-67t3 ContincnUII comacc Rhys Roth (206) 943-7259 l 3.9 19-21 WILLIS, VA "The New Dance." an exploration of changing sexual identities with Dan Chesbro. Friday • workshop for men and women IO hcal old wounds, restore Ille balance of power and shnre our spiritwll oneness. SaL, Sun.• a l'CIICal for men wilh music, bodywon:, ceremony. Indian Val~y Rctrcat: RL 2. Box 58; Willis, VA 24380. (704) 789-4295. ASHEVILLE, NC ·wise Woman Tradition: Apprentice W~." will explore herbal knowledge and women's wisdom. For info, contact WhHewolf; Box 576: Asheville, NC 28802. LINVILLE, NC 371h Annual Highland Games and Galhering or the Sc«lish Clans 01 MacRae Field beneath Ornndfalher Mo11ntain. Scottish games, dancing, uilidh, bagpipes, more. For information. call Orandfalher Mountain Highland Carnes 01 (704) 898-5286 or write to Box 356; Banner Elk, NC WASHINGTON, DC First National Carrying Capacity Issues Conference. Discuss the basic issues underlying the CWTCnt environmental crisis with leading thinkers such as Gaylord Nelson, Herman Daly, Anne Ehrlich, Garrett Hardin, Hazel Henderson, and others. $100. Carrying Capacity Network; 1325 G St. NW (Suite 1003); Washington, DC 20005 (202) 879-3044. 20 SUMMER SOLSTICE GREAT SMOKIES PARK Naturali51. nnd Educa1or Week is for anyone who wanis 10 team more abou1 lhc outdoors nnd pass lhc knowledge along. Hiking, natural h1~tory, music, swunming... and Free Tune! Spce111I gucs1 will be Doug ElboU, storyu:ller/ naturalisL Prc-rcgisu:r: S200 includes lodging and meals. For more info about this and other programs, contact On::11 Smoky Mounlllins lns111111e at Tremont; R1. t, Box 700; Townsend, TN 37882. (615) 448-6709. 22,27 "'1tt'1afi JournnC. pa9(" 32 18-19 GREAT SMOKIES PARK "Great Pandas in Chma and Wildlife in the Smokies" wilt use field lrips in lhc Park lllld group discussions to mnlcc ecological, cultural and conservation comparisons be1wccn Chinn and lhc Smokies. For info about lh1s nnd olher courses, con13e1 Smoky Mounlllin Field School: 600 Henley Su-eel, Suite 105; Knoxville, Tn 37902. 1-800.284-8885. 18-19 SWANNANOA, 1'C Anciem Sw Walke.rs" class led by Page BryanL Included will be 1hc m:iking or a stnr bundle, a Stnr Dance, 111lditional Native American siories nnd sky watching. Pre-register. $85. For info about lhis and other programs, eon1.1c1 The Earth Center. See 7/11. 19-25 SWANNANOA, NC "Old-Time Music nnd Dance Week" of the Swannnnoa Onlhcring 01 Wnrrcn Wilson College. Weck-tong instructional workshops on old-time liddle and guitnr, clogging and conu:i dancing, siorytelling, and more. Ralph BliZ7..ard and lhc New Solllhem Ramblers, David Holt, Don Pedi, and others. S220 + Sl40 meals 311d lodging. Sec 7/12-18. 20 ASHEVILLE, NC "Planetary Acupuncture: Power Points and Sacred Sites and the Healing of the Earth." Breath-taking sUdes and spirirual insights by anthropologist/photographer Martin Gray. 7 pm at Laurel Auditorium, Asheville-Buncombe Technical College. $10. 9-12 28604. 19-21 W-ESSER, 11.C ACA Open Canoe Nolionnl Championsb.ips will feature racers from nll over the U.S. in slnlom and wildwau:r courses on the Nanlllh3!3 River. For info on these and other whitewater evcnis. eoniact Nam.ahala Ou1door Cenu:r; 41 Hwy 19 West; Bryson City, NC 28713. (704) 488-2175. 15-17 10 BLACK MOUNTAJN, NC Robert Hoyt, a radical voice for a New Soulh, and The Billies, rhythmic harbingers or post-mdusuial living, play 31 McDibbs; I 19 ChClT)'. For more info, call (704) 669-2456. MARSUALL, NC "Toolmaking for Woodwoiters" is a class for lhosc intuesled in u-aditional woodwor1cing lechniques requiring IOOls no longer commercially available. SIUdcnts will team IO mnke and modify IOOls, including forge work, uiught by blacksmith Frank Turley. Pre-register. S390 includes meals and camping. with donn aceomodalion available. For info on lhis and olhcr woodworking workshops, conU1c1 Counuy Workshops; 90 Mlll Cree.le Road: Marshall, NC 28753. (704) 656-2280. 20-24 SWANNANOA, NC Full Moon Lodge is a monlhly eveni; begins 111 noon. Fo, info abou1 panic1pa1ing m the sweat. conU1C1 The Earth Cenier. 302 Old Fellowship Rood: Swannanoa, NC 2377g_ (704) 298-3935. 11 12-18 SWANNANOA,NC "Scouish/Bluegrass Week" oflhc Swannanoa Orubcring 01 Warren Wilson College. Week-long instructional workshop on Scottish and bluegrass music styles with Brian McNcill, Z;in McLocd, the Lynn Moms Band, olhcrs. $220 + $140 meals and lodging. Wnu: The Swannano:i Gntbcring; WWC: Box 5299: Swannanoa, NC 28778. 14 PULL MOON/UUCK MOON Summer, t!l92 �.:!0-:!6 WILLIS, VA Seventh Annual Women's Wellness Weck. Sacred spat:c and mual, movement. sound, storytelling. more with Jane 20 Avery-Grubel, Katherine Chantal, Louise Kessel, Ise Williams. and mhcrs. Conmct Indian Valley Retreat; Rt. 2, Box 58; Willis, VA 24380_ (703) 789-4295. -pericarp --seedcoal UUNCO\IBE COU:O,.TY. NC Organic SmaU Farm Tour w1fl provulc an orponunity to soc orgnnic producuon technique,, green m.murcs and pc$! control~ on working farm, m the al'l!a. Sponsored by Carolina Farm S1t:w:udship Ass«ia11on. For info, call Allison Arnold :it (704) 255-5522. FRANKLIN, NC Cnmping. canoeing. rafting. hiking. first aid instruction with a small group of bomcscboolcrs in the Nnntaha13 Mountains wilh the Hcadwntcrs Homcschoolcrs Outdoor Camp. S275. For more info. contact He.id waters at (704)369-6491 or write lO 68 Lakey Creek Rd.; Franklin. NC 28734. 23-29 ASU1'; \'ILLE, NC Broom Making Workshop. Go tic one on with instructor Cnrt~n Tuule. For info on this and other craft workshops, contact Folk An Center: Box' 9545; Asheville, NC 28815. (704) 298-7928. 21-23 CULLOWII EE, NC •1..nndscaping with Nauve Plants" conference will offer lcc1urcs Md worbhops by landscapers and horticulturists. Pre-register: S50 + meals and lodging; rcgislCt separately for optional field trips on 7(22. For info, call Sue DcBord at West.em Carolina University. (704) 227-7397. 23-2S 23-8/2 SEPTEMBER Fmuru: 2. -Cn•lot1rn dc11tato, Amoricnn ch•olnul: lonld· ludinol ~ectlnn throu~h " nut, I.H x. WF,STERN NC Folkmoo1 USA brings folk dancers and mus,cinns from Hungary, Jamaica, Belgium. MCllico. Moldova, Panama. Sardinia. Ponugnl, Taiwan and Uzbcldst:111 to perform m various locauons in Kauiah. For schedule and price information, contact Folkmoot USA; Box 523: Waynesville, NC 28786. (704) 457-2997. CELO COMMUNITY, NC RSVP Summer Celebration. Picnics, tubing, hiking, dancing with Katuah's homegrown pc:icc networking journal. For trove! directions or more info, call Joseph Heflin a1 Rural Southern Voice for Peace. (704) 675-5933. 7-8 ELIZABETHTON, TN Appalachian Folk Medicine Symposium will include lcc1urcs held al Sycamore Shoals Staie Historic Sile in Elizabethton, lllld demonsr.rations and hikes at Roan Mounlllin Siate Parle. For info. contact Jeff Wardeska. Roan Mountain Society; 4 Bingham Court; Johnson City. TN 37604. (615) 929-4453. FULL MOON/HARVFSf MOON 12-20 AUGUST 12 WESTERN NC River Week celebrates the French Broad River in four WNC counties. Community events will include a canoe trip, raft race, hotdog kayaking, river safety course, and riverside concert. To avoid- being left high and dry, get a schedule from the French Broad River Foundation. (704) 252-1097. 25-26 13 FULL MOON/ GREEN CORN MOON The nrc.1'5 oldest and targc..t natural foods grocery " Kalmia Center, Inc. FRENCH BROAD Fooo Co,op Sylva, NC (704) 293-3015 Custom tilling, organic fertilizers, kelp meal, colloidal phosphate & many more products and services for abundant gardening and healthful living. (JOI) ......... .. 255-7650 your comnru1'1ly groury,1ou ._.,., ...,.,., ......... .... .. ,,,... ,... ,..., "'- 811/k Herl>s, Spices, & Grains Vitamins & Supphwents W11eat, Salt & Yeast-Fn•e Foods Dairy S11bstit11ti:s Hair & Skin Care Products Beer (.-f Wine Making S11J1plies 200 W. King St, Boone, NC 28607 (7(») 26-1-5220 r;f diu W WHOLE FOODS VITAMINS ORGANIC PRODUCE 160 Broadway Asheville, North Carolina Open 7 Days a Week Monday - Friday 9 am - 8 pm Saturday 9 am - 6:30 pm Sunday 12 pm - 5 pm Summer, 1992 t ·,. ~ NATIVE FLUTES Two styles mode of cedar or walnut woods in the traditional manner Hawk Littlejohn Sourwood Farm Rt. 1, Box 172-L Prospect Hill, NC 27314 (919) 562-3073 Sam!JMush Herb Nurse.~ WREATHS •POTPOURRJ • HERBS • TOPIARY Complete Herb Catalog - $4 Describes more than 800 plm1ts from Aloe to Yarraw Rt 2, Surrett Cove Road Leicester, North Carolina 28748 Phone for appointment to visit (704) 683-2014 �HJGHLANDER CENTER is a communily-bascd educational orgnnization whose purpose is 10 provide space for people 10 learn from each olher, and lO develop solutions 10 environmenllll problems based on lhcir values, experiences, and aspirations. They also pul oul a quarterly newsletter called Highlantkr RtportS. For more info contacl Highlander Center. 1959 Highlnnder Way; New Mankct, TN 37820 (615) 933-3443. FAMll.IES LEARNING TOGETHER exisls in North Carolina as a ne1work or homeschooling families who offer infonn:n.ion, experience, and encouragemcnl 10 each olher. &nelilS of FLT membership include a quarterly newslcllCI, fumily di.roclory, fnmily galhcrings twice a year, media resource file, and much more. If you would like 10 learn more about Ibis o~n group please contacl Tnsh Sc11Cnn or Doug Woodward :ll (704) 369-6491 or write 10 68 Wey Creek Rd.; Frank Im, NC 28734. PIEDMONT BIOREGIONAL INSTITUTE· For those who live m lhe Piedmonl area, there's a b10reg1onal cffOfl well underway. Join Us! We would appreciate any donation or time or money 10 help mee1 opera1ing expenses. For a gift or S25.00 or more, we will send )'OU a copy or John Lawson's journal, A New \foyage to Carolina. Also come fmd out about the Lnwson ProjccL PBl; 412 W Rosemary S=t: Chapel Hill, NC 27516; Uwha.nia Province. (919) 942-2581 THE ALTERNATIVE READING ROOM is an unconventional library; free and open 10 lhc public. Our coltecuon intereslS include the environment, social :ind political issues, the media ond peace. We have.over 200 mag3.1.ine substripiioos. The book and video collccuo~ also emphasii.e the cnvlltlllment and political concems. Books and videos can be checked OUL A video player i~ available for watching films in the ~ng room. Localed UJ 2 Wall SL (#114): Asheville, NC 28801 (704) 252-2501. MoQ/Wed/Fri 6-Spm. Tuesffhur I-Rpm · Sal/Sun 1-6pm A VIDEO ABOUT LAND TRUSTS has been produced by lhe umd Trus1 Alliance 10 explain in lay 1erms whal a land lfUSI is. 2.7 million acres of land have been saved by non-profit land 1rus1 organi7.ntions in America This video docurnenlS lb.is movemcm's successes. Cost is 521.00 for individual and Sl4.50 for LTA members (include S4.50 for posmgc). Con!3CI: The Land Trust Alliance: 900 171h SL NW (Suite410); Washing10n, DC 20006 (202) 785-1410. ~Jli,~ J~~'[.'IOL P0:9.': ~ HAWKWlND EARTH Rl:.NEW AL COOPERATIVE is a 77 acre wilderness retreat located on Loolcou1 Mounmin Parkway in northern Alabama. Easy access. safe family camping, year round weclc:end programs featuring Native American cldc:G and Eanh teachers from around lhe world. S1r0ng spiritual foundation wilh Earth Renewal emphasis, membership discount co-op. There is no chnrge for Native American ceremonies; reservations required for all vis11S, please. Childcnre o(lell avnilllble. Write: P.O. Box 11: Valley Head, AL 35989 (205) 635-6304. For qU3flerly newsleuer and program updates send S 10.00. NATIVE AMERICAN CEREMONlALS - including handcrafted Native American ceremonial supplies. Drums, cuslOm pipes, medicine bags, swee1grass, sage, fcalhcrs. rawhide raules, IObnccos. pipe ~ . native flutes, and more! For free calalog send 10: Box 1062-K; Cherokee, NC 28719. GOOD EARTH ORGANICS in Asheville has a network-mruketing plan which can provide a substantial prut·time income. (Full time in 18-24 months). This is needed in any area, no !raining required. We provide !raining and all assistance needed to get you slllrted in your own business. Contact Good Earth at (704) 252-7169. UFETIMES .re AGES· a new release from Bob Avery-Grubel, full of new age vocal music exploring I.he mystery of life . lyrics included. On casseue only: send SI0.00 plus Sl.00 for shipping and handling 10: Bob Avery Grubel; RI. I, Box 735; Floyd. VA 24091. BEGINNING CHEROKEE LANGUAGE BOOK· supplemcnuxl wilh 1wo casscues. Sll'CSSCS alphabet & proper pronunciation. The first textbook written for use in teaching and learning 1he Cherokee language. (346 pages). S39.95 plus $5.00 shipping. analog also available wilh mpes, books, pipes, dance slicks. drums. feathers. furs, buffalo products and more. Crafl supplies also available (please specify). Send S2.00 10 the Muskrat Trader, Box 20033; Roanoke, VA 24018. COHOUSING COMMUNlTY being formed in lhe Asheville area. ResideoJS organu.e, plan, and design a coopc:rntive community where individual homes cluster around n common house wilh shnred facilities-· laundry, workshops. children's room, dining room, etc. Opportunities ror energy efficient, ecologically sound land use. Inquiries inviled. Coouict: John Senechal: P.O. Box 1176: Weaverville, NC 28787 (704) 658-3740. LAND SURVEYOR seeks land conscrvW1Cy, community land trust. and other alternative community and green proJccts. Licensed in LA, ME, NC, NH, TN. Contact Rantbll Orr. RI . 3, Boit 345; Sneedville, TN 37869 (615) 2n-0416. HEADWATERS helps both individu:ils ond families dcvcl0p their outdoor ~kills wilh an awurcness of lhc value or our nmural world. We offer a diver.ily of experiences, rncluding family advcnwrcs, Homc!ilChoolcrs Outdoor Camp, mstruclion m kayaking, canoeing, backpacking. bicycle touring, nmwc ph01ogrophy, and wilderness rafung. For program mformalion, COlllllCt Trish Severin and Doug Woodward nt (704) 369~91 or wntc 10 68 Lakey Creek Rd.; Franklin, NC 28734. ETHER IC ANALYSIS • most complete rcpon on chak.ras and emouons as Ibey an:: effecung your being. Include.~ pcrsooalii:cd Gem Elixer 10 balance Auric Body. Mail five hai~ (plucked from your head), name, address, and S55.00 10: Dawn: Rt. 3. Box 9; Llncsvillc, PA 16424. MAGICAL HERBS • planlS, books, and fTCC newsletter. Send 10 Wi7.ard's Way; 75 Broadway; Asheville, NC 28801. Alternatives ... The Dir«1 of ln1enrional Communities is lhc prodory uct or two years of intenS"ive research, and is lhe most comJ]fdlensive and accura1e dircc10ry available. fl documenlS lhc vision and lhc daily life of more lhan 350 communities in Nonh America, and more lhan 50 on olher continents. Each community's listing includes name, address, phone, ond a description of the group. Extensive cross-rercrencmg and indexing male.es themfonnation easy 10 access for a wide variety or users. Includes maps. over 250 additional Resource listings. and 40 related aruclcs. 328 pages 8-1/2xl I Perfcclbound October 1990 ISBN Number: 0-9602714- 1-4 $16.00 Add $2.00 postage & hnndling for first book, $.50 for each additionnl; 40% discount on orders of 10 or more. Alpha Fann. Deadwood. OR (503) 964-6102 RSVP SUMMER CELEBRATION - July 25-26th at I.he home of Rum! Southern Voice for Peace in lhe Cclo Comrnuruty. Picnics, 1ubmg, fishing, hilang, dancing, fine food and music! Fnmily Cun for childn:n or all ages. Mark lhe date on your calendar now! Call Joseph Heflin at RSVP ror information and schedule or weekend even is (704) 675-5933. • Webworking costs: There is a charge of $2.50 (pre-paid) for each Webworking entry of 50 words or less. Submit entries for Issue #36 by August, 15th 1992 to: Rob Messick; Rt. 8, Box 323; Lenoir, NC 28645. (704) 754-6097. . Summer, 1992 �BACK ISSUES OF KATUAH JOURNAL AVAILABLE t ISSUE FOUR-SUMMER 1984 Water Orum • Water Quality· Kudzu - Solar Eclipse - Clearcu1ting - Trout - Going 10 Water - Ram Pumps - Microhydro - Poems: Bennie lee Sinclair, Jim Wayne Miller ISSUE FIVE· FALL 1984 Harvest· Old Ways in Cherokee- Ginseng· Nuclear Waste - Our Celtic Heritage - Bioregion:ilism: Past, Present. and Future - John Wilnoty - Healing Darkness - Politics or Parucipa1ion ISSUE SIX· WINTER 1984·85 Winter Solstice Earth Ceremony - Horsepasture River - Coming or lhe Light - Log Cabin Roots· Mountain Agriculture: The Right Crop - Willirun Taylor - The Future or lhe Forest ISSUE SEVEN - SPRlNG 1985 Susia.inable Economics - Hot Springs - Worker Ownership - The Great Economy - Self Help Credit Union • Wild Turkey - Responsible Investing Working m Ille Web of Life ISSUE EIGHT· SUMMER 1985 Celebration: A Way of Life- Ko1uah 18.000 Years Ago - Sacred Sites - f'olk Arts m lhc Schools· Sun Cycle/Moon Cycle - Poems: Hilda Downer • Cherokee Heritage Center - Who Owns Appalochia? lSSUE NINE· PALL 1985 The Waldcc Forest - The Trees Speak • Migrating Forests - Horse Logging - Starting a Tree Crop Urban Trees - Acom Bread • Mylll Time ISSUE TEN - WlNTER 1985·86 Ka1e Rogers· Circles of S10ne • Internal Mylhmaking - Holistic Healing on Trial • Poems: Steve Knauth - Mythic Places · 111e Ukterui's Talc Crystal Magic - "Dreamspcuking" ISSUE THIRTEEN· FALL 1986 Center For Awakening· Elizabeth Callari - A Gentle Death - Hospice - Ernest Morgan· Ocaling Creatively with Death· Home Burial Box - The Wake. The Raven Mocker - Woodslore & Wild· woods Wisdom· Good Medicine: The Sweat Lodge ISSUE FOURTEEN· WlNTER 1986-87 Lloyd Carl Owle • Boogers and Mummers - All Species Day - Cabin Fever UniVCISi1y • Homeless in Katuah - Homemade Hot Waw • S1 ovemaker's Narmtive - Good Medicine: Jnu:rspecies Communication The Chalice and the Blade ISSUE TWENTY-SIX· WINTER, 1989-90 The Ecozoic Era - Kids S:iving Rainforest - Kids Treccycling Company· Connict Resolution - , ~UA~OURNAL 35 PO Box 638 Leicester, NC Katuah Province 28748 For more info: call Rob Messick at (704) 754-6097 Name Regular Membership........$] 0/yr. Sponsor.........................$20/yr. Contnbutor .....................$50/yr. Address State City Summer, 1992 If ISSUE FIFTEEN· SPRING 1987 Coverlets· Woman Forester - Susie McMahan: Midwife - Alternative Contraception - Biosexuality • Biorcgionalism and Women • Good Medicine: Malrinrchal Cul111re - Ptarl ISSUE SIXTEEN· SUMMER 1987 Helen Waite - Poem: Visions in a Garden - Vision Qucsl - First Flow - lni1iaLion - Leaming in the Wilderness - Cherokee Challenge - "Valuing Trees" ISSUE EIGHTEEN· WINTER 1987-88 Vemncular Architccture - Dreams in Wood and S10ne - Mountain Hoene • Earth Energies • Earlll-Shehcred Livmg • Membrane Houses - Brush Shcltcr. Poems: October Dusi,; • Good Medicine: "Shell.Cr" ISSUE NINETEEN - SPRING 1988 Pcrelandra Garden· Spring Tonics· Blueberries· Wildflower Gardens - Granny I lcrbalist . Flower Essences - "The Origin of lhe Animals:• Story • Good Medicine: "Poww-" - Be A Tree ISSUE TWENTY· SUMMER 1988 Prc.c;crvc AppamchiAII Wilderness. Highlands of Roan - Celo Community - L'llld Trust • Arthur Morgan School - ZOning Issue - "The Ridge· • Farmers and lhe Farm Bill - Good Medicine: "Land" • Acid Rain - Duke's Power Play - Cherokee Microhydro Project ISSUE TWENTY-TWO· WINTER 1988·89 Global Warming - Fire This Time. Thomas Berry on "Bioregions" - Earlll Exercise - Kor~ Loy McWhirtcr. An Abundance or Empuness - LETS· Chronicles or Floyd. Darry Wood - The Bear Clan ISSUE TWENTY-THREE· SPRING 1989 Pisgah Village. Planet An. Green City. Poplar Appeal· "Clear Sky"·" A New Earlll" - Black Swnn - Wild lovely Days· Reviews: Sacred lond Sacred Sex. Ice Age - Poem: "Sudden Tendrils" ISSUE TWENTY-FOUR· SUMMER 1989 Deep Listening - Life in A10mic City - Direct Action! - Tree of Peace - Community Building Peacemakers - Ethnic Survival· Pairing Project· "Baulesong" - Growing Pc:icc in Cultures - Review: I Phone Number Zip Enclosed is$._ _ _ _ 10 give this effort an extra boost Developing Creative Spirit - Birth Power - Magic of Puppetry - Home Schooling· Naming Ceremony. Mother Earth's Classroom - Gardening for Children ISSUE TWENTY-SEVEN - SPRING. 1990 Transformation. Healing Power - Peace to Their Ashes - Healing in Kauiah - Poem: "When Left to Grow" - Poems: Stephen Wing • The Belly • Food from the Ancient Forest ISSUE TWENTY-NINE - FALl./WlNTER 1990 From !he Mountains 10 the Sea - Profile of The L1ule Tennessee River - Headwaters Ecology· "II All Comes Down Lo Water Quality" • Water Power. Action for Aquatic Habitats· Dawn Watche:s • Good Medicine: The Long Humnn Being - The North Shore Road - Katu:lh Sells Ou1 • WatcrShcd Mop or Ille KlllWlh Province ISSUE THIRTY - SPRING 1991 Economy/Ecology - Ways 10 a Rcgencrauve Economy - "Money is the Lowest Form of Weallll" • Clarksville Miracle - TI1c Village • Food Movers Lifework - Good Medicine: "Village Economy"· Shellon Laurel • LETS ISSUE THIRTY-ONE - SUMMER 1991 Dowsing - Responsibilities of Dowsing· Electrical Life or the Earth • Kaluah and the Earlll Grid - Call of 1he Ancient Ones - Good Medicine: "On Aggression" - Time 10 Take the Time to Take the Time. Whole Science. Tuning Tn ISSUE THIRTY-TWO - FALL 1991 Bringing back the Fire - A Bi1 or Mountain Levity Climax Never Came - "Talking Leaves": Sequoyah· Walking Disianec - Good Mc.dicinc: "Serving lhe Great Life" · The Granola Journal • Paintings: "Mountain Stories" - Songs of the Wilderness ISSUE THIRTY-TiiREE- WINTER 1991-92 Fire's Power - What Is Natural • Fire and Forge The First Fire • Hearth and Fire in Ille Mountains · Good Medicine: "The Ancient Red" - Midwinter Fires: poems by Jeffery Beam - Litmus Lichens ISSUE TI-URTY-FOUR • SPRlNG 1992 Pnradisc Gardening - CommuniLy Sponsoccd Agricut111rc • Eluting Close to Home· Native Foods • Cover Crops· Kou1ah Cultivars • The Web of Life: A Kaniah Almanx - Good Medicine "Med_icinc Training" • Poems by Allison Sutherland Back Issues: Issue# _ _@ $2.50 = $._ __ Issue# _ _@ $2.50 = $._ __ Issue# _ _@ $2.50 = $,_ __ Issue # _ _@ $2.50 = $,_ __ Issue # _ _@ $2.50 = $._ __ postage paid $_ __ , Complete Set: (3- 10, 13-16, 18-20, 22-24, 26-27, 29-34) postage paid @ $50.00 = $._ __ Xntuoh )otimitt page'35 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records Description An account of the resource <em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal</em>,&nbsp;was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. <br /><br /><span>The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name,&nbsp;</span><em>Katúah</em><span>, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant.&nbsp;</span><br /><span><br />The <em>Katúah Journal</em> was co-founded by Marnie Muller, David Wheeler, Thomas Rain Crowe, Martha Tree and others who served as co-publishers and co-editors. Other key team members included Chip Smith, David Reed, Jay Mackey, Rob Messick and many others.</span><br /><br />This digital collection is only a portion of the <em>Katúah</em>-related materials in the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection in Special Collections at Appalachian State University. The items in AC.870 Katúah Journal records cover the production history of the <em>Katúah Journal</em>. Contained within the records are correspondence, publication information, article submissions, and financial information. The editorial layouts for issues 12 through 39 are included as are a full run of the Journal spanning nearly a decade. Also included are photographs of events related to the Journal and a film on the publication. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived This resource is part of the&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal Records </em>collection. For a description of the entire collection, see <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Katúah Journal Records (AC. 870)</a>. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The images and information in this collection are protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. C.) and are intended only for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes, provided proper citation is used – i.e., Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records, 1980-2013 (AC.870), W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. Researchers are responsible for securing permissions from the copyright holder for any reproduction, publication, or commercial use of these materials. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1983-1993 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource journals (periodicals) Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Katúah Journal</em>, Issue 35, Summer 1992 Description An account of the resource The thirty-fifth issue of the <em>Katúah Journal</em> focuses on councils and consensus in governance and making decisions for the future. Authors and artists in this issue include: Caroline Estes, Joyce Johnson, Rob Messick, Bear With Runs, Lucinda Flodin, David Wheeler, Stephen Wing, Lee Barnes, Will Ashe Bason, Clear Marks, Karen Fletcher, James Rhea, Rhea Ormond, Ray Barnes, Michael Thompson, Troy Setzler, Taylor Reese, Rebecca Wilson Hicks, Jenny Bitner, and Ahwi Brown. <br><br><em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to <em>Katúah Journal</em>, was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name, Katúah, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1992 Table Of Contents A list of subunits of the resource. Consensus by Caroline Estes.......1<br /><br />Decision-Making Process by Joyce Johnson.......4<br /><br />Problems with Consensus by Rob Messick.......5<br /><br />Tribal Council by Bear With Runs........6<br /><br />Elda by Lucinda Flodin.......9<br /><br />The State of Franklin by David Wheeler.......11<br /><br />Where the Trees Outnumber the People by Stephen Wing.......14<br /><br />In Council with All Beings by Lee Barnes.......16<br /><br />Steve Moon: Shell Engravings.......17<br /><br />Good Medicine.......18<br /><br />Natural World News.......20<br /><br />A Look Back by Will Ashe Bason.......23<br /><br />Are Bioregions Too Big? by Rob Messick.......24<br /><br />Practices for Full Self-Rule by Clear Marks.......25<br /><br />Drumming.......26<br /><br />Jury Nullification by Karen Fletcher.......28<br /><br />Review: Beyond the Limits by Rob Messick.......29<br /><br />Events........32<br /><br />Webworking.......34<br /><br /><em>Note: This table of contents corresponds to the original document, not the Document Viewer.</em> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <em>Katúah Journal</em>, printed by The <em>Waynesville Mountaineer</em> Press Subject The topic of the resource Bioregionalism--Appalachian Region, Southern Sustainable living--Appalachian Region, Southern Cherokee Indians--Social life and customs--History Consensus (Social Sciences) Tennessee, East--History Folklore--Appalachian Region, Southern Cooperation--Virginia--Floyd County--History Human ecology--Religious aspects North Carolina, Western Blue Ridge Mountains Appalachian Region, Southern North Carolina--Periodicals Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937"> AC.870 Katúah Journal records</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a title="In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted" href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/?language=en 8" target="_blank"> In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted </a> Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Appalachian Region, Southern Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. <a title="Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians" href="https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/collections/show/79" target="_blank"> Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians </a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Journals (Periodicals) Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1990s Acid Deposition Appalachian History Appalachian Mountains Appalachian Studies Bioregional Definitions Black Bears Book Reviews Cherokees Community Earth Energies Economic Alternatives Folklore and Ceremony Forest Issues Geography Good Medicine Habitat Hazardous Chemicals Katúah Plants and Herbs Poems Politics Radioactive Waste South PAW (Preserve Appalachian Wilderness) Stories Transportation Issues Turtle Island Villages Water Quality Western North Carolina Alliance Wilderness https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/d6750f94c0a18f40bca5af30e17a5990.pdf 5e1986979bd6644b0725bad9148dd445 PDF Text Text ISSUE 36 FALL 1992 $2.00 ,.·········~···-..... ...,! ........ I" ? . ~-- -- '··~---.. ..,..•.... •r.--,.•,.--... ···-···_;:) WORKING WITH WOOD �PO Box 638 Leicester, NC Katuah Province 28748 New Address Inside! Postage Paid Bulk Mail Permit #18 Leicester, NC 28748 _. "1''e o,. .,,,. C, () I' Printed on recycled paper ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED �Using Wood............................... Appalachian Logging..................... 4 by Lee Barnes Old Logging Days......................... 7 by Frank Hodgin Working the Woodlands................. 9 by David Wheeler Wood Products and Western Nonh Carolina.................. 10 by Dr. John Wade 13 USING WOOD Logging with Horses.......·-··········· 15 'Thi! ecoMmic base ofthe area is rapidly changing from agriculture and primary industry 10 service-related indJAS1ry. especially tourism." Natural World News..................... 16 Invasion of the Giants.................... 19 Depletion for Dollars...................... by Harley Wessman by Nancy McIntyre • The Dra!I Land and Rcsouroe Management Pl.an for lhe Nanlahala-Pisgah National Forests by Buzz Williams From Industry to Endeavor.............. 20 by David Wheele.r Pioneering A New Human/Nature Relationship.............. 21 by Robcn T. Pershcel Forest S1ewardship Programs........... 22 by Jesse Jones Ecological Foresay for Renewable Forest Values................. 23 by Leon S. Minckler Drumming.................................. 25 The Chair in the Tree...................... 27 by Tucker Windover Reading the Grove........................ 29 by Charloue Homsher Events....................................... 32 Webworking............................... 33 Drawing by Hope Walker f'a(L, 1992 Fanning and logging were the traditional mainstays of the mountain economy. Working with the land was for a long time the only way to live in the remote mountains. Isolated from the national economy more by poor transportation routes than by distance, the white mountaineers lived independently, each family deriving their own living from the fields and forests of their inherited cove lands. The fields grew food; the forests provided additional food sources, as well as a source of wood. The white mountain folk almost literally built their lives out of wood. As well as fuel, it was also used in the making of shelter, tools and utensils, storage containers, and wagon bodies. 11 was even necessary in the manufacruring of the leather that harnessed the horses. The arrival of the railroads changed all that. A flood of ou1side capital rode into the mountains on the rails and the primary objec1 of the corporate desire was the wood growing on 1he mountainsides. Many mountain people drew their first paychecks at the logging camps that sprung up in the hills at lhe tum of the century. The logging boom was in lhe voracious style of capilalism that characteriz.ed that era - it was short and intense, and lhen it was over. The great trees were gone and so were lhe timber barons with their paychecks. But the lives of the mountain people were irrevocably changed. They were integrated into the cash economy and could not go back. Many people left the mountains to follow the logging companies to the Pacific Nonhwest; others migrated to the Piedmont to work at the textile mills. Logging continued, but it was once again small operations cutting primarily for local use. The fanning lifestyle persisted into the 1940's, but once the region was opened to the flow of cash and goods, people increasingly preferred to buy food with wages than to scratch the ever more crowded hillsides for their living. Another transportation breakthrough brought another influx of oucside money and culture and tightened the bonds that held the region into the dominant national economy. The construction of the interstate highways opened the mountains to throngs of people attracted by the region's natural beauty. People came 10 visit, as tourisls and second-home owners, or they came to live, like the many retirees and professional people who found it was much more pleasan1 to live in the mountains than in the crowded cities. Service jobs, taking care of the needs of the visitors and the well-to-do new arrivals, rose sharply and are stiJI climbing. Employment in service occupations is th. e dominant factor in the region's economic picture. Farm employment has dwindled. Most of those who call themselves farmers now work the land only part-time and make the bulk of their living at wage jobs. About the same number of people are employed in the wood products industries as were 30 Drawing by Rob Messick (continued on page 3) "4tuah JournaC page 1 �' ""' ~/ ,, ,I MAST HEADS THIS ISSUE: Sherman Bamford Becky Barwick Charlotte Homsher Steve Lee Pegi L- - - - - -- - - - '/ ,, - ., ./ .•.. COVER: by Rob Messick ©1992 PUBLISHED BY: Kat1mh Journal PRINTED BY: The Waynesville Mowitaineer Press EDITORIAL OFFICE THIS ISSUE: Billy Home and Gardens, Asheville, NC (love that basil!) WRITE us AT: Kanmh Journal Rt. 8, Box 323; Lenoir, NC Katuah Province 28645 TELEPHONE: (704) 754-(IJ97 Diversity is an imponant element of biorcgional ecology, both natural and social. In accord with this principle Ka1uah Journal tries to serve as a forum for the discussion of regional issues. Signed articles express only the opinion of the authors and are not necessarily the opinions of the Katuah Journal edil.OlS or staff. The Internal Revenue Service has declared Katuah Journal a non-prolil organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. All contributioos to Katuah Journal are deductible from personal income mx. Articles appearing in Ka1uah Journal may be reprinted in other publications with permission from the Katuah Journal siaff. Contact the journal in writing or call (704) 754-6097. ..... . ...,.... ,.. ., ,<'o .,..l.\..,,>" o'\J\),~ ...,to-~ ., ~~'"' .,... ( _., ... ~· ,,,.:~ ,.. . .,._ • ... . .r••••· · .. ., t: · --t··-------- --'.••! I - J. - - - - - - - - - - "" - .,.,,•., . •: , 6';-,. \- . ' I 1,....._··,•• _,,.A: ~..,·:·.....J..,·. .. · .. . -, .... ... ••• ••r'f'· . , .., •..->4·· , - .. ,' ,..,_ ,., •_.... _ _ . •~.. ..;-•.._....,_ -- , ;•• .,.•.~····:!,-" · ... .,__.. , · . --: ' .•... ..,/.:-=---- --- ----:-:,...-i~- ----- - ,.,-::..· : _ ---- Lee Barnes . -~· ,,,- ' ... ~ - -.. . -.. . ,_,.,, ,-' . .••_....;.• ••--!· : .;.;J Heather Blair Jesse Jones Rob Messick David Wheeler ( \ -------- ---~, STATEMENT OF PURPOSE Here, in the Katuah Province of these ancient Appalachian mountains where once 1he Cherokee Nation lived in freedom between the Tennessee River Valley and the Eastern Piedmont between the Valley of the Roanoke and the Soulhem Plain on this Tunle Island continent of Mother Ela. the Eanh Here, In this place we dedicate ourselves to remembering our deep connection to the spirit of lhe land. We bring this connection into lhe being and the doing of our daily lives When the land speaks, we listen and we act We tune our lives to the changes, to the seasons We respect the limits of the land We preserve, defend, and restore the land We give thanks for all that is good Harmony with the land is no longer an ideal; it is an imperative. The land is a living being. She is sacred. As the land lives, so do we. As the spirit of the land is diminished, our spirits are diminished as well. 'LNVOCA.'JWN Oh, trees, Dear sisters and brothers, We stand here To honor you. We acknowledge our kinship to you. We are because you are. You are a part of us, And we are a part of you. We revere your life-giving gifts, Your beauty and your chemistry, Your stability and flexibility. We cherish your life And feel blessed to live with you. Karuah Journal sends a voice... with articles, stories, poems, and artwork we speak to the spirit of all the living, breathing inhabitants of these mountains in hopes that we, lhe human beings, may find our place in this Great Life. The Editors KATUAH JOURNAL wants ro comm1111icare yo11r tltoughts and feelings 10 the other people in the bioregional province. Send them to LIS as leuers, poems, stories, arricles, drawings, or photographs, ere. Please send your contribwions 10 11s at: Kafliah Journal; Rt. 8, Box 323: Lenoir, NC Karuah Province 286-15. OUR NEXT ISSUE will be on "Bio-visions" or graphic art representations of what the bioregion is and what it could be. Images will be the language of this issue. Your contribution is requested. Deadline is November 15th, 1992. Send to Rob Messick; Rt. 8, Box 323; Lenoir, NC 28645. THE SPRING ISSUE will be dedicated to sustainable tourism and transport, including green alternatives to uavel. The deadline is February 1st, 1993. OUR LAST ISSUE will be an index to the 38 issues of Katuah Journal, and a listing of bioregional organizations. '.Katimh Journa! pti9e 2 f'aU:, 1992 �(c:ontinUc4 flOltl pqa I) years ago (and to a great extent they arc members of the same families), but the relative percentage of those working with forest products has shrunk as the region's population and employment in other sectors has increased. Today the land-based occupations have faded from their former prominence in the regional economy. The rapacious timber barons arc gone, but the logging companies still arc often seen as the villains in local national forest land use controversies, as logging is the primary on-the-ground activity destroying the old growth forest and degrading native habitats. Logging frequently causes environmental damage on private lands as well. At best a logging site is messy and ugly for some years after the wodc is completed, but poor silviculture and careless cutting practices can leave a poor mix of unhealthy ~ . compacted and eroded soil, herbicide poisoning, and silted creeks. However, we cannot simply wish away wood use, one of our primary land-based occupations. Mountains, forests, rocks, and clear running water are what exist naturally in this place. If we arc going to grow a society that is bioregional, tied closely to the land and based on natural cycles, it will be nourished on food grown in our own fields and orchards. If we arc going to build a regional economy here, it will be built - like that of the early white mountain people - largely of wood. We must restore these "primary industries." Our central challenge in finding our place in any region is: can we live in a good relation with the land? In the Katuah bioregional province, this increasingly comes back to us as the question: working in a right way, can we use wood? In this issue of the Katuah Journal we look at how we arc using the mountain hardwoods. We will examine the wood products industry working in the upland forests today, partly to gain a better understanding of a powerful force in the region's economic and political landscape, but also to sec what changes we must make to create a beneficial and harmonious forestry that could be of benefit to all. The first school of forestry was founded here in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. It would only be right for the Southern Appalachians to be the place where we start over and create another school of forestry practice, this one based on the region's native vegetation and natural patterns of growth. Such a field - or forest - of endeavor, done rightly, could be of positive ecological benefit to the bioregion. It could also be a paradigm for a healthy society. "Putting down roots" is the first prerequisite of biorcgional consciousness. When we arc really here, truly aware, we live with future generations in mind. The trees grow from 150 to 500 years in age, or five to 16 human generations. Thinking in those terms would cenainly transfonn our relationship with the land. To people measuring their lives in this time frame, it would be absurd 10 degrade or destroy their - and their descendants' - natural TaCL, 1992 Phoro by Rob Messiclc life suppon processes for the sake of shon-term gain. They would be as unlikely to "high-grade" the forest (cut the best trees and leave the inferior stock) as to pave it over for another shopping mall. To these people, it would also be patently obvious that they should defend the life web from all hann, whether it be the insidious intrusion of atmospheric pollution or disruptive activities . by their fellow humans. When we arc really here, truly aware, we also see the breadth and depth of relationships that keep this land alive. Biodiversity, this is called. The trees arc not the forest, but they arc the greatest plants that grow there. It takes a balancing of myriads of lives, many of them great, many more of them infinitesimally small, to create each living tree. An ecologically realistic viewpoint would see each tree as a culmination of these dynamic relationships. Tall buckeyes and stout beeches are not isolated phenomena that can be divorced from their surroundings. They are integral partS of their life community, and true forestry nunures the health and balance of the whole community to promote the health and growth of its trees. We can learn from true foresters what they learn from the trees: stand tall, grow slowly, develop strong roots, be open to both rain and sun, be green, be of service. Gregory Bateson, who combined careers in biology, anthropology, and psychiatry and is thought by many to be one of the great thinkers of the 20th century, was fond of retelling this story from England: "New College, Oxford, is of rather late foundation, hence the name. It was probably founded around the late 16th century. It has, like other colleges, a great dining hall with big oak beams across the top. These might be eighteen inches square, twenty feet long. "Some five to ten years ago, so I am told, some busy entomologist went up into· the roof of the dining hall with a penknife and poked at the beams and found that they were full of beetles. This was reponed to the College Council, who met in some dismay, because where would they get beams of that caliber nowadays? "One of the Junior Fellows stuck his neck out and suggested that there might be on College lands some oak. These colleges arc endowed with pieces of land scattered across the country. So they called in the College Forester, who of course had not been near the college itself for some years. and asked him about oaks. "And he pulled his forelock and said, 'Well sirs, we was wondrin' when you'd be askin'.' "Upon funher inquiry it was discovered that when the College was founded, a grove of oaks had been planted to replace the beams in the dining hall when they became bcetly, because oak beams always become bcetly in the end. This plan had been passed down from one Forester to the next for four hundred years: 'You don't cut them oaks. Them's for the College Hall.'" "A nice story. That's the way to run a culture," Gregory Bateson would comment . ne F.Alitrrs New Colugutory q/lQlff wllli pm,tissionfr- / ~Nes1 Whole Eanh Catalog (1980). x.at.i&ah Journal pMJe 3 �APPAL?\CHr~N , by Lee Barnes The original forests of the Southern Appalachian Mountains contained the greatest diversity of hardwood trees on the con?nent. The majority of the Southern Appalachian trees are hardwood species, with interspersed stands of softwoods, primarily hemlock and pine. These forests occur in natural associations: Upland Hardwood Forest (oaks, hickories, and other species), Cove Hardwood Forest (yellow poplar, ash, red maple, basswood, and other species), Oak-Pine Forest mixtures, Boreal Hardwood Forest (Birch, beech, sugar maple and associated species), and high-altitude Spruce-Fir Forests, which occur in almost pure stands at elevations above 6000 feet. The Spruce-Fir forests are currently under rapid decline due to insect attack and atmospheric pollution. Prior to the twentieth century, the American chestnut was a dominant species in the mid-elevation forests. In 1909, American chestnuts were estimated to compose an average 27% of the trees in the entire Appalachian forest. As late as 1925, 43% of the trees in Buncombe County, NC were chesmuts. Following the introduction of the chestnut blight in the early 1900's, chestn~t trees were eliminated during a 30 year penod as a dominant forest canopy, timber, and important mast tree (one producing wild nuts of acorns). While chestnut root sprouts and seedlings are still occasionally seen in the forest understory, lhese only grow for 10-20 years and then die. Historically, Native Americans used wildfires to modify the forest by clearing shrub tinderstories 10 increase habitat and browse for game animals, especially deer and bear. Fire was used to clear harvested com fields of weeds and insect pests, and to return nutrients to the stream-bottom fields. Forest trees provided the native inhabitants with edible fruits and nuts, medicinals and ceremonial and construction woods. Th~ natural properties of individual woods were well known and utilized by the Indians. For the Indians, each tree, each plant had its parpose - its blessing. Several types of wood were sacred to the Indians, and were not cut or damaged except for ceremonial uses. Ceremonial prayers, gifts, and thanks always accompanied the "taking" of plants and animals. The noted anthropologist James Moody recorded many of the uses and rituals associated with plants native to the southern Appalachians, noting that eastern red cedar was the most.sacred tree to the Cherokees. European settlers entered Western North Carolina forests in large numbers between 1790 and the 1820's. The dense forests were considered as a hindrance by the Xatt'.uin Jou.rnaf; page 4 early settlers who needed sunlight for their domestic crops. Small fields were prepared for planting by killi~g the trees by_ "~rdling," cutting through the mner layer of livmg cells all around the trunk. First season crops were often planted between the leafless girdled trees, which were later cut for household fires or burned in field-side piles. The first settlers had only hand tools such as falling saws and falling axes, and perhaps, a broad axe for trimming and making rough boards. Early homes were built of logs or rough timber, with sawn lumber used primarily for coffins. The surrounding forestS provided.the settlers with wood for fuel. timber, utensils, bowls, and baskets. The settlers quickly learned from the Indians which woods were best for particular purposes. Metal tools were rare and . expensive, so many of the parts for sunple tools and machinery were made from wood. The original forests provided abundant"mast for free-ranging hogs and game animals. Hog and bear meat was best in the fall after the animals browsed on the nutS and acorns, particularly chestnuts, scattered on the forest floor. After clearing lands for homestead and agricultural parposes, the early settlers "high-graded" (cut the best of) the more valuable hardwoods for their own use and the local market. Woods such as black walnut, butternut, white oak and cherry were cut and dragged out of the forest by oxen_ and ho~es. The most desirable trees, those with supenor characteristics (size, straightness of trunk, freedom from excessive lower branches etc.) were cut first from the forestS, with no thought to the loss of gen~tically s~peryor seed-parents. This early ~1gh-grading 1 _s believed to have resulted in a decrease 10 genetically superior or "select" trees, while inferior trees were often left to release their seeds to create the next generation forest. Logging and lumber production in the Southern Mountains was accomplished using only hand tools until the late 1700's, when small-scale water driven "sash" or "gate" saws were introduced. These, too, gradually became obsolete after the introduction of steam-powered circular saws during the latter pan of the nineteenth century. Wood was dragged from the forest by horses, sometimes along constructed "pole roads" made of small diameter poles laid across the path. Logs were also "b~ooted," rolled and tumbled down the mountains, which was very damaging to the understory plants. Later, the horse dragging technique was modified to include specially constructed V-shaped troughs or water-driven flumes. Horses were used to start the downward momentum of the logs, but were hitched so that when sufficient momentum was gained, they could step aside onto "side-out" paths, and the logs would continue sliding down the mountain. Many logs were floated out o~ the . mountains along streams above wh.tch special "splash-dams" were constructed. The dams were built to entrap sufficient water to be quickly released through special flood-gates to flash-flood cut logs down streams where they were collected behind floating booms and then fed into sawmills. The splash dam technique was inefficient and very destructive to plant and animal life in the stream bed. But a shadow was looming over the mountains. Industrial progress was at hand. By the 1860's, the great forests of the northern and middle Atlantic states had been felled to build and fuel the rapidly developing Yan:, 1992 �t;OGGING COUl'IU)' Joraboro Museum. Washington Co1tt1ty TN East Coast cities, and large commercial steam-driven sawmills were slicing up the virgin forests of nonhern Pennsylvania. They were expanding into West Virginia by the 1870's. By the turn of the twentieth century, the original forests in Maine and the Great Lakes states had also fallen before the saw. In 1855, the North Carolina Legislature granted a chaner to the Greenville and French Broad Railroad Co. (GFB RR) to consm.ict a rail line into Western Nonh Carolina. Actual track laying from Greenville, SC to points nonh and west began in 1873. The line reached Asheville Junction (then named "Best") in 1880, 10 years after the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. The imponant timber and pulp town of Canton, NC was established in 1883 following the extension of the railroad from Asheville. A new age of technology had arrived. Timber interests had spent the last decade buying up lands in the mountains. Now they lost no time in connecting their properties to the main railroad lines. In I 873 Ephraim Shay of Ohio had invented the Shay engine. This railroad engine had horizontally mounted, gear-driven wheels which allowed greater traction to pull heavy loads and climb slopes of nearly 60°. The Shay engine was reported to be able to pull itself back onto the tracts following minor derailments. This unique gear-driven engine was soon nicknamed "Sidewinder." With the introduction of the Shay engine, railroads could now access huge are3S of the mountain forests which had previously been closed to logging. The narrow-gauge logging railroad lines were never safe. Train wreaks were common, and were widely reponed and photographed. Many lives were lost due to :fa[L, 1992 run-away engines and major derailments. But they enabled timber barons to make fortunes in the mountain coves and hollers. To cut the logs coming off the little trains, the well-financed timber companies also installed large steam-driven band saws, which were capable of producing over 100 thousand board feet of lumber per day. Once, long ago, two men had typically sawn 100 sawn board feet in one day and water-powered mills had produced 1,000 board feet per day. The late 1880's saw the beginnings of the US Forest Service. The US Division of Forestry was created in 1881, at the urgings of forest specialists Charles Sargent and Gifford Pinchot, by President Grover Cleveland. The first "forest reserve" (predecessor to our current national forests) was established in 1891. The Organic Administration Act of 1897 defined the purposes of the forest reserves as "securing favorable conditions for water flow, and to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of the citizens of the United States." In 1911, the Weeks Acl authorized federal funding to acquire "forested, cut-over, or denuded lands within the watersheds of navigable streams..." The first national forestland in the east was the Pisgah National Forest which was established in 1916 from the land holdings of George Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt's widow sold the denuded land for $5 per acre, after previously selling the timber rights for $12 per acre. Several associated railroads and logging companies co-developed in the Appalachian forests in the early 1900's. Numerous northern and foreign-financed logging companies quickly established themselves in the Southern Appalachians including Suncresl, Crestmont, Bemis Lumber Co., Ritter Lumber Co., Little River Lumber Co., Scottish Carolina Timber and Land Co., Champion Fiber Co., and dozens of smaller companies. Their output was tremendous. An estimated 1 billion board feet of lumber were cut by the Little River Lumber Co. at its Townsend, TN mill; 200 million board feet by a Ritter Co. mill at Proctor, NC; Champion produced 5 million board feet a month at Sunburst in Haywood County, NC; and The Perley and Crockeu Lumber Mill near Black Mountain, NC cut 250 million board feet. Wood too small for lumber was generally used for pulpwood - especially the softwoods, spruce and white pine. Champion Fiber Company's Sunburst community boasted the largest double-band sawmill in the region. Buih along the west fork of the Pigeon River above Canton, NC, the company town consisted of the sawmill, houses, pose office, schools, churches, and had rail passenger service lo and from Canton. Interviews with retired workers from that mill repon thal between 140,000 and 160,000 board feet of sawn lumber were produced daily during typical work days, with a one-day record of 250,000 board feet. The mill burned once in the early i 920's and then was completely destroyed by a massive fire in 1925, along with most of the railroad bridges, logging camps, and the surrounding mountainsides. Not only were the forests and mountainsides forever changed by the industrial logging, but so were the mountaineers, who in the three or four decades of the logging boom grew accustomed 10 steady employment and living a more contemporary lifestyle in the newly consm.icted milltowns. The mountaineers were introduced to electricity, phones, regular health services, community theaters, motion picture theaters, barber shops, and even soda fountains. During this period, a unique private School of Forestry developed. The Biltmore School of Forestry, founded by Dr. Carl Schenck, was the first organized school of modem forestry in the United States (informally founded in 1898 prior to the nation's first Forestry School at Yale University). Dr. Schenck based his lectures on forest management upon his experiences as a student in European forestry and his hands-on experience as the Chief Forester of the Vanderbilts' Pisgah Forest. Schenck was brought to America by George Vanderbilt to manage his newly acquired 125,000 acre forest. Schenck was a student of Sir Dietrich Brandis, one of the first modem European foresters, and succeeded Gifford Pinchot as Chief Forester at the Biltmore estate when Pinchot left to guide the political changes (continued on next page) :K.ati«m Jou.mat page S �were cut, the industrial timber interests set out for the west coast to continue their rampage. For decades after the boom was over, timbering in the Southern Appalachians was canied oo by small, local logging operations who picked over the scraps of forest the big companies had inadvertently missed. Through natural growth and the stewardship of the public lands by the US Forest Service, the forest is returning. Now it faces another crisis as it nears economic maturity once again. ln summary, our region's current publjc and private forests have been greatly modified by humankind, resulting in woodlands greatly changed in composition and character. Our philosophies on forest and wood-use must be expanded to encompass all the values of the forest - sustainability, lum1?Cr, habitat, species diversity, water quality, recreational and spiritual values. Historical destruction and modification of the original forests have resulted in our present forests which continue 10 be damaged by our over-consumption and lack of empathy with the forest's inhabitants. Photo US National Archive (continued from page 5) needed to establish the United States Division of Forestry. Through trial and error, Dr. Schenck discovered that modem forest management D?USt be unique to each specific forest and cucumstance. He continually not.ed that forestry techniques were lightly linked to the availability of inexpensive transportation. Schenck was the first teacher to link classr~m ~eo!Y with hands-on, practical expenence tn different forest settings, and took great care to establish and monitor e~erimental management techniques on different forest plots. He realized that forestry manage!Dent must include not only timber producnon but also mineral, wildlife (hunting and fi_shing) and recreational (hiking, c~pmg) management. Early studentS of The B_ ll~ore Forest School were soon widely clistnbu1ed among the Forest Service and held leadership roles in developing forestry programs for the state universities. About 1914 the steam-driven, "Clyde Overhead Skidder" was developed. This machine consisted of a reinforced. stationary tower-boom with huge cable reels connected to a movable double cable trolley system. Mile-long, 2 inch thick cables could be positioned to "skid" four or five logs up to 40 feet long nearly one mile through the woods to a loading area where they could then be loaded onto railroad cars for transpon to nearby sawmills. The steam-powered McGiffert Log Loader was capable of loading huge logs onto train cars. and even had the ability to "lift iLSelf by the bootstraps." Huge areas of forest were cut using these machines, which carelessly wreaked havoc upon small crees and other vegetation in the drag-lanes. It was reported that one skidder remained working at the same site on Sam's Knob above Sunburst for two years. While huge quantities of timber were >Cat.uah )ournm page 6 removed using overhead skidders, these foreslS were often later scarred by huge forest fires, _often started _by SJ?arks from the heavy machinery, or by lightmng, or deliberately set fires (caused by displaced bootleggers, it was sometimes said) which raced through the slash left behind the logging operations. The massive grassy balds in Shining Rock Wilderness Area, along the Blue Ridge Parkway above Canton, are the result of skidder logging followed by a great frre in 1925. There are reports of fires burning continuously for three weeks. One logger stated that "they burned up more timber than they ever cut." The great fires of the industrial logging period influenced to this day the plant and animal associations found in the Southern Appalachians. When the last stands of the great trees We must see our southern forests as more than a timber base in order 10 realize th~ir full value. Our remaining public and pnvate forests are not just timber and mineral resources. These forests are the biological reservoirs of the land. Woodlands are the lungs and kidneys of the planet, producing oxygen, and cleansing the air we breath and the waters we drink. The forests are our region's greatest biological asset. They need to be managed for the benefit of all species. The living forests shelter us all. They must provide for our need for wood, but they must also proteet the biological diversity which can never be replaced. The sustainability of o ~ forests is everyone's responsibility. ~ Lee Barnes is a botanist and an avid backpacker who has hiked over a thousand miles in the Smokies, including over a hundred miles along trails which were once railroad grades (although he prefers trails through old growrhforests ). �OLD LOGGING DAYS by Frank Hodgin When I was young we lived on Canoogcchayc Creek in Macon County, NC, My daddy was gone, and my mother took care of us children. She never took a job. She just took care of the house and helped us in the fields. We all worked. There's no mistake about it. We all had a job. After school, we'd go to the corn field and work there until dark. If we got behind in the hoeing, I would stay home from school for a day or two and get caught up. That's the way it went. When I was about 14 years old, I swapped our mule for a horse, swapped that horse for a yoke of cattle, and went to work in the woods. I got a wagon, and I hauled telephone poles, "acid wood" (wood like chestnut or red oak from which tannic acid was extracted to use in tanning leather - ed.), and pulp wood. I had to haul it eiiht miles. The other kids and I would go up into the mountains, cue a load in one day, get it on the wagon, and bring it home. The next day I would drive it into town. I'd get back late in the evening and the next day we would cut another load, unless we had quit a few days to work a crop. That was how we bought our coffee, sugar, and the other linle things we needed. When I turned 15 years old, I went to work for a man who had bought a boundary of telephone poles on the government property up in the mountains above our house. l was making $1.25 for 10 hours of work a day. Lord, I thought I was making money. The owner had three yoke of cattle, and not long after I started working for him, the man who was driving cattle for him quit. He let me try driving 'cm, and those cattle and I got along real well together. I got in some tight places, but I never let one of his animals get hun, and I got his telephone poles out. He had a man doing the cutting, and that man would help me rig 'cm. I drove them out to the main road, where they were loaded onto a wagon and hauled to the station where they would put 'cm on railroad cars. I could make two trips a day, carrying five or six poles in each load. When I was 17 years old and of pretty good size, the Blackwood Lumber Company started cutting timber here. My brother and I went to work for Blackwood. We worked for them for years. I worked for the company longer than he did, off and on. I worked through to the back end of "Canady" (Little Canada - the headwaters of the north fork of the Tuckasegee River - ed.), and all over Rough Butt and Piney Mountain. We stayed in their logging camp back up in the woods. It was a big camp with 75 or80 men. Most of the time I drove a team for 'em, skidding logs. We'd get up at 5:30, feed the horses, put the harness on 'em, and at 6:00 a gong rnng for breakfast. At 7:00 the camp foremen turned us out into the woods. We worked all the time. If you didn't work, you didn't stay. We worked differently than the way they do now. There weren't any coffee breaks. We worked from 7:00until 12:00. We had until 1:00offfor 'FPCL, 1992 lunch, and then we worked until 6:00 that evening. It usually took about an hour to get back to camp. We would cat supper, and then the teamsters had to water their horses, curry 'em down, and put in plenty of hay. We Counuy of lhc Atchives of Appaltchia. ETSU didn't have time to relax or do anything after supper, we just went to bed, because at 5:30 the next morning they rang a gong to get the teamsters out of bed and back to the barn again. They always turned us loose at 4:00 on Saturday. They gave us two hours off on Saturday, and we didn't work on Sunday. It took a whole day to travel to Macon County, so we would usually stay at camp for a month or six weeks at a rime before we would go back home. Lacer on, I got married, and we moved to Caney Fork. Then I would walk home through the mountains every weekend. There were trails all through these mounuuns then. In the camp, we lived in long wooden shacks. They had double bunks on each side for the men to sleep in. The kitchen was built off one of the shacks. It was a long building with two long tables running the length of it. Most of the time the tables was just as full of men as they could be. They had good cooks, and whatever you wanted to eat, they had it on the table. For breakfast, they had ham and eggs, and biscuits. They'd have flapjacks, and they made gravy every morning. They'd make fried 'taters, and that gravy would go over 'cm, and there was applesauce on the side. They had peaches, they had jelly, and all kinds of meats on the table. It was good food, but it cost $1.00 a day. Of the $3.00 I made every day, I bad to pay $ LOO for board. That left me $2.00 in wages. Of course, if we stayed in camp on Sunday, we still had to pay for board, so when I stayed over, I made only$ 1.00 for my work on Monday. At lunchtime, if we were close enough to the camp we would go back for lunch. But up on Caney Fork, when we were away from camp, they would load the lunch on a railroad car and a "cookie" from the kitchen brought it out and set it all out in the woods - just like we were having a picnic. After everybody had eaten, he would gather up the dishes, and 1918 after they had loaded the car, he would set all his equipment on the back and ride out. Or perhaps he would walk out, because they ran those trains fast, and sometimes they would jump the track. It was dangerous driving one of those narrow-gauge trains. If one went off the track, it would tear up creation. Sometimes I drove oxen. Sometimes I drove horses. I'd drive six of them - three yokes. The biggest log I ever skidded was a 14 foot log that had 2700 board feet of lumber in it. It was bigger around lhan I was tall. There used to be some big timber in these mountains. I usually hauled a seven-log rig. I'd set the logs up in a line behind the teams. The front log had two J-grabs on it, so that if the logs started to run, you could turn your horses out of the road, the spread hooks would slip off, and the logs would go on by. Sometimes they'd leave the road, and it would be a time getting 'em back on if the ground was slick and icy. They'd get all tangled up, break loose, spread all over the mountain. That was some "rough doin'." I have seen it foul up - logs. horses, and all - and go over the bank. That didn't feel good when I saw what happened. It hun the horses. Some of 'cm got skinned up pretty badly. Some of 'em would get crippled, and they would have to kill 'em. Of course the company didn't care, they had insurance on 'em. I've been in lots of close places. A lot of times the logs would crowd me against a (continued on next page) X.Otuc:an Journot pOCJ", 7 �(continued from page 7) tree or a rock cliff. I had just one chance then. We wore cork boots (with sruds on the bottom - ed.), and I'd jump up on a log and jump off on the other side. Then when I got past the bad spot, I could cross back. It never got too rough to slow down. It didn't matter how deep the snow was or how thlck the ice was, we went out just the same. The foreman would turn us out on a rainy day just like on a good one. We could come back in if we wanted to, and he Most camps weren't as big as ours. Camps usually bunked 30-60 men. There weren't just timber cutters and teamsters. There were a lot of other jobs to do. Back then, they didn't have a bulldozer to make the roads, they made 'em with manpower. They took picks and shovels and dug 'em out The men who worked on the roads were called "road monkeys." They all had manocks and shovels. Where there was rock, they had to blow it out with dynamite. They had one crew that did the drilling and the shooting. Cowtcsy of the Arcluves ol Appal&ehia; ETSU wouldn't say anything about it; it was his job to turn us out, but if we wanted to work, that was up to us. It never got too muddy or too slick to haul the wood out. The railroad would run in any kind of weather. I skinned logs many a time when the road wasn't anything but a sheet of blue ice. It was dangerous. Back then, 1 was young, and didn't pay any attention to it, but looking back on it now, I can see those dangerous places, and it makes me tremble sometimes to think of some of the places I got into. I drove cattle and horses nearly all my life. I've been in some of the roughest places a man can put a team, but I never did get one hurt l guess 1 had enough practice at it. I followed 'em for years. I've worked some real good horses, and I've worked some that were as mean as they could be. Of course, if I got of one of those bad teams, I wouldn't stay long. I'd just move out. I'd go somewhere else, or I'd stay out a day or two and come back and get a different team. I'd haul the logs out of the forest to the narrow-gauge railroad where they would pick 'em up. The narrow-gauge train pulled about five cars, and it would bring the logs down to the top of Indian Camp Branch, where there was a big skidder. They called it the "drop out machine." It would book to one car at a time, and lower it down over a waterfall to the main line. They would unload the wood, give a signal, and the skidder would pull the empty car back and book onto another load. The wood went down the main line to East LaPone, at the bonom of Caney Fork where it joins the Tuckasegee River. Blackwood had two band mills down there. Each of them would cut 30,000 feet per day. That took a lot of logs. Xotiuih Journat p~ B Back at camp there was a saw filer who stayed at the saw-filing shack. In the evening, the cuners took their saws to the shack, and the next morning he gave them sharp saws to take out. There were cooks, and one feller caUed the "lobby hog" who would make up the beds in the morning and would get the wood in and keep the fires burning in the winter. He would get up early in the morning and build a fire to get everything warm before the men got up. They would generally run about five or six sawing crews. They would cut those big trees with that old cross-cut saw, the "misery whip." That's some rough work. Back then they just took the best timber. It had to be number one material. They would get two logs off some trees, but most of the time they would just cut one good log off and leave the rest to rot That's just the way they logged back then. They wasted more timber than they cut. They liked yellow poplar and what they called mountain oak. Of course, they would cut everything big enough to make a log white oak, black oak, basswood, maple, whatever it was. There were a few white pine trees and a linle hemlock up that way, but the yellow poplar and the mountain oaks would bring more money than any other kinds. Working in that big timber was dangerous, no mistake about it Sometimes a man would get bun, and every once in a while, a man would be killed, but not often. It was usually somebody who didn't understand how a tree was going to bust We had a few killed. Someone cutting that oak timber had to know just how to put a lead in it and how to saw it. Otherwise, it would " slab up," break off way up high, and part of that tree would head straight for the ground. If a man wasn't out of the way, it was just too bad. Three men worked on each cutting crew. One man did the "chipping" and the "measuring off." The other two didn't do anything but saw. Almost every tree leans just a little. The chipper had an axe, and he kept it sharp as a razor. He would cut a big notch in the tree right under that lean, 10 or 14 inches deep in a big tree, and then he would stand back and keep watch while the others began sawing behind the notch and cut the tree down from behind. When the tree hit the ground, the chipper measured off the logs they could get off it, and the cutters would saw them off while the chipper started chopping a lead in another tree. People were killed by falling limbs, too. Sometimes while they were cutting a tree, a dead limb would come off and would catch somewhere high in the branches. If they were lucky, they could go cut another tree, and it would come loose and fall. But they couldn't walk off and leave a tree. Eventually they had to go back and get it. The chipper would watch out for the cutters while they sawed the tree and got out. Sometimes, though, it wouldn't be five minutes before the dead limb would fall, and the cutters would have to dive out of the way. People got killed that way, not getting out from under a limb. They had a timber foreman, a road foreman, and a foreman in charge of the whole camp. The big bosses stayed down in the company offices at East LaPone, where the mill was. There's very little down there now, but East LaPorte was a mill town back then. There were more than 100 houses for the people who lived and worked there. The houses went up to the top of the ridge. They had a store down there, but they also had commissaries all up Caney Porlc for the working people. We would buy goods with scrip notes that the company issued. They would give us as much scrip as we wanted and then take it out of our checks down at the the main office. The commissaries had groceries, tools, shoes, boots, clothes - anything a person wanted. It was like a general store. They weren't more expensive than the Sylva Supply store in town. They were just about like any of the stores. Logging has changed a lot since my time. They don't do it now like we were doing it. It used to be an old cross-cut and "get 'em the hard way," but now it's all done with bulldozers, skidders, and chain saws. Chain saws started coming in during the forties. I bought my first chain saw in 1951 or 1952. Early on, some of 'em worked, and some of 'em were mighty sorry. Most of the early ones were two-man saws. They were big ones. They worked pretty well, but they were hard to carry through the woods. We used that kind until the companies put out the one-man chain saw. They were heavy when they first came out, but the loggers still thought they were bener than pulling on the cross-cut all day. They have improved on them a lot since they first staned making them. Things have gotten a little easier, anyway. Those old loggers, they sure had a time. ~ 1'aU, 1992 �WORKING THE WOODLANDS by David Wheeler Western North Carolilltl is abour 76% forest. What we do, how we manage these f oresrs - or how we mismanage them determines our destiny. We can't drill for oil; we can't catch sabrwn; we can't grow wheat. Forests are what we've got. - Charles Woodard,foresrer Looking out from over a high cliff in Katuah Province, one's vision moves across sweeps of green-mantled mountains flowing out to the horizon. Trees in such number and such variety are seen in few other places in the world. It is clear that lhe natural growth in this bioregion is forest. If left to grow, the old hills would be covered almost completely with a bewildering variety of tall trees and the wide diversity of other plant and animal species associated with them. Great and small, each species contributes to the health of lhe forest and makes it what it is. We are positioned between the warm Gulf air currents to the south, and the cold Canadian air currents to the north. The land climbs more than 5,000 feet in elevation change. In some parts of the region rainfall is 40 inches per year, while in others it is more than 90. The wide variety of influences causes a wide diversity of species. More than 140 species of trees are known here. There are, of course, all grades of sites, but on good sites many species of trees find their highest expression in the Blue Ridge. In 1901, H.B. Ayres and W.W. Ashe were sent by the federal government to inventory the Southern Appalachian forest. Of the area around the Great Smoky Mountains, they wrote: "The forests are chiefly of hardwoods, with a large amount of coniferous growth around lhe higher summits and in the deep, cool hollows. On the drier slopes, and especially on the south sides, oak and chestnut form the greater part of the timber, with some black and yellow pine on the ridges. The timber in the hollows is more varied and the stand is heavier, poplar, birch, Jinn, and buckeye being associated with the oak and chestnut. The finest and largest bodies of spruce in the southern Appalachians occur here, along the crest of the ridge and the north slope... " Just as the trees are a central feature of the ecology of the area, they have also historically been a central feature in the lives of the people who lived close to the land. And if we are to re-establish a balanced habitation of this area once again, our relationship with the trees will again be a primary fact of our ex.istence here. Seventy percent of the Southern Appalachian lands are still in forest. Some people hazard the guess that more land is in forest now than 100 years ago when each family had to clear off the acres they needed to grow all their own food. Many of the trees growing in the mountains are hardwoods. f"aU, 1992 Photo US National Archive Since the loss of the American chestnut from the forest canopy, yellow poplar is the most common species, though it does not dominate the region as the mighty chestnut once did. Sixty-four percent of the region is considered "timberland," which is technically defined as sites that would suppon timber utilization. By US Forest Service estimates, there are 16.7 billion cubic feet of "growing stock" (trees that are of a size to produce sawtimber) in the region. There is an estimated 54.6 billion board feet of sawtimber growing in the region according to the latest Forest Service surveys. With the mild climate, abundant rainfall, and dark forest soils, this bioregion is well situated to produce quality sawtimber. For the region, that is a blessing and a curse. For as long as they have been here, people have used wood from the forest trees sometimes carefully, sometimes in a manner that was wantonly destructive. The forest is only now recovering from the onslaught of industrial capital which ravaged the area in search of precious big timber at the turn of the century. The timber barons looted the region both economically and ecologically, and when their plundering was done they fled with their wealth to pillage elsewhere. The timber industry of today is making a positive economic contribution to the region, but often at the expense of environmental integrity - an expensive price. Logging and roadbuilding in the national forests penetrates into the last old growth stands left in the mountains and cuts t0 the bean of the last great habitat area left in the southeastern forest zone. Papennaking pays some of the highest wages in the region, but the Champion mi11 in the town of Canton is killing the Pigeon River with a toxic effluent that contains the deadly chemical compound dioxin. According to latest Forest Service surveys of the region, the industry is annually cutting 747,520,000 board feet (bf) of sawtimber, 1,851,000 cords of pulpwood, and wood for manufacturing 24,332,000 board feet of composite board. Wood is also cut for poles, fence postS, and a resurgent firewood trade. According to North Carolina State University's College of Forest Resources, the value of the timber cut in western North Carolina alone equals $129,231,000. This timber, according to Bureau of the Census figures for 1988, supported 51,354 employees in lumber and wood productS, furniture, and paper-making occupation's in the region. This was 7% of the employment in the whole region. High-grade hardwood sawtimber from the Southern Appalachian forests goes mostly to making furniture, lumber, facing veneers, and ornamental moundings. Some is exported overseas, largely to foreign furniture plantS. Lower-grade hardwoods go into the inside layers of plywood, flooring, pallets, railroad ties, and mine supports. Chips from small or poor quality trees are used in making oriented strand board and pulped for paper, paperboard, and coated stock. (continued on page 11) :K.cituan Journat PCMJe 9 �,,,l:1 'PhtIT ..:rmi1 1:,3wl '{d Juo lllguod ~-J,f 1''tti ~, T" ~;J•, :,~iif·... & n.- bid ru;:i 1ol1C1J11o:J lli:.m?. 11 '{t.UOJ n~•,, bna '-· ., .. ,.. .,,, ;. ,.. , with employment and earnings in the lumber fon:ed to zero. Lumber was chosen since it provides the raw material for fumilUIC and paper. Furniture and paper were not forced to zero values in the Model This is a well established Slalistical teehnique for answering "what ii" types of questions as the one posed here, but it should be in no way taken to mean that the author advocates the elimination or the lumber industry in any way. • On average, lOl3I earnings in the region would decline by over one percent if the lumber industry were losL Disposable per capita income would decline by almost as much. The most affected industry would be paper with losses in earnings and employment in lumbt:r on other industries as captured by the Model, Lotal employment in manufacturing in Western North Carolina would decline approximately two pcrcenL While these losses may not seem great, they are the stuff of strong recessions if comparable losses were to occur at the national level. br" ,f:,n,i,'\ qv Ilg, ri->ti! bl"JI ?Ir,:>.,.,,.,..,.,,, Wood Products and Western North Carolina by Dr. John Wade (about 200) over this time period. (In other words. the increase in fumilUrC (300 jobs) and lumber (400.jobs) arc more than offset by the losses in paper industry jobs.) A beuer picture of job trends in these throe wood products industries can be had by looking at the relative position of these industries to the toial picture in Western Nonh Carolina, as seen in Figure 2. Figure 2 shows the disparity in job growth in the wood producis industry (lumber, furniture and paper combined) and agricultural occupations with the rest of Wesiem North Carolina. The numbers used in the graph do not represent actual numbers of jobs. Rather. the sectors have been indexed, so they all sharc a common starting point in 1969 that is set equal to one. This is done so that change in the different sectors can be pictured on the same graph. · Total employment in Western Nonh Carolina and employment in the service industry is much greater than in agriculture and wood producis. For example, in 1988 there was a total of slightly over 400,000 jobs in the region of which 16,240 jobs (or 4%) were in the wood products industries. The values on the vertical axis show the percentage change in employment over time. Employment in the service sector has grown by almost 70 percent between 1969 and 1988. Toial employmenl has increased by about 55 percent. In comparison, wood products jobs have been quiie stagnant, evidencing no growth during this time Depanmenr of Economics and F'JNl'IU, School ofBu.rincn, Wcsran Carolina University The trend of the~ few decades towards growing environmenial awareness in the United SUIICS has engulfed Western Nonh Carolina and made some of iis lnldilional industties controversial. An excellent example is in the wood producis area whose lumbering practices have come wider increasing scrutiny from environmentalists. Here we take a two-fold look at the wood producis industries (which are comprised of the lumber, fumitwe and paper industries). F'USl, historical data for employment &om the WNC Ecooometric Model at Western Carolina University and which is fwided by Tennessee Valley Authority is presented to place these industries' role in Western North Carolina economy in perspective. Second, simulations from the Model arc used 10 answer some what if type of questions such as what impact does lumber have on the Western North Carolina economy? EMPLOYMENT TRENDS Figure ] depicts employment in the three wood products industries in Weslern North Carolina Io all three, employment is quite cyclical or sensitive to downturns in economic activity, although paper is somewhat mOR stable than its wood products couoterpans. Although paper employment is stable, it shows a Sleady decline in jobs from over 5700 in 1969 to slightly more than 4700 jobs in 1988, a loss of approximately 1000 jobs. The loss of jobs in paper is economically significant since jobs in the paper indusuy are some of the highest paying manufacturing jobs in the area In fact, none of the wood i-ooucts industries in Weste.m Nonh Carolina could be characterized as a growth iodusuy as far as number of jobs is concerned. The entire group experienced a slight loss in jobs CONCLUSJONS Wood products are a significant pan of the Wesiern North Carolina economy, although their importance is slowly diminishing as fastu growing sectors of the regional economy continue to expand. The regional economy bas already been hun by the loss of jobs in the paper industry which arc among the highest paying in manufacturing. The source of dala for lhis article is lhe Western North Carolina Economclric Model maintained by Professor Wilk al We5tem Carolina Univemty under conlJ'aet &om lhe T"'11\C$SCC Valley Aulhority. The Model cons.isl$ of over 80 equations designed lo show lhc interrelationships among seciors in Western North Carolina Ind between seciors in Wutem Nonh Carolina and lhc TVA md nalion.aJ economics. The UNWlCC of Edward Su=u is grarefully period. "WHAT IF?" CONSIDERATIONS aclcnowledgcd. The views md conclusions in !his article do not nccasarily rellect lhosc of lhe TVA. The Western North Carolina Econometric Model can also be used to answer "what ii" typeS of questions. To further ascertain the value of the wood products industries to Western North Carolina, the Model was used to simulate the regional economy WNC EMPLOYMENT For lhe pwposcs of lhis article Western Nonh Carolina is defined u the fiftu:n counties of Nonh ..,~ Carolina in lhc Tcnnasee Valley watershed. fr INDEXED WNC EMPLOYMENT FURNITURE, LUMBER & PAPER: :1969-1988 BASE YEAR 1969 1.1·~-----------------------, 1.o+-- - - - - -- - - - - - -- - - - -7"--i 1.5•-+--- - - - - - -- - - - -- - - - - --:7':~--1 1.4.l----- -- - -- - - - ---------,,....,11:-----1 1.3+-- - -- -- - -";p;'e:.i!i::::~~~=--- ----l 1.2+ - - -- -- ---1iil~~~~- =----=:::::::ra,;:----I +--- -~~~--1--~ __.,l!l:::ll!~~ ~---=-'""=-..llb.--Di 1.1 0.9·+ - ..?:::.;,j:.......::..__ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ --1 0 .81.J......-.--,---,--,--,----,---,,--,-,---r--.--..-----.---,--,.--,---r---.--.-' 1969 1972 1975 1978 1981 YEARS Figure I. Xat-1'.iah Jou.mat pQCJe 10 1984 1987 1-- 1972 SERVICES 1975 1978 YEARS 1981 1984 1987 - - TOTAL EMP. ---- WOOD PRO. -e- AG~I. Figure 2. 1-"0U., 1992 �(continued mxn page 9) Nearly 50% of the furniture manufacturers in the United States and the same percentage of the hardwood plywood and veneer manufacturing operations are located within the five states that include the Katuah bioregion. Much of the furniture-making activity is concentrated on the North Carolina piedmont. That location was chosen because it was close to the mountains, which supply 65% of the industry's raw materials, but still on flat land and accessible to major trade routes. Columbia-Carolina Corporation located a plant in Marion. NC specifically to gain access to Appalachian yellow poplar for plywood manufacturing and now uses 28 million board feet wood per year. AFG Industries in Knoxville employs a large workforce making wooden containers. The Champion International plant in Haywood County is a major purchaser of pulpwood in itS area, and there is a Bowater Southern paper plant in McMinn County, TN and a Mead Company paper plant in Kingspon, TN. Federal Paperboard and a large Westvaco plant in Covington, VA utilize pulp to manufacture paperboard. Abitibi-Price Corporation makes hardboard siding at its Roaring River plant in Wilkes County, NC and Weyerhauser Company turns out more than 50,000 board feet of oriented strand board per day at its factory in Elkins, NC. Most of these companies are on the periphery of the Southern Appalachians and draw only part of their raw materials from the mountains. The smaller sawmills like the large operations for the added markets that they create for lower-grade material. Sawtimber companies, for example, do not like to cut puJpwood; but if they have to cut it, they want to be able to sell it. Charles Woodard, director of the industry group the MuJtiple Use Council, said, ''When we heard that Columbia Carolina was building a facility, everybody said, 'Hallelujah!' because they came for exactly what we were having a hard rime getting rid of - the low-grade poplar lumber." It is obvious that the pulp and chip sectors of the forest productS industry are dominated by the industrial giants. Reducing wood to biomass and processing it into productS is a question of moving huge volumes of material efficiently. This is a job best suited for large-scale, automated, energy-intensive machinery. The investment is substantial, and a high degree of regularity is required. This is the scale of economy at which the giant, centralized corporations like to keep their operations. Most of the smaller, independent companies cut and process sawrimber. This is less complicated and does not require large investments in sophisticated technologies. Sawtimbcr is still an important component of the mountain wood economy, and the wood products industry still retains much of its traditional autonomy and independence in the region. Of the 521 lumber and wood products companies listed for the Southern Appalachian region in the Department of Commerce's Counry Business Pa11erns, 66% employ less than 10 people, 92% employ less than 50. A small logging operation requires less capital than most business operations, J'tlft, 1992 and even today a small contractor can bid a timber sale and then ca1J up friends and family members to help cut it There still are part-time sawmills back in the hills that start up operation when the price of lumber is good, sell a bit, and then cease operation bought out by larger fums. "It's just like anything else. Those who do a good job, keep up with the technology, and keep track of market trends are going to do alright. "There probably some people who can Counesy Jone.sboro Museum, Washington County TN when the price goes down. The mountain forest produc1s industry seems to be generally in good health. There is stiff competition among furniture company buyers for Appalachian hardwood, and no company seems to have an undue advantage in setting prices. The timber industry in the mountains is itself quite decentralized. Most sawmills, for instance, are small to medium-sized by national standards. Many of them are family-owned. A sawmill that supports l 00 workers is viewed as a large operation in the Appalachians. For instance, among the biggest buyers of timber stumpage east of the Great Smoky Mountains are the Parton Lumber Company, T & S Hardwoods, and WNC Pallet. Parton employs 75 workers at the mill and works 80 loggers in the forest. T & S has 54 millworkers and 50 loggers working on contract WNC Pallet employs 120 people at their mill at Candler. AJthough they are independent and fiercely competitive among themselves, the Appalachian loggers and mill owners arc cJannish and as a group wield considerable economic and political power in the region. But changes arc happening within the forest products industry. Dr. Larry Jahn, associate professor in the Department of Wood and Paper Science at Nonh Carolina State University, says: "There are still many small, independently-owned mills operating in Nonh Carolina. However, th.e trend over the last 10-15 years is that operations which are inefficient or which don't adapt to new technologies either go out of business or are cut just for the local market and be successful at it, but the business has become more sophisticated. Operators have to keep tabs on what is happening, always be looking for market niches, and must keep a constant awareness that they are dealing in an inrernational market and must be producing the best product that they can. Because it's much more competitive than it was years ago. h's a tough business. It's very competitive." Loggers, too, arc feeling the same pressures. "It talces so much invesunent in this modem, mechanized equipment, the little feller can't afford to get into it. They are pressed to move a certain volume of wood, because insurance and mechanization costs are putting them in a real bind," says Frank Norris, publisher of the market bulletin Timber Mart South and a veteran forester of 50 years experience. "It's becoming more sophisticated all the time. It's surprising how many loggers...the wife runs a computer and does the bookkeeping for 'em. They don't do it off a paper sack anymore. "They have to go further for wood, and to run the highways now they have to have better trucks. So their costs have gone up quite a bit. "They're being squeezed between their costs and what they can get for their product, so they're going to have to be more efficient or more of 'em will go out. Both of those things are happening. That's the reason you see fewer of 'em in it There's quite a few less than there were 20 years ago." (continued on next page) X.cu:uah ) O\U'nCIC paCJe 11 �t I'• f":. ~ t•• • I • .... -·... l i;""!! (continued (mm page 11) Other changes are going on outside the industry that also affect its future. One of the most influential of these changes is in the growth of the population in the region and the shift in its composition. Currently, most of the growth in population is the result of in-migration from outside the bioregion. The newcomers bring with them new attitudes and different ideas - including different occupations and different approaches to land use. One of the strengths of the independent operators has been that, since the depanurc of the early timber interests in the 1930's, forest products work has been locally controlled. The people working in the industry today arc not the offspring of the timber barons, but arc much more likely to be descendants of the people who worked for them. In fact, the timber industry has become a bastion of economic support for the local people of the region. If the industry were to die, a lot of the local culture would die with it. Today, the strength in this stabiliiy may turn out to be a handicap. The regional economy is changing. As the graph on this page shows, regional employment is rising. The rise in employment in the service occupations is on the same curve, which suggests that it is this sector which is driving the upswing. But while total employment and employment in service jobs arc rising, the number of people working in the wood products jobs is holding steady. And while workers are more likely to be operating a band saw than pulling a crosscut saw in the woods, they arc likely to be members of the same families who have traditionally worked with wood. Thus, while employment in wood products jobs is staying even, their percent of influence in the changing economy of the mountain region is declining. "This change is oocwring panJy :l(otuah JournaL p<M)e 12 because of the changing mix of population ...Fewer people are working in agricultural jobs; more are employed in the government, service, and retail trade sectors. The number in manufacturing has increased slightly in the last decade, but it is a much smaller percentage of the total number holding jobs. There is now less employment in jobs dependent on forest products, such as wood, than in the past. Tourism, however, is an increasingly irnponam pan of the economy," wrote the authors of the Draft land and Resource Management Plan/or the Nantahala-Pisgah National Forests in 1985. Another aspect of the change in the region's population profile is the change in land ownership. The newcomers arc buying ll_P the land. Unlike the timber and pulp • 'c3rporations on the coastal plain who own their industrial forests, the mountain sawmills cut mostly on other people's land. In the past the landowners were fanners who depended on their woodlots to provide extra cash and so were glad to have them cut as soon as they were of sawlog size. Now people arc moving in who wish to escape from the industrial madness to a forest retreat. They arc well-to-do and want trees, not stumpage payments. This is sure to tighten the supply of timber in the region. What about the future? The agreement is unanimous that over the long term the demand for hardwoods, and thus their price, will only increase. High-grade sawtimber is especially desired. In the broad outlook. conditions are quite advantageous for the forest products trade. Locally, however, forecasts are that the amount of forest products operations that the region can suppon will shrink somewhat. And the shrinkage will take place in the number of the smaller companies that do not have strong financial backing. The corporate style of operation is not suited 10 the mountains - or anywhere in the natural world, for that matter. The smaller, more flexible timber companies have the potential for working in a way that is much more appropriate. The only question is whether the people in forest products occupations arc willing to adapt to the changes that are currently taking place. Replacing local people with newcomers who embody the new corporate attitudes is no solution. Working with wood offers a cultural reference point and a way local people can keep their place on the land. But exploitative attitudes toward the land, particularly when tranSlated into exploitative ways of working in the forest, will no longer suffice. It is not sustainable to support our species' life at the expense of the life of the land. Let us hope we can learn the lessons of ecology and put them to work. We want people to develop, not tum their backs o~'# their ties to this place. fr J'Alt, 1992 �Jj' ! 'J,1 DEPLETION FOR DOLLARS: THE ECONOMICS OF CHIP MILLS . · . i _ -·. ~J . . ( . .,,.:-_ • , :t... ,_ 1· ...,,-~ ., •l-Ao:~ . , ••.,.:-.~ ,..~_:,,;_ . '-!< • • -- . .: ~ . 1r-· · --- -- _-:.r.- The chip mill issue can be framed as a question of how to utilize the Tennessee River Valley region's forest resources to the best advantage of its residents. One option is to maintain the health of the established hardwood industry by keeping out the remote chip mills. This existing option can be characterized as an environmentally acceptable and sustainable system whose market demand is based predominantly on regional economics. A second option, that of bringing in remote, high capacity chip mills, can be characterized as a mechanized, unacceptable, and regionally non-sustainable system whose marlcet demand is based essentially on global economics. Backlf'OUDd To understand the chip mill issue it is essential to understand the forest products industry structure and the resource base upon which it depends. There are basically two divisions of the industry: the solid wood segment - which requires a continuous supply of mature trees to supply lumber for manufactured goods; and the paper segment • which requires a maximum volume of wood fiber to manufacrure paper products. In order to insure a continuous supply of mature trees, the solid wood segment uses the environmentally sound practice of selective harvesting in which only the older trees are harvested from a site, and many middle-aged and young trccS are left for the next harvest in 15 to 20 years. The selective harvest method can be abused by "high grading," a practice in which only the best trees are taken and no cull cuts are made to insure that commercially valuable species will be available for the next cuL On the other hand, chip mills, in order to obtain maximum fiber volume at minimum cost for the paper industry, generally use the environmentally degrading clearcutting method, clearing all protective cover from the land. If reforestation is planned, it is done with bulldozers and herbicides to insure that f'aU, 1992 the new crop of commercial trees are "released." All chip mills are not the same. There are chip mills associated with sawmills and manufacturers which process mill and facrory "residues" so that they can be utilized as "residue chips" in the manufacture of paper. There are "whole tree chippers" which can be carried from site to site and process whole trees. And then there are high capacity chip mills, sometimes called "remote" or "satellite" chip mills, which are set up to supply a primary facility (pulp or paper mill) that is in another region or country. These "high capacity chip mills" are the chip mills that have applied to the Tennessee Valley Authority (IV A) for permits to locate along the Tennessee River at South Pinsburg, TN. Any further mention of chip mills will refer to these remote, high capacity mills. High capacity chip mills cost approximately $3 million to $5 million, excluding site preparation. They have a mechanical life expectaney of three to ten years, depending on how heavily they are used They generally employ eight people or less. Advocates of chip mills usually try to claim that new jobs are created by log harvesting employmenL However, it is documented in both North Carolina and Alabama that much of the harvesting employment already exists and is occupied supplying established regional industries. Because of the high volume contracts, the lower handling costs, and the high value for the commodity on the world market, loggers and haulers often abandon existing industries and go to work for the chip mills. Harvestin& Impacts Comprehending the purpose, the nature, and the amount of tree consumption by the chip mills is essential to decision making because the region already has a very large manufacturing economy based upon the hardwood resource. The fundamental purpose of the chip mills is to supply fiber for pulp and paper mills ourside our region. TVA estimates that landowners will be paid a $1 to $4 per ton "stumpage" price by the chip mills for their timber as it stands. Following estimates by Charles McGee in the article "Low Quality Hardwood Stands," this is not enough to pay for reforestation. High grade hardwood timber is noc likely to regenerate without management costs. ff the owner is not willing to reinvest funds the resulting stand will likely be suitable only for use as pulpwood. Trees are harvested and delivered to the chip mill (for $18 per ton in my Alabama study area), and then chipped and sold for around $23 or $24 per ton. At that point the resource will be gone from our region with little value added. A ton of hardwood chips brings approximately $122, delivered to Japan. Contrast this "regional chip mill resource return" with our established, value-adding hardwood industries. The landowner is first paid a stumpage price for the timber, the logs are delivered to a mill which saws them into rough lumber; the rough lumber is made into finished lumber, marketed, and transported to a manufacturing facility where it is made into a wood product; this is then marketed and transported to a wholesaler or retailer, who markets it one more time. Value is added at each stage of the process. It should be obvious that when compared to the established hardwood industry "multiplier" for employment, the chip mill employment "multiplier" becomes a tremendous employment "reducer." It is also obvious that there is no value added in the region. Another point is that the chip mills are going to utiliz.e a much greater amount of wood than has been previously estimated. TVA stated that each mill would consume 300,000 tons of chips per year per mill. However, Steve Loveland of Georgia-Pacific Corporation in an article entitled "South Atlantic Chip Supply," said, "Any chip mill (continued on nCJ1l page) xawah Journat poc,e 13 �(continued fro;;. ·page 13) l , f t ,l 1, ,,a .. ; ' can double or ttiple irs chipping ourput by adding shifts and can be virtually run around the clock, seven days a week if necessary." This Statement shows that the figure on which TV A is basing its calculations is a minimum figure. Acrual production for one chip mill could easily be three times that much if economic conditions warranted. In other words, if TV A chose to permit only one chip mill, it alone could consume as much as TV A's predicted level for three chip mills. Another factor that skews predictions of ecological and economic impacts is that the chip mills are committed to providing a steady volume of chips regardless of local prices. There is a large capital investment involved in each of the mills, and many of them are owned by paper mills or are under binding "take-or-pay" supply contracts, meaning that they have to pay cash if they do not meet agreed-upon supply quotas. This artificially-maintained production depresses the price of residue chips produced by sawmills in the region, and is also inconsistent with wise resource and environmental management. Chip mills can also serve in a secondary economic capacity: that of liquidating the regional resource into readily available capital for transnational corporations that are sttuggling to keep their heads above water in troubled economic times. In simpler terms, the chip mills are to provide ready cash to their troubled corporate parents by trying, as rapidly as possible, to tum trees into money. This is particularly devastating to the established regional industries and the local environment. The chip mills do not care if "the regional resource"is liquidated because their mechanical life will essentially be over by the time the trees are gone. The Boise Cascade Corporation is one ~xample. Like most of the paper and pulp mdustry, before the recession hit Boise Csacade made large capital invesnnents to increase their capacity. Now the corporation is saddled with high interest payments in the face of a decreased market demand. Furthermore, due to the tremendous amounts of chip exports from the Nonhwest 10 the Japanese, they are being squeezed by chip prices in their operations in the Pacific Nonhwesr. (Condensed from The Value Line). In fact, according to the December, 1991 PaperandPu/p, Boise Cascade suffered a "$32.6 million loss in the second quarter" of 1991, and third quanereamings sank "to a $49.4 million deficit." As a solution to their predicament, Boise Cascade plans to sacrifice the region's hardwood forests, upon which many local people have depended for decades. Many foreign nations have a labor advantage over the United States on the open international market. The United States maintains its competirve position because of a superior supply of resources. It is clearly a good economic strategy for foreign companies to cur as much pulpwood as possible. If they can use much of the United States' resource, the United States will be that much more vulnerable on the open market By chipping our trees, foreign competitors are improving their long term X-citiuih JouTna£ page 14 I exporting market position. American business and government should be thinking ahead. Our competitors are. tnnuence of Market Conditions Developments in the regional and world markets helped 10 create this confrontation in the Tennessee River Valley between established regional wood producrs industries and transnational corporations. The first was a rise in the domestic demand for hardwoods. Because of a slowdown in the growth of softwood trees, overharvesring, an obvious supply of cheap hardwoods, and the development of new technology for using hardwoods in the making of pulp, the paper companies staned using a significant amount of hardwood chips in the mid-eighties. (The current mix is approximately 31% hardwoods and 69% softwood.) The overseas demand for hardwoods has also boomed. Several deepwater ports, like the Pon of Mobile in Alabama, invested heavily in chip exporting facilities during the 1980's. The federal government also invested $2 billion of the taxpayer's money 10 build the Tenn-Tom Waterway to create a direct route between the Tennessee River and the Gulf. It is ironic that the foreign corporations would be much less competitive with our regional industries if the government had oot subsidized their transportation system. Also during this time many well-meaning foresc industry people decided that they needed to "create" additional markets for our low-grade hardwoods by developing expon markets. They should have known better than to think that they could tamper with the market without creating serious repercussions in the existing hardwood economy of the region. This confluence of trends adds up to a radical market change which today could devastate the resource base upon which the sustainable, labor intensive, value-adding, regional hardwood industries of the Tennessee River Valley depend. Nature of the Chip Mil! Harvest The nature of the chip mill harvest is symptomatic of the market demand that drives it. The original intent behind the chip mills was to create a market for low-grade hardwoods. However, clearcutting for the chip mills takes all the hardwoods - poor ones, deformed ones, plus the well-formed young trees that would have grown up to make high-grade sawtimber. If extensive areas in the Tennessee Valley are clearcut, as they have been _in Alabama, it will be at least 70 to 80 years before any hardwood sawtimber matures. No one seems concerned about what will happen to the small local operators in the meantime. On a more immediate note, the low-grade sawmills and pallet makers find themselves shutting down or operating at a loss because the world chip market demand has driven low grade timber prices out of their reach. A sawmill owner in a nonhwestem Alabama county, where chip mill resource depletion has occurred and the sawmills have been shut down, said ruefully that any sawmill owner would be committing economic suicide to allow a hardwood chip - mill within theit ~ . A visit to the areas of Alabama already clearcut is probably the most convincing economic or environmental argument that can be made against the permitting of the chip mills. Competition for the Forest Resource Does our region have plenty of hardwoods to spare? AU the numbers presented by TV A say that we are growing twice as much as we are harvesting. But there is also the question of availabiliry: all the growing trees are not available for industrial consumption. How much of that volume is actually available for harvesr after figuring in operability factors such as steep slopes and year round water problems, and landowners who do not want to sell their limber? Thomas R. Reed of Champion International Corporation in his article "Industrial Perspective on Hardwood Use," said that roughly 50% of the hardwoods are available. This estimate is considered high by some observers. But TV A neglected to do any kind of availability discounting. They assumed in their calculations that all the hardwood trees in the region were available. The regional hardwood industries already depend on those growing trees. The bottom line is that although we may be growing a lot of hardwoods, we are not growing enough to supply the existing hardwood sawmills, the existing regional paper mills, which are increasing their use of low-grade hardwoods, AND the remote chip mills who are here to harvest the hardwoods of the region for the rest of the world. The domestic paper companies are large and well-financed and will probably survive the crisis, but the small milling operations, which employ roughly 85% of the Valley's forest products workers, will inevitably be sacrificed for the chip mills that will siphon off the region's wealth for huge transnational corporations. In terms of the eovironmeotal impact, or the economic impact oo tourism, the region will be trading the incredible scenery and diverse ecological community that accompanies a selectively harvested, mature hardwood forest for a pulpwood lot checkered with constant clearcuts. If one considers aesthetics as imponant, the impact ori southeastern Tennessee is going to be devastating. The scenery will be a politician's nighnnare: graphic evidence of a bad decision that gets worse, and becomes more visible to the public, with every passing year. ~ - Harley Wessman lnforma1ion for this article was provided by Robert Mitchell. coordinator of the Tennessee Valley liardwood Alliance. a coalition of small hardwood lumber manufacturers whose livelihoods are threatened by the chip mill operations that are seeking permits to operate in the Tennessee River Valley. Contact the TeMessee Valley Hardwood Alliance; clo R.C. Mitchell; 2850 McCa//ie Ave.; Cha11anooga, TN 37404. For more information on how to stop the chip mill invasion, c<>ntact T.A.G.E.R.; Box 764; Souih Pi11sburg, TN 37380. 1"aU, 1992 �LOGGING WITH HORSES by Nancy McIntyre "It's a win/win solution," says Jason Rutledge. He is talking about horse logging, a low-impact and sustainable timber harvesting method. Environmentalists call for timber harvesting to stop on public lands. The timber industry pushes ro cut marketable trees and to harvest them in the cheapest way, preferably clearcurting. Logging with draft horses offers another choice that addresses concerns of both groups. Conventional timbering requires building logging roads, often at public expense - roads that are large enough to accommodate tractor-trailer rigs and which damage the environment. Horse logging needs no road building and leaves minimal disturbance, even in steep or remote areas. Rutledge describes horse logging as a superior technology, "an evolved approach that marries science to culture." He goes on to say that "cUITCnt horse logging is a modem effort that employs specifically-bred heavy draft horses that are harnessed with nylon components and work in multiple hitches with several teams in tandem like the Budweiser Clydesdales, except that I use horses of the Suffolk Punch breed. The teams pull a steel log arch, which has high flotation pneumatic tires that provide front end suspension of long tree stems. This log extraction technique, along with directional felling, creates extremely low environmental and visual impact." Environmentally Sensitive Logging Company, started by Rutledge and based in southwestern Virginia, has harvested over 200,000 board feet of timber from national forests in Virginia. Using "real horsepower," Rutledge and his parmer John Thornton have removed trees from the Jefferson National Forest by the single tree selection method. Defined as balanced, uneven-aged management, this least-damaging, sustained-yield harvesting technique cuts a few peak trees per acre. Tree age, species, site, soil type, grade exposure, remaining growth, and wildlife habitat are among the aspects considered in tree selection. Rutledge explains that "this method of harvesting closely imitates nature's own selection process. Each tree is recognized as part of the interconnected whole. Top wood from cut trees and some trees of undesired species are left lying on the forest floor, while desired species remain standing in varying ages and become dominant in population and size." He adds that the Forest Service and agricultural colleges have many expens who can mark timber for this type of harvesting. "Modern conventional logging equipment does too much damage to the environment to go into the forest on a 10 to 20 year harvest rotation to remove a few peak trees per acre. With horses you can do this, and everyone wins something," Rutledge emphasizes. "Tunber is harvested without clearcutting, and there is never removaJ of den treeS or the total destruction of the forest canopy. Therefore, wildlife habitat is preserved while the forest is still contributing to immediate human needs of building 1-"aU, 1992 materials, furniture, paper, etc. "A healthy forest is maintained and helps to protect water and air. yet jobs in the logging business continue, and forest products still enter the manufacturing channels, though coming in smaller loads from smaller tracts and smaller operators. With horse logging, there is less ground for resistance and appeals from environmentalists and a bener opportunity to avoid below-cost timber sales. Governments in other parts of the world have already recognized the extensive knowledge and teach others," Chaffee says. Rutledge offers formal instruction and apprenticeships, but cautions, "Logging is one of the most dangerous occupations in the country." To learn chain saw use, he strongly recommends the Soran Erickson Game of Logging School, sponsored by the Stihl Company. (Inquire with local forestry deparunents for this nationwide instruction.) "Such instruction can save lives, countless Counesy of lhc Archives of Appalachia, ETSU benefits of animal-powered skidding techniques and have chosen this timber harvesting method for a portion of their timber removal." "Draft horses have other uses in the forest," Rutledge adds. "My first Suffolk, Forest Spring Red Samson, and his brother Forest Spring Bill, under the steady hands of Mr. Thornton, recently pulled materials deep into the national forest for the consauction of a rest area and overnight shelter on the Appalachian Trail." David Chaffee of Pittsboro, North Carolina, a commercial airline pilot and farmer who also breeds Suffolk Punch horses, says, "All you have to do is take four photographs. Take one of an area just logged by horses and another six months later. Compare them with photographs of an area timbered with large equipment, now and six months later. You're going to see erosion with the conventional timbering using large machinery. "In regard to jobs,"Chaffee continues, "horse logging involves more people, noc only the Joggers themselves, but also those raising draft horses and raising feed. These are internally-generated jo~s. whereas with conventional timbering, the heavy equipment is made outside of the United States and the energy is imponed. Jobs in the timber industry can be sustained by logging in a different way." Chaffee has twice stayed at Jason Rutledge's farm in Floyd County, Virginia to work with him and learn horse-logging skills for use on his own land. "Jason seems very willing to share his hours, and many bills," Rutledge says. Jason Rutledge is writing a book on Beginner's Use of Draft Horses for the Twenty-first Century. In articles recently printed in The Small Farmer's Journal and The Draft Horse Journal, he tells that he was raised by his illiterate grandfather "who was a hoss trader and, without an outline or agenda, taught the dignity of what a welJ-tended pair of work animals could do for a man who would work too." Jason adds that he is "determined to maintain the dignity of work animals and working man." Rutledge describes himself as an environmental actualist who has spent most of his life working toward the restoration of a cultural ethic or stewardship. "This ethic of planetary stewardship has to translate into everyday life and, for most folks, into the economic reaJity of making a living. Faith is the bridge between belief and action, and I'm going 10 cross that bridge/# with a horse!" fr For further infonnation: Environmentally Sensitive Logging Company Jason Rutledge and John Thornton 2050 Blue Ridge Turnpike Fincastle. VA 24090 Nancy Mclntyre lives on a beauliful ridge-top farm in Floyd County, VA. She is an energetic clean air and water activist and recently spent time educating people to the harmful effects of chemical biocides as part of the Agricultural Resources Center/ Pesticide Education Project. �ROADTHREAT AN APPEALING ISSUE·· ·· N--1 World Ne... $erYice N--1 World Ne... S.-,ice The Forest Service decision on the abolition of limber sale appcalJ bas noc been released 11 press Lime. In the inlerim, Congress has gouen involved with the appeals question. On July I, Sena10r Wyche Fowler (D.QA) introduced a bill co-sponsored by Pat Leahy, Al Gore, and Olhm that guaranu,cd the right to appeal Forest Service decisions. This bill passed in the Senate by a margin of 57-38. The strength of the Fowler bill indicaics that the,e is support for the appeals process as a chcclc against poor decision making. Laier in the summer, however, Larry Craig (R-ID} inuoduccd a v.akencd substitute for the Fowler bill The Craig measure was passed successfully early in August Under Craig's bill, the lime limit for filing appeals and for the Forest Servtce ~iuon of appeals would be shoncncd to 30 days apiece. It would force appellants to travel to the vicinity of the forest to make their case. The Craig bill would also require appellants to make comments in order to have s&anding. These appear to be minor changes, but the biU is in1e11lionally vague on many points. For example, the,e is some question as to whether or nOI the person who reviews the appeal can be the person who made the initial decision, thus creating a conflict of inrcrcst The changes proposed by the Forest Service are far-reaching and go beyond appeals. Acconting to the Sierra Club Legal Deteme Fund, the new appeals regulalions would eliminale the right to know about and comment on sates of lllllds affCCICd by insects and diseases. The lwldling of insect• and discae-relatcd sales has been subject to abuse in the past. In addition, the proposed changes would make it impossible even IO team about limber sales if one does noc sub!lcribe IO a variety of small newspapers. These and other consttaincs would make it much harder to conuibule meaningful comments or even stay informed about activities in nearby lllllional On May 21, the Virginia Transpor1alioo Board announced the prefen-cd IOULC for U.S. RL 58, a new fow--tane that would spai the southwcaem edge of Virginia between Maninsville and Cumberland Gap. The route would bisect the ML Rogers National Rccl'Cllion Area along Corners Crcett. a cascade-filled IIOUl Slmllll Pond Mountain and Hurricane Mountain. The Mount Rogers area is home to a number of rare animal species, including endangered mussels, rare salamanders, bog turtles, gray bats, and northern flying squirrels. Funher east, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VD01) would have Rt 58 cross the Blue Ridge Mountains berwcen Meadows of Dan and Stuart, Virginia, an area that Includes two waterways that are eligible for scenic river status. Highway consuucuon will destroy ll\3lly homes and farms along the way. Some cilizens con1e11d that the project will be the death knell for downtowns in small communities along the way. In order to respond to the threat to the ML Rogers area (and perhaps 10 ocher threatened areas), the Mountain Heritage Alliance has been formed. Members have begun a national letier wriling and petition drive. The group wishes 10 arrange a meeting with VOOT since VDOT has recently met with backers of a popular but desuuctive altcmalive passing through the highlands around Straight Branch, Whiietop l...aurel, and Grems Cove Creek. The group will iqe VDOT 10 IOUIC the highway along existing highways 1-77 and 1-81. They cite a Virginia Depanmenl of COllltlValion and Recreation recommendation against the highway and the findings of a Virginia Tech cconomiSl who predic1ed thal few CCUICllJlic baldiU would be derived from the road. forests. At the same time the Depanrnent of Agriculture is lobbying Congress to end judicial review of Forest Service decisions. Secretary of Agriculture Madigan told Congress. "We could manage bencr if we were free from the inletference of the caur1S [and] we urge Congress IO do that expeditiously." A few such bills have appeared before Congress but they have been unsuccessful so far. BAN CHIP MILLS Narura1 Wotld News Service Residents of the Tennessee Valley spoke overwhelmingly against pcnn1ts for chip mill facllities along the Tennessee River during two summer public hearings. SpcaJc.crs asked that TV A , stop Donghac, Channel Ch1p/P:lrker Towing, and Boise Cascade from construcung loading clocks and facilities along the upper Tenn-Tom Waterway, which TVA comrols. They told TV A th:11 the ini.cnsive clcarculting associated with chip manufacturing would result m a decline in the biodiversity and hardwood manufacturing economic base of the region. TV A omcials repon th:11 they are "swamped with tcuus· responding 10 the permit issue. The baule may have just begun, however. Boise Cascade Company announced shonly after the hearings I.hat they would open a chip mill without a pcnnit and ltUclc the chips overland to port. For more information, contaet TAGER; Box 764; South Pittsburg, 1N 37380. Xatuah )ouma£ PQIJ"- l 6 CLOSING IN ON CHEOAH NIil.ira! World News Service In a decision notice released lasl month, District Ranger Glen McConnell announced plans to log the Checab Mountains again. Over the past live years, the lofty mountain range that surrounds Checab Bald has seen more than its share or roadbuilding, road-indllccd landslides. and clearcutling. Exrensive logging bas tatm its toll on the forests around Oicoah's Shell Stand Creek, Stecoah Gap, Simp Oap, Grassy Gap, Wesc, and lower sections of Ben Creek. McConnell now plans to penetrate further into the wa&cnhcds of Bert and Franks Creeks to the southwest of Cheoab Bald. According 10 the environmental assessment for the Ben Creek Timber Sale, the Forest Service would build 1.2 miles of roads and harvest limber on more than 300 aaes. Even-aged logging is the silviculrural method of choice for most of the sale unit Activists an: concerned that the limber sale will cause further fragmenlalion of habiw in an area · thal is prime black bear babirat Over one thin! of the stands robe cul are over 100 years old. Fragmentation is also a pocential threat to the cerulean warbler and the goshawk. IWO Endangered Species Act candidates likely 10 be found ll the Bert Creek site. SIUdies have shown Iha the cerulean warbler needs at least 1600 acres of contiguous forest Other rare species at risk include the Indiana bat, East.cm wood rat, and hellbender. An additional issue of concern is the possible occurance of pyrue, a substance that produces a dangerous acid when leached out or a roadcut or log landing by rainwater. Oak decline, a phenomenon that causes a die-off o{ malllre oaks due to drought, infcsta.tJOn, and other su-esscs, is the pretext for the sale. but acuv1stS say the Stands are quite healthy. They claim that few loggers would bid on the umber if they had to share the full costs of F.S. 208 and other access roods built at LUpayer expense a few years ago. During the late 1970s, the RARE D Study recommended the Chcoah Bald area as one of the prem ier road.less areas in the Southern Appalachians. lt has since been opened to developmenL The arc3 still has tremendous beauty and tremendous wildland potential One has only to loolt out from the high ridges above Ben Creek to the Great Smokies in the distance to see what the future could hold. To procest the Ben Crnek Tunber Sale, write Glen McConnell, District Ranger; RL '· Box 16-A, Robbinsville, NC 28771. In order to become part of the national petition drive 10 save ML Rogers, write: Gary Stemp: Mountain Heritage Alliance; Rt 3, Box 589; Marion, VA 24354. TRANSREGIONAL POWER Nwral World News Service Attempts to build a high-voltage powerline through West Virginia and Virginia have hit a snag. Appalachian Power Company (APCO), a subsidiary ofthecoal-fued giant, American Electric Power (AEP), asked for a pcnnit to build a 765 kilowatt powcrline Crom southern West Virginia to a substation outside of Roonokc, Virginia, but it hns been forced to withdraw its applicauon with the We~l Virginia Public Service Commission until an acceptable environmental impact statement is p!'Cllll'Cd. Elsewhere, in a hearing before the Vi.rgini3 Utility Commission, expcn witneSSCS for Citi.zcns for the Preservation of Craig County (Virginia) said that APCO should not be given the right of eminent domain for a transmission line built solely for the purpose of ~ling off unusable excess power at a profiL The powerline would transfer power from the Midwest to the urban crescent of CllSLCm Virginia. Opponents say that the powerhne would cul across the Jefferson N31J01131 Forest between \.1ounuun Lake Wildcmcss and two wilderness areas several miles to the east They claun that the powerline will pass through hundreds of ocres of forest and farm land, lowcnng real CSlllle vallleS and conl8lllJll8lJllg springs with herbicides along the v.;3y They worry about the health effects of elecu-omagnetic fields, citing recent medical research on the subject J"aCL, 1992 �APdH &a'iler'f.~'•-tiftini envuonmenl3l siewardship reicon1. Many residenlS or the Southern Appalachians remember APCO's effort to dam the New River in Nonh Carolina. A few years ago, Appalachian Trail club members discovered dw APCO had built an unapproved access road lhrough the Appalachian Trail corridor. The club concluded that APCO was unable IO - g e their own utility corridor, so it reached an agn:anent with thc utility to manage pan or the power corridor themselves. In lhe meantime, APCO has begun a million dollar program promoting thc use or elecll'ic heal pumps. The figbl against the powertine has reached lhe national level U.S. Represeniatives Nick Rahall (WV) and Frederick Boucbcr (VA) have sponsored a bill that would pro!CCI federally-owned land along lhe New River, blocking access to one of the only f~ible rou1CS. The bill ha1 had sll'Ollg suppon in the House or Reprcsenwives. Hearings on the issue will begin SOOD in thc SenalC. Wrice Cilil.cns to Preserve Craig County; Box 291; New Casile, VA 2A I 27 and lhe National Commilltle for thc New River, Bluestone Project CommiUtJe; Box 103S; Athens, WV 24712. Also wrice your legislalorS. DECISION ON BIG IVY Nlhlnl Wodd News Savice In I.ale July, Ranger Paul Bradley ol the Toecane DiSlricl or thc Pisgah Nllional Forcsi. issued a decision oo the controversial Sugarhouse Cove Timber Sale, proposed for thc Big Ivy arca in BU1100111be County, nordleul of Asbeville.. Big Ivy is III an:a oC unusual circumneutral soils, rare planl communities, and excellent examples of old growth foreaa (see Ka,/Jalt JollnlOl 134), and lbe proposcd sale was bigbly CClllll'O¥a1ial. Bradley was leaning IOWll'd a decision 1h11 would have deVll.1Ulled a unique roadies., area conraining in:es measuring four feet in dialnder and examples of many rare plant species. ScienlislS and IIClivislS r.niliar with the sea rushed to ils defense, informing the Forest Service that die proposcd logging and road building would resull in unaccq,18blc damage. The eovironmeulal group SoudlPAW initialed a teuer writing campaip that brougb1 hundreds of lcuers and petition signaiurcs opposing the sale. Womansong, a choral group from Asbeville, 1111g for the forest outside die Forest Service otricea. garnering media coverage for Big Ivy. In response, Bradley scaled back his logging plans for the waaenhed. He eliminal.ed four of thc five areas scheduled IO be cut and reduced the timber sale volume by 80%. The remaining sale unils are in an abandoned homcSICad, an area that is already relatively degraded. Surprisingly. the Forest Service ~ the Sugarhouse Cove portion, after which the limber sale was named, as a Rcsean::h Natur81 Area. The analysis process resulted in designations of large pans or Big Ivy as either old growth habitat or as "unsuitable for umber producoon." Bradley dampened a poccntially explosive si1ua1ton. Many cnvirorunenl31istS feel lhal the Bag Ivy wau:rsbcd should be scqucsu:rod as a biological rc.o;crve. ActivistS are divided as to whclher to nppcal the timber sale or to turn !heir aucntion to other assaults on Kaluah's biodiversity. JUSI lhree weeks lalcr, Bradley allayed coocems that his districl might llOI meet its timber wgel by issuing a decision to log another scelion of lhe Toccanc. The sice is near Seven Mile Ridge along lhe Blue Ridge Partway. 1'cdl, 1992 1-26 HEARING HEATS UP Namnl World News Service Oo Joly 21, more than a hundred area citizens packed Mars HiU Elcmenwy School to give the NC Deparuneot ol Transportation (001) officials their views oo the proposed Inu:rswe 26 segment between Mars Hill, N.C. and die Tennessee border. Although opponents of the project were in thc minority, they represented about half of those speaking. One of lhe most moving prcserualions was a slide show by Bruce Oarlt showing whole moumainsides deliberalcly logged. deooded. and gouged away on the Tennessee section of the project, which has been underway for more than a year. To dace neither of the SlalC DOTs have fully considered the impaa or the projecl beyond swe borders or oulSide the immediate project area despi lC the fact that the projecl would increase tralfx:, cause displJlcemcnt, and destroy CICCS)'Slel!IS lhroughou1 the • region. Area citizens warned lhe DOT of the pol.Clltial for erosion, runoff, and wucc disposal problems associaled with large-scale "cul and fill" operations. They said lhal the project would disturb wedands and black bear migration corridors along the way. They suggested thal DOT explofe alremative uansponation sys1CRIS like freight uains and mass transiL networts before it embarks on a COSIiy projecl that the swe and federal governments, both in debt. canno( affonl. One speaker ciled a tcuu lhal the DOT sent to Monce Cunningham ol thc WNC Alliance. The 1cucr said lhal U.S. 23 is 1101 dangerous enough to justify mating expendilurea for Ind sand trapS and other safety improvements that Cunningham suggested.. In spice or this the DOT proposes spending nearly a q11111er of a billion dollars on a four-laae projec1 tbll will have no al«y benefilS until it is completed n1111y years bc:nce. The,e and other glaring inconsislmcies ha"VC 1od many citizens to believe that the DOT is • agency that plays by no rules except ilS own. WORKING FOR ALARKA Nanni World News Service Efforts are Slill underway to pr0ICCI the Big Laurel ttact in Swain County, a piece of land also known as AJaita Laurel. The Trust for Public Lands, a foundalion dial buys land and uansfers ii to government agencies. is hoping that ii can facilitate the purchase or the trac1. Officials II the 1JUS1 say !hey want people from Nonh Carolina to decide how bes1 to use the Big Laurel lJ1ICI. The llUSI has negotiated an option to buy the land. Local rcsidenlS have used the Alarka Crcelc watcnhed for horseback riding, camping, picnicking, SCOUl outings. and hunting for generations. According to resident Carl Queen, most or the people in the area "would like 1 see it kept in the pristine 0 Sl3ce that II is in.• The 2,080 acre traet contains a spruce bog. a wetland along Alarka Crnck, and a hctbacoous bog. The red spruce forest in Big Laurel is arguably lhc soulhcmmost on lhe continenL It is unusual because 11 has no1 shown any decline, as m Olher locales. and ii appears to be expanding in10 an area lhal was previously logged. Bag Laurel is also known for populations of brook uou1, pigmy salamander, and other rare ~ies. The Natural Hen1age Program has yet 10 do a survey of lhe area. According to Dr. William McL.amey, lhe area is I crucial mign11ory corridor. It is ~ible to descend from Big L.aurel at 4,600 feet to the LiUle Tennessee Gorge, then proceed to Wesser Bald on the olhcr side, and remain under foresled cover throughout lhejoumey. Shape Notes This little curl of smoke shows where some wood was. From thick tree trunk right down to tiny twig all gave up this cycle's shape to keep those beings in the cabin warm. Now this gray smoke stains the blue sky. It floats up up. Maybe someday in a different cycle those beings in the cabin will do some singing, some shape changing for the wood. Julia Vansclow Mutat Aliquid Ergo Sum (For Dylan-September, 1989) More often, now, the fog at dawn seeps deep into the hollow; creeps up the rodcy Eastern slope with a silent hint of Fall. It settles over everything, so near and distant hills are out of focus, dreamy, and hushed. 1ne first few leaves are spinning down; the Walnut's dropped its fruit. I hardly remember Spring at all when Summer's so dose to Fall, but Winter's hazy memory sits chill on the still night air that drips and drops a sparkling sheen in the haloed morning sun. 1ne last of Summer's fullness fills cicadas, crickets, tree frogs, until late morning melts the shade, dissolves the rainbow dew The Goldfinch canary yellow is dimmed. The last of the Hummingbirds are migrants navigating South. It's a lime we know there are no words that thought can fonn in mouth to really sing the song that sings the music of change, the IIWQTtneSS of things Frank Vogel Drawing by Michael Thompson x.atilah Jownat JJQ9"- 17 �Natural World News THE FOREST PLAN IS OUT! SPECIAL REPORT The US Forest Service bas just released its proposed Draft Suppleme111 (() the Final Environmental Impact Statement (DS-FEIS) for the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests Land and Resource Management Plan. When the original plan was released in 1987 there were four appeals of its provisions, and the Chief of the US Forest Service remanded the plan back to the region for changes, specifically those concerning questions about old-growth forest areas, clearcutting vs. uneven-aged managemen1., protection of unroaded areas, below-cost timber sales, and protection of biodiversity. The proposed amendment is controversiaJ, arousing opposition from both environmentalists and the wood products industry. Public comment will be received through December 16, after which a new plan will be developed. The draft supplement describes the amendments to the Forest Management Plan and how the various alternatives were developed, giving more details concerning the affected environment and environmental consequences. The lengthy document is the result of much work, but it falls short of addressing public concerns about the mismanagement of the public forests. In the short "Highlights" of the Plan, rhe Forest Service statements appear to offer positive solutions to environmental concerns, but further investigation of the "fine print" does not support this initial impression. Much of the discussion focuses on the allowable sale quantity (ASQ) of timber to be cut each year. The ASQ has always been a ceiling for timber cutting, with the actual timber targets falling well below that level. For instance, the present ASQ is 75 million board feet per year, but the agency actua!Jy cut onJy 55 million board feet in the past year. In the draft, the annual ASQ in the Forest Service's alternative is reduced by an impressive margin, from 75 million board feet to 45 million board feet However, subsequent statements by Forest Supervisor Bjorn Dahl assure industry representatives that the amount of timber actually cut wouJd not fall very much, because "45 million board feet is not that much below 55 million board feet," intimating that the ASQ is no longer going to be the ceiling, but the target for each year's annual cut (CHAGRIN IS IN) trees are left standing on the site only to be removed in a second cut 15-20 years later. The Western North Carolina Alliance, a citizens' group which has vigorously opposed clearcutting in the national forests, is bitterly disappointed by this move. Members point out that they have consistently campaigned for uneven-aged management of the forests for years. Shelterwood cuts, like clearcuts, are a form of even-aged management. which yields a stock of trees that are all of the same age. To Alliance members, the agency's change is simply a change in rhetoric. "Shelterwood is simply a rwo-stage clearcut,'' observes one member. Only a very small pan (about 12%) of the total acreage 10 be cut would be logged by single tree or group selection to produce true uneven-aged management. To lessen the problem of below-cost timber sales that has plagued the agency in past years, the Forest Service promises timber interests that they will offer more lucrative sales containing large sawtimber trees and fewer sales containing pulpwood (undesirable trees that bring a low price). These custom-tailored sales still would not turn a profit for the government; at best the Forest Service could promise only that they might break even. Figures elsewhere in the draft show that the Forest Service plans to increase the profitability of their sales by increasing environmental costs. Despite earlier assurances, only 3.3% of the national forest lands would receive additional protection from road construction and logging. Some 44,000 acres of unprotected roadless areas (called "semi-primitive, nonmotorized areas") and nearJy 45,000 acres of land inventoried as possible old-growth would be opened to logging under the preferred alternative. Instead of treating below-cost sales as a signal to improve forest management by saving old-growth and potential old-growth habitats, the Forest Service is using below-cost sales as an excuse to sell those areas off! The Wilderness Society also noted that the Forest Service showed that their interest is not in stopping below-cost timber sales by putting into the timber base over 100,000 acres of land which would not tum a profit, according to agency analyses. Much effort was made to identify and inventory old-growth stands, but the criteria for determining old-growth presence were vastly oversimplified. In the draft supplement, the mere presence of trees older than 100 years indicated old growth. And the old-growth inventory was an empty gesture; while 133,456 acres were identified as old growth, only 5% of the total forest acreage wouJd be reserved for "future old growth values." Wood products industry representatives are expressing great concern about job losses, lower profits, and potential changes in logging techniques. However, the draft supplement estimates that the preferred alternative would offer only 100 less "jobs'' (actually hourly equivalents) than the number offered in the original plan. The new draft supplement shows that the Forest Service has indeed changed and become more skillful and sopb.isticated in its management techniques - it has changed its techniques of managing numbers and manipulating language to more skillfully cover the fact that out in the forest, it's business a.s usual! • by Lee Barnes and David Wheeler Copies of the Draft Supplement to the Final Environmental Impact Suuement of the Nanlahala-Pisgah Land and Resource Managt!mellt Plan can ~ st1e11 al most public libraries ill westt1r11 Nor1h CarolillO or may~ reqllt!sted by phoning (704) 257-4200. Send comments ~fore December 16. 1992 to Nantalrala!Pisgah Planning Team; Na1io110I Forests ill North Carolina; Box 2750; Asheville, NC 2 ~ .....-::::::==:::::-.___ The draft supplement proudly announces a significant reduction in the acres of national forest to be clearcut annually: from the 4,500 acres called for in the original plan to 1,500 acres, one-third of the original amount Substituted for clearcutting was the shelterwood method, which in the preferred alternative would be practiced on 2,320 acres of the forest. Under this method, part of the Xatuah Joumat p09e 18 Drawing by Timbcrly Ashe :fa{!, 19112 �INVASION OF THE CORPORATE GIANTS by Buzz Williams Like many others who have chosen to make my home in the province of Katuah, I am keenly appreciative of the incredible beauty and diversity of the native Appalachian hardwood forest. But after living here for some time, one soon becomes aware that these forests, which are the cornerstone of our ecosystem, have been severely impacted by the human presence. For me, the fulfillment of finding my "sense of place" has been tempered with a kind of sadness when I think of what we have lost. But to lament over the past is certainly not productive; nor is the popular notion that further degradation of our environment is necessary for the well-being of our species. On the contrary, recent scientific studies tell us that the maintenance of healthy ecosystems is more than simply leaving a bener place for future generations - it is the key to our future survival. We are learning that a healthy economy is dependent upon a self-sustaining environment. Aldo Leopold stated it this way: "...a system of conservation based solely on economic self-interest is hopelessly lopsided. It tends 10 ignore, and thus evenrually to eliminate, many elements in the land commurury that lack commercial value, but that are (as far as we know) essential to its healthy functioning." Leopold's extension of our concept of ethics to include the protection of all plants and animals, what be called the "third element," must now be embraced if we arc to prevent the further degradation of our forests. After devastating the Southern Appalachian forests, the big timber companies moved to the Pacific Northwest. They acquired huge tracts of territory, and the timber supply from that area was instrumental in meeting the increased lumber demands during World War II and the decades of prosperity immediately following. During those years, the US Forest Service became increasingly timber oriented. From 1950 to 1968 timber harvest volumes from our national forests increased from 5.6 to 12.8 billion board feet. Several theories have developed as to why the Forest Service has so willingly become an ally of the timber industry, but the most plausible seems to center on a process called "logrolling." The timber industry financed and helped to seat CongressionaJ legislators who won positions on strategic subcommittees which govern Forest Service activities. including budget appropriations. These lawmakers have been in office for long periods of time and have built up strong concentrations of power in the halls of Congress. Their close connections to the timber industry are not hidden. Sen. James McClure (R-ID) went straight to a seat on the board of the Boise Cascade Company upon his retirement from the Senate. The press statements of Sen. Mark Hatfield (D-OR) read almost exactly like industry statements from the corporations in his state. This year Senate Majority Leader Tom Foley (D-WA) effectively stopped consideration ofH.R. 1-"all, 1992 1969, a bill which would have outlawed clearcutting in the national forests. Power such as this has brought the l!S Forest Service into line with the policies of the timber industry. Pacific Nonhwest. Io addition, the Appalachian hardwood forests were recovering from previous over-cutting. With recently-developed technology that allowed the use of hardwood fiber for making paper products, the Southeast was once again ripe for pluckin~. Cheap land and non-union labor costs m an area closer to their markets were further inc.entives to the timber giants to move south. As early as the 1950's, Georgia Pacific Company was already buying up land in the South. In 1982 it moved its headquarters from Portland, Oregon to Atlanta, Georgia. Others followed. The Forest Trust recently reponed that since 1978, seven of the largest timber comparues in the Pacific Northwest had increased their mill capacity in the South by 121%. They are coming from other directions as well. Bowater Corporation, the largest newsprint producer in the country, announced in Marcb,1992 that it would move its corporate headquarters from Connecticut to Greenville, South Carolina. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, local conservation groups arc currently fighting applications for barge permits by three chip mill companies which would produce over 1.7 million tons of green chips per year. One of the companies, Donghae, is based in Korea, and all the companies plan to expon their chips directly to the Far East (see page 13). The addition of these powerful competitors for timber in the Southeast is In 1990 the fate of the threatened spotted owl became the focal point of the battle to save the remaining 10% of the ancient forests of the Pacific Northwest The timber industry screamed that protection of the owl would cost thousands of jobs, but investigative studies found that they were using the spotted owl issue as a smokescreen to cover their own activities. One study found that, even before the owl was listed, 26,000 timber-related jobs had been lost to automation in Washington and Oregon, and, further, that between 1980 and 1989 the practic.e of log exporting had cost 19,200 timber workers their jobs. Closer scrutiny of the timber industries revealed that they were making huge profits at the expense of their employees and the loggers who supplied the mills. Their long-term strategy was obvious: they had overcut their private lands, just as they had done in the Southern Appalachians, and were now liquidating their timber "assets" to produce the capital to relocate to the Southeast, which had begun to recover from earlier exploitation and was out-producing the Pacific Northwest. Acre per acre, the southeastern coastal plains were producing about 1.7 times as many board feet in a 65 year period as the Dnwing by Michael ThompsQn (continued on p,tgc 26)' Xatuah Joumat page 19 �FROM INDUSTRY TO ENDEAVOR .:Forestry is the one area where the inappropriateness ofboth large-scale technology and the slum tenn prof11 motive is most apparent. For this reason, it may be an ideal place to begin to tlUn the tide." - Robert Brothers Timber extraction as it is presently accomplished is a primary cause of ecological degradation in the Karua.h bioregional province. Given that a land-based economy in the forested mountains will depend heavily on the use of wood products, how much wood can we use and how can we use it in a beuerway? Changing the way we think about the land and our conceptions of our role in the bioregion would change our relationship to the land and the way we use the products of the land. New definitions and new values would lead to new institutions and new ways of working. The first and most basic recognition is that we are pan of the natural oommunity and that the needs of the natural community must come first Aldo Leopold, a forester who truly cared for the natural world. stated it thus: "We abuse the land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect." In the Katuah Province, this means first and foremost that the public lands are held as a bioregional reserve, inviolate from logging or other intensive commercial use. It must be understood that all the forestry proposals that follow are for the lands surrounding and buffering the bioregional reserve, and that the reserve proper is to be left as habitat for the native plants and animals, wild and free forever. In its proper place, a buffer zone which includes large areas of sensitively managed timberlands would be a positive ecological benefit, extending the forest cover and protecting the core habitat area from disturbance. Even outside the core reserve area we must constantly remember that "the land is a community to which we belong," and that forests are complex and heterogeneous life communities. In the upland hardwood forests in particular, industrial forestry is not an appropriate practice. We must change the model of forestry 10 one that follows a biological panern rather than a panern of mechanical_production. Forestry is not farming. It is, as the local wisdom puts it, "living off the increase" of the natural forest community. Recognizing this, !t is clear that sustainable forestry does not Sllllply refer to the number of growing trees, but concerns the integrity of lhe forest community as a whole. Continued sustainability of the forest requires that biomass be returned to the soil to maintain soil fertility and site quality. The Institute for Sustainable Forestry in Redway, CA bas defined sustainable forestry as "forestry that can safely be practiced while X.ntuQft. Jou.mat p1i9e 20 by David Wheeler ensuring that the forest's needs are met before any biomass is removed in the form of harvested trees." Silviculture would then mean, as it is supposed to, the art of caring for aforest; not "growing trees" as it is currently defined. A Southem Appalachian Sustainable Forestry Association, designed on the California model, could promote this awareness. Like its western counterpart, it could draw on a wide variety of experience to devise standards for ecologically produced lumber and other forest products. Trained and accredited logging ooottactors and foresters could be given eoological cenification for timbering practices that are both ecologically and eoonomically sound. The group would also do public education, research and development of sustainable forestry practices, restoration forestry, and research on marketing, value-adding processing, and wood product ideas. At present, the greatest hindrance to a sensitive forestry in the Karuah Province is the notion that the land is a oommodity for speculation. Rising land prices and increasing fragmentation of landholdings are discouraging private landowners from becoming involved in forestry. If the land market will not support forestry, the only solution is to remove large areas of land from the market. Non-profit farmland and forest mists allow habitation and use for land-based activities, but free the land from oppressive tax burdens and protect it from the threat of development This arrangement would offer a strong economic incentive to those who wanted land for use and enjoyment rather than for speculation. ~nother neces~ conceptual change is to revise our ooncepnon of a demand-driven market to one that is based on the ability of the forest to provide. Measures to moderate the use of wood products (not including the substitution of plastics or other synthetics for natural materials) could help to lessen the demand. Companies could also utilize the wood that is available more efficiently and more C(:Onomically by ensuring the highest value uses and creating new ways to use pieces that might otherwise be wasted. At the other end of the process, consumers could help to lower demand through the re-use and recycling of wood. "Adding value" is another key concept that could change the face of the timber business. Supplying the furniture industry seems appropriate for the bulk of the timber cut in the mountains, but the growing export market threatens to draw timber- away from the region. It would be of the greatest benefit to the regional economy to emphasize wood products rather than wood as a raw material for a faceless global market Specialty products - hand-crafted wood furniture, wood carvings, boat lumber, musical insttuments, wooden toys and gifts, etc. - offer opportunities for creative entrepreneurs and support small shops that employ only a ~w people each. individually, they seem to be inoonsequential, but studies in the Pacific Northwest are showing that the cumulative economic impact of specialty shops is substantial. Another key word that oould SJ)C1ll great changes in the region's timber trade is "cooperation." Small loggers could oombine to sell their products. They oould thus reach bener markets and sell their wood for highest value. By pooling their capital, they could be more competitive and stay better informed about market conditions. They could also cushion expensive bonding guarantees and equipment repairs. By lightening the money pressure, they could afford to do a bener job in the forest. If the cooperative owned a sawmill, they oould eliminate cheating at the scales, could pocket the increased value of their product, and could provide work hours during periods when they could not go into the woods. Such ventures would be prime targets for community eooaomic development efforts. Another approach would be to organize landowners into cooperative groups, as forest management is organiz.ed in Switzerland. Lislott Harbens, a forester of Swiss extraction, said, "I know of two or three cases where larger landowners are considering pooling their resources and employing somebody to do their work for them" The changes listed above foreshadow a wood products market that is oomprised of smaller businesses that are more decentralized and more individualiz.ed. In light of present Ta(t, 1992 �~ • L by Robert T. Perscher ~ ~ I' • • .._ r.. ,1 f I ~~ • ..._ Pioneering a New Human/Nahµ'e- Relationship ~- - ~ (Thefolwwing is uzlunjrom a report commissioned in 19')() by the New England Section of1he &>ciety ofAmerican Foresters as part of ti~ process ofdrafting anew tnis.sion stare~ntfor the group.) The ex.isling forestry doctrine focused on wood production no longer serves our profession, society, or the Earth. The profession, therefore, needs to develop a new doctrine/philosophy embracing a land ethic and philosophy of ecosystem managemen1. This approach necessitates a reassessment of the adequacy of our ex.isting scienllfic foundations. Our mission must be expanded to the widest possible cooteitt: the preservation of life on Earrh. As foresters we are charged with this mission because we have accepted the role as stewards of what is perhaps the most critical 30% of the Earth's (land) surface. Our srewardshlp responsibility includes some of the most exuberant eitpressions of nature: the trends, this seems to be the direction in which the industry needs to move in the Southern Appalachians to be mon: sustainable over the long term and more regionally responsive. These changes would be only part of a necessary ongoing social and economic shift in the n:gion. Any economy, particularly in a forested area, that is growing faster than the trees can grow is moving too fast. An economy that kills its biological suppon system with toxic chemical pollutants needs to find new methods of production. Any area in which the local species cannot find secluded habitat is overpopulated and overdeveloped. These ills are obvious when our society is compared to the forest, the self-supporting, biological model for growth in our region. A sustainable forest products trade will not be attained immediately. The transition stage is critical. We can take immediate steps toward a more sustainable forestry: 1) Invest in the growth of high-grade hardwoods. This move appears risky in terms of the present economic climate. But the present economic climate is notoriously short-sighted, and long-term trends appear to justify this investment Landowners, however, do need to be educated about the value of improving timber sites and stands, as welJ as more careful logging in order to attain a sustained yield. 2) Provide tax relief for timberlands. Land that is currently being used for agriculture or forestry should be assessed at lower rates than development propenies. "Highest use assessment," in which land is assessed according to the most expensive use to which it could be put (usually subdivisions), virtually assures that the land will be put to that use. At present rates of interest., the only method that pays in the short term is to climax ecosystems of a green and .flowering world. They tend to suppor!_greater stocks of bi?mass and harbor a grea~er number of species than any other ~logic!'1 zone. ~orests play a ~Jor role ir· planetary recycbng of Carix?n, mtrogen anc.l o~g~n. They help detenrune temperature and nuofall. They constitute the major gene reservoirs of our planet, and they are-the main sites of emergence of new species. Life on_ Earth as we know it, human or non-human, IS dependent on our forests. And we, who call ourselves foresters_. are the . protectors of the ecosystems which make this incredi~le l~gacy of ?iversit)'. (>?SSibte. Ir [that protccnon] 1s our ulumate llllSs1on and, as such, must define and embrace all that we do as professionals. To fulfill this expanded mission we must rise to the challenge of recreating our relationship with the forest. We must now establish, as nearly as possible, a direct contact with our place within nature and begin to make our forest management decisions from that place. To accept this quickly clearcut all the young trees in a stand before they have had a chance to make their full growth. In the long run, careful and ecological logging that produces a sustained yield will pay off, but the initial returns are lower as the landowner improves the site and conditions the growing stock. Long-term, low-interest government loans or a capital gains tax differential for income on timber produced by ecological methods would help to make those methods competitive with industrial forestry practices and would make timber investments more competitive with other long-term investments for private owners. 3) States need to train and certify loggers. Two states in the bioregion are taking hesitant first steps in this direction. ~~ - ,.. challenge means that each of us must refuse t.o iux:ept.the least common dcno,;ninaror the loweit level of awareness of the forest that all membc;rs of our society can agree to, for this stifles change and persona) expansion. We must be willing to move beyond th.e comfortable and generally accepted doctrine the profession still clings to and forge a new _relationship that will permeate all levels of the profession. -. To accomplish this change wemust draw on the elemental energy within each of us _th~t originally drew us to this profession. Wuhin the SOlll"Ce of this energy some of us will find a fierce compassion and a true affection for the entire forest ecosystem. These are the fundamental fotees that will now drive our profession. The old doctrines of profit, fiber production, and primary loyalty ro employers will not disappear, but will be subsumed and integrated in their rightful place within the far more expansive vision of preserving life... • Excerptedfrom the April, 1991 issue of1"4 Journal of Foresuy. th4 publicauan of the Society of American Foresters. ~ Tennessee is one of several states that has received funding through the federal eittension service to start pilot logger education programs. Two one-week instruction courses run by the University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service in cooperation with other groups and government agencies will provide training in ecological principles, best management practices, forest management, and safety practices. The North Carolina Forestry Association is also considering co-sp0nsoring training workshops for loggmg contractors with the state Division of Forest Resolll"CCs. Attendees would receive certificates of training and their names would be made available to landowners inquiring about responsible loggers. 4) Forest workers must defend the forests. Said Dr. George Weaver, head of the Department of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries at the University of Tennessee, "The forest products industry, like anyone else who has a stake in a resource, has to be responsible for maintaining and perpetuating that resource." Although he was speaking in a different context, his words ring true. Foresters should be some of our strongest environmentalists. Trees are pan of the forest community (or ecosystem); it is only logical that to protect the trees, one protects the forest that produces them. In the mountains, foresters and loggers should be vigorously "protecting the resource," in particular from the dangers of atmospheric deposition and the pressures of continuing land development. Forest scientists in the piedmont areas are already concerned that atm0spheric pollution might be affecting the growth·of softwoods there, and several studies have tested that connection. Other studies have (continued on page 22) :Fa£!, 1992 :Katuah )ournat p09e 21 �{continued from page 21) documented a connection between atmospheric pollution and spruce decline in the high-elevation coniferous forests. A clear cause-and-effect connection has not been conclusively proven between atmospheric deposition and Fraser fir die-offs, oak decline, dogwood blight, butternut blight, and hemlock decline. However, there is a common suspicion that pollution is implicated in the widespread and severe forest die-back. Other ecological macro-events, such as the gypsy moth invasion, global climate change, and the orone hole, are going to affect the condition of the forest, and foresters need to feel responsibility for these issues as well. . Aldo Leop<>ld spoke of our relationship with th 7forest m terms of "love and respect." Todar It would seem incongruous for a prominent ~orester to use such tenninology. What pracncal value could notions like "love" and "respect" have in forestry? Upon reflection, however, it can be seen that these are of the utmost value. They are, in fact, the very f~undation of a forestry that is truly sansfying and truly sustainable. The First People had been living in these mountains for 2,000 years of unbroken OC<:upation when they were discovered by the w~te settlers. Eve_n though it had supponed the1r culture for millennia, the forest still stood with a grandeur that awed the whites who centuries ago had sacrificed the ' European forests as "resources." There were - intentionally - less of the native people inhabiting the mountains, but that was not the sole reason for their longevity as a people. Their culture was based on love and respect for their bioregion and the other "nations" or species that shared the land with them. They directly addressed the spirits of the other beings tllTough song. Before hunting they addressed their prey in song, and after making a kill, they performed a brief ritual and offered a song of thanks. Recently the environmental group SouthPAW caused great amusement in the timber industry because they suggested in a Forest Service timber sale appeal that singing to the trees be used as a forest management technique. The group protested that the puiyose of their proposal was, of course, sanncal. They wanted to show that, whatever loggers thought of singing to the trees, it was preferable 10 the destructiveness of clearcutting. However, the South PAW proposal, so gleefully ridiculed in timber trade publications, hits directly home. Unless we have that sense of love and respect for the forest and the trees, well communicated by singing to them as the hunters of old sang to their prey, we wiJI not be able to develop a truly sustainable way of using wood in the Southern Appalachians. The day yet may come when loggers stand before a tree and, either silently or aloud, offer thanks for its life. We will know then that we are in balance with the forest and that we are well on the way toward a long-lived human culture here in the southern mountains. ~ Rick Parrish of the Southern Environmental Law Center is investigating the possibilities for initiating a Southeastern Institute for Sustainable Forestry. All those interested in supporting this effort may contact him at 201 W. Main St. (Suite 14); Charlottesville, VA 22901 (804) 977-4090. Forest Stewardship Programs # Two new programs offi:J help 10 landowners who wish lO mana11c their Corests wisely. The Forest S1ewardship Program helps landowners to devel~ s1ewardS.hip management plans for their folCSiS. The Siewardship Incentive Program offors financial help 10 enable Jandowntrs to carry out stewardship plans. Bolh programs wc,e created by the federal Fann Bill of 1990. and are supervised by SJ.ate forcsuy ai:encics, so they vary slightly from state to siate. Federal and sta1e forestry assisl311ce 10 pi:iva1e landowners is not new. What is new abont the Foresl Stewanlship/lncentive programs is the increased emphasis on non-timber val~. the degree 10 which these programs seek IO enable private landowners to ~cvc:lop and implement c0111prehensive plans to conservu wide range of land values, and the dcgteC of commitmel)L requ~ o! landowner.: participating in I.he programs. The new programs ~led in past from the growing controversies over public Jan4 managemt111 in the US. The public lands cannot meet all of our needs for wnber, wildlife (including non-game and endangered spocics) habitat, ~igh quality water nows, recreation. and beauty. Much or~ mosl potcnliaUy productive forestJs he.Id by priv.io landowners. This land could be bcuec managed. ~stewarclsbip -progrnms arc predicated on the bcijef lhat ll\ally privalC landoW!MJ.S will take good ¥ ol their f01C$1S it'they are given educatiollll, ,echnlcal, a,'ld financial help,~ some.recognition. .Landowners owning forested l!ICtS of Oan 10 to 1,000 a~ m a y ~ in ~stcwar~ programs;tQ ~ allllldo"1'tf mukt.naati: some senous comm~: • eqdgrsing tJfc ).)'Sign the •sie~ip aieecr s t ~ i p ~ti;! pledge tO Collow lbeir .slO'l¥8[~ip plan. ~L Z) Commit co improving at lc:&9l dne ol rou I"' ,d vp categ()qi:s ( wildlife_. soi.1/wAJet: timli<:r, '.& a,e f ~ ) and ~ n Ql'Pf1'{cct (l«ber values, ~) ~ i t ;t~d land w)Lfiin the tract~ Sl~ship.1118118~t. ' 41 Actively patficipate in sLe'IYirdsblp jlr.n develQl)llleru. 5) Abide by S1ale and (edc,:al JaW$ affcttin1 for~ activities. , In exe1iangc, for IIJ¢ sicw~blp comrnitmellt, Jhe atate will~ ~wnci, il'I clcveloping a st~dship plan lbat reflCClS thcu- desires fur thcit land. The plan would bedc-vel()pCd either by g(lvemment l1)SOIJroC' mQMgers or by private consuhanis, tunded through the: Stewardsllip l1*:nlive Program. °Tht" foreSUtef,'lltdship program.,; lll'O in &licit in(ancy, and it is diJTieulr tojudge wha{ the loilg-torm lmpaet,w1II be. &tate foresters in TCMe$SCC, North Carolina, South Carol:i'na, and G ~ reportlhat 110 10 l!ID sm-warw:liip plans ha~ been ~l&ed in each of lhesc sillies, and more are bcing-prcparc(1. -Je~JontS For /'/l(Jre informacio11 on 1/te;Fote,-1 Stewardship Pro_grams1n your arta. contacr-yowr stare Jor.estry dBenq, f"n(t, 1992 �,-- -.~ ·----·· ECOLOGICAL FORESTRY FOR RENEWABLE FOREST VALUES by Leon S. Minckler First, what is forest management? Traditionally, it has meant an array of practices designed to produce the most and cheapest timber products. The Society of American Foresters describes silviculmre as the science of "growing" forests. Unfonunately, this concept is widely prevalent. However, true forest management must encompass the whole forest ecosystem, including all its biological and physical factors. Forest management also needs 10 be sensitive to the preservation of the natural rhythms of the earth and the environmental and spiritual values desired and needed by mankind. The key word for forestry should be ecology: an awareness of the interconnections of species, site, climate, soil and soil organisms, water, topography, stress factors, and biological diversity. The real "products" of the forest include commodities and non-timber environmental values. The first objective of forest management must be the sustainability of the forest ecosystem itSelf. This is known as "land ethics." It's not a new concept, but it appears to be one many in forestry profession have drifted away from. Toe land ethic means that we do not "own" the land and waters. Instead, in a very real sense they own us by making life itself possible. The adulteration of natural processes and the overuse of natural resources impinges on our basic needs and desires and gradually renders the earth unlivable. Thus, forest managers can no longer afford to separate environmental and long term economic concerns. ON THE VARIABILITY OF FORESTS Ecological forestry is composed. of the following treatmentS: weeding, thinning, improvement cutting (fSI) and final harvest or regeneration cutting. When used sensitively, these practices are compatible with land ethics and can be implemented to attain biological diversity, aesthetics, water recreation, wild.life habitat, and spiritual benefits. Most foresters make timber production the prime objective of their forest management operations. Often, these foresters are only concerned with maximizing immediate economic returns. Unfortunately, many industry and public foresters confuse short-term profits with long-term sustainable economic returns and therefore ignore environmental valoes. How much is six inches of topsoil worth? How much is two weeks of forest recreation worth? Can aspects of Jove and enjoyment in a natural landscape even be tranSlated into dollars? We have reached the point in our industrialized society where these so-called amenity valoes must be thought about by the people who manage our forests to achieve these multiple values? Well, there is no one way to manage all fo~ts. This should be f"af.t, 1992 obvious, but contemporary production forestry has taken a different path: clear-cutting or single-dimension, one-shot forestry. The relationship between a patient and a doctor is a good metaphor to illuminate the way a forester should approach the management of a forest ecosystem. We must study and evaluate the forest's vital signs - its hydrology, productivity, and climate. We must think long and hard about the forest's internal structure and how we want the forest to appear now and many years into the future. We must decide what we want the forest to provide. And, most importantly, we must carefully consider how to preserve its longevity and natural health. Forests are heterogeneous, not homogeneous. Forests are vibrant and diverse, not streamlined plantations. Forest type, climate, elevation, aspect, past history (natural and human), soil-site, age class, and ecological interconnections are just some of the variables that distinguish each forest from another. CLEARCUTTING VERSUS GROUP SELECTION "Good silviculture emulates nature, but on a different scale." The ecological truth of this statement is borne out by long experience in the woods. By the practice of managing a forest for multiple objectives. By the careful cultivation of the environmental and commodity values of the ecosystem. My experience is mainly with the management of central, southern, and Appalachian mixed hardwood forests and I will focos on them; however, these same principles apply everywhere. Western and southern conifers, and pioneer species like aspen, poplar, and mid-west northern pines, have different ecological characteristics. They each have different ecological requirements and different responses to disturbance. Therefore, our silvicultural treatments must be individually tailored. Simply put, clearcutting does not emulate nature in the mixed hardwoods. These forests are naturally uneven-aged and highly diversified. They contain a wide range of species, age and size classes. They grow in a variety of site conditions. Group selection, however, imitates natural mortality and windthrow. Oearcutting advocates argue that clearcuts replicate wildfire bum patches. This statement is questionable in the arid West and almost irrelevant in the humid East where large, high-intensity forest fires rarely occur. More problematic is the fact that the nature and species composition of completely clearcut stands cannot be accurately predicted. On some sites pioneer species may regenerate. On other sites regeneration may be dominated by coppice sprouting from the root systems of the harvested trees. Still other sites may be entirely covered by maple or tulip poplar seedlings spread by the wind from a single source tree. In the end, however, clearcutting means conversion. It means that the species composition of the regenerated stand will be greatly altered by the end of the next rotation. It means the stand's native diversity and internal structure will be simplified and streamlined. While clearcutting may seem to be the cheap way to go, its long-term costs are excessively high. In order to control composition and growth, clearcut stands most be entered several times. Investments must be made for intensive forestry, fire protection, and intermediate cuttings. Moreover, the end product of clearcutting is a homogeneous forest with few large, high-quality trees. In the East, the Forest Service, and some other land managers, seem to be moving away from large clearcuts toward smaller patch cuts where two to five acres are harvested. Some may call this "group Drawing by Pegi (continued on next page) Xatuah Journat ~ 23 �(continued from page 23) selection," but in reality patch cutting is just a variation of clearcutting. Control is by area and the sites are cut without regard to tree size, species, or stand condition. This is an entirely artificial technique with no basis in ecological concepts. Wide-spread application of patch cutting will result in very peculiar forests. THE PRACTICE OF GROUP SELECTION Group selection is based on the same general concepts as single-tree selection. However, group selection is always combined with stand improvement cuts and efforts are consciously made to make small openings for new regeneration. The key word for the practice of group selection is flexibility. In preparation for group selection management. an inventory of the stand is made and trees are classified as growing stock, financially mature, low quality, undesirable species, high risk, unmerchantable culls, and wildlife trees. The growing stock (rotation potential) trees, from saplings to immature sawtimber and special wildlife trees, are left behind to grow. The others are cut or killed. Foresters base the size and spacing of the harvest opening on the condition of the forest. not mechanical, pre-determined patches of area. In general, shade tolerance, the ability to reproduce in the limited sunlight of the understory, is greater for northern hardwoods: American beech; birch; maple; and hemlock. Appalachian and central hardwood species (oaks, hickory, yellow-poplar, ash, and cherry) exhibit an intermediate level of shade tolerance. Often they require more sunlight for successful regeneration than the northern species, but they will regenerate and grow vigorously in openings that are at least as wide as the height of the swrounding residual trees. Larger openings, one and a half to two times the size of the surrounding trees, produces better early growth. It is better to make detenninations of the opening widths based on the heights of swrounding trees, rather than arbitrary acreages, because it provides a more accurate means of measuring how much light is received and how large an opening will be required for adequate regeneration. The novel structure and ecological character of eastern mixed hardwoods makes it easy to create openings in one or two cutting cycles that favor the regeneration of native, site-adapted species. After harvest the whole forest, including the regenerated areas, is then subject to intermediate treatments, such as weeding, release, thinning and stand improvement, for example, scarification of openings on good sites by tractors can result in abundant yellow-poplar regeneration if seed sources are or have been present THE KASKASKIA EXAMPLE In my experience as a research forester on the Kaskaskia Experiment Forest, in southern Illinois' Shawnee National Forest, the worst of the forest's thirty-eight compartment's was a twenty-one acre tract of "poor farm woodland." It was a central hardwood forest with a history of two or three partial cuttings-- mostly what we now call "high grading" with no stand improvement If this stand had been clearcut in 1952 it would have yielded 3048 board feet of sawtimber per acre. However, instead of clearcutting this tract, as many contemporary production foresters no doubt would recommend, we chose to apply a series of ecological group selection and improvement cuttings. Drawing by Michael Thompson In 1952 and 1959, group selection volume cutting on the tract yielded a total of 1762 board feet per acre and killed sixty-seven cull trees (five inches in diameter breast height and larger) per acre. By I967, the forest- now a diverse mix of oaks, hickory and yellow-poplar-was a fully stocked stand of good growing poles and small sawtimber. Fifteen yea.rs after the first intensive group selection and stand improvement treatments, this poor farm woodland tract contained 3167 board feet of sawtimber and fifty-nine good growing stock pole trees five to ten inches in diameter per acre. Obviously, the role of in-growth was very imponant I returned to this stand in 1988 to find a beautiful forest of mixed hardwoods. Diversity was high and quality was unusually good because the poor trees had been eliminated. The differences between a silvacultural clearcut and the intensive group selection from the original stand are easy to calculate. Clearcutting would have yielded a total of 3048 board feet per acre and would have had no market for the many five inch to ten inch diameter poles trees cut Intensive group selection, on the other hand, yielded 1762 board feet ofsawtimber per acre harvested in 1952 and 1959 and left behind by 1967 a volume of3167 board feet of sawtimber per acre. The total volume for the fifteen year group selection was 4929 board feet per acre (1881 board feet more than the cleaicut would have produced), plus many healthy saplings, and living and dead wildlife trees. After forty years, the differences between the two alternative treatments in terms of non-timber environmental values would be astonishing. The group selection cut stand will provide a tall canopied, diverse forest, while the clearcut will be covered by twenty-five to thirty foot tall saplings and poles. The group selection stand will be managed as an uneven-aged forest with volume and diameter distribution controls, while the clearcut will be managed as even-aged stand with area controls. In the long run, clearcutting mixed hardwood forest ecosystems seldom can be justified for amenity, environmental, or timber values. Let me emphasize again that different forest ecosystems should not be treated in exactly the same manner. But foresters must make a choice. They can follow ecological laws and care for the creation or they can disrupt the ecological trends of the forest ecosystem for quick profits and ease of operation. The best regional example of this type ofcareful forestry is Walton and Dee Smith's Waldee Forest in Macon County, NC (see report in Katuah Journal #9). Leon S. Minc/cler is a consultant in tnvironmental fortstry from Blaclc.sburg, Virginia. Dr. Minckler spent 33 years with the Forest Service at four eastern Forest Expuimtm Stations doing research in the silvicuiture and ecology of hardwoods. ExcerptedfromForest Watch magazine. Nov.-Dec., 1990. Forest Watch is published by Cascade Holistic Economic Consultants (CHEC): 3758 SE Milwaukie; f'ortland, OR 97202. I 1 1'"a££, 1992 �DearKatuah, I was musing the other day on the fact that billions of people refuse to see that we're all one big group, and the verse ~mposed itself which, in tum brought to Ol.l.Od the inte~ined lines which should represent our goal of coming together, of a common mind, to begin to heal Ela, Mother Earth. I'm an incurable optimist- it will happen, sooner or later, when enough caring people wakeup. Keep on the path, Jeffery R. Zachary DRUMMI NG What the Big Trees Say Come. Don't be afraid. We were once small and skittish too. Now we have lived so long, stretched our arms so high, loved intensely our own piece of land, loved it so much that we stay fiercely, intimately attached to it, never leaving. Fidelity is an important value in our community. Stay true to your lovers, the sky, the sun, the Earth. We watch over the young things, bearing our leaves, giving them time to grow before we sprout our spring. We don't let young things grow too fast - we shade them from the sun after a while. We know that growth, the best kind of growth happens slowly. We grow just the way you do our hearts expand year after year as our trunks get wider. That's the real growth, you know. Our roots mix more with the Earth while our tops stretch more toward the sun. We span and measure the distance between the sun and the Earth, between the darkness and the light. The gift we bring you is the gift of growing beyond youth, the gift of being in one place so long that your heart spreads wisdom wide, each_ year encircling more and more. We bnng maturity, a sense of deep belonging to an environment. We bring the courage to stand strong and alone as individuals, yet work together with the other plants, animals, rocks, soils and trees in our community. We can teach you how not to become stunted jn your growth, how to seek out the light places where the sun lets you grow. When you cut us down you remove that wisdom we hold for you: Maturity, Depth, Growth, a Widening Heart. Susan Klimczak Dear Katuah, Only just recently have I ~me aware of your flourishing ex_istence - picked you up on a table at the Tunle Island Bioregional Congress V near Hunt, Tens - didn't meet the folks who brought you there. Then a few days lacer I met one Billy of the Billys (of "Billy Home and Gardens, Ashevi~e") - but just briefly. Issue #34 was a hum~ger sustainable agriculture is a hot topic on my personal agenda. Articles by Bane, Hollis, Barnes, et al really cut to the core of the matter. I'm excited to imagine how much more material you have coverd with a similar depth of understanding and presentation. I want to take you up on your offer of back issues - find check enclosed. I'd like to bob with the ripples you're sending across the pond. Truly, Hal Strickland Johnson City, TX Drawing by Jeff Zachary ran:. 1992 Dear Katitalt, Is prescribed burning really best for our forests? I question this. What is the real answer? Sam Booher • Is prescribed burning best for our forests? That is still very much an open question. A careful reading of Karuah Jour_ nal #33 will reveal that it appears that the species composition of today's forest has been influenced by excessive human-caused ~s. particularly in the wake of the greatloggmg boom. For species such as Table Mountain pine, that is not such an i?'1pon~t . consideration. One of their specific ecological functions is to recolonize areas burned by fire. But how about oak trees? There is . accwnulating evidence that their presence 1s somehow linked 10, or at least encouraged by, fire. If fire were removed completely, ii might inhibit the presence of oaks considerably. Since the loss of the chestnut, oaks are a critical mast producer; many (continued on next pagcl �}ccrlllnl*I fmm pea• 1S) wildlife species, including black bears, depend heavily on acorns for their livelihood. Until the chestnut returns. we need to mainmin the oak trccS, and it might require fire to do it This is just one prominent example among many. So, while we all lOYC the feel of deep humus developed under a long-standiJ?g grove of old-growth trccS, we cannot issue a blanket condemnation of fire and its role in the forest. Naturally derived or not, the forest may have come to depend somewhat on fire. We may have to utili2.c fire 1 make a . 0 ttansition to a more narural system. It 1 also s possible that we will have to maintain it indefinitely. . What is narural? A provocanve question. There probably is no final answer. READING RESOURCES LOGGING Books raw stumps jut up through layers of autumn, ! Bwuon, Barry, and Malinda Cruu:htidd, eds.; The Great Fou st: An AppalachiDII Story (The Appalachian Consortium Press; Boone; 1985) whole~han$ in potential falling throufl' live limbs sttairung to break, board-length ttunks cut clean of appendages lie in parallel murder wounds Japing from chain teeth Clary, David; Timber and the Forest Service (Univeisity Press or KllrlsM, Lawrence, 1986) de Steigucr, J.E.; L.W. Hayden; D.L. Holley, Jr.; W.G. Luppold; W.G. Manin; D.H. Newman; and R.M. Shelfield; Southern AppalacNOII Tunbtr Sru.dy, (US Forest Service, Soulheasicm Forcs1Expcrimcn1 Station, General Technical Report SE-56) Susan Parker Weatherford -OW Eller, Ronald. D.; Miners, Mil/hands, and I THINK OF THOSE Mountai~ers: /ndu.srriallzation of the Appalachian Souih, 1880-1930 (University or Dear Karuah, Hello and Thanks! Please keep me on I think of those who have lost the luck your mailing list. I read both issues from They will never sec again, cover to cover. I am in the process of How the hours dwindle down to so much dust simplifying my life. I wan_t to.live i!' hru:mony And the evenings arc stow and labored with nature and your pubhcanon will bring Like a dying man's breathing, me much needed information along with a How the morning comes tacking promise sense of connectedness with others of like With sunshine hidden behind clouds. mind. l lhink of those who have tried to break The life-long spell of neglect; Thank you, I think of the conquered, Blessing and Light The ones who sought the prize and were lert, . MacClarlc Solitary performers, reciting thei r lines to an audience of air. .. Tennessee Press; Knoxville: 1982) Fri12, Edwo,d C.; Clearcutting . A Crime Against Nature (Eakin Press, Austtn, 1989) I Hllrris, Larry 0.: Tht Fragmented Forest: ls/Md Biogeography and the Preserwmon of Biotic Diversiry (Universi1y or Chicago Press: Chicago: 1984) Jackson. Laura E.; Mo11111au1 Treasures at Risk. The Fuiure ef the Southern Appalachian National Forests (The Wilderness Society, Washington, DC, 1989) ' Leopold, Aldo; A Sand CounJy Almanac (Od ord University Press; Cambridge: 1949) (continued &om peg• 19) causing political and economic friction . ~ nee again, as in the Pacific Northwest, the big companies are victimizing the small operations which are more dependent on the national forests and are caught in the squeeze between greater competition for timber and a growing concern for sustainable forest management As they did bef~ the large~ companies are employmg scare tactJcs by lhrearening massive job reductions and making accusations that conservation groups are advocating socialist control of privllC lands. Their aim is to use these claims to detraet from the true issue: that new scientific evidence is showing that current forest management of both public and priva1e lands is not sustainable and lb.at swiu:hing to a more natural form of management. such as selection silvicuhure, would create new jobs for smaller companies while at the same time protecting our native ccosysaems. Fonwwely, we in the Southeast have an advantage against cuporatc effons to divide our people. For ~ l e , in T ~ an alliance rl 40 hardwood timber comparues has organized to fight the chip mills. Indications are that the communities are realizing that if we are to ldcqualely proccct our forests we must accomplish tw0 things: we must embrace a new land ethic, and we must support our neighbors in the timber business who along with the environment have been the real p= ~JoumaL palJB28 victims of bad management policy. We must push f~r posi~ve incentive~ for our local industnes until they can adJust to a form of forest management more compatible with our environment I Minckler, Leon S.: WoodlaNI Ecology: Envirorrmtlll4I Forestry for the Small l.aNwwnu. (Syracuse University Press; Syracuse; 1975) Perlin, John; A Foru t Jouniq: TM Role ef Wood in In conclusion, we must listen to the words of Leopold, who once said, "~n ethical obligation on the pan of the pnvate land owner is the only visible remedy for these situations." Stated another way, the key to good forest management, w ~ it be~ ~blic or private land, will ulbmalCly be individual involvement The evidence of past abuse and the conclusions drawn from recent scientific research combine to support the case for a revision of policy based on a shift in values. We must change our priorities from a focus on short term commodity output to an emphasis on sustainable commun~ : The remedies we use to correct these policies must include choosing the wisest I ~. treating our land with respect, and abstaining from oven:onsumpcion. The choioe is a matter of ethics. Buzz Williams was formerly employed as afortst technician/or the US Forut Service but lost his job wlten lte protested excessive timber salu. He is now working as rite Southeastern Program Director efthe Association of Forest Service Employees f or Eff'llironmelllDl Ethics (AFSEEE). , tht Dtvtlopment ofCivilizalion (Nonon: 1989) Robinson, Gonion: T/te Forest a1ld tht Trtts: .4 Gllidt to Excellent Forestry (lsland Press; 1988) Schenck. Cart A.: TIie Birtli ef Forutry ilt "1Mrica · TIie Biltmore Forut School 1898-1913 (The ; Appalachian Consortium Press; Boone; 1974) Sloane, Eric; .4 Rtvtmice f or Wood (Henry Hoh & Co., l990edilion) Te,cll, Hugh and Bedlel Jr. High School Eighth GradeClals. SoNJ1110:ValleyofthtMoon: • Sut&btust (historical interviews with former woatas • the Sunburst Lumber Co., 1978) Articles Brothers. Robert; "Respectful Forestty," in In Con/Ul, Winter, 1984 ·ean Foresras Romance a Land Elbie?". theme of April, 1991 issueoClheJollTMl efForestry. L...-------------Falt, 1992 �THE CHAIR IN THE TREE There is a special advantage to working with green wood in doing joinery, the assembling of the chair. I use mortise and tenon joints. The mortise is simply a hole partway through the vertical post and the tenon is a tongue on the horizontal rung that fits into the hole. I put the rungs into a small 1ciln for a couple of days to get them bone dry befOl'C I make the tenons. To form the tenons, I have a cutter that works on my brace. The ten0n cutter is matched to my drill size to give an extremely close tolerance. It forms a tenon that is oversiud by about 1/U)() of an inch. I make the mortises while the post is still green. Green wood shrinks as it dries, so after the pieces are joined the mortises dry around the tenons and lock them into place. That makes a tighter joint than anything that can be done with kiln dried lumber. Assembling the chair can be tense, but it is satisfying. I use a rawhide mallet ro . 1moclc the pieces into place. It's a fine feeling to watch all those pans that I made laboriously one by one come together to become a whole chair. I protect the finished chair frame with a few coats of tung oil. I like the natural colors of the different woods, so I don't use any stains. The chairs darlcen slowly and evenly as they age. by Tucker Windover I live now in Madison County and I have been working wood for nearly two years. For me, interest and somc~s inspiration come from the wc:><x! 1~lf - from walking in the woods, from sphnmg firewood. or from seeing a fine table or cabineL Different woods have their own smells and textures. When you become curious about wood, and begin woodworking with a ttcc, you can never be sure exactly what you are getting into. Any piece of wood could contain hidden knots, a twisted grain, or a beautiful curly figure. There is wide variety, even within the same species, so you can't know what to ex~. The cha.irmaking process stanS with finding wood in the fo_rcsL ~u~ting wood reminds me of fly-fishing - n gives me an excuse to be out in the woods. I find myself wandering around looking for tn:CS, or sometimes just wandering around. I remember those moments as I go through the process of buil~g ~ chair. -ro ~p that connection in mind 1 very sansfying. s Like any logger, I am usually looking for trees more than 14 inches in diameter. I search for oak and hick<X')'. Occasionally I have found ash in this area, but I have never used iL Black walnut is always a nice possibility, if you can luck into iL I don't saw the logs into boards. Instead, I split the log into four even sections or qlWterS with wedges and a sledge hammer. Every time I open up a log, I feel anticipation as I drive in one wedge after another until it spliu apart. Ideally tl';C log. splits into two perfect halves. Sometimes n snaps open with a sharp "crack!," and.the two halves roll apan as ncally as opemng a book. Sometimes I fight and tear and cuss and finally have to haul out the axe to get the stubborn log to spliL So~ are hopes and disaPt>Ointments. I never know what experiences lie inside a given ~. and I n~ know bow many chairs a log will make until all the pans are shaved down to their final sizes. Finding good chair legs and rungs in a log is tricky business. To get my "rough stock" (wood which is roughly the siz.e of my finished chair pans), I split the quarters by a process called "riving," which is carefully CO!'trolled splitting. Trees such as oak, hickory, and ash arc called "ring porous woods" aDC;1 are the easiest to split this way, due to their pattern of annual growth. Their spring and early . summer growth consists of large-por:ed. airy cells. while their late season growth 1s dense. The ttcc thus becomes a wrapping of well-defined strong and weak layers. Splitting along these layers is controllable and reasonably predictable. I ming this rough stoelc to the shaving horse - a low bench with a jaw that grasps the wood just below the c~ lev_l of someone c sining on the horse. The Jaw is opened and closed with a foot treadle. With the stoelc held Falt, 1992 steady in the jaw, I carefully shape out the chair pans with a drawlcnife and a spokeshave. A spokeshave is a small to0l that has a mounted blade with a handle on either side. It is designed especially for working rounded surfaces. lt was first used to make wagon wheels - hence its name. I work the wood while it is still greeg. Wood is much softer when it is green and thus men suitable for working with hand tools. I measure and mule my pieces. but I also have to rely on my hands and my eyes. To get a really fine finish on my chairs. I use a finely tuned spokeshave. Sandpaper abrades wood. To get a clean finished surf~ on wood most chainnakas use a lcecn-cutbng hand plane or spokeshave. A good spokeshave can cut a shaving that is thinner than tissue paper. It is simple in design. but it is a remmbblc IDOL Wood shaved by hand has a texture which 1alhcd wood lacks. It sometimes rcuins curves or pccutiarim that are reminiscent of the ttcc's original growth. There might be a tiulc knot, a little bit of twist, or a wormhole. Different woods feel different in your hands when you arc working th~ They give differently under the drawknife. Some are troublesome and can be a challenge ro shave down to a clean surface. Red oak can be very coarse, while hickory shavings tend to be more even and smooth. You can 1eam to recognize green woods by their smell as well as by their feel. Walnut is a favorite wood of mine. It has a wonderful smell It's greaa to have a ~e of walnut shavings in the shop. Red oak lS sometimes called "piss-oak" because of its smell. But it never bodlcn me. I like bow wood smells. Hickory bark is my favorite ma1eria1 for making chair seats. The bark must be harvested in the spring or early summer. At that time of year, when ~ is rapid growth and lots of moisture in the tree, the bark is tender and easy to wark. I choose a sapling (CClllliaad cm Mlll pap) �~continued rrom page 27) make any sense. I recently saw a videotape of an old man from Switzerland, a cooper. He was obviously a master craftsperson. Although he had great dexterity and technical expenise, what impressed me the most was how completely this man was absorbed in his work. While he was working in his shop, he was in his place. This clement of crafunanship - this combination of composure and concentration - is what work is about. If that element of lhe craft is lacking, lhen our labor is incomplete. Fine craftsmanship requires complete attention. But to achieve lhis level of attention, a woodworker needs to understand - to see and to experience - the whole process of lhe object he has wrought, from the forest to the finished piece. There are times when I feel at home with my work. Of course, some days it just feels like hard work. But there are other days when it is sweet, so sweet, to listen to and shave off the outer bark, exposing the inner bark, which is quite pretty. I score lines one inch apan the length of the tree with a jackknife, and peel off the inner bark one strip at a time. I use this inner bark to weave the chair seat. Any woodworker learns quickly that in order to make a living, the hand tool must be dropped at some point and the electric powered tool needs to be used. The process of building a single chair is simply too labor intensive. For myself, however, I am not sure how to define the line where handwork drops off and machine work begins. Machines make production many times easier and faster; but what good is there in having so many cheap mass-produced objects? The real concern is: to what extent have machine tools improved crafrsmo.nship? Here, we need to understand what craftsmanship really is, which is hard to do because there are so few craftspeople around any more. To find someone who can take clay or glass or wool and turn it into something that is beautiful and functional as well, that is a truly wonderful thing. Machines have not made better craftspeople; they have eliminated them, which does not sh,viog, ,,.., off <he woode/ ~ Drawing by Hope Walker Plwto by Elmu Holl "The area's oldest and latgcst natural foodsgroo?fY " c.o"'°'illG- •oo~ Bulk Herbs, Spices, & Grains Vitamins & Supplements Wheat, Salt & Yeast-Free Foods Dairy Substitutes Hair & Skin Care Products Beer & Wine Making Supplies CA.~~s ,ao &6~ aaoc,. C"-\\~~lt,N.C. 2.1-,,r Ill l)•llc,c234 -NC287J9 200 W. King St, Boone, NC 28607 ~)6934>l35 speaking f2.r..the earth. whole earth grocery dclcr of Big Cove 1pealu of tndiliom and 1inp the Booger Dance, Crcco Coro Dance and ' ·, .·. '\ I r1 .. NATURAL MARKET WHOLE FOODS • BULK FOODS • VITAMINES • HERBS • FAT PREE FOODS • TAKE OUT FOODS • SNACKS • NO SALT, NO CHOLESTEROL 265-2700 823 Blowing Rock Rd. Boone. NC 28607 Xotilah Jou.mat page 28 ~ NATURAL ALTERNATIVES FOR HEALTHFUL LIVlNG 446 e.parkway aaft center • suite 11 gatlinburg, tennessee 37738 615-436-6967 ~ 14,\ othen with drum and rattk. WHERE THE RAVENS ROOS1 .:.: f'ril (704) 264-5220 Cherokee traditional tongs of Walker Calhoun Sn£Cnsx> AS Ml OOl"STAl,'l)fl,IQ RlUt R£coaDrNQ 8Y THE UIIMltT 0/F• Talking Leaves is a moothly journal of deep ecology, inspired penoual activism rooted in wthm spirituality. Past issues have featured articles by Gary Snyder, Swbawk, Jobo Seed, Joanoa Macy, Bill Devall, Looe Wolf Circles. Barbara Mor, etc. Ta/Jcing Lea,-a speus for the oannl world and for the rekindlioa of our own wild spirit COH(IJIBSS CMmn AND IIOOICLIT S 12 Moul<TAIN HDITA<lt CDrn:ll WIS"lnN CAllOLIN,\ UNTVtUlTY Cuu.ow8i:!, NC 28723 Subscriptions arc $18.00 one year/ SZA.00 outside U.S. Ta/Jcing Lea,-a 1430 Willamette 1'361 Eu,-, OR 97401 503/342-2974 Taft, 199rz �Reading the Grove by Charlotte Homsher These are some of my observations on how to study trees in a grove with an eye to recognizing che invisible forces at work. In order co find a grove, the first thing you have to do is gee off the main trail. Hiking trails are almost always arbitrary cues that slice across the forest. Exceptions to this are the Indian trails which were the original animal runs or bison trails. Trees do eventually accommodate the presence of the artificial trails, but this is a process that can take several generations of human lifetimes. To get to a grove, I recommend walking barefoot to minimii.e the impact on the forest floor and also to stimulate one's sensual awareness by immediate, direct contact with the earth. Finding a magic grove is something like searching for morel mushrooms. It requires quiet observation, stealth, and perseverance. The object is to find a grove where the trees have no particular relationship with humans but are primarily connected in a group with each other. A grove is defined by specific physical boundaries which may be water, rock formations, or an abrupt change in vegetati9n. The shape of a grove is usually circular. I can most easily recognize a grove if I am looking for a nature spirit home or settlement. To some there may be a question of whether the nature spirits created a grove in a particular way to accommodate themselves or whether a certain panem of tree growth attracted the nature spirits. I think it is co-creation of both the trees and the spirits or of the visible and the invisible. I do recognize a grove as having specific character which changes even a few feet away. A grove supports more variety of life than the trees immediately outside the grove. lfl want to understand the relationships of trees to each other in a grove, I need to stay very quiet and observe as a detached outsider. The tree itself is an interface of superimposed spatial realities. There is energy at every level of the tree, from the deepest taproot all the way up the trunk into the canopy and above the crown. These energies can be felt, or seen as color and/or shape. Those who can see nature spirits describe this creative energy as a variety of spirits which live on one tree. (I am thirucing particularly of Geoffrey Hodson who watched nature spirits change shape and size as they fluidly dissolved in and out of the solid mass of the tree.) Auras of trees blend with each other. Mature trees have expansive auras which bathe nearby younger trees in their light. l believe this is a generational nourishing and teaching process in which the older trees influence the younger trees. Like people, trees can take on a predominate level of energy which can be defined as chakra level or specific role playing. Native Americans referred to trees as the Standing Men because, like us, trees ThC£, 1992 stand upright between heaven and earth. A grove is a family group of separate beings that at the same time creates the one Standing Man represented by all the trees playing different pans to make the whole. What I call the grounded tree is analogous to the grandmother or grandfather and may be the oldest, largest tree. Much like the function of the feet of humiµ1s, this tree is particularly adept at bringing earth energy up through the roots and trunk and making this earth nourishment available to the plant life in the immediate vicinity. It helps in the nourishing process as does the binhing tree, the mother tree. The seeds from the mother tree are particularly potent. There may be more nature spirit activity around these trees, especially of the kind of nature spirit interested in seed saving and propagation. The mother tree supports an abundance of life of every kind. Birds and forest animals are attracted to the mother tree. Moss and growth of all kinds will be abundant on the trunk. The boughs of the tree may extend to neighboring trees in a nesting kind of way. Unusually lush patches of wildflowers or many sapling trees will grow close to the mother tree. The beauty tree is particularly graceful in form and is a joy and inspiration to all the other trees. The speaker rree is the communicator and the mediator. It understands the language of many life forms and relays information. Of all the trees in the grove the speaker tree is the one most likely to speak to humans. If one spends a long enough time under a speaker tree, the tree will begin to influence one's thoughts. It has listened to the stories of woodland animals and migrating birds. It knows about the health of its species and about trees in other parts of the world. The spire tree is the tree in the grove most resp~>nsible for bringu'!g in the cosmic energies. It is usually the talfest tree. It has the most far-reaching view. It helps open up the species or the grove itself into inter-dimensional reality. The reaching bough trees are the good neighbors, the loving trees. They intertwine their limbs with nearby trees and twist their trunks toward their neighbors. They extend the wannth and comfon of their being to the other trees. Not every grove will contain all these types of trees. This is only an indication of the outward form of what I think is an awareness of trees for each other. Young trees do not have enough character to have assumed importance in the relationships of the grove. But if a mature tree is destroyed, then a younger tree, even an understory tree, can be groomed by the nature spirits to replace the old tree. If this happens, the characteristic traits of the mature tree will begin to manifest in the smaller, chosen tree, which may be of a different species. I·know of one grove in which several prominent "trees" are actually old-growth ,,# rhododendron. p Drawing by Pegi �The North Carolina American Chestnut Foundation If the American Chestnut tree is to once again compliment the mountains of the Katuah bioregion, your help will be needed. This is not a hybrid tree. Planted here on a half-acre of land are some forty-seven true American chestnut seedlings. But they cannot grow on such a limited piece of land. They need many acres on which to spread their magnificence; where both human and animal can enjoy their fruits. This is a hypovirulent strain, and therefore blight-resistant. Such trees usually survive attack by the fungus Endotlua parasirica. These seedlings have come from old trees that have resisted the virus. By constant checking and proper nunuring, we may re-establish this tree in our moutains. Will you help? These seedlings must be transplanted into their permanent home no later than February or March of 1993. They are three year old seedlings. and doing just fine now, but they will need land to mature on. Money (for more trees and help in bringing them to maturity) is needed and so is a great deal of acreage. The more land available, the more of these special trees can be grown, and the more the land and wildlife will gain. Are there old farms no longer being fanned for whatever reason? ls their acreage unused? Are there landowners who have no children to leave their land to, who would rather see it go to something beneficial to the Earth and the many animals for whom the chestnut was a staple food? Would you be interested in supporting the chestnut rather than have your land go to the State where, too often, wealth or political power, permit clear-cutting and destruction instead of caring? This work is not for profit. Do you remember as a child the beauty of the tree, and the unmatchable flavor of chestnuts cooked in an iron skillet over an open fire? That beauty and the joy of chestnuts can be shared with today's young people, and tomorrow's. We must have a deep and abiding faith that God will touch the hearts of those who can help this effort to allow these trees their full potential. If you want to help and be a part of this worthwhile goal, generations to come will be forever grateful. Dorothy Diclcson The North Carolina Amtrican Chestnut Foundation l l ] Awumn lane llarri.sonburg, NC 28075 (The North Carolina Amtrican ChestnUJ Foundation is not offiliattd in any woy wirh the American Chestnut FoundallOn.) RARE SPEOES NEED HELP! The Biodiversity Legal Foundation (BLF) is calling on grassroots environmenral activists with a strong biological interest and legal orientation to develop comprehensive reviews of the biological status and distribution of inadequately protected rare and endangered species in the East. Information cpllected in these status reviews will be used to develop and implement effective administrative, legal, and public education programs on behalf of the species or subspecies. These are all species that the Biodiversity Legal Foundation considers to be biologically threatened or endangered. but that have not been added to the official list of federally protected species under the Endangered Species Act Species of special concern requiring priority status reviews in the Appalachian states include: Brachymenium andersonii Cy/indrocolea andersoni Psoralea macroplcylla (scurf-pea) Solidago plumosa lesquerella perf orata (Spring Creek bladder pod) Lesquerella sronensis (Stones River bladder pod) The Biodiversity Legal Foundation conducts biological research to identify species that are in need of protection under the Endangered Species Act and provide the necessary documentation to press petitions before the US Fish and Wildlife Service for endangered species status. BLF staff will cooperate in the development of conservation and recovery plans for petitioned and listed specie:s or will develop legal actions to compel federal and state agencies to comply with the laws intended to protect natural diversity, as is appropriate. Contact: The Biodivusiry ugal Foundation Boz 18327 Boulder, CO 80308 ~vl-~,~-,~ w -~ V' Alternatives ... The Dirt1ctnry of lntt-ntional ConfJ,wnlllt!. is lhe prod· < uct of two years of intensive research. and is lhe most comprehensive and accurate di.rectory available. It documcnis lhe vision and lhc daily ltfc of more lhan 350 communities in North America, aud more lhan 50 on olher continents. Each community's listing includes name, address. phone. and a dcsc,ip•Jon of lhc group. Extensive cross-rcfcrcnr,ni; and mil'-• ing makes lhe infonnation easy to access for., wide vancty of users. Includes maps, over 250 atldit.ional kesourcc listings, and 40 rclared articles. Programs to encourage self ond Earth oworeness. celeblolion. kinship ond hope. Covi~ffiN'i·1·11·~~ Perfcctbouud • Youth Camps • School Programs • Famlly Camps· Te&cher Tra,n,ng • Community Program• • Camp Slaff Training • Outdoot Program Consulting Octobu I990 ISBN Number: 0 9602714-1-4 .~°P P.O. Box 1306 Gon.,burg. Temessee 3n33 6 15--436-6203 328 pages 11-1/hll ~ • •L ~: w t $16.00 Add $2.00 postage & handling ror first book. $.50 for each aJdt1ionJl; 4u% <l rM:ount on orders of 111 w more. Alpha Fann. Deadwood. OR (509)~5102 REGIONAL RADIO Featuring Crossroads music, NPR news and music programs, regional news and information concerning health, education, government, recreation, and the environment. WNO/II· FM P.O. Box 804 Spindolc, NC 28160 (704) 287-8000 ,=-on, l 992 �TRANSFORM Transportation in NC The Four Directions: Native Literary Magazine The Snowbird Publishing Company of TelJico Plains, TN is owned by Native American Indians and publishes works by native people. Now !he company is offering The Four Directions American Indian literary Quarterly. The magazine will make available the poetry, short stories, anicles, historic narratives, and artwork of the native peoples. Tt will also fearure commentary on issues facing the native tribes today: education, health, women's issues, thefts of native artifacts ("professional" as well as "amateur), and environmental issues. The first two issues of The Four Directions Literary Quarterly are now on sale. Snowbird Publishing Company is owned by Joanna and William Meyer of Tellico Plains. Joanna is Cherokee/Navajo; William is Cherokee/Creek. Between them, the two have much experience in writing, editing, and publishing, as well as working in native communities on issues of concern to the native people. William has been assistant editor and reporter for the American Indian Historical Society and its newspaper Wassaja. He was also editor of publications for fndigena, Inc., an international organi7.ation of native peoples based in Berkeley, CA. With Burke Armstrong, he co-founded American Indian News Team, the first national Indian news agency. TM Four Directions A=rican Indian literary Quarterly is available for $21.00 for four issues from Snowbird Publishing company; Box 729; Tellico plains, TN 37385. CaU (615) 546-7001. POWER TO THE PESSIMISTS! "What's happ'nin'?" Here's how to find out - what's cool and what's not, what's drab and what's hot. lt's Power 10 the Pessimists, a rare glimpse into the mind of (some ot) today's young people, freely offered by the students themselves. The mystery publisher of P llJ the P is identified only as Monrovia, thought to be a student at the Mountain Heritage High School in Burnsville, NC. The stapled newsletter is all '90's - xerographies, paper gra.fitti, poems, personal (very!) statements, random decorative art pieces (doodles), and lots of tenth grade wit and wisdom This paper even has "sensitive boy poets!" - and you thought they were dead! Young people will want to check out Power to the Pessimists as valuable communication. Older people will relish,the perspective it offers on the world as the coming generation sees it. (So, obviously, it's a publication for everyone.) Entertaining and insightful, P co the P is.. .is.. Js... fresh! And definitely worth picking up on. Contacl Power 10 IM Pessimists al: 1890 Hannah Branch Rd. Burnsville, NC 28714 (IL's only $5.00 for one year - bu1 !hey deserve better lhan lhaL) Spurred by a recent series of articles published in the North Carolina Independent, a group of North Carolina citizens gathered on the lawn of the state capitol in Raleigh September 10 10 announce the formation of the NC Alliance for Transportation Reform. The group consists of individuals from many different backgrounds. Some members are veteran road-fighters who want to protect their yards or neighborhoods from intrusive projects. Some are people who see our automotive lifestyle as one that the natural world cannot afford. Others believe they should not be paying the high tax rates that come with unneeded highway projects. The statewide group proposes that the the current system of political favoritism be replaced with <?ne that gives o~ary ci~ens, environmental1sts, planners, pubhc transit advocates, and the scientific community more authority. Transponation Reform would abolish the Highway Trust Fund (transponation funding would be subject to the same rules and budget procedures as all other state projects), and it would require the DOT to use environmental standards that meet or exceed federal regulations. The group will target gubernatorial and legislative candidates during the 1992 election and it will ask the two candidates for state auditor to commit to an in-depth performance audit of the DOT. For more information, write: N.C. Alliance for Transportation Reform; Box 1002; Chapel Hill, N.C. 27514, or call western North Carolina contact Rusty Sivils at (704) 258-8737. Drawing by Hope Walker 1492-1992: NEW VISIONS NEW ALLIANCFS Wbile many ,cc the issues ofColwnbus' invasioa u SOO )UIS in lhc past. llw:rc by ~ob Messick Get a set of 10 assorted folding cards with artwork as seen in I<atuah Journal. Send $11.25 ppd to: Rob Messick Rt.8, Box323 Lenoir, NC 28645 Tact, 1992 arc about 1.4 million original North ~ among us loday. They Olce • wide range or life and death issues lo which newer Americans ue o'14I blind. 1491,1991.- NEW VJSJONS, NEW ALLJ. AJ.K:ES provides insights Ullo lhe Europe from ~b Columbus Jmmcbed bis Y(Tj· ages, a mon: realistic portrayal of North American histoiy followmg lhe European mvasioa. and ccamplcs of lhc battles Native AmcritaDS musl still f'3hl lod3y. 30 pp. S4 each. Sl.SO for IS or more. ENERGY rooLS ·l·lfMJ~G, WAWDS· MtD ICIN€ BAGS C.RYSTALS•TI\Ll<INC:i STICl(S • DRU~.S • MEDI C.INE STAFFS•SiONES ANO MO~ ASHEVILLE. NC 704-158- tt'l~I Return to: Mobilization for SUrvival 328 Flatbush Ave., Suite 155 Brooklyn, NY 11238 Drawing by Michael Thompson '.K.atuah Jou.mat page 31 �events 'l WAYNESVILLE, NC Meditation Retreat gives you the chance IO spend the weekend with your reflective self. Leon Frankel, resident managet of Stil-Light Theosophical Retrea1 Center, will offer instruction in basic breath-awareness meditation toclmiques. Pre-register: $40 plus meals and lodging. For more info on this and other programs, contaet Stil-Lighl, Route I, Box 326, Waynesville, NC 28786. (704) 452-4569. ASHEVILLE, NC Reading the Inner Tree is a short course on tuning into tree energy. Learn to recognize special trees and magic groves with facilitator Oiarlotte Homsher. Pre-register. S35 for beginners' two-session class on Ociober 3 and IO. Advanced class will be Octobu 24, and cost $25. For more info, call (704) 253-5917. BLACK MOUNTAIN, NC Southeast Light Linlc '92 is a regional network gathering for those involved in planetary uansformation. The agenda includes large and small cucles to share ideas, resources, visions ... no workshops! Pre-register.$115 includes meals and lodging. For info, contact Anne Gillis, 4311 Harvest Hill Road, Memphis, TN 38141. (901) 761-3435 or (901) 362-8431. 27-29 CHEROKEE, NC Cherokee Fall Festival at the Ceremonial Grounds. Traditional dancing and costumes, dance competitions. For info, call (800) 438-1601. 6-10 30-11/1 WESSER, NC 10th Guest Appreciation Festival and Used Equipment Sale will include music, mini-courses and general family fun. For info on this and other events, CODll!Cl the Nantahala OuldoorCcntcr, 41 Hwy 19 West., Bryson City, NC 28713. (704) 488-2175. NORRIS, TN Tennessee Fall Homecoming is a celebration of traditional mountain culture at the }fuscum of Appalachia. Music, crafts and demonstrations of rural life skills, in addition IO the Museum's regular exhibits. For info, call the Museum at (615) 494-7680. 7-11 SEPTEMBER 18-30 WASHBURN, TN Intensive Pennaculture for the Southeast is an intensive course offering practical training in the design of agricultural ecosystems with the diversity and long-term sustainability of the natural world.Course will be held at Narrow Ridge Farm and will focus on strategies and techniques for the Katuah bioregion. Contact: Chuck Marsh; Box 1488; Highlands, NC 28741 (704) 526-3535. ASHEVJLLE, NC "Kituwah" - the second annual iniertribal Native American culrural celebration. Drumming and dance competition, traditional crafts sale, juried fine ans show and an educational program for kids will all happen at the Asheville Civic Center. Admission: $5-10. For mo.re info, call (704) 252-3881. SWANNANOA,NC Drum andRanle Making Wodcshop with Hawk Hurst. For more info about this and other programs, contaet the Earth Center. See 10/10. 23-25 3 ASHEVILLE, NC WNC Alliance Annual Membership Meeting is open IO the public as the Alliance marts its lCllth anniversary. Agenda includes workshops and legislative update. Pre-register. SIS includes lunch. For info, contact the AlJjance, 70 Woodfin Place, Asheville, NC 28801. (704) 258-8737. 3 1 7-JS NOVEMBER 6-8 10 SWANNANOA, NC Dance for the Ancestors will follow the monthly Full Moon Lodge at the Earth Center. All-night dancing, singing and drumming to honor the Native People, five hundred years after Columbus. Families are encouraged to come. For more info, contact the Eanh Center, 302 Old Fellowship Road, Swannanoa, NC 28778. (704) 298-3935. ~ GREAT SMOKIES PARK Appalachian Crafl Jubilee will provide an oppornmity IO learn traditional mountain craft techniques in basketry, pottery, weaving and other crafts. Pre-register: $100 includes meals and lodging. For info on this and other programs, contac1 Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont, Rt I, Box 700, Townsend, TN 37882. (615) 448-67()() 7 SWANNANOA, NC Full Moon Lodge begins at noon each month, followed by a shared meal. cau the Earth Center for more info. See 10/10. 24-27 CULLOWHEE, NC Mountain Heritage Day is a celebcation of the music, dance, crafts and folklifc of Katuah. Shape-note singers, gunsmiths, storytellers. quilters and others will be on hand, in addition to the Mountain Heritage Center's exhibits. For more info, contact the Center at Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723. (704) 227-7234. 26 11 FULL MOON/ HUNTERS MOON 10 FULL MOON/ BEAVER MOON DECEMBER HELEN, GA Falling Leaves Rendezvous will offer serious instruction in the ans and lifeways of indigenous people. Skills include making fire by friction, stallcing and tracking, tool making, plant identification. lnstuctors will be Darry Wood, Snowbear, and others. For info, contact Bob Slack, Jr., Unicoi Stare Part, Helen, GA 30545. (404) 878-2201. 15-18 2-6 HOT SPRINGS, NC From Confusion IO Enlightenment is the title of a meditative retreat led by Thubten Chodron. an American Tibetan Buddhist nun. Pre-register: S 150 includes vegan meals and lodging. For info on this and other programs, contact Southern Dharma Rcireat Center, RL I, Box 34H, Rot Springs, NC 28743. (704) 622-7112. S-6 OCTOBER JONESBORO, TN 20th Annual National Storytelling Festival will feawre the best yam-spinners and tall-tale-tellers from all ovet. For info, call the National Association for the Preservation and PerpctuAtion of Storytelling at (615) 753-2171. 2-4 Drawing by Rob Messick 16-18 NEW MARKET, TN STP School is a periodic weekend gathering designed to "benefit members of grassroots groups currenlly working on concrete environmental issues." This session will focus on environmental litigation. Pre-register: cost is low and negotiable. For info about this and other programs, coniac1 the Highlander Center, 1959 Highlander Way, New Market TN 37820. (615) 933-3443. GREAT SMOKIES PARK Winter Highcountry Camping in a backcountry shelter. For info on this and other field COl11'SCS, contact Smoky Mountam Field School, 600 Henley Street., Suite 105, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37902. (800) 284-8885 or (615) 974-0150. 9 FULL MOON ralC., 1992 �GOOD EAR1H .ORGANJ~ - in Asheville has a nctWOrk-~eting p~-wh)ch can provide a substantial part-time income. (Full time in 18-24 months). This is needed in any area, no training required. We provide !raining and all assistance needed to get you started in yoor own business. Contact Good Earth at (704) 252-7169. RAW. CHEMICAL-FREE HONEY • with comb or withoUL Tulip poplar and Sourwood honey from the foresis of Patrick County, VA. No chemical. no white sugar, no heal - ever. Strained through cheesecloth and packed in glass. Limited quantities. Call or write for prices and availability. Wade Buckholts - Bull Mountain Beelreepers; Rt 2, Box 1516: Stuart. VA 24171. (703) 694-4571. WISE WOMAN TRADmON • herbal healing workshops with Wh.itewolf. • Sept 12-13: Campout and weed walks, Waynesville, NC. • Sept 29 • Oct 4: Apprentice Week near Atlanta, GA. • Nov. 6-8: Fall Rootwork Weekend in NC mountains. Root digging, medicine-making, inner journeying. Sliding scale, work-exchange. Wolf, P.O. Box 576; Asheville, NC 28802. TI-IE ALTERNATIVE READING ROOM. is an unconventional library; free and open 10 the public. Our collection interests include the environment, social and political issues, the media and peace. We have over 200 magazine subscriptions. The book and video collections also emphasize the environment and political concerns. Books and VCR's can be checked out A video player is available for watch.ing films in the reading room. Located at 2 Wall St. #114; Asheville, NC 28801 (704) 252-2501. Mon/Wed/Fri 6-8 pm - Tues/Sol I0-6pm - Sat/Sun l-6pm BEGINN1NG CHEROKEE LANGUAGE BOOKNATIVE AMERICAN CEREMONIALS • include handcrafted Native American ceremonial supplies. Drums, Custom Pipes, Medlcine Bags, SweetgraSs, Sage, Feathers, Rawhide Raules, Tobaccos, Pipe Bags, Native Autes, and more! For lice catalog send to: P.O. Box 1062-K; Cherokee, NC 28719. TREE PLANTERS NEEDED - Men, Women, families. Hare! work (much done for paper & timber co's.) for great pay. December through March in the Southeast Mobile camper rt.quired (pick-up with camper, trailer, van, bus, etc.) Send resume to: Eclcerman Forestry Service; RLI, Box 290-D: Wam:nsville, NC 28693. (919) 385-6838. BACK TO THE SOURCE - is an advenwre in the spectacular beauty of our remaining wilderness and is the highest quality baclcpaclcing guide service available. We specialize in small group, minimal impact journeys into the most remote wildlands in America. For a brochure write: Back to the Source, Lee Mercer; 361 I White Ave; Baltimore, MD 21206. (410) 426-6016. - - life's n=essitiesfor less - - FRENCH BROAD Fooo supplemented with two cassettes. Stresses alphabet & proper pronunciation. The first textbook written for use in ieaching and learning the Cherolcee language. (346 pages) $39.95 plus $5.00 shipping. Calalog also available with tapes., books, pipes, dance sticks, drums, feathers, furs, buffalo products, and more. Craft supplies also available. (please specify). Send $200 to the Muskrat Trader, P.O. Box 20033; Roanoke, VA 24018. HAWKWIND EAR1H RENEWAL COOPERATIVE • is a 77 acre wilderness retreat located on Loolcout Mountain Parkway in northern Alabama Easy ~ . safe family camping, year round weekend programs featuring Native American elders and Eanh teachers from around the world. Strong spiritual foundation with Earth Renewal emphasis, membership discount co-op. There is no charge for Native American ceremonies; reservations required for all visits, please. Childcare often available. Write: P.O. Box 11; Valley Head. AL 35989 (205) 635-6304. For quarterly newsleuer and program updates send $10.00. • There is a charge of $2.50 (pre-paid) per entry of 50 words or less in Webworking. Submit entries for Issue #37 by November 15, 1992 to: Rob Messick; Rt. 8, Box 323· Lenoir, NC 28645. (704) 754-6097. • Co,op Kalmia Center, Inc. 90 8u.TMOR£ A ~ 00WIJTOVIN AsHEv!ui Sylva, NC (704) 293-3015 ('104) yr,,,r ammumity Custom tilling, organic fertilizers, kelp meal, colloidal phosphate & many more products and services for abundant gardening and healthful living. 255-7650 .....,.,,.,,.,_,,... groary stare ..... ~F--,•t .... •lpm. ......,.laa D f llffi. rl :Thu W WHOLE FOODS VITAMINS ORGANIC PRODUCE 160 Broadway Asheville, North Carolina Open 7 Days a Week Monday - Friday 9 am - 8 pm Saturday 9 am - 6:30 pm Sunday 12 pm - 5 pm fnll, 1992 NATIVE FLUTES Two styles made of cedar or walnut woods in the traditional manner Hawk Littlejohn Sourwood Farm Rt. 1, Box 172-L Prospect Hill, NC 27314 (919) 562-3073 Sa"'!)' Mush Herb Nursto/ WREATHS•POTPOURRI • HERBS • TOPIARY Complete Herb Catalog - $4 Describes more than 800 plants from Aloe to Yarraw Rt 2, Surrett Cove Road Leicester, North Carolina 2874S Phone for appointment to visit (704) 683-2014 �D ear Members of Katuah Journal, After nearly 10 years of service to the Karuah Bioregional Province, the Katuah Journal newspaper will be ceasing publication in the summer of 1993. We have not been able to find enough people able to take long term responsibility for a project of this scale on a volunteer basis. While we are stopping the journal, we will keep the non-profit organization "Karuah" alive in order to have the.option of carrying out future bioregional projects. The Board of Directors for the Karuah organization will consist of: David Wheeler, Rob Messick, and Lee Barnes. We will meet at least once a year to keep track of organization business and to discuss future options. Any member who has project ideas or is interested in participating in this process should write us at: Karuah Futures; Rt. 8, Box 323; Lenoir, NC 28645 or call (704) 754-6097. The winter issue of Katuah Journal #37 will be on "Bio-visions" or graphic art representations of what the bioregion is and what it could be. In the spring we will publish an issue devoted to alternative transportation in the Karuah bioregion. The final summer issue will contain an index to the Katuah Journal, a listing of other bioregionally-oriented organizations in the province, and tie up loose ends. Thank you for your generous support of Katuah Journal over the years. Without your help the paper would not have been as vibrant or as vital as it has been . We d ecided to end the tradition of publishing the journal with some measure of strength, rather than watch it slowly fizzle out. If you have comments or suggestions for the future, we w ould like to hear from you. Sincerely, Katuah Journal Staff /1 I would like to order issues: #37 (Winter 1992-93) "Bio-visions" #38 (Spring 1993) Alternative Transportation #39 (Summer 1993) Index & Resources Name _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ For a total value of $7.50 Katuah Journal Rt. 8 Box 323 Lenoir, NC Katuah Province 28645 Issue #39 of the Ka Mah Journal will contain a resource guide to groups and organizations devoted to protecting and restoring the natural world in the bioregion and working to sustain the web of life and our human economic and social systems in Katuah. We have postulated the following categories of activity: Regional Economy Health and Healing Appropriate Technology Appropriate TranspoTtation Councils &: Decision Making Peace Issues &: Conflict Resolution Xatuaf, Jour naC page 34 Shelter Education Agriculture Spiritual Life Natural Ecology Drawing by Rob Messick Town _ _ _ _ _ State_ _ Zip _ _ __ The success of this project will depend on your participation. Please send us information about your group and other groups that are working in your area. Offer other categories, if you like. Use additional sheets of paper if necessary. Give name, address, phone number, a one paragraph description of their work, and possibly a brief quote expressing their purpose. Enclose a copy of the organizational logo, if possible, and any photographs or drawings of group activities or the products of their work. Please also enclose your name, address, and phone in case there is a need for follow-up contacts. Submissions must be received by April 31, 1993. Mail to Katuah Journal; Rt. 8, Box 323; Lenoir, NC 28645. rau., 1992 �··:KAT UAH KON FU S\ON :.. b-:, Rob MessicK BACK ISSUES OF KATUAH JOURNAL AVAILABLE ISSUE THREE-SPRING 1984 Sustainable Agriculture. Sunflowers· Human Impact on the Forest - Childrens' Education· Veronica Nicholas: Woman in Politics· Little People • Medicine Allies ISSUE FOUR· SUMMER 1984 Water Drum· Walef Quality. Kudzu · Solar Eclipse • Clearculling • Trout • Going IO Water • Ram Pumps· MicrohydJO. Poems: Bennie Lee Sinclair, Jim Wayne Miller ISSUE FIVE· FALL 1984 Harvest - Old Ways in Cherokee. Ginseng· Nuclear Waste - Our Celtic Heritage - Bioregionalism: Past, Present. and Future - John Wilnoty - Healing Dnnmess - Politics of Participation ISSUE SlX • WINTER 1984-8S Winter Solstice Eanh Ceremony - Horsepasture River - Coming of the Light - Log Cabin Mountain Agriculture: The Right Crop - William Taylor - The Future of the Forest ISSUE SEVEN - SPRING 198S Sustainable Economics. Hot Springs· Worker Ownership-The Great Economy - Self Help Credit Union - Wild Turkey • Responsible Investing Working in the Web of Life lSSUE EIGI-IT • SUMMER 198S Celebration: A Way of Life- Katuah 18,000 Years Ago· Sacred Sites - Follc Arts in the Schools - Sun Cycle/Moon Cycle - Poems: Hilda Downer Cherokee Heritage Center. Who Owns Appalachia? ISSUE NINE - FALL 198S The Waldee Forest - The Trees Speak • Migrating Forests - Horse Logging - Slllrting a Tree Crop • Urban Trees • Acom Bread - Myth Time ISSUE TEN- WINTER 198S-86 Kate Rogers. Circles of Stone . lntcmal Mythmaking - Holistic Healing on Trial - Poems: Steve Knauth - Mythic Places - The Uklena's Talc • Crystal Magic - "Dreamspealcing• ISSUE THIRTEEN - FALL 1986 Center For Awakening • Elizabeth Callari • A Gentle Death • Hospice. Ernest Morgan • Dcnling Creatively with Death· Home Burial Box - The Wake· The Raven Mocker - Woodslore & Wildwoods Wisdom • Good Medicine: The Sweat Lodge ISSUE FOURTEEN· WINTER 1986-87 Lloyd Dr! Owlc • Boogers and Mummers· All Species Day - Cabin Fever University· Homeless m Kmiiah • Homemade H01 Wa!Cf • Stovcmakcr's N:ur.:ilivc • Good Medicine: lntcrspCCics Communication We have limited 11umbers of particular back issues. Order back issues soo11 lo insure availability. There are no more entire sets of KatuahJournal available. The near complete set of back issues will be diminishi11g as limited copies sell out. rtiCL, 1992 ISSUE FlFTEE.N • SPRING 1 987 Coverlets· Woman Forester - Susie McMahan: Midwife • Alternative Contraception • Biosexuality • Bioregionalism and Women • Good Medicine: Malriarchal Culture • Pearl ISSUE SIXTEEN • SUMMER 1987 Helen Waite • Poem: Visions in a Garden • Vision Quest • Fll'St Flow - Initiation • Learning in the Wilderness - Cherokee Challenge • "Valuing Trees" ISSUE EIGHTEEN· WINTER 1987-88 Vernacular Architcclure. Dreams in Wood and Stone • Mountain Home · Earth Energies • Earth-Sheltered Living • Membrane Houses • Brush Shelter Poems: Octo~r Du.sic· Good Medicine: "Shelter" ISSUE NINETEEN· SPRING 1988 Perelandra Garden • Spring Tonics • Blueberries • WildO.ower Gardens • Granny Herbalist • Flower Essences - "The Origin of the Animals:• Story. Good Medicine: "Power• • Be AT~ ISSUE TWENTY· SUMMER 1988 Preserve Appalachian Wildcmess - Highlands of Roan • Celo Communily - Land Trust - Arthur Morgan School • Zoning lssue. "The Ridge" • Farmers and the Farm Bill • Good Medicine: "Land" • Acid Rain • Dulce's Power Play • Cherokee Microhydro Project ISSUE TWENTY-TWO· WINTER 1988--89 Global Wanning • Ftre This Time. Thomas Berry on "Bioregions" • Earth Exercise . Kore Loy McWhirter • An Abundance of Emptiness· LETS • Chronicles of Floyd • Darry Wood - The Bear Clan ISSUE 1WENTY-THREE • SPRING 1989 Pisgah Village - Planet Art· Green City. Poplar Appeal • "Clear Sky" · •A New Earth" • Black Swan • Wild lovely Days • Reviews: Sacred !And Sacred Su, Ice Age - Poem: "S udden Tendrils" ISSUE TWENTY-FOUR - SUMMER 1989 Deep Listening - Life in Alomic City • Direct Action! • Tree of Peace • Community Building • Peacemakers· Ellm1c Survival • Pairing Pro.,ec1. "Baulesong• • Growing Peace in Cultures • Review: The Chalice and the Blade ISSUE 1WENTY-SIX • WINTER, 1989-90 The B:oroic Era· Kids Saving Rainforest • Kids Treecycling Company· Conmc1 Resolution Developing Creati vc Spirit • Birth Power • Magic of Puppetry • Home Schooling • Naming Ceremony Mother Earth's Classroom • Gardening for Children ISSUE TWENTY-SEVEN· SPRING. 1990 Transformation • Healing Power • Peace LO Their Ashes • Healing in Katuah • Poem: "When Left LO Grow• • Poems: Stephen Wing • The Belly • Food from the Ancient Foresl ISSUE TWENTY-NINE· FAU/WINTER 1990 From the Mountains to the Sea · Profile of The LlUle Tennessee River • Headwaters Ecology • "It All Comes Down to Water Quality" • Water Power. Action for Aquatic HabitaLS - Dawn Watchers • Good Medicine: The Long Human Being • The North Shore Road· Kaulah Sells Out. Watershed Map of the Kaliiah Province ISSUE THIRTY· SPRING 1991 Economy/Ecology • Ways to a Regenerative Economy· "Money is the Lowest Form of Wealth" • Clarksville Miracle • The Village • Food Movers Lifework - Good Medicine: "Village Economy" • Shelton Laurel· LETS ISSUE THIRTY-ONE· SUMMER 1991 Dowsing • Responsibilities of Dowsing • Electrical Life of the Earth • Katuah and the Earth Grid - Call of the Ancient Ones • Good Medicine: "On Aggression" · Time to Take the Time to Take the Time - Whole Science • Tuning In ISSUE THIRTY-TWO · FALL 1991 Bringing bac.k the Fue • A Bit of Mountain Levity • Climax Never Came · "Talking Leaves": Sequoyah . Walking Distance • Good Medicine: "Serving the Great Life" · The Granola Journal · Paintings: "Mountain Stories"· Songs of the Wilderness ISSUE THIRTY-THREE· WINTER 1991-92 Fire's Power - Whal Is Natural • Fire and Forge • The First Fire - Hearth and Fire in the Mountains • Good Medicine: "The Ancient Red" • Midwinlef Fires: poems by Jeffery Beam • Litmus Lichens ISSUE THIRTY-FOUR· SPRING 1992 Paradise Gardening· Community Sponsored Agriculture - Ealing Close 10 Home· Native Foods • Cover Crops. Katuah Cultivars • The Web of Life: A Katuah Almanac - Good Medicine "Medicine Training• • Poems by Allison Sutherland ISSUE THIRTY-FIVE· SUMMER 1992 Consensus • Problems with Consensus. Tribal Council - Elda • The State of Franklin - Regional Rainbow • Steve Moon: Shell Engravings • Good Medicme "Medicine Training rr·. A Look Back Back Issues: Issue# _ _ @ $3.00 = $._ __ Issue# __@ $3.00 = $._ __ Issue# __@ $3.00 = $,_ __ Issue#_@ $3.00 = $._ _ _ postage paid $._ __ Name Address City State Zip Near Complete Set: (3-10, 13-16, 18-20, 22-24, 26-27, 29-35) postage paid @ $50.00 =$,_ __ Katuah Journal Rt. 8, Box 323 Lenoir, NC Karuah Province 28645 • (704) 754-6097 '.Kati.ulfl Jourrn:1( pnge 3S � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records Description An account of the resource <em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal</em>,&nbsp;was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. <br /><br /><span>The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name,&nbsp;</span><em>Katúah</em><span>, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant.&nbsp;</span><br /><span><br />The <em>Katúah Journal</em> was co-founded by Marnie Muller, David Wheeler, Thomas Rain Crowe, Martha Tree and others who served as co-publishers and co-editors. Other key team members included Chip Smith, David Reed, Jay Mackey, Rob Messick and many others.</span><br /><br />This digital collection is only a portion of the <em>Katúah</em>-related materials in the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection in Special Collections at Appalachian State University. The items in AC.870 Katúah Journal records cover the production history of the <em>Katúah Journal</em>. Contained within the records are correspondence, publication information, article submissions, and financial information. The editorial layouts for issues 12 through 39 are included as are a full run of the Journal spanning nearly a decade. Also included are photographs of events related to the Journal and a film on the publication. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived This resource is part of the&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal Records </em>collection. For a description of the entire collection, see <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Katúah Journal Records (AC. 870)</a>. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The images and information in this collection are protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. C.) and are intended only for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes, provided proper citation is used – i.e., Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records, 1980-2013 (AC.870), W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. Researchers are responsible for securing permissions from the copyright holder for any reproduction, publication, or commercial use of these materials. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1983-1993 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource journals (periodicals) Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Katúah Journal</em>, Issue 36, Fall 1992 Description An account of the resource The thirty-sixth issue of the <em>Katúah Journal</em> focuses on wood and its role in mountain life: logging, wood products, and forest stewardship. There is also an announcement that publication of the journal will cease in 1993. Authors and artists in this issue include: Lee Barnes, Frank Hodgin, David Wheeler, Dr. John Wade, Harley Wessman, Nancy McIntyre, Buzz Williams, Robert T. Pershcel, Jesse Jones, Leon S. Minckler, Tucker Windover, Charlotte Homsher, Rob Messick, Julia Vanselow, Frank Vogel, Michael Thompson, Susan Klimczak, Jeff Zachary, Susan Parker Weatherford, Mark Anderson, Hope Walker, and "Pegi." <br><br><em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to <em>Katúah Journal</em>, was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name, Katúah, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1992 Table Of Contents A list of subunits of the resource. Using Wood.......1<br /><br />Appalachian Logging by Lee Barnes.......4<br /><br />Old Logging Days by Frank Hodgin.......7<br /><br />Working the Woodlands by David Wheeler.......9<br /><br />Wood Products and Western North Carolina by Dr. John Wade.......13<br /><br />Depletion for Dollars by Harley Wessman.......13<br /><br />Logging with Horses by Nancy McIntyre.......15<br /><br />Natural World News.......16<br /><br />Invasion of the Giants by Buzz Williams........19<br /><br />From Industry to Endeavor by David Wheeler.......20<br /><br />Pioneering A New Human/Nature Relationship by Robert T. Perschel.......21<br /><br />Forest Stewardship Programs by Jesse Jones.......22<br /><br />Ecological Forestry for Renewable Forest Values by Leon S. Minckler.......23<br /><br />Drumming........25<br /><br />The Chair in the Tree by Tucker Windover.......27<br /><br />Reading the Grove by Charlotte Homsher........29<br /><br />Events.......32<br /><br />Webworking.......33<br /><br /><em>Note: This table of contents corresponds to the original document, not the Document Viewer.</em> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <em>Katúah Journal</em>, printed by The <em>Waynesville Mountaineer</em> Press Subject The topic of the resource Bioregionalism--Appalachian Region, Southern Sustainable living--Appalachian Region, Southern Forest products industry--Appalachian Region, Southern Forest management--Appalachian Region, Southern Logging--Appalachian Region, Southern Animals in logging--Appalachian Region North Carolina, Western Blue Ridge Mountains Appalachian Region, Southern North Carolina--Periodicals Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937"> AC.870 Katúah Journal records</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a title="In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted" href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/?language=en 8" target="_blank"> In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted </a> Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Appalachian Region, Southern Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. <a title="Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians" href="https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/collections/show/79" target="_blank"> Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians </a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Journals (Periodicals) Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1990s Appalachian History Appalachian Mountains Appalachian Studies Book Reviews Earth Energies Economic Alternatives Electric Power Companies Folklore and Ceremony Forest History Forest Issues Forest Practice Habitat Katúah Katúah Organization Poems Reading Resources South PAW (Preserve Appalachian Wilderness) Stories Transportation Issues Turtle Island Western North Carolina Alliance https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/6242ad52b617091c87c9539ed560f662.pdf ceae3b1dd3f95de061a292ba6f7dcc7d PDF Text Text ,.-.c---URNAL ISSUE 37 WINTER 1992-93 $2 00 �Green Man (a.Jc.a. Joe Hollis) Photo by Nancy Herman / ~UAHiJOURNAL "- PO Box 638 Leicester, NC Katuah Province 28748 c, ~ New Address Inside! Postage Paid Bulk Mail Permit #18 Leicester, NC 28748 .ac.\C 0,,l * () ~ Printed on recycled paper ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED �eoNPENTr0 In The Morning.......................... by DcnnL~ Frederick Green Man and Green Woman........ 4 by Rob Messick Floyd 2020.... ............ ...... ......... 7 by Will Ashe Bason Ecology................................... 8 by Rob Messick Drawing of Sequoyah.................. 9 by James Rhea The Legend of James Whitehead..................... by 10 Bnrbaru Wickersham Raven1.................................... by Fran 11 Freudenbcrgcc Kid's Page............................... Rhea's Fairies.......................... . 13 Drawings by Lucile Morgan........... 14 Drawing by Bob Johnson.............. 15 Drawings by Pegi....................... 16 The Solitary Tree........................ 17 ... ,. ... 12 by Charlotte Homsher Wildwoods Wisdom.................... 18 by DougElliou Natural World News.................... 20 Mandalas................................. 22 hy Roh Messick Gourds................................. 23 by M1ch:icl Thompson Poem: A \lu~ Jmm Hawk'.r Nest. .. .. ... 24 by Gcr.tld George Economy................................. 25 by Rob MClisick Drummmg................................ 26 Rev11:ws: Beyond The Beaury Strip Reshapitrg Modern Culture.. ......... by Rob H Sleep well, my darling, Sleep we/1 my love. Srars in the heavens Are shining above. The labor has ended, The journey is done, So resc now, sleep now, My sweec one. 1 "Jack?" The old man rose and looked out the window at the lowering sun, the last rays of the day flowing golden over the ridges. It was so good to feel the spring again, to hear the bird.~ and taste the warm savor of the spring air. It had been a long winter, a hard biller-cold winter. Snow, storms. endless dark, and endless wind. It had been hard on him, harder on her. He looked over 10 where she lay, her profile softly outlined by the crossglow of the sun through the window and the candles around her head. He smiled. She looked peaceful, he thought Rested. "Jack, you 'bout ready?" That was Ethan. He was a good man • good friend and neighbor. I le had been for fony-three years, ever since he and Sarah had moved onto the f!Um next to Jack and Emma. "Yeah, Ethan, I reckon so." McssJCk Events.................................... 32 Webworking............ ... ,............. 33 W~1 1-tcr, 1992-93 © 1990 by Dennis K. Frederick She was so beautiful, so oddly beautiful when Jack first saw her. She was sitting on the other side of the room when the music started, and when he asked her to dance with him, it was all he could do to get the words out When she stood up and moved into his !UTTlS, he truly felt like he was holding an angel. She had dark brown hair and grey eyes and a smile that could outshine the moon. When she smiled up at him he felt like he was melting down and burning up inside all at the same time. And when they kissed for the first time • and every time after • it was ... complete. After they were married, Jack said the greatest joy in his life was waking up beside her every morning. He thanked God for that, every day. "Ethan, do you think that everyone who wants to come is here?" They never had children, Jack and Emma, not a one, not even a quickening. That made Jack some sad. knowing that after Emma died there would be no pan of her to carry on in the world, but then he'd look at her across the room or across the garden and he couldn't be sad for long, 'cause she was here now, and that was enough. And she said she didn't mind at all, 'cause she'd found a way to have all the children she wanted and not a one bother her in the middle of the night, for she became a school teacher. Now, Emma didn't run the usual son of classroom. Oh, she taught them their letters and numbers and all like that, and taught them well. But that was only on days when the rain or the cold kept them indoors. On other days she would have them outside walking in the fields or running through the woods or tromping up and down the creek beds. She said that God's world was the best classroom there was, and the only way to learn about it was to go out in it. And those kids? They loved it. And they loved her. You never saw a brighter, more sparlde-cyed bunch in your life. Drawing by Rob Mcuick (continued on page 3) lultimf~ Journot Jla<J"- �-, ' l<eLJAH JOURNAL -- , ,,-' " ..... .., -- ...,_,,, .... .. .....,,.... ~ · ~:/ I ,_, ,,,,,,.;"" - ~.r- ~·· . -~ ...... ~ . ____________ ,: --------- ..~-. ------/ -----.i'. I ._.,r·'!'· _ _ ,,,1"" ARTITORT ALSTAFFTIIIS ISSUE: Rob Messick (Coordinaror) David Wheeler Sherman Bamford Charlotte Homsher .,,,., ,)"\ .,...... ... ~ - ~~_,-.. , , ,r,~- . ~ .... ._/.. 'J _..c,~ .l· ....~ , - - o~~- ,,...: _.,jJ Pegi Heather Blair RheaOnnond Thanks to Marie Reilly for her inspiration... ................- - - - ~- _..;,._(l~ ~' _._,,..., • ;.·•· :l ~, I ~ ,~ .,... ....:." t -% -------- , ,. --.~,:-..· .- -~-------·-• 0-_,..•"' COVER: byRobMessick ©1992 '!•.b•-,•.t. PUBLISHED BY: KanUJh Journal EDITORIAL OFFICE THIS ISSUE: Backbone Spur Gardens< Globe Valley< Grandfather Ranger District< Pisgah National Forest < Katuah Province WRITE US AT: Karuah Journal Rt. 8, Box 323; Lenoir, NC; Katuah Province 28645 TELEPHONE: (704) 754-fm7 Diversity is an imponant element ofbion:gional ecology, both natural and social. In accord with this principle K(J[uah Journal uies to serve as a forum for the discussion of regional issues. Signed articles express only the opinion of lhe authors and are OOl necessarily lhc opinions of the Katuah Journal edi«n or slllff. The lntemal Revenue Service has declared Ka1uah Journal a non-profit organization under section 50J(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. All coou,1>utions 10 Katuah Journal are deductible from per.;onal income w. Asticlcs appearing in K(J[uah Journal may be reprinted in other publications with permission from lhe Katuah Journal stalT. Contact the journal in writing or call (704) 754-6097. 'L'.NVOCA.TW'.N '-, I ---- - --- L~·.•._•. ,......_•./._..:f. - - *ttt!.. PRJNTED BY: The Waynesville Mountaineer Press ..-·!·· '.....,_ '. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE Here, in the Katuah Province of these ancient Appalachian mountains where once the Cherokee Nation lived in freedom between the Tennessee River Valley and the Eastern Piedmont between the Valley of the Roanoke and the Southern Plain on this Turtle Island continent of Mother Ela, the Earth Here, In this place we dedicate ourselves to remembering our deep connection 10 the spirit of the land. We bring this connection into the being and the doing of our daily lives When the land speaks, we listen and we act We tune our lives 10 !the changes, to the seasons We respect the limits of the land We preseJVe, defend. and restore the land We give thanks for all that is good Hannony with the land is no longer an ideal; it is an imperative. The land is a living being. She is sacred. As 1he land lives, so do we. As the spirit of the land is diminished, our spirits are diminished as well. Katuah Journal sends a voice... with articles, stories, poems. and artwork we speak 10 the spirit of alJ the living, breathing inhabitants of these mountains in hopes that we, the human beings, may find our place in th.is Great Life. The Editors KATUAH JOURNAL wanis ro communicate your thoughts and feelings to the other people in the bioregional provillce. Send them to us as letters, poems, stories, articles, drawings, or photographs, etc. Please send your contrib1uions to us at: Katuah Journal; Rt. 8, Box 323; Lenoir, NC; Katuah Province 28645. TJIE SPRING ISSUE will be dedicated to sustainable tourism and transport. including green alternatives to travel. Be sure to include those wonderful drawings and photos on the subject! The deadline is February 1st, 1993. Send to Rob Messick; Rt. 8, Box 323; Lenoir, NC 28645. Jose Arguelles Xatuah Journot page 2 OUR LAST" ISSUE will! be filled with your closing comments and contributions, an index lO the 38 issues of KattUJh Journal, and a listing of biorcgionally oriented organizations in the Province (see page 34 for details). AJI Things Must Pass... Wtnter, 1992-93 �(conlinued from page I) "I think they are, Jack, and she said we weren't to wait 100 long." That last year when she couldn't get out of bed, Emma had cried about being useless. until one day she figured out something she could do. She would have Jack bring in an egg or cwo every few days from the henhouse, and she would lay those eggs alongside her body under the blankets where they would stay warm until they hatched ouL Then she would talcc the chicks and put them in a box beside the bed and tend them there until they were big enough to give away. and then they would go to whoever in the community was in need. That made her smile again. She was quite a woman. "I reckon it's time, then." Jack pulled on his coat and turned to nod at the men waiting in the doorway. He stepped out ont0 the porch and was amazed at the number of people standing outside. There must have been two or three hundred of them. Somehow he'd forgotten 10 keep track of the growth of the community. The new stores, the good roads, the churches, the increasing number of children in Emma's classroom - all this had somehow failed to register in his reality, for Emma was all his world. To live with her on their farm in these mountains - this was all he needed. Just to work ha.rd and love her. The six men brought Emma's coffin out of the cabin and raised it to their shoulders. Up the hill they went. followed by Jack, Ethan, Sarah, and all those others, up to the top of the hill where there stood an old oak tree. Its branches spread wide to shade a little fenced-in area enclosing a freshly-dug grave. They set the coffin down beside the hole, and, wlten all the people had gathered around, Jack spoke to them. "Friends, Emma and I want to thank you for being here. She would have felt honored to know that so many of you came to see her off. We want to thank those who sat up with us last night, we thank the women who got her ready and the men who dug her grave here. She asked me to be sure it was this particular time of the day when she was buried. She loved tile evening. Said it seemed co her a fitting time for a funeral, 'cause this way she got a good night's sleep before waking up to the good Lord's glorious morning - her very words. So, Emma, you sleep now, and these folks and 1, we'll see you on that morning. I love you. Rest well." Jack nodded to the preacher, the service proceeded, the people sang Emma to her rest, the coffin was lowered, the hole was filled in, and the stone was SCL Everybody went back down the hill to the house where there was food and drink and they all stayed awhile. Then they began 10 cirirt away home, the lanterns on their wagons shinning like fireflies disappearing into the woods, until there was only Jack and Ethan and Sarah lefl. "Will you be alright, Jack?" "Oh, I'll be right as rain by morning, Sarah. I'm just going to sit here on the porch for awhile like she and I used to do. She did love it so." ''I'll stop by in the morning." 'Thank you, Ethan. Good night." ,, "Rest well. I'll see you in the morning." Ethan and Sarah's wagon moved off down the road and the musical stillness of the night sectled over the old man on the porch. His eyes looked up to the hilltop, then far beyond for a long while, then they closed. When Ethan and Sarah came by in the morning, they found Jack still sitting in that chair, past all waking in this world. Ethan found a wide boartl and they laid Jack out on it. They put Jack in the back of the wagon, put in a few more boartls. hammer and nails and a shovel, and they drove the wagon back up to the top of the hill to that oak tree. They spent the rest of the day digging Jack's grave, nailing his coffin together around him, and lowering him down to rest beside Emma. They filled in the hole and moved the scone a bit so that it settled down over both.Jack and Emma. They stood in silence for a long time and at last they turned for home. "Ethan?" "Hmmm?" "l've been thinking about it. and I do believe that yesterday was the longest time that Jack and Emma had spent apart since they were married." "I guess he just could'c live with the thought of waking up alone. Well, he won't have to, now." Drawing by Lucile Morgan Wtt1ter , 1992-93 Sleep well, my darling, Sleep well, my love. Srars in the heavens Are shining above. The labor has ended, The journey is done, So rest now, sleep now, My sweer one. The journey is over, The morning has come, So rest now, sleep now, Mylovt. "This su,ry was inspired by somtthing D()(; McConnt'II told mt a couple of~ars ago. and by the spirit of the mountain people who IIOW siuround me." Denn,s Frtduick was born on the sowh s,de o/Clucago in /950, grew up in the li11kfarm town of MuJdldJury. IN. and autnlkd Indiana Univtrsiry mtermi11t111ly for several years. lie moved 10 7ennessee rn 1979 IQ work/or a rouring 1mpro~isa1ional thttUrt company where ht mt/ his wife. Lucinda Flodin, l'hey tool up life together in 1984, and 111 1986 discovatd S/Qrytelling osa tandem pe,formmu:t art. They liw with tlrtv scns. Forts/ and Cody. on 28 acres of mo1,1111llln glory in Carttr Co1,111ry, TN and make 1htir living as uave/i11g storytellers. DeMis and UJ.CiNJa havt produced rwo audio /ape~. Strawberries m the Snow and Mounlain Sptrirs, each SIO 00, ppd from R1.J. Box 726; ~ llampton. TN J7658. ~ X-atuoh Journot page 3 �~tuah Joumal, ..' I pcuw;1,4 lr Orawmga by Rob Musick f _. Wlntcr. 1992-!13 �t.nter , 1992-93 "'1titmi. Journot PCUJC S �----E _ __ -~ :K.nt(~h Journal pa9e 6 Drawing by Rob Muncl< l.>i.ntcr, 1992-93 �FLOYD 2020 by Will Ashe Bason There was little doubt by the mid-90's that the superstonns were the result of global cllinate changes produced by inefficient and thoughtless industrialization. The frequency and severily uf the Sturms increased during the '90's making tens of millions homeless and completely destroying lhe electricity distribution systems of huge towers and wires. The US Army was put to work building communities which could withstand the intense winds of lhe superstonns. Each of these villages had several large underground storerooms in which people could talce refuge in a storm. Some homes and structures were built to wilhstand the high winds, and some were made to be dismantled and stored when a stonn threatened. The US Army built over 5,000 eco-villages housing over three million people during the '90's. Many other settlements were built privately. Jimmy and Rosalyn Caner were leaders in a movement in which poor people came together to build protected villages. Still, millions of people who had lived in beautiful homes wilh many • luxuries were reduced to living in shack.s built of tarps and broken lumber near hastily dug storm cellars. During the mid- and late '90's, refugees from the West Coast went out in waves, each bigger lhan the last, just like the quakes and eruptions that set them in motion. Many of the people who were most tuned in to the narur:il world were among the first to leave. In most cases, people had 10 sell their homes and non-movables for nearly nothing. They loaded up lheir mini-vans and hitched up their trailers and headed east - much as previous pioneers had headed west. Many of the people who had been involved in building cuilural alternatives were drawn to areas in I.he Blue Ridge Mountains where these 1,>lnt.er, t992- 93 alternatives already had a foothold. Floyd County absorbed nearly 3,000 West Coast refugees between 1993 to 1998. After the huge back-to-back storms of 1995, the old power grid was gone for good in Floyd County and throughout most of the southeastern US. About half of the people in Floyd and several surrounding counties were homeless. That year there were so many emergencies that US and UN services were unavailable. The radical restructuring of the world economy 10 our reality-based exchange system was not yet complete, and localities everywhere were reduced to their own devices. A team of local engineers and architects developed several types of buildings which were made of local materials and could withstand extremely high winds. Over the spring and summer of 1995 more than 2,000 people worked on 14 villages which by winter were homes to 5,000 people. These communities consisted of a large central building surrounded by cottages. The sites were picked for favorable water power and they all generated enough electricity for lights in the cottages and refrigeration facilities in the central buildings. The couages seemed like castles 10 people who had been living cooped up with friends and relatives in sometimes amazingly cramped and cold conditions in the winter of '94. Over the next ten yean,, many more small, sheltered, and self-powered communities were buill in the county. Today, Floyd's 14,000 people have 42 communities of more than 100 inhabitants, while in 1990 12,000 people had only one such community. This restructuring into small communities had many unexpected benefits, and today there are few who would trade our present life for the world that the winds swept away. The villages of the Blue Ridge upland plateau differ considerably from each other, as some were fonned by fann families who had been in the area for many years, and some were fonned along alternative lines. Many communities have a Native American feel to lhem, several are African-American, and two are Spanish-speaking. A village near Buffalo Mountain is a Cherokee-speaking community, the northernmost of their confederacy. These various groups all mingle in the town of Floyd, which is still the largest settlement in the county. The Saturday market in Floyd is colorful and noisy. The village of Marin is somewhat typical of the communities that were built in Floyd County in the mid-'90's. Fourteen cottages were originally built and served as homes to over 50 people lhe first winter. The village maintains a sizable herd of cows and sheep and cultivates orchards on gentle slopes. The village has nearly 10 hectares of good river bonom land on which it raises grains and vegeiables. Marin has a water-powered grain mill, saw mill, and woodworking shop. The shop produces several types of wooden flutes which have a good reputation and earn the village most of i1s rrnde credits. This is in keeping with the musical motif of the villages of the area almost all of the local communities suppon themselves most by manufacturing various musical instruments. The Blue Ridge area was one of the most "backward" regions of the old US economy, but it came through the economic transition in much better shape than most other areas. Literacy rates rose sharply and infant monality rates fell, exactly counter to corresponding trends in the rest of the country and most areas of the world. The self-reliance of the old farm communities of the area combined wilh the ideas for alternative economic and energy systems that newer residcntS brought with them to create a ., better way of life. Drawing by Pcgi X-Gtooh )our-nm pQCJe 7 �Xatuml )ournm piiqe 8 Drawing by Rob Mcuick Wrntcr , 1992-93 �Drawing of Sequoyah by James Rhea �...: ·•~ ..... ... ·.~.- :. t;. . ... =~ ::•.= ... •• :.¥_: •• • ... ..... ... :;· :.;:• .. :! : ·.•.· :~ :- ·.~.: ·.~.: .·,; : ... .. ... ..-.: .... ... .... .. . ... THE LEGEND OF JAMES WHITEHEAD by Barbara Wickersham Once upon a time a man named James Whitehead lived up on the head of Tiger Creek way back up in the mountains of Caner County, Tennessee. He had a right nice farm and he loved 10 fish and hunt One day while young James was ou1 huntin' something happened that changed his life forever. It was gettin' kinda late, near dark, and he was 1hinkin' strongly abou1 h~din' home for supper. Suddenly he happened upon a tiny cri1ter lying frigh1encd and crying in the grass. He stared in amazement figurin' as how it must be a new-born baby tiger. h was, of coun;e, a baby mouniain lion, commonly called tigers or painiers by people thereabouts. He quickly looked all around but saw no sign of mama so he picked up the liule fella, gemly wrapped it in his hand.kerchief, and promptly carried ii home for his wife to care for. Now it just so happened that his wife had recently given birth herself, and, since Xotimn Journal page 10 _. ,, I ,I r ,1, --- I tfj .~ fl"'•'t f .J\\~ · l1;.,1~•J:.{ she couldn'1 figure any 01her way to save the little critter· not owning nny tiny baby bottles or eye-droppers - she simply nursed ii along wi1h her own baby. The baby tiger grew quickly, was s1rong and healthy, and soon was returned to the moun1ains where ii belonged. Folks around there got to calling James "Tiger," and forever af1er he was known as Tiger Whitehead, the man who saved the baby tiger. Tiger's real claim 10 fame, however, wa~ his hunting prowess. He managed to keep meai on 1he table for his burgeoning brood most of his 86 years and during tha1 time he actually killed 99 bears. When he was on his deathbed, one of his sons brought a bear cub to him, saying "Kill this bear so we can say you killed 100 bears," bu1 he refused, saying he had never killed except when he had to. His gravestone proudly proclaims "He killed 99 bears." ... Since 1984, Barbara Wickersham has collabaraJe.d will, Ron Vance in gathering stories of the Roan Mountain area. Tile two are both native Appalachian people with a long-rime fascination for the history. fitera111re, and language ofthe white mmmtain folk. In February of /985 they applied for and recieved a University ofTennessee Research Grant to help in the contitu4(Jtion of their oral history efforts. Their primary objective is to co/leer historical facts, tales, riddles, expressions, old plwtos - anything rl111t will capmre the life of the Roan Mountain people just before, during. and after the Great Depression. To clme they have interviewed 62 people and are .Hill working. ifyou have riddles, old games, ghost stories, or a good tale you would like 10 share with them, or ifyou hll\/e a lead on a particularly good interview prospect, they would appreciate your help. Contact Barbara Wickersham at 7314 John Norton Road; Knoxville, TN 37920 or call (615) ...::All' 577-1072. Drawing by Rob Messick p �:.•. ·.•.•;::·.·:~::·:: ,·,·.: • • • '; :•r •• • • • ,,.._.,, ·.•••••••'ho,,••••'\•'*•. .. ... .. ···...... ...... ······ •. ,.u .... .. : ..... ,:·:! .. ·.. .·.:: :::···. ·''"· ; ················· ....·..... . ~ ............ ·. ... .. ..::.::·;... .·. ..·:::_·:·:::::···· ·:··' ·... ·::~~~-~~·-:·-·-... ·.: .... . ...:.,:..:..,.·· . .. . ., .... ': :. . . ....~. .,.. \ ! ... -~--- •. ······· . ····,... ........._ . ... .... , .. - ......... ,\: .... ..... ·' . . ·•···· . ·····-···· ··········"'······ ~· .... • ..... ·- .... ..·· ......... .... Raven! ····..,:,. ;-._.::·.r:?,•,,•::::.,.•, ,..,;::···· . !".::.-:•.. :... :.. ·:., ,, .-·········· .... ···'y··".:-·····.:···. . ··-... .:.....:·:·· . .. -. ························ ······· Fran Freudenberger 1 a storygatherer currently residing in the Crab s Community o f Katuah rro,1nre. For infomiation contact her at TH E O PEN CIRCLE, 1112 W,llow Street; Hcnderson~ille, NC 28739 (70-I ) 696-3659. . .... ........ . .,,,: ..._..:.: ..-·· ... _ Gazed out O\'l'r the charred stillness and thought .. 'This was once the Earth?" I le listened to the smoldering silence and thought ... "This was once Her Breath?" Then Raven raised his wings In Anger and new away. by Fran Freudenberger Drawu,g by Rob Memc:lr. •.•• ···? �KID'S PAGE ___,---=- - ' ,. ., "'J ., ,I Daniel Olson - ngc 7 r .,._.;.. l.. :-::..£,=-- ----.... " ~..• - . . '. ,. • . ~· .. ·~ A i . .' ~,,., ' . . .. , . .... \. . . __ ~-r""·' _.....,,.::.. . ' ........---'\{.' ....~ . .• . ___.... ·---·~("'" • •. t. '·· ..~ • ..-, ..._ -':'-'\~,.,,.., ',•. !-,;_ ••~ ..... i ~~,... . ·,·.. '-.: . ' • -- - .- ..-- lJ .. . . . . ... (~ . ,, .._, ·.... _·:.>•.. ... ·... _., ,. . .,, . ' Jeffrey Hollis - age 4 .· •'f ' ... "Drngon at a Croquet Game" '"7:'-- • ----~. ... .. __ ;,,--- . .. . • .. .,. ···i.l. , - . ., .,, r .. . -.. .. :. . ~ .. . • , ..• ~·-- / / .''- . - - ... . - ~ J'- - -· Desiree Cafaro - age 11 Juniper Myers Walters - age 10 ,C:amal\ Jotmmf paqc 12 Lane Raskin - age 7 . -- ,-l,. 1 a,l., . . ..--,1· Jade Alysen Kornegay - age 8 !.>inter, I 992-' �I, l grew up in Missouri and experienced the Ozarks. Friends of my parents bought some land by a mountain creek and built a shelter. "'rhey called it Rocky Branch and I do believe that was where I first encountered fairies. In my adolescence our family moved lO cultural Cleveland where my father's dream was realii.ed - to play his viola in the Cleveland Orchestra in the great Severence Hall. When I sat in the hall, I would gnze up at the ceiling embellishment and watch the fairies' wings flutter to the beautiful music. I later learned that the ceiling was designed from the lace on Mrs. Severcnce's wedding veil. (l have also found fairies on recent trips 10 the an museum and felt like a fairy while studying ballet!) After years of an school, universities, a teaching profession, and a marriage I realized that I needed 10 get back to the land. The early memories of Rocky Branch were still in my head. lvmtcr, 1992-93 I found some land on a 30 mile reservoir nonh of Amherst, MassachusetlS and began to build my dream, and to connect back to the great Mother Earth. I lived on this secluded land by myself and felt the closeness of all the plant and animal spirilS that surrounded me. My only fear was of the hunters who evemually destr0yed my dream, burning my house down. rt was nine ye-ars ago when I came 10 Kaulah Province from New England. I followed the ridge of the Appalachian Mountains south and landed in a parndise garden. As I drove toward the South Toe River Valley, a rainbow crossed the road and 1 knew that this must be the place where fairies live. At that rime Joe Hollis was looking for someone 10 help in his garden, and 1 enthusiastically agreed. He offered me a yun (Mongolian teepee) to live in which became my home for three years. The gardens expanded and I found fairies flinering about everywhere. Joe took me to beautiful wildflower coves filled with thousands of trilliums, and 10 the ridgetops of the Black Mountains where I first saw galax and other wildflowers that did not grow in the Appalachian Mountains in New England or anywhere else I've ever lived. These mountains have a magic about them that I never felt in any oiher mountain range. Lost and homeless for years, I had followed the mountains south, guided by the faith and hope that I would find a home where fairies dance. Mountain Gardens in Celo. NC is that home where now our son Jeffrey runs through the garden looking~ ~ fairies. p • Rhea Ormond Drawing by Rhea Ormond �Drawings by Lucile Morgan - Coffey's General Sion: in Edgemont �Drawing b~ Bob Joluuon �Xatimh Journat• pnge 16 Drawings by Pcgi l,) i.n«ir, 1992-93 �The Solitary Tree by Charlotte Homsher Nature is not static, but an ever-changing process. Water moves so swiflly we can not focus on the lines of the current. Weather can change abruptly. Encounters with wild animals are fleeting and unusual. Only trees remain accessible to everyone, sturdily rooted in place long enough for us 10 study them. In issue #36 of Kan,ah Journal, I wrote about the relationship of trees to each other in a grove. In this anicle, I address the individualistic trees who stand alone and offer us insight into difficult questions. We live at the close of a century of momentous change, in an era of transition from one age to another, in a time of tremendous challenge. Now as never before we hold the fate of humanity and of the survival of the planet itself in our hands. It is easy to forget, so quickly are events moving in the epoch sense, that the process of decay (which is the grandest transition of all) happens slowly enough within a human lifetime for us to grasp the meaning of the cycle. For instance, the era of the great American chestnut tree came to an end in the thirties, yet the skeletal trunks of the chesmuts could still be seen scanding upright on the Blue Ridge Parkway into the sixties. I believe that even in death trees still teach us. There is a lightning-charred hollow trunk still standing at Catawba Falls. My son, who was silt at the time, told me very matter-of-factly that this hollow tree was where the lndian spirits live. He understood perfectly that the hollow places are homes, protection; not only den trees for bears and possums, but empty places where creation of all sorts can take place. A hollowed-out standing tree would be a good place for a vision quesL Nearly every power place has a tree of this kind. Inside the pregnant darkness of a hollow tree, one can hear a sound, a distonion similar to what one hears from placing a large sea shell neltt to the ear. These trees arc like drums for the Earth. I call the sound that they funnel the roar of the Earth. Jn the Reems Creek area, there is a massive trunk of a dead 1ree that is unusual not only for its size, but also because of 1he way in which the trunk twis1s up from the ground in a spiral pattern. The spiral twisting is indication that the tree grew on a power spot. The tree was able 10 bring up this powerful Eanh energy which came up the tree in a spiral vortex movement, and makes this energy available to the plam life, the animals, and the humans in the vicinitv. I am sure that this was a council.tree, a meeting place, when it was alive. Now that the tree is dead, the Earth energy that comes up through the root system of the trees in that area is now spread out among several mature trees. What is left for us 10 see are the remains of lessons of the past. I have heard of people finding crystals and unusual rocks under these spiral-trunked trees, but 1 personally prefer not to disturb these trees which are, of course, still den trees. 1.,lnter, 1992-93 Even more poignant, arc the trees which are still living, still sprouting even when 1he heartwood is gone, and sometimes when nothing is left but half a hollow trunk. 1 consider 1hese to be medicine 1rees, or healing trees. These arc easy trees to step into, to put one's belly against the sapwood and release fears and sorrows. l have fell no particular grief within these trees. They are very noble. They have a breadth of experience which embodies all of the transitions between life and death, fertility and decay. They have opened themselves up entirely 10 the erosion of the weather and 10 causal examinauon or their internal processes. They continue life even wuhin the process of decay. Healthy, live trees also teach us about times of transition. Double-trunked trees which have grown 1ogether embody many qualities of duali1y. separateness. and blending. The sweet birch is a good example of this. The bark of the young sweet birch is smooth but becomes scaly and rougher with age. A double-trunked swee1 birch, which has one smooth trunk and one rough trunk, may appear to be one tree but is actually two trees of the same species at different ages of growth. This phenomenon of the double- trunked tree 1s even more obvious when trees of different species sprou1 at the same time, seed next to seed. It is common to see trees which have one character, one predominwn shape, yet which are combinations of beech and hemlock, for instance, or ironwood and maple. These are wonderful teacher trees. By studying t'he qualities of the two worlds, the crossroads of separate species, we can recognize ourselves at a crossroads and gain insight into ways of growing gracefully as individuals into the oneness of the greater vision of Iife. Trees have their own cycles and reasons for being that have nothing 10 do with humanity, yet we have intruded into the natural processes 10 such an elttont that O"Ces may not survive without our intervention. I think it is very possible that a time v.ill come when we will garden trees to keep a species alive just os we now garden vegetables. Until that time tllere is still the chance 10 persuade the ,,ild trees to prolong their lives, 10 keep the forest vibrant, happy, and healthy so that our children and our children's children can learn from the trees. We can do this by entering into the realms of nature with /;;!I' humility and genuine gratitude. fr Dr•wing by Pegi �. ./4 "The Serpent and The 1 J f I ,, .,__ / / / \ ,,'.~ In thls joyful compendium of woodslore, ancient legends, humorous !ales, and perceptive insights, Doug Ellion opens our eyes to the world of planes and animals and !he many ways of rediscovering our natural heritage. Wi!h !he easy voice of a storyteller, he shows how nature provides all our needs • not only food, clothing and shelter, but also the spiritual truths that can enrich and transform our lives. In !he pages of Wildwood.s Wisdom you'll view nature through !he eyes of many people from different walks of life, some who embody ancient wisdom, others with sc1cnufic knowledge, and still others who have been touched deeply by an encounter with !he natural world. You'll hang out with • Native Americans, Appalachian mountain folk. and biologists. And you11 hear stories of Pentecostal snake handlers, hoodoo root doctors, possum breeders, and even a New York stockbrocker, to Doug Elliott also adventures - hitchhikir sketching along the Re capturing snakes, colic walking softly in the b expound on plants and small with enthusiasm "This book is abl exploring, and dwellin of an ecosystem 1eemi1 and change. It is about dwelling place within , we interact with the en world at large." The be illusmued with over 01 by the author. Wildwo journey of awakening, world we may not ofte are forever joined. Doug Elliott is a �Egg" and Other Tales ... >name a few. o draws on his own ing across the country, :ocky Mountains, leering folklore, and backcountry - to d creatures great and ri and witty reverence. JOUt being home, about ng oo the earth as pan ing with life and death 11 finding that sacred 1OUllClvcs, from where nvironmcnt and the >OOK i~ abo beautifully ,ne hundred drawings ood1 Wisdom is a :, of being at home in a en sec but to which we 1 naturalist, herbalist, storyteller, and wildlife anist who has been ranging woods and waters since childhood. For the past decade he has lectured, conducted workshops, and performed storytelling in concert with various organizations including the American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian rnstitution. Doug is also the author of Roots: An Underground Botany and Forager's Guide. He lives with his wife, Yanna, on a homei;tead in Kaulah Province, Rutherford County, North Carolina. To order Wildwoods Wisdom send $22.95 pl1Ls $2.00 shipping to: Paragon /louse; 90 Fifth Avenue; New York, NY 100/ l. To receive a listing of Doug's activities in your area you can contact /um 01: Rt. 1, Box 388; Union Mills, NC 28167 Drawings by Doug l!lliou �1• " ARSON! "I ,t",,t N.nnl World News Savic.: ArsoniSLs suuclc the Hennes.sec Hardwood Company of Franklin, NC early on the morning cl November 30, 1992. setting IWO foes that did more than SS0,000 damage and woonding owner Jack Hennes.~ee in an exch:inge of gunfire. The action was apparcnlly to discourage the logging comp:iny from carrying 0111 a contraCt on the Rich Mounuun umber sale m the Highl:inds Ranger Dl5Ulct of the Namahala National Forest. This was only the la~t in sabotage actions agrunst the Ilcnnessee Company during 1992: vandals dLo;ablcd equipment belonging 10 the company and nn indcpcndcnt su!KontraCtor while Hcnncssce was working the Rich Mountain sale last winter, and the Hennessee office was the target of vandaJig-n earlier in the month or November. In response 10 a threatening leticr, Jack Hennessee. the owner of the company, was keeping watch on the plant on the night or Sunday, November 29. He said lhat after dozing he awoke ai 4 a.m. the following morning to find that a large floodlight overlooking the mill was ouL He went oulSide IO check on the situation and saw that a 100tshed in !he debarlcing section of the plant was on fire. According to Hennessee, he saw what appeared to be a person runn111g around the comer of the shed. He fll'Cd on the person with a handgun. Al lhe same time he saw another fire flaring up ne:uby m the plant's chipping operation. At lhat moment he heard two shots and was knocked to the ground. When he roused himself later on, Hennes.sec called lhe county sherilrs department and lhe ambulance. At the hospital he ICM!ed he had been suuck by a bullet, which passed through lhe flesh of tus back, not wounding hun seriously. Hennessee is convinced that the attack was motivated by opposition 10 the company's logging the Rich Mountain Timber Sale, which 1s divided mto 15 units scauered arowid the town of Highlands in Macon County. Other actions against the company have been din,cu:d specifically against that timber operation. In a widely-publicil.cd incident during February of 1992, saboteurs tore the~ and cut hydraulic lines on skiddersand looders belonging 10 Hennessee that were parked m the Buck Creek area of the Rich Mountain umber sale. On lhe night of November 13, 1992 vandals cnlCl'Cd the Hennessee Company omces through an open back door, dumped drawers and files on the Door about the room. painted slogans Wee "Clcarcuuing Ba.~wds" and "You11 Never Cut Rieh Mountain" on the office walls. A drink machine was broken, and a smaJJ pis10I was also stolen from 11 desk drawer. One week lalllr, Hcnnc.=e emplnyu_~. on doing a routine check before morning sl3Jl-up, found th.11 someone had attempted 10 sabotage the chipper by putting a large p,pe wrench down the mouth of lhc machine where it would have done extcn\1ve damlgc to the blades. ll1en.on Fnday, November 27. 1992, Hcnnesscc h3d received an unsigned letter at the company offices staung that "the end is near." This was what prompr.cd him 10 set a watch on the plnnt and ll1e North Carohnn State Bwcau of fnvcstign1ion is assisting the Mncon County Sheriff's Department 111 the mvcsugation of the recent lll'SOn. OfflCCrS said that mal.Crials had been sent 10 Raleigh for annlysis, 001 that it was too C3rly in the mves1ig;ition 10 say anything about iL, progress. ~tuah Joumat· PmJ" 20 TRYING cmCUMSTANCES FOR CHAMPION Na1ural World News Sarvicc APPEALS UPHELD Nlllnl World News Sovicc In September, 1992, the US Congiess voccd 111 favor of a bill supponing the nghLof the public to appeal Forest Service timber sales. When it was signed by the prcsiden1 Im.ct in the fall. the legislation became law. Some were worried lhat pr0visioos added by Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) would unduly tle the hands of citizens. According to Peter Kirby, Southeast Regional Director of the Wilderness Society, most, but not all, or the problems with the btU have been resolved. Congress has added a section from Sen. Wyche Fowler's (D-GA) earlier measure that requires the Fores1 Service 10 inform the public about proposed actions and provide specific opporwnilics for commenung. In addition, ciw.ens still have 45 days in which to appeal. llOl 30 days as had been proposed in the Craig bill. The bill does add some new restrictions to the right to appeal, however. The Forest Service will only allow persons 10 appeal ifwriucn or oral commentS arc submmcd on the proposed action, or if the Forest Service is notified about the per.;on's mrcrcst in the activlly. The FOi'est Service will only be given 45 days to review an appeal, 001 100 days, as currently allowed. tr the Forest Service does not make a decision with111 45 days, the original decision will stand. Dissatisfied panics will then have lO talce the Forest Service to court or take Lo the uces. REAL BARTERING Nanni World News Scrvia: The Alarka Laurel saga continue.~. The 2,000 acre trael, which cootains a rare spruce bog and a scenic wa1erfall, was 10 be pun:hased by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission a~ a game refuge, bU1 lhc shifting winds of stale policies changed lha1 arrangcmcnL • The latest proposal is a bnd swap between the TruM for Pubhc Land (TPt.) and the US Forest Service, F ~ Supemsor Bjorn Dahl hlls proposed thal Al:u-ka Laurel be tmdcd for a t .SOO acre uac1 on Fontaf13 Lake. which would then be made available for priv:ue lkvelopmcnL The TPL 8"0!JP 1s agJcc.ible, and the Swam Coun1y Colnmiss10ncn; seem lO favor the idea. Appro,'DI by Swam County re.~idcnts hlls been a major stumbling block in resolving the fate or the Alarlca Laurel tracL Ncgoumions may be ex1cnclcd, and 1he arrangement would requuc a public hearing, which may be held in Bl)·son City as early as December, 1992, although the date was not available when this issue went lO press. A lawsuit brought against Champion Intemauonal Corporation by seven frunilies ftling on behalf of2.600 homeowners on the Pigeon River and Douglas Lake in Tennessee ended in a mi51rial on October 16, 1992 oficr one month of testimony before the US District coun in Greeneville, TN. The plaintiffs soughl S3.9 million m compens:tlion and S365 million in punitive damages for a decline in the value of their wau:rside propcnies allributable 10 the presence of the highly toxic chemical dioxin, which is produced m the chlorine bleaching process used by Champion in the papcmuwng operations at its Can10n. NC mill. Although the jury was hung on conflicting claims of the virulence of dioxin presenlCd by witnesses called by the plaintiffs and by Champion Corporation, the trial made public unponant infonnation abou1 the company and the way it doe~ business. One willlCSS called lO the stand was retired US Navy Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, who ordclCd the release of Agent Orange, a dioxin-laden defoliant, dunng the war in Vietnam. Zumwal1 told how his son was killed by diseases conU'IICtcd from e,qiosure 10 the herbicide. Knowing whal we do aboul dioxin, said Zumwalt, "it is not only unethical. but reprehensible" for the paper indUSIJ'y to continue 10 produce the cancer-causing c:hemieal. Al Smith, a rcured deputy director of the Environmental Protection Agency who worked closely with the Champion permitting process in 1987-88, also testified for the plaintiffs. He contended against consiant objections by defense auomeys for 90 minu1CS on the stand as he tried 10 tell in detail how Champion staged an elaborate campaign 10 manipulate public opinion on the issue of the Canton mill's operating permiL He said that he was convinced that Champion's threal to lay off 2,000 workers from the Canton mill for environmental reasons was "a ploy." Attomeys for the plaintiffs also introduced 11 memo from an executive with the Price-McNabb Advertising Company of Asheville, whicll was hired as a consultant for Champion's media campaign. The memo directed that Champion spokespeople should debate the permit "in a manner that tires the puhlic and the media of the ISSue." Phillip NC31, a rewed eng1IIC(I', added creditability to the clnim put forth by environmentalists that Champion was holding the area "economic hostage· to win its way m the permit ballle. During the permit dispute, Oliver Blackwell. then manager of the Canton mill, Slllr.cd rcpe31Cdly that ll was "technologically unfeasible" for the company to meet stale water color rcqu11emcnts. Neal 1esufied tha1 during the same period the company had held a patent on a proces.~ he had designed 10 remove color from the waia. The proce.s~ wa.~ ne,·cr alluded 10 anJ never used, Neal said. In the closing days of the tn31 a real esmte appraiser stated that the threat of dioxin h.ld adv~y affected land price.~ around the lake. S11ll the jury could not reach a clear decision. The plaintiffs declared emphatically thnt the lawsu11 will be brought to trial again. 1Ji1i.t~r, ,1992>"93 �BOISE CASCADE: "THE PUBLIC BE DAMNED! Narural World New, Service Boise Cascade Corporation. one of lhe companies proposing to build chip mill opua1.1ons that would denude foresllands in soulhea.s1m1 Tenne.~. has declared lhat it will proceed with its consu-uction vlans without waiting for a ~hipping pennit required by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). If they do not receive a barge permit, the timber giant would send the chips to port overland by truck instead of on the river. Because or overwhelming opposition to the dcstrucuve chip mills eitpre.ssed at public bearings, TV A has been "leaning against" offering the permits to the chip mills (see KaJuah Journal 1136). Boise Cascade has put off construction uni.ii January, and environmentalists are wondering if their move is nOl a bluff designed lO force TV A's hand. Local activist Bob Mitchell of the Tennessee Valley Hardwood Alliance was quoc.ed in the Chananoogo Times as saying, "They think that if they go in and destroy the beauty along the river ahead or time, there won't be anything lO argue abouL The whole region is against these people, and it's going lO be a continuous media event if they try to come in hero. "Even 1f it is a bluff, they will have destroyed that section of the river." The local group Tennessans, Gcorgit111s, ond Alabamans for Environmental Responsibility (fAGER), which came together over the chip mill issue, has raised the possibility of calling a national boycou of Boise Cascade if the corporation proceeds with its construetion plans. That decision, too, is on hold until Boise Cascade makes its intentions clC3l'. ART ROWE v. FREE SPEECH NIIIUnl Wedd News Service It seems that the Forest Service has been gerung testy about its image lately. Earlier this year, the Daniel Boone National Forest wrote threatening letters to activists, falsely claiming that the display or Smokey the Bear caricatures was illegal. Recently, Paul Myer.;, a member of the environmental group SoothPAW, attempted lO distribute a mer to visiior.i at the offices of the Pisgah Ranger District and posted a copy on the public bulletin bo:ird. The flier simply asks readers to comment on the draft amendments to the Pisgah/Nantahala management pion before December 16. ltencoumges support for formulating a plan alternative that protcets the Pisgah/Nantahala National Fore.sis as naturally functioning ccosyStems. makes ecological restoration a primary go31, and ends ta~payer-subsidiu:d logging on these public rorests. When Myers discovered that Dislricl Ranger Arl Rowe had taken down the flier, he contacted the district ranger, asking whal he needed io do to post and/Or distribute the Dier. Rowe advised Myers against even distributing the flier, saying that he was "not sure if there is any appropriate authormu.ion" and that "there are rules a.~ to what can and can't be distributed.· Recent coun cases do not suppon Lhis position. Alier the Foresl Service tried to censor signs in the wc.~tcm US. the Department of AgriculbJJC baned the Forest Service from interfering with the right of free speech. The Forest Service could only specify where the distributors could go. and even then, only when there was a clear danger to public safety. Fortst Wateh, a publication or'Cascade Holistic Economic Consul1811ts, observes that the Forest Service typically discourages activities that cast it in a poor light II uses intimidolion when this ploy docs DOl work. Myers believes that Art Rowe is uying to delay distribution of the SoulhPAW fliers until after the deadline for public comment on the plan amendment Stnd fellers on the Forest Plan to: SowhPAW; 3 CI/JXlcm Pl.; Aihe vi/It, NC 28801. They will be prtunttd to the Forest Suvict by December 16. GEORGIA EXPANDS LIST Nanni World News Service Georgia has added 135 species to the 79 species currently proc.ectcd under its suue endangered species acL The upandcd list includes a large number of threatened and endangered planis, birds, and mussels native lO the Appalachians, including the monkey-face orchid (PlaJanthera inlegrilabia), a rare plnnt found near wetlands. The list was expanded in sp11c of objections by a lobbyist for Sea Island n:oort, Union Camp Corporauon, and Georgia-Pacific Corporauon who claimed that the additions would interfere with priv:uc property rights. The Georgia Department ofNawral Rcsoun:cs did not find this claim plau.~iblc: the Georgia endangered species act applies only lO statc~ed lands and federnl lands managed through coopcmuvc agreements with the Sllllc. In addition, national forests typically protect state listed species under a "protcetcd" or "sensitive" species de..~gnation. (c:onlinuod on page 29) For more informo.tion or 10 help fig hi 1/te chip mills, contact TAGER: Box 764: Sowh Pi11sburg, TN 37380 SHOW SOME IMPROVEMENT Nawnl World New, Service North Carolinians are hoping that recent Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) hearings will be a springboard for saner uanspon.ation policy. Members of the newly formed NC Allillnce for Transportation Reform spoke at the hearings for the fina time, advocating a switch to lJ'lUns, buses, van pools, bicycles, 1111d foot-power. At a hearing in Morganion. member.; or the group chided the NC Department of Transportation for focusing single-mindedly on new rood construction while ignoring alternative transpOl'1lltion, better planning, maintennnce of exisung roads, nnd other mOfC cost-effective systems. They cited othct serious costs associated with rood-building, such as declines in wildlife populations and air quality. WNC Alliance Transportation Task Force member Jim Barnes, who came to speak against four-lamng portions of U.S. 221, noted tha1 the NC DOT seemed lO be acting on its own narrow pohucal agenda more than on the public's behalf. Barnes, a com bot veieran, quoted a swement by Secretary of Transportatioo Thomas Harrelsoo that implied that people wocking for transponation rcfOITll were pan or the "CCCP" (Russian communists) and told DOT lO stop the auacks. ~- ....,i ,./r.t_,,.,._ ......... ·~·...· ~ CLEARCUTS in Crandfoth<:r Ranger Obtnct Pi~g;th N•lt0Ml Fol'\'!\t 1967-1992 • • ~IS _ ... Wa1t-r,htrd-,. - - -Watrrway, --r,,g.i.o.w.s...., - , COUJ1171.J,,oo «:. _ _ US....,_~..._.,,__,,.,,,..,,lltrp•u-'""&MM-111,.._,111,,-, . ,.....__,t._&,__..W'ftt._Mll ... lWa. Send wrillen comments on tM TIP 10: Thomas llarrefson, Secretary ofTransP«tmion; J/ighway Building: 1 S. Wilmington St.; Rakigh, NC 2761 l To become a 1ranspona1ion reformer, write: NC AtlitJ11Cefor Transpor101ion Reform: P.O. Box 1002: Chapel Iii/I, NC 27514 ,,.,inter-, 1992,..93 This map was produced for the Foothills Environmental Alliance (FEA) by Rob Messick to document the extent of clearcutting on the "Grnndfathcr Ranger Desert" in the Ptsgllh N11tional ForesL The Allmnce i.1 calling for an end io clearcutting on public lands in lhe diwict, saying thal. so many acres have already been logged that the cumulative effects of so much cutting have affected the area as a whole. Fore.st Service Ranger Mike Anderson has refused to meet with the FEA, so lhe group ha.~ taken their map and their appeal to the media and the public. �MANDALAS by Rob Messick �Michael Thompson was raised in Kentucky and Indiana. His formal education was at Eastern Kentucky University and the University of Tennessee. Michael started his artistic career as a porcelain artist; his porcelain pieces are in many states and several countries. His pen and ink works have been published in Kat11ah Journal and Appalachian Heritage. He has illustrated several booklets and one book. He now lives in Berea, Kentucky where he works in aniques and porcelain restoration. !Ji.nter ,' 1992-93 �POEMS The sun of my mind rises Nourishing and encouraging The growing branches of my heart's wisdom With an enlightened mind And a heart as strong As an old oak tree My body can face the wind And call to joy. The View from Hawk's Nest Pegl 'Tire world's longest steel, arch bridge with a single span of 1700 feet opened on Oct. 22, 1977, as an integral part of West Virginia's interstate system." - from a post card text When the aliens came, they couldn't seem to stand it; They looked at it, some of them even admired it; Had said: "Overthere shall be a sanctuary for Whomever"? The huge gorge, the swift-running river below, the long ages of slow carving; Instead, they ran roughshod right over the canyon; But then they had to get somewhere else; So they spun long strands of steel, and spanned the chasm; they straddled it. What if, standing here for the first time, seeing it, they had decided instead to stop? Had said: ''No, this is it, we go no farther, this edge will suffice"? Had said: "No, what is over there will be theirs who have it"? (Mostly deer, sun-motUed trees, and rhododendron;) Had said: "Let that be the Overthere where we celebrate our restraint"? Xatimh Journot pngc 24 In hardly more than an instant they bridged all that had taken the water forever to open up; And hurriedly went on their way scurrying evermore west to the Earth's end; Then, lo, one particular day, they came back; "Bridge Day," they called it; They dangled ropes down and climbed up it; they put parachutes on and jumped off it; they raced their motorcycles over u; they laughed and then picnicked upon it; 'Once each year we'll come again and mock this gorge," they said; "Once each year we'll have 'Bridge Day'." by Gerald George l,.lu1 trr. 1992- 93 �... . . •. ... ... ~. .......................•.. .. ··•..... l.Jtnu r , 1992-93 . . .. . .. .. . .;~ �DRUMMING Ocnr Kataali, Hey Rob • way 10 go. Looks like you got your anal complex in ncwsprinL Most folks just pu1 it on 1hc outhouse wall or I.ell bath.room jokes to their friends. 111 bel you've grossed ouI half of Kauiah Province. P.Winklor Hickory.NC Ocnr Karuah, Re: lhe "CMOOn" in the Fall '92 Kauiah. "the b10-movcmcnt.•. it's as slow as a bowel movcmcnL• • now CRUDE I not lO mention inaccurate (rm sorry to learn Mr. Messick is constipatcd, but please SJXITC us, your readers, this kind of knowledge in your last 3 h.~c.~). Un<:igncd Charlouc. NC • Reply: Than! you for your commtnt.r. I suppou you tw0 think that art should ncvtr be ojftnsiw:. I don't agree with that. Man) comics and artists use the irracioMI 10 get a pomt acros.r. They also play with taboo sub;ects rtgularly. FrtJ/lltly I have mtt too many tnvirollflll!ntalists who haw: diffic11/ty laughing 01 tht:mstlvts. In the Fall, /991 issuto/Kat~nh Wt" pla}'l!d with tht sumingly sacrosanct KatuahJournaJ logo and it becamt Granola Journal/or this vuy reason Why is it that the sense of humor is among the most controversial of human pursuits? The "Ka1'1ah Ko,rfu.sion~ comic in isslll! 36 hod a play on words that was IIOl =ant to be 1~11 this seriously. I/you would liu to see m()Tt: ufmy 'anal comp/a' please re/t:r 10 Katuah Journal issut 1112 (Summn- 1986) 111 an article t!nlitled "The Sacred Sca,ab"for which I cartooned idtas the Kauiah edito~ hod aboui scarab beet/ts raking care of the sort of miff )'OIi fuul III ou1l,ouses. 1/appy body funcnons! · RM De.u-Katuah, I was inl.CrCSICd to read the review of Kattiah iffl!e #34 in lhc latesl issue of Anarchy mnga.,me. 1lle mrun reason I've written is bccnu.w rm fa1tly heavily involved with lhe UK Earth First! nelwork and am presently beginning 10 compile an nnicle on the Iheme of·Rcfon:sting the Eanh." My intent in producing this article for the UK Emth F'l/'SlJ magll7.ine called Wild is: I) Because a (X)lll~ve n:fon:stmion drive would go a long way to mitigaung many of the disasuous side cffeCLS.of our presenl way of life (who knows, it could even ushet m a ocw "modem primitive• golden age, and talce lhc l)fCSSW\l off our animal brothers and sisterS). 2) It means that us radical c:nvironmentaliStS can be proactive rather lhan reactive • seuing our own agenda rather than always decrying "theirs.• lt is not enough jUSl lO oppose.. A pc)Siti ve vision o( ours acts as a binding force and gives us something 10 strive for mthcr lhan fight agrunsL 3) Living in lhe United Kingdom I yearn for a wilderness, an unn:gulaled expanse. Seeing an American wilderness (of a kind) - Yosemite· had a profound cffCCl on me. XAt6bh. )outnat page 26 4) The planting of U'CCS seems 10 me lO be very life-affuming - a way 10 give somelhing back (or "pay the rent," as US EF! people say). It is a way to create something rather lhan prevent something rrom being desaoyed. I see lhc article as having two secLJons. 1lle fu;t will cover and promoli: groups already engngcd m reforestation - e.g. Trees for Life. Scottish Tree Trust, Sacred Tree Trust, Reforesting Scotland in lhe UK. Gccen Bell in Kenya. Si-A-Paz in Nie4ragua, clC. The second will promote the idea of a uec-based life itself and ex:imine lhc pr05pCCts for tl1is THE. LAST~F~~ l<ATUANS Dear Kataali, My deepest thanks 10 all of you for Ka16uh Journal. It was really good reading, and rm sorry nex1 summer it will be all over. Please, jf You plan 10 publish Katuah again in the future, or any other journal or books. le! me know. Good Luck To All of You, Giuseppe Moretti Man10va. l181y Dear Katuah, We are two historians Crom Austria. For about 1en years we worlt and publish on new spiritual and alcem:itive movements. At the same time we are p:in of lhese movements by ourselves. We are both acLJve in lhc non-prol'it association "For the Earth, for Life/Working Circle Hopi. Auslri3" which suppons traditional lnduln issues and promou:.s spiritual practices in the: Gennan-spcalcing an:a. After the decline of communism in Eastern Europe there is an increasing 1endcncy toward a new regionalism throughout lhc continent. We con5idcr the bioregionaJ,sm a~ a very tn!Cl'Cs.tmg alternative to the estabhshcd stau:-sysiem. We want lO inronn the public rn the German-speaking coonincs by means of sc1cn1ilic work about biorcgionalism which b unknown in Europe. So we request your help by sending us information material on your specific work and acuviucs, and by answering the following questions: • Is your vision of bioregionalism connected with an egaliianan, hierarchical, or other order of society? (which) • Arc foreign people wekome in bioregional areas or is it the aim of bioregionahsm that pc,ople 01 foreign cullll/'U - e11cluded? •There is a big con~uon of biorcg1011al idea~ with Nauve Amcncans. ls there any coopcrall<>n and/or do you SUPJlOll Indian land rights struggles cu:.? We are looking fOfWlltd lo hearing from you. Sinc:crely Yours. Dr. &luard Gugcnbager Dr. Roman Schwcidlcnka A-8984 Kainisc:h 29 Austria, Europe Dear Katuah. I fll'St read Karuah JourMI boci wilh issue 1127. I luld ;ust finished 1wo year. with the Peace Corps in the Philil'fl111CS, and had rclWllcd home 10 Ellijay, GA 10 visit with my Dad. The arucle by Richard Lowenthal :ibo1.1t personal and plancwy healing blew me away. I remember I sat on lhe public bench in front of the Dallon, GA pos1 office and read lhc: article by Lisa Sarasohn about the belly. "If we are lO heal the Eanh, let us st.art as close to home as possible, let us Stan with the ponion of the Erulh which is our bodies.· Since I.hen our wife delivered our fll'Sl child. as a future social model as oovocated by the Such words wri11en by lots of d1ffcrcnl people over Movement for Compassionate Living. George these past few years It.we helped me so much. Mostly French, permaculturists, and so on. I'm quiet, but I feel reassurance m knowing thal Your publication sounded like ii would be others feel things like me. worth reading in n:la!Jon lO this article. If you know What's most imponant for y'all publishing 1hc of any Cun.her relevant matuial, such as lhal I have journal 1s your own healths. Maybe if the journal is outlined above, I'd be very grateful 10 hear from you. diffic:ull to pull iogether using just volunteer input, Youn Sincerely, we could increase our yearly subscnplion to say Dominic Franklin twenty-Ii ve dollars, and then have a small stipend for Brighton,UK lhe core members of the SUlff. I think that Ka1uah semis out a really powetful voice, and I think lhlll ,n times 10 come we'll sec more and more people looking ror such a voice in lhelf search for lhclf place in this Great Life. In appreciation, Scou Richardson Baguio City, Philippines Drawing by Dous Ellioct JJi.ntei. 1992-~ �Dear Kan1ah, ...... ... ..r _; ~-· ... . .... I '·· ·-' (\ : ,fl., ... .. ,• ....~ ··· /-.: i·.. • ) _.: .... ~ \ ·.... ·.......... c::::~ Dear Katuah, 1 ••···: ·--.... l ! ~ { .-:;::> '·-.... ........ ·, ..........··......... ··--...· ILL MISS YOU! BIGTIME With Love, Peace, and Hope for the Future, HalWlllSOn M:ith The Noturt Con.m-wincy Minneapolis. MN _. Thanks C« all your work. We love Katuah Journal and will miss you! The Magic Fac10ry Rome.GA DcarKatuah, lwassoodcnedbytheannoonccmentto discontinue publication of Katuah Journal. Your contnl>ution lO bioregional awan:ncss and thinking has reached beyond K.alliah. The mspuation the joomal has provided for me will be missed• The best to all of you, Tom Hawkins Ravenna.OH Dear Ka1uah, So SrKry to hear you all are ceasing publication • this truly is tht btst biortgional journal in the country! Dear Kataah, Dear Katuah. We recently came to North Carolina to camp in the Sunburst area of Pisgah National Forest. We were there for a weelc and had an opportwlity to visit Cherokee, NC. On the way into the city we passed an interesting edifice which turned out to be Native Traditions, the non-profit organization which suppons experiential education for youth. We wmed in because I thought it was a herb shop and I have a great interest in herbs. (If you know the store perhaps you will understand my mistake.) I was delighted with the enterpnse, even though it wasn't a herb store. My two boys and I were fascinated with the items oCfered frK sale, along with the lending library and Sequoyah Trueblood's concept. While paying ror two crystals the boys had selected. I spotted a C-Opy of Ka111ah Journal on a nearby uibtc. I reached frK a copy 10 add 10 the purchase thinking it was a Cherokee local newsletter and that it would be intem.ting 10 road. The young Indy at the counter would take no payment for ill J wn.~ further impres.,;oo! However I was even more impressed when I finished reading that summer 1992 issue! So impressed that I would like lO ~ubscribe. I subscn'bc to Circlt Ntrworlc News from Wisconsin, Mymcal Realms"from Briton, nnd \Vild and Wudy from ldaho. Thi.~ Katuah Journal is a good counter JlOlnl . I enjoyed it! Thanks again , C. L. Mahoney Ros.~ford, OH "Now is tht Season of Dying Tht Long Dark Night A'bornin' Bui sh.hh! Usttn... The Trus Stand Tall A'gin the Bi11u Wind Awaitm' tht warm glqwA' Morniri'." DearKatuah, Your publicauon 1s right on targeL To me. ltving close to the L'l.lld is the most imponant thing we can do. I am glad 10 send you $50.00 for ALL of your remaining back l~sues. They will become a valued pan of my library as I learn to live hannoniously with my biacgion - The Mississippi River Delta. Long Live the E.arth, George Nctwcrlccr New Orleans, LA (The Forest's W/lll'ERSONG) I was saddened by your news. The passing of an important piece of all our lives - but I'm glad to have known and been a pan of Katuah for the time I was. Peace, Fran Freudcnbcrgcr Hendersonville. NC Thankyou, Dana Vandcr Els Winooski, VT Dear Katuah. Sad news indeed! Have you considered trying to get some foundation in the region to underwrite three years of an editor's salary rK wha1evcr expense is most critical? Send two copies of Katuah Journal with your proposal, and who knows, it might w«k. The Dirtctory of Foundalions is probably available at you local library. Keep Katuah Afloat! Ken Morrison Babson Park. FL Dear Ka1uah. Dear Katuah, Sorry 10 hear about KDluah's ceasing pubIic31ion. A line J()umal which will be hasd to top. I wish all of you well and thank you frK your years of service to the people of the province and the rest of us lucky enough IO come across iL Regard.~ Onwings by Rob Messick LccMcm:r Baltimore, MD Although l did expect it sooner or later I still hoped 1wouldn't sec the ad on Page 34 Fall '92 saying good-bye. It was through Katuah Journal that I rully wised up 10 natural resources • the w:iy they were, arc. and can be again - and I can't po~bly thank you all enough for that , At least you arc going out with dignity, aware that you did reach a lot o f ~ with your message of hope, expressed so beautifully in your "Statement of Purpose." It is my hope that you can, in the foreseeable future, once again send II voice. •• if not. you have accomplished much anyhow. In closing, for th,: benefit of anyone who IS interested in gaming good insight mto just how esscnual lltCS arc to human life, and how wonderous they an: up close, may I sugg~ a book cnlltlcd rhir Green World written in 1942 by Rutherford Plan. in reprint now through Dodd. Mead, and Company. Mr. Plait undcrnood ucts, and his love for them shows through. Though an amrueur Mtumlist. hi5 knowledge SUrplSSCd many "eitpertS" and This Grun World e:imed him the Burroughs Awanl as the year's forcmosi literary worlt in nature writing. I urge folks 10 get this book, if no others. (continllCd on ne,,1 P"&e) XA~,Jin.m9':, ~~. �Dear Katualt, It m:ilccs me snd 10 think about Kaluoh Journal being put to sleep! Fondly, B31tara Wickersham Knoxville, TN (continued from pa;;c 27) Again, lhank you :ill ror guidance when I mo5t needed n worthwhile dinx:llon an life • II won't be forg01ten ..• P.S, - I'd like 10 extend a "good day!" IO S:tm Booher, 'l'hcthcr he i, or isn't rcl31Cd lO the B«>hcrs in £ar Eastern Tennessee. A brother manicd into that clan fnr a while. Keep lhe Path, Jclfl.achary Dear Kllluoh, Thanks for all your good work through the years. Katualt has been 311 inspiration! Pcac:e and Slmhinc, Bob Fairchild E:l.slCmKenwcky Appropriate Technologies Oe.,r Kllluah, I nm oorry lO discover your journal jUSl as it is about IO cease publication. I am currently a graduate student in Foresuy a1 Notth Carolina S131e University. I hope to S1Jlr1 a homestead in the North Carolina Appalachian Mountains soon. Pcrh3ps some day we will meet? Peace, DcnnisOwnond Raleigh.NC Oeat'Klllu,Jh, I am sorry to hear that you will be CC3Slng publiaillon... Katuah 1s a ftl!C joumal and it will be sorely missed! Jennifer Brownlie Gulf B=.c. FL Dc:it Kattlah, We nre sorry to hear about KatJiah Jour11i1I eea~ing publication. especially ~incc we~ recently 1hscovcroo )'OU • •a voice in the waldeme."-'1.• I would also lake to order a near complete sci of lxK le issues. Good luck ond thank you. Cyntlua Maddo~ and Ben C.ampbcll Gn:cnsbom. NC Xoti,ah Journni patJC 28 De:irKotiiah. Sorry 10 hear I.hat Katuoh Journal will stop publicution. Best Wish<:s for the future. Bartxua WhiLCner Salisbury. NC Dear Katualt. We am very sad to hear you will cease publishing Katuoh Journal, We look forward IO each issue. it always lirts our spiriii; ro tCad the ankles and poems. Good luck 10 you all in your future cndca\'Ol'S. Peace, Steve and Jo Knight Allanm,GA Dear Kat(wh, I'd Ii.kc 10 obtain a copy of lhc l:iiest issue of Katiiah JourNJI fcawriog rorcsis, wood woit. and wood workers. Heard that this might be your final issue. ll<>pe it's 1101 true. Every issue I've seen has been absolutely lop notch • mieresting, relevant, cullurally and biorcg.,onally enrich111g. Please say 11 ain·1 sol Thanks very much. OaveKahnn Full Circle Foresuy Gaiberville. CA D.:arKatualt, We are compilmg and editing a ·Good Wood' guide that lisis source.~ of suruinably-h:u'vc~tild wood. and produclS mruJe thereof Do you have any leads for producers in yOllr area that might be mlCl'C6ted? Also, our new ncwslcucr 1s coming 001 an a week or two· would you like LO uchange? We all were 1mpr-cs,;ed by your journal, and were sorry to hear you're closing down. Thanks, Ken lll~titu1c for Sustainable Fon:s1ry P.O. Box 1580 Redway, CA 95560 Pnnt by Laura Braolt Janun • agt II DearKatwh, Over the years I've wriucn about the U.S. Forest Service. May I inlJ'Oduce the Association of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics (AFSEEE)? Among its members arc over 2,000 profcss1on:ils m the Forest Service. They am very upset with the polilici.iation of the U.S. Forest Scr.•ice wherein it no longer serves the best intcreslS or the public. Therefore they are sharing infonnalion to bring about reforms. He.re are quoc.ntions from information they have provided on how to save our National Forests from waste. "U.S. National Forests I) supply only 14% of U.S. wood producis 2) comprise only 8.5% or our country's land lllC3 3) contain SO~of rtffl3ining wildlife habitat in the U.S. 4) supply SO% of the cold-wrucr fisheries habitat in 1he U.S. S) provide abundant clean water and air 6) make up lhe I.isl remaining S% of our native forests in I.he conlinerual U.S. 7) and represent the la~t vestiges or functioning ccosysiems. critical for the preservation of remaining biological diva,;ity. These environr11Cnl:il value.~ eannoc be supplied anywhere else: they can only be found on our remaining public lands. The U.S. does 001 need more wood from the N;11ional f-orcs1s. Consider the following !.implc conservution and recychng ~ll'lllcgy. which would mon: 1han make up for lhecurrcnt 14% or wood products coming from U.S. National Forests: • Increasing the efficiency or our mills in the U.S. IO literally cul mare wood Crom each log. Technology aln::idy ovailnblc and being used in J:ipan would increase our "supply" a full 27%-. almost double what comes Crom National Forests. • Using mon: post-consumer recycled paper producis, making use of both sides of paper. reducing the use of di~lc paper producL~. and eliminating wood wa5te in lhc construction process. These steps m addiuon 10 mill efficiency would save us 50% of the trees we are cutting now • nearly four times the wood coming from National ForesL~. While AFSEEE is not necessarily advocating a halt to public lands devcloprl!Cnl and logging, we do advoe;ite a complete mor310nurn on any development of remaining roadless an::is or old growth. AFSEEE says unul we instJtutc a simple, rauonal conscrvuuon and recycling strategy, the public shOuld not have to give up the incredible cnvironmenllll values or our Notional Fore.,ts for a mere 14% of the wood prducL~ supply. Nor should we lose hundreds of m1lhons of our tax dollnrs m selling lhe heritage of our National Fore,, lands to tamber companies for lhesc unnCCCS'iaf)' wood producL,. • Oc:ir wise friend.,! Un51Crupulous Limber mtcre,L\ pn:,;cnUy conuol lhc admini~ll'lltion and Congreis and are quietly aucmpting to PG"-~ laws so tha1 they can loot our and our children's hcril!lgc. the b,1 rcinnining 5% or ancient forests. Subscribing to lnnrr Voiu (P.O. Box I 1615; Eugene, OR 97440) \\11l help ket'p you infonned. Our conccm:d western cousins need our help 10 save our ancient trees and the life tl1cy suppon. Congrcs~mcn who defer to such special unscrupulous mtcrc51., again~! the public good arc 1m:spoosiblc, de.~f\·ing or a hfe-long vacallon. :111d should be so informed politely. Won't you please help for the :sake of your grnnd.hlltlrcn? Yoo havi: the time and the means. Ancient tn:cs contJnuc to fall n~,ly. Z. Andrew Gerry FranJJan,NC lvint.cr, I qgz-93 I �(continued from page 21) BAD OPPORTUNITY TIMBER SALE APPEALED • BY INDUSTRY! Nllllnl World Nc,ws Sttvi« N•unl World News Set\<icc Following an order from lhe ccnuul office of lhe Southern Region of lhe US Forest ScN1ce. the Jefferson National Foresl has stopped issuing decision nouccs for Opponunity Areas (OAs). OAs average 7,600 acre.~ each on the Jefferson Under the old system, lhe Forest Service issued one-t,me decision notices for mosl ForesL Service ocuv111cs in 311 OA over a period of live or more ycru-s. Freed Crom the rcsLraintS of lhe old sySI.Cm, lhe Forc.~1 Service is planning a flurry or umber "3lcs. ll h:is begun using a rudimentary, nonbinding OA document lhat offers linle hope for expaod.ing nongame habiuu, special areas. or semiprimitivc recreational opportunities. Environmenial groups have nol been qwct., however. In October, represenialives of lhe CitilcrtS' Ta.~k Force for Foresl Management, the Appalachian Trail Conference, SoulhPAW, and the timber llldustry met with Ille Deputy Regional Forcsccr. Only lhe timber industry backed !he change. A second meeting is planned, lhis lime with Regional Forester John Alcock. The Cili,.ens' Tiwt Force ha. provided Alcock wilh a number of aises and materials on the OA system. The group has reminded him lha1 it was he who signed the f0test pl3n aficr lhe OA sysicm was worked OUL The Task Force argues lhat lhe OA system was designed 10 compensate for an otherwise deficient plan. Wilhout it, lhe Jefferson 1'ational FOfCSI is essentiBlly ·ptanless." and must begin opernting on imcrim guidelines until a satisfactory new plan is approved. To lhe nonh, !he George Washington National Forest has been operating on interim guidelines for several years. The C1tiicns· Ta.~ Force ha.~ enlistO<I lhe help of the Sou1hem Environmental Law Centec in preparing its If 1mit1tion is lhe sincetest form of noucry, then lhe Muluple Use Council JUSI /o~s Lhe region's environmental groups! ~timber industry advocacy group adopted an environmcnlalist iactic m Scpccmbcr, 1992 by entering an odmmistralive appcaJ wilh lhe US Forc.~1 SeN1cc on the Sugarhouse Cove limber sale. Sugarhouse Cove is in lhe Big Ivy area of nonh Buncombe County. Big Ivy IS known for us biolog1cal diversity and has been recommended 3S a biological reserve by a coalition of scientists and activists (Si:i!K01uahJourna/ #34). Ths substance of the induSLry appeal was an hi~1orical oulline or the Big Ivy area and a stand history of Lhe timber sale companmcnts. The h1~1orical oullinc went back JO J)IC-Columbian times and traced a history of human use up JO lhe present day. The comention or lhc appca) is lhat lhe umber sale should be expanded. The reasoning is that because there arc species of threatened pl.ants in Big Ivy and becaleiC much of Dig Ivy has experienced periodic human dislurbance, "lhe question might be raised" Ihm "site disturbance is necessary 10 lhcse plants and !he lack of site disuub:lnce may bar lheir recovery as a species." The obvious flaw in lhe logic of the appeal is 1h31 no cause-and-effect relationship is ~hown. Because there are lhrcatcned plant species in an area 1h31 experienced human disuu-bance does not mean lhnl the planlS arc dependent upon diSlurbancc. Much more prolxlble for species of native woodland plontS IS that they are continuing to exist in lhc area in spite of disuubances. The particular species in question were not named in lhc industry's appeal. If disturbance oncouraged lhrealClled plan15, lhc highly disturbed areas or human habilation all around lhc national forests would be rife wilh rare and endangered plant species. Unfonunately, this is not the case. Native species need nauve habitat.. which for the rare forest plantS is lhe old-growlh hardwood foresL For many speci.:s, the public lands are their los1 refuge, and i n ~ human use is lhreatening lheu last haven. Enlightening as is the dissertation on lhe history of the human use or the Big Ivy area, 11 in no way makes an across-the-board case that race plant~ require clcarcuis. case. For more in[ormarion. write: Citizens' Taslc Foret; 2753 Tanglewood Dr. SW; Roanoke, Va. 24018 ROADS CRISSCROSS PARKWAY Narura! World News Service It's lhe law! An obscure passage in !he 1989 North Carolina Highway Trust Fund Act bas cituens· groups and Blue Ridge Parlcway orrtcials worried. Tucked in among the other verbiage is a clause that requires the st:ite 10 rave all its roads - 17,000 miles wnhm IS y~. Fifty to 60 of lhese roads cross lhc Blue Ridge Parkway. When lhe Parkway wa.~ e~Lilbli!Jled as 11 nauonal park, the North Carolina and Virginia Dcpanments ofTran.,ponauoo (OOTs) n:ccived all nghtS of way foe inlefSCcung public roads. The Parkway administration is therefore Lrying to v.ork coopcrauvely w1lh lhe NC DOT. Accordmg to Ranger Jim Fox, lhc Patkway has an cxt.cnsive da1.1ba.o;c on rare plant communities and archaoological sues. It will urge DOT to avoid these are:is and to m.'lke changes whenever road plan~ CJlCOUl'3gc increased uuffte and high speed driving on the 1l3Jtway. Citi,cos groups arc also dismayed by the proposal. Paul Pritchard of the National Parks Md Conservation A~iation has exprcssoo concern about the project's potential to interfere wilh wildlife comdocs along the Parkway, In an Asheville Ciri1e11-Timn artlclc. he stated, "the moce we cut it up, lhe more difficult il is for nalllle to survive the acts of mon." lo>u1ter, 1992-93 OPEN SEASON ON COYOTE Natural World New. Serv,a, CO)'OIC 1, ptrSOfl(J flOfl grata in lhe Stale or North Carolina. The NC Wildlife Rcsoum:sCommis~ion 0.-/CWRC) has cl~ilied the coyoie as a •non-game wildlife specie.~· (hke a groundhog) and is proposing an open, urucstciclcd hunung = n on lhc wil>· canine. Since large nauvc preda10rs have been extcrmina1ed in lhe Sou1hcast. ll1crc has been an open niche in lhe area ecosystem, To fill Lha1 niche, the coy01e has migrated into Nonh Carolina from the wc~1 and has naturnli,cd itself in the Kaniah biorcgion and lhc wesiem piedmont Pockcis of coyoc.c i;culcment have also occurred 1n lhe caslCm part of the st.11e, probably as a rc~uh of human intrOduction. Coyotes arc opportunistic cau:rs. They are naturally prcda!Or'i, :ind will hunt animal~ as laq:e as deer down JO animals as small os rabbits, bird.~. rut.~, and mice. But coyoccs eat whatever is easiest JO find, which may perhaps be scavenged carrion or plant materials. They also will take domestic livC$tock - calvci;, turkeys. chickens, or pig.~. In doing so, lhcy rove run afoul of farmers, who ha\'C :i strong political VOICC. Whecc coyotes e.~lish lhemsclves, the red fox disappears - either outcompel.Cd or killed outright by lhe coyote. Foi1 hunters arc but a small part of the NCWRC con.~utucncy. but lhcy. 100, arc vocal and consti1u1e a strong lobbymg group for !heir aclivilie~. Thus an open season on lhis "undesirable alien." "Nobody believes lhnt lhe coyote population can be eradicated, but we don't want JO hinder anybody's cffons to conLrOI a specific situauon; says Peny Sumner of lhe NCWRC. The coyote may also have a damaging effect on nl!CmptS to reintroduce lhe red wolf, anolhec prcd:itor. The budget for red wolf remr.mduction includes money for indemni1ies to farmers who lose livestock lhrough red wolf predation. The small populations or red wolves presently loose III the wild are fairly easy IO moo11or. But if these populations grow, it will become more difficult to tell if a predation incident is caused by a wolf or a coyoie. Any pralation will lhen become "wolf predation" in lhe eyes of formers who will in~is1 on payment. "This could break lhe budget of the wolf progmm, • says Sumner, and could abort Lhc: whole reintroduction proje,cL TOO MANY DEER N&llltll World News Scrvia, In lhe late 1980s, eminent biologists William Alverson, Donald Waller, and Stephen Solheim reported lluu an overabundance of deer was damaguig ran: undcrsiory planlS in Pennsylvama. including some plants also found in lhe Southern Appalachians. Damaged plants were found even in the middle of a 4,07S acre virgin foresL Now a 1992N01ural A.rtas Journal on.icle by Sco11 Miller and Susan Brnuon documen~ lhc imrac1 of deer browsing on lhrealened and endangered pl.inLS across lhe United States. Based on a review of scientific literature on the \ubjcx:1 and interviews wilh 173 scientist..~. na1ural h~niage inventory bo1.0J11sts, Nature Conscrvoncy land stewanls, federal land resource managers, and US foh and Wildlife ci1pcns, Miller and Bratton compiled a list of 98 rare planl~ commonly disturbed by d<XC ovcrbrowsmg. The ~,udy found Lhat fedcrally lhre:itcned and cnd.mgcred plants like lhe Virgini:i round leaf bU'Ch, small-whorled pogonia, and swamp-pink are at ri~. Olhcc pfanl~ native JO Lhc Southern Appalachmn.s are affocled by deer as well: the list mcludcs over 40 Soulbem APJl31achian species IJlCluding spider-lily, gm,;cng, blazing star, Canada lily, Gray's lily, bog twaybladc, Appalachian 1woybladc, 1111d nonhcrn pitcher plont Miller and Brnuon llOIC Lhal deer populauons in many an:a1 are higbct than they have been hisl0rie31ly. They suggCSt that human disturbance, fragmentation. and a high proporuon of early suce. ~iOIUII gro"''lh are contributing 10 the problem. ... In addition, they nnc.1 that fragmentauon makes rare plant communities more a::ccssible to deer. �used cultum'struggling t6 be heard, Iather than being a pioneer on the fringes. Pathelic Art is not an expression of naive resignation, but an acknowledgement that irony, when you're getting gang-banged in an information orgy, is a pipe dream." Ceremonial chairlbcis 1/iie been for thousands of years by many cultures to provide a unifying force to help bond human beings together in a common spirit with shared values and attitudes. The rituals and ceremonies varied, but the basic principles of developing inner awareness and understanding of the Universe were similar. A oon-projir organiUllion called The Fo1111da1io11 For Earth's Ancestral Voices has been Ionned to work specifically on completing the Sound Chamber in Swannanoa, NC. The foundation is seeking donations in order to comp/ere construction of the dome. For more information write: The Foundalion For Earth's Ancestral Voices; 302 Old Fellowship Road; Swannanoa, NC 28778. - from Ralph Rugoff in tht catalog for a show in Los Angeles tilled "Just Palhdic. • Utne Reader, lpg 99) Noo/D« 1992 ~ SOUND CHAMBER IN SWANNANOA SEEKS HELP The World Peace/Sound Chamber being built at the Eanh Center in Swannanoa, NC is the eighteenth such chamber to be constructed. These chambers are scattered around the world in England, Sweden, New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, Germany, Austria, France Finland, and the United States (in New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Connecticut, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, New York, and Nonh Carolina). An unassuming man known as Joseph Rael or Beautiful Painted Arrow is the visionary father of these chambers. Pathetic Art Has Arrived "... although artists throughout history have been able to stand outside society, secure in their ability to define art and to offer social commentary, today they can fill no such vital role. Artists are more marginalized than ever - and these days, marginality means being trapped inside the media c.o~itlt. taoo~ CA.\'\.~ S ?066~ 1804 ~~bl.!:.~,tt.c . 2.8"7 l.5"' "The arc.1'$ oldest and large,;t natural foods grocery • Programs lo encourage self and Earth awareness, Bulk Herbs, Spices, & Grains Vitamins & Supplements WJ1eat, Salt & Yeast-Free Foods Dairy Substitutes Hair & Skill Care Products Beer & Wine Making Supplies celebfotlon. ldnshp and hope. • Youlll Camps • School Programs • Family Camps· Teacher Training • Communery P,ograms • Camp 518/t Traln.,g • Ouldoor Program Consulting PO Box 1306 615-436-6203 whole earth grocery .,,..ka dda of Big Co.., of iradltloru and •Ing, 1bc Boow<-r Dana, Crttn Corn Dance and other, with drum and rank• WHERE THE RAVENS ROOS1 NATURAL MARKET WHOLE FOODS • BULK FOODS • VITAMINES • HERDS • FAT FREE FOODS • TAKE our FOODS . SNACKS . NO SALT, NO CHOLESTEROL 265-2700 823 Blowing Rock Rd Boone, NC 28607 Xatuan Journ<it page 30 • NATURAL ALTERNATIVES FOR HEALTHFUL LIVING 446 e.parkway craft center • suit~ 11 g;itlinburg. tcnncsscc 37738 615-436-6967 -r,; ~ ~ , "'~ 200 W. ~.ing St, Boone, NC 28607 GOHlnbt.rg, Temossoo 3n311 ~ Cherokee 1raJi1ional ,oni:, of Wallie, Calhoun Snrero, AS AN wrffM1>1NQ R)U( Rtco,u)jNI) ff T1U: UUAU o, co,:qun CAS<tTn ""° MoulJTAll< IIOOl!UT $ ll Clmu UNIVllUn'Y 1-IDITAG1c WEJ11XH CAAOUNA Cuuowm:r, NC 28723 (7~} 264-S220 TaDing ua,-es is I monlbly jow'na1 of deep ecology, 111SPiml persooaJ ac:11v1sm rooted in eanhea spnitualil)'. PU! iSSUC$ have feanwd art1clts by Gary Soyder, Statbawk, John Seed, Joaona Macy, Bill Devall, Looe Wolf Circles. Bartiara Mor, eic. Talhng UOW!S speaks for the oatural world aod for 1be rekindling of our own wild spu11. Subscriptions arc $18.00 one year/ $24.00 OUISide U.S. Tallci11g ua,-u 1430 W1tlamette 11367 Eu,aie, OR 97401 503/342-2974 Wtnter, 1992-93 �BOOK REVIEWS: Beyond the Beauty Strip: Saving What's Left of Our Forests - by Mitch Lansky This new book by Mitch Lansky has been touted as one of the most imponant books about the Stale of the environment since Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. Mitch is a resident of Wytopillock, Maine who has become known as a "premier backwoods rebel" challenging many of'the accepted assertions about the timber and wood producl'> indusoies. His book presents clear facts about what has happened to the North Woods and considers the economic, political and social influences that have added to the serious ecological problems there. A major event that spurred the author into action occurcd in 1976 when he watched as planes dropped pesticides on his propeny. rle later sued the company responsible and sraned the citizens group called PEST {Protect our Environment from Sprayed Toxins). PEST was successful in regulating existing spray progams by introducing the use of compunds such as Bt and creating buffer zones. The group disbanded in 1988 after pesticide spraying programs ceased in Maine. Beyond tire Beauty Strip offers a hard look at the effeclS of industrial forest management and the results of "bottom-line" liquidations of forests so prevalent in the I 980's. Mitch has brought together convincing information that points to changes thut must happen in order for business. human communities, and the forests to find a sustainable relationship with one another. As a man who has done many kinds of work in the lumbering trade, and who has thoroughly researched forestry issues, this book is yet another log of evidence in the clarion call for sane forestry! bioregional circles: "Two monsterS have ruined agriculture and country life, as they have ruined cities and city life. These monsters are private speculative ownership of land and the centralized overuse of the factory." It is reassuring to know that the bioregional movement has such able predecessors. "The School of Living is an educational organization dedicated to teaming and teaching the philosophy, practices, and principles of living that are self-empowering for individuals within the general aim of establishing decentralized, ecologically sound, self-governed, and humane communities. All of its resources, but most specifically the land it holds in trust, arc held in responsible stewardship for present and future generations." This is the mission statement of the School of Living which is remarkably similar to the cuhural side of many bioregional statements. The bioregional movement has sought to blend the preservation of regional biodiversity with the maintenance of human cultural concerns while revealing the impacts these forces have on one another. This inherently antagonistic mix.cure has proven 10 be very difficuh to resolve. to say the least. and has in some ways overloaded the bioregional movement to the point where its very wholism is what makes it vulnerable to exclusion as a "fringe idea" by the general populace. No maner how much a good idea appeals to common sense, those seeking social and ecological justice are not in power, and often don't want to be. This book shows again that grassroots groups and individuals acting on their own conscience must continue 10 insist on justice if justice is to manifest in the world. - reviews by Rob Messick THE INST11lJTE FOR DEEP ECOLOGY EDUCATION otrww A 2-Week Summer School in APPUED DEEP ECOLOGY ~f.14,1993 Shet!M R . - C . - , Philo. C4 sn Reshaping Modern Culture: The Story of the School of living and Its FoU11dtr • by Mildred Jensen Loomis lolitt~r. 1992-93 For a listing ofbooks published by rhe School of Living, including Reshaping Modern Culture ($17.50 plus postage), write ro: School of Living; R.D. I, Box 185A; Cochranville, PA /9330 or call (215) 593-6988. This IS I/IUJnsive tramrng for scwtsts, educators. thersp,scs. and community organizers The program will offer sklll bu,fdmg in eco-psychology. restoration ecology. communrr:y mcervention. end new educational tech111ques for transform,ngenv,ronmenr.alvelues end behavior. Join With our diverse faculty m bndg,ng the "gep· between culture end nature, UI' ben end wild, soc,af 1usace end deep ecology. Order from: Tilbury llouse Publishers; The Boston Building; 132 Water S"eet; Gardiner, ME 04345 ($19.95 plus postage). In 1934 Ralph Borsodi founded the School of Living in southeastern Pennsylvania. It soon became a place where advocates ofself-surlicient living and land trusts came 10 work, :.tudy, and live. The author of the book Reshaping Modern Culrure, Mildred Loomis, joined the school soon after its inception and was a leader in work done there until her death in 1986. With a lively inlroduction from Hazel Henderson, this work gives a detailed description of the history of the School of Living and its founder, but it also serves as an inspiration for relative newcomers to decentralization principles in the bioregional movement. The following statement by Borsodi lc.ipt out at me as a confirmation of the same problems we have come up against in Ralph Borsodi wrote prolificly about the errors of modem industrial society, and his argumencs against it are perhaps even more relevant today than when they were first wriuen. Today the School of Living continues his work with projects in community land trusts, permaculture, geonomics, and alternative education, and production of their membership newsleucr Green Revolution. Facu/tymcfude: Joanna Macy, Bilf Devall, Randy Heyes, Elizabeth Roberts, Ed Grumbine, Rechel CARDS byRobl\/~ Get a set of 10 assorted folding cards with artwork as seen in Katiiah Journal. Send $11.25 ppd to: Rob Messick Rt. 8, Box 323 Lenoir, NC 28645 Bagby, Freeman House, David Abrsm, Suphsnis Kiwi, Csrl Anthony, Ds l/id HHnks, Uu Faithom, Alan Drwngson, & ~ ers. Greduer.s credit end Continvin(I Educeaon credit IIVStlBbfe. For brochure ca/I or fax: (3D3) 939-8398 or write THE INST1TUTE FOR DEEP ECOLOGY EDUCATION, Bo.x229D, Boulder, Colorado, B03D6. ,C.Otuan Jolmia!. pn1JC 3 1 �DECEMBER FEBRUARY 20 SW ANNANOA, NC Chanting in the newly completed Peace Chamber held each Swiday at 5 pm. For info, contact The Earth Center; 302 Old Fellowship Rd.; Swannanoa, NC 28778. (704) 298-3935. 21 8 22-27 MARSHALL, NC Ladderback Chairmaking tutorial with Drew Langsner. Traditional woodworlcing skills and use of specialized hand tools. Enrollment limited to two students. $575 includes meals and lodging. Pre-register. For info on this and other tut0riaJs, contact: Country Workshops; 90 MiU Creek Rd.; Marshall, NC 28753. (704) 656-2280. Winter Solstice ST. MARYS, GA 10th Annual Peace Witness and Reunion at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base. Sponsored by From Trident 10 Life. Contact: Metanoia Community; 1702 Hwy. 70 E.; St Marys, GA 31558. (912) 882-4820. 26-28 HOT SPRINGS, NC Annual New Year's Retreat. Meditation, chanting, and meditative movement to welcome the new year, led by Marcia Rose and John Orr. $295 includes vegan meals and lodging. Pre-register: Dharma Rettcat Center; Rt. 1, Box 34-H; Hot Springs, NC 28743. (704) 622-7112. Full Moon MARCH 27-1/4 8 20 SWANNANOA,NC Fire ceremony offered ror the healing of Earth's waters, held on the 7th of each month. Contact The Earth Center. See · 12/20. 7 Spring Equinox SWANNANOA, NC Sacred sounds workshop offered by Beautiful Painted Arrow (Joseph Rael). For info, cont.act: The Earth Center. See 12/20. 20 8 Full Moon 8 JANUARY Full Moon SWANNANOA, NC Gathering of Tiospaye. Celebration and fellowship with the extended Earth.centered family. Potluck meal. For info, contact The Earth Center. See 12/20. Drawing by Rob Messick 21 SWANNANOA, NC Dedication of the Peace Chamber. Ceremonies will also include initiation of the elders and a Wopelia (''giveaway") of thanksgiving for the completion of the Chamber. Contact: The Eanh Center. See 12/20. - - life's necessiti.csfor kss - - FRENCH BROAD Fooo Co-oP KalmiaCenter, Inc. Sylva, NC (704) 293-3015 Custom tilling, organic fertilizers, kelp meal, colloidal phosphate & many more products and services for abundant gardening and healthful living. rJ ':Thu ~ Sarujy M,,sh Htrb Nurse,y WHOLE FOODS VITAMINS ORGANIC PRODUCE 160 Broadway Asheville, North Carolina Open 7 Days a Week Monday - Friday 9 am - 8 pm Saturday 9 am· 6:30 pm Sunday 12 pm - 5 pm NATIVE FLUTES Two styles mode of cedar or wolnu1 woods In the traditional manner Hawk Littlejohn Sourwood Farm Rt 1, Box 172-L Prospect Hill, NC 27314 (919) 562-3073 WREATHS • POTPOURRI • HERBS • TOPIARY Complete Herb Catalog - $4 Describes more tha11 800 plants from Aloe to Yam,w Rt 2, Surretl Co,•e Road Leicester, North Carolina 28748 Plio11e for appointment to visit (704) 683-2014 lv!.ntcr, 1992-93 �•• ~ BEGINNING CHEROKEE LANGUAGE BOOK supplemented with two casseucs. Suesscs alphabet & proper pronunciauon. The first textbook wriuco for use in ieaching and learning lhe Cherokee langW!gc. (346 pages) $39.95 plus S5.00 shipping. Camlog also available with tapes, books, pipes, dance sticks. drums, feathers, furs, buffalo products nnd more. Craft supplies also availnblc. (please specify). Send $2.00 to the Musknu Trader; P.O. Box 20033; Roanoke. VA 24018. THE ALTERNATIVE READING ROOM · is an unconventional library; free and open to lhe public. Our collection interests include the environment, social and political issues, the media and peace. We have over 200 magazine suoocriptions. The book and video collections also emphasize lhe environment and political concerns. Booics and VCR's can be checked OUL A video player is available for watching films in lhe reading room. Located at 2 Wall St.#114; Asheville, NC 28801 (704) 252-2501. Mon/Wed/Fri 6-gpm • Tues/Thur l 8pm - Sat/Sun l-6pm 0 BACK TO THE SOURCE • is an adventure m the spcciacular beauty of our remaining wilderness nnd is the highest quality backpacking guide sctvice available. We spcciali7,e in small group, minimal ,mpact JOumcys into the most remote wildlands m ,\mcrica. For a brochure wnte: Back to the Source. Lee Mercer; 3611 White Ave; Baltimore, MD 21206. (410) 426-6016. \UTOI\OMF.: DISTRIBUTION - is a unique mail order nnd rCIJlil 0111Jc1, neither •1ef1" nor "right," th:11 cnme-s hanl to find books, magazines, bumperstickcr.., buttons, post cards, lapcs, posters, and ~hirts We rc:iturc items that encourage self-determination and commuruty rather than government or "partisan· !;O(ulions. We dare to dream of a future without o)1Jll'ession, where we aui live m harmony with nnture, while each having all that is needed ror personal dignity, happiness, and hbcny. If these goals interest you, send SI and one 29 cent stamp to receive our catalog: Autonome Distribution; P.O. Box 791191; New Orleans, LA 70179. ALTERNATIVE ENERGY, WATER.AND SANITATION - Dealcr/ill.5t.aller of photovoltaic, micro-hydro, and other independent electric systems, energy conserving bulbs and showcrheads, solar and wood-burning water heaters, cisterns and composti.ng toilets, water filtration, and more: Ekat/EcOIOICCh; 1.50 Gravel Licit Rd.: Dreyfus, KY 40426;phonc((i()6)986-6146. WISE WOMAN TRADmON • Spring Greens Weekend will be held April 30-May 2 in the NC mountains with Whitewolf. L.eam to identify and create med!cmes with the healing herbs or Spring and cclebrat.e the return or Green Life! Suggc.~ doruluon SIOO (~liding scale ror work cxchange): Whit.ewolf; P.O. Boll 576; Asheville, NC 28802. EARTI-1 KEEPER. a quancrly publication rediscovering Ancient Wisdom and ArL Earth Keeper is fcawring articles on native ceremonies, spirituality, crafts, simple living, relationships, an, herbs and plants, recycling, and much more! One year sub!lCriplion foe $14. Two years ror only $24: Earth Keeper; P.O. Box 242-K: Whiuicr, NC 28789. NATIVE AMERICAN CEREMONIALS· feawres handcrafu:d Native American ceremonial supplies. We carry drums, pipes, mules, flutes, pipe bags, feathers, rawhide, swcetgra.Ss, sage, tobaccos, abalone shells, buckskin, cercmonial herbs, bead loom and bell lots. native maps, and more. Free catalog! Nauve American Ceremooials; P.O. Box 1062; Cherokee, NC 28719. HAYWOOD COUNTY - Are you tired or "uavcling" to workshops and "paying" for knowledge? Are you intere.sl.Cd in Mother Earth; bancring products and services; giving/auending workshops in herbalism, beekeeping, auto mechanics, ete.? Not a "club," a community. Call Dana@ (704) 926-8008 or 452-3538 with your ideas. FOUR DIRECTIONS PRODUCTION COMPANY • J>reSCnts the first program in the \•idco series, "Que.st of the Eanh Kccpcrs," a ,;cries on the ritual~. c:anh-hcaling pracuces, and ccremooics ol indigenous cultures around the world. Featured m the first producuon is •Sun Bear/ Vision of the Mcdic,nc Wheel." a video oo persona.I and planetary healing: Four Dircc:uons Producoon Company; P.O. Box 70; Valley Head, AL 35989. Alternatives ... The Dvectnry of lntentw11,,1I Conununitiet ,~ the product Of two years Of J01Cns1ve n:sean:h, illld IS the most comprehensive and occuraw direct.Ory avadal>le. ltdocu· mcnts the ,•1s1on and the c:btly h£c of more lhan 350 eommunillc.s m North America, and more than 50 on other contincnb. Each community\ hsung include.s name, address. phone, and 3 dcs.;npoon of the group. E~tcns1v,: cross-referencing and 111ll.;.<mg m:Jkc,, the information easy to accc.~li for a wick: vwicty of users. Includes maps, over 250 odd,tiorml RC)Ource listings, and 40 related articles. 328 pages 8-l/2xl I PcrfC<.'thound October 1990 ISBI'< Number. 0-9602714-1-4 Sl6.00 Add S2.00 postage & handling for first bOok, S.50 for each additional: 40% discount on orders of IO ur more. Alpha Fann. Deadwood, OR (503) 964-5102 LM'f BALD EAGLES - arc\tii~g ii; ~nncssee Valley in unu.~ually high numbers this year :is n result of rec«d cold ttmpenuuros in the northern states. The Ch:uunooga Nature Centi!!' IIMOWlCCS "Engle Wateh 1993," a film and eagle view,ng session prcscnl.Cd by the centcr's program coordinator Ray Zimmerman and members or the Emma Bell Mjlcs Chapw or the Audubon Society. Dale: Janua,y 10, 2 to 5 P.M. Cose S2 to $5. Contact Ray Zimmerman@ (615) 821-1160 for details. LAND TRUSTS - have saved over 2.7 million acres in America. In spite of this, most people do not n:allzc how land truSts operate or how lnnd truSts can help individuals and communities protect the land they love. A new video, "Land Trusts in America: Guardians or lhe Future,• is useful to anyone in the conservation community: Land Trust Alliance; 900 Seventeen.th SL NW, Suit.e 410: Washington, DC 20006-2501. THE APPALACHIAN TRAil. CONFERENCE its 32 alrlWlled clubs, and 5,400 members have been mairuaining the 2,143 mile Georgia lO ~-f.ainc footpath since its completion decades ago. Today dedicated volunl.CClll share in efforts U) ensure permanent protection of lhe footpath and surrounding grecnway. To find the club nearest you, writ.e: Appalachian Trail Conference; P.O. Box 807; Harpers Ferry, WV 25425-0807. COMMON GROUND • the annual Journal where grassroots women speak from the heart. Our 1992 issue wa.s wriuen by indigenous women throughout North America. Our 1993 issue will focus 011 farmworker women of all colors and cultures. A second publication, "Groundings." is a !-ea'iOn:il newslci!ct which builds a 11Ctwork of solidarity. published by a community or people who experiment in non-violent v.-ay~ of doing justice: Common Ground; P.O Box 64717; Baton Rouge, LA 70896. THERE ARE AN ESTIMATED 3,000 intentional commun1ues m the United State$. "Follow the Din Road,· a new video by mdcpcndcnt filmmaker, Monique Gauthier, is an excellent introduction tor anyone int=tcd in the succci;.,;cs and struggles of con1cmporary int.eriuonal communities: Send S28 to Monique Gaulh1e{ - FTDR; I Evcrg,ccn Ct.; Landcnburg, PA 19350-9389. GANDHI, A PRACTICING ATTORNEY, once said that "the true function of a lawyer wa~ to un1t.e parues riven a~under. • A new organi.7.alion has been <:litablishcd to create a ncr.worlc or t.,wycrs, law students, and olhcr conflict resolution professionals. The group wdl explore ways to seek resolution of issues through mcdi:u.ion, using the courts only as a last resort. A guiding principle or lhc group is respect for the dignity of each person involved. Another goal is helping children of divorce by reducing the conflict between their parents. Wnie: lntcmauonal Alliance of Holistic Lawyers; P.O. Box 26; Middlebury, VT 05753. LOCAL ACCOUNTANr would like to assist cnvironmcnmlly-awu,c businesses in their accounting and booklcccp1ng wort: Sherman Bamford: 163 Beavetdam Rd.; Asheville, NC 28804. , Wtbworklng i.f available for $2 .50 (prtpai4) for eaeh entry of 50 words or lts.s. Submil tnlriesfor ISSUL 1138 by Ftbruary 15. /993. Mail 10 Katuah Journal; Rt. 8, Box 323; LtllOir, NC 28645. (704} 754.6()97, 1.littt«, 1992-93 Xotiiah Jour nal JXl(JC 33 I �Dear Members of Katu.ah Journal, After nearly 10 years of service to the Katuah Bioregional Province, the KJltuah Journal newspaper will be ceasing publication in the summer of 1993. We have not been able to find enough people able to take long term responsibility for a project of this scale on a volunteer basis. While we are stopping the journal, we will keep the non-profit organization "Katuah" alive in order to have the option of carrying out future In the spring we will publish issue #38 devoted to alternative transportation in the Katuah bioregion. The final summer issue will contain an index to the KJltuah /011rnal, a listing of other bioregionally-oriented organizations in the province, and tie up loose ends. Thank you for your generous support of KJltuah /ournal over the years. Without your help the paper would not have been as vibrant or as vital as it has been. bioregional projecls. We decided to end the tradition of publishing the The Board of Directors for the Katuah organization will consist of: David Wheeler, Rob Messick, and Lee Barnes. We will meet at least once a year to keep track of organization business and to discuss future options. Any member who has project ideas or is interested in participating in this process should write us at: Katuah Futures; Rt. 8, Box 323; Lenoir, NC 28645 or call (704) journal with some measure of strength, rather than watch it slowly fizzle out. If you have comments or suggestions for the future, we would like to hear from you. Sincerely, KJltrlah Journal Staff 754-6097. D.. I would like to order issues: #38 (Spring 1993) Alternative Transportation #39 (Summer 1993) Index & Resources For a total value o/$5.00 J<atuah Journal Rt. 8 Box 323 Lenoir, NC Katuah Province 28645 Issue #39 of the Kati,ah Jo11rnal \viii contain a resource guide to groups and organizations devoted to protecting and restoring the natural world in the bioregion and working to sustain the web of life and our human economic and social systems in Katuah. We have postulated the following categories of activity: Regional Economy Health and Healing Appropriate Technology Appropriate Transportation Councils & Decision Making Peace Issues & Conflict Resolution Shelter Education Agriculture Spiritual Life Natural Emlogy .D111wing by Mic:haal Thompson Name _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Town _ _ _ _ _ _ State___ Zip _ _ __ The success of this project will depend on your participation. Please send us information about your group and other groups that are working in your area. Offer other categories, if you like. Use additional sheets of paper if necessary. Give name, address, phone number, a one paragraph description of their work, and possibly a brief quote expressing their purpose. Enclose a copy of the organizational logo, if possible, and any photographs or drawings of group activities or the products of their work. Please also enclose your name, address, and phone in case there is a need for follow-up contacts. Submissions must be received by April 31, 1993. Mail to Katuah Journal; Rt. 8, Box 323; Lenoir, N"C 28645. ,.,inter, 1992- 93 �, -·~KATUAH KONFUSION:·- Katuah konfvs1 on has \>een canceled due to ,.e11 censo,.sn"i?. ihe c:ar"toon i st ha~ 'oeen fired because he. is oe,. full of *@* %. BACK ISSUES OF KATUAH JOURNAL AVAILABLE ISSUE FOUR • SUMMER 1984 Water Drum - WalU Quality - Kudzu - Solar Eclipse - Clearculling - Trout - Going io Water - Ram Pumps - Microhydro. Poems: Bennie Lee Sinclair, Jim Wayne MiUer ISSUE FIVE- FALL 1984 Harvest - Old Ways in Cherokee • Ginseng • Nuclear Waste - Our Celtic Heritage • Bioregionalism: Past, Present, and Future - John Wilnoty - Healing Darkness - Politics of Panicipation ISSUE SIX· WINTER 1984-8S Winier Solstice Eanh Ceremony - Horsepasrurea River· Coming of the Light • Log Cabin Root • Mountain Agriculwre: The Right Crop - William Taylor - The Future of the Forest ISSUE SEVEN· SPRING 198S Sustainable Economics - Hot Springs - Worker Ownership - The Great Economy - Self Help Credit Union - Wild Turlcey - Responsible Investing Working in the Web of Life ISSUE EIGHT- SUMMER 1985 Celebration: A Way of Life - Katll3h 18,000 Years Ago - Sacred Sites - Folk Ans in the Schools • Sun Cycle/Moon Cycle - Poems:. Hilda Downer Cherokee Heritage Center . Who Owns Appalachia? ISSUE NINE· FALL 198S The Waldce Forest - The Trees Spealc • Migrating Forests - Horse Logging - Starting a Tree Crop Urban Trees - Acom Bread· Mylh Tune ISSUE TEN - WINTER 198S-86 Kate Rogers - Circles of Sione - Jntemal Mythmaking - Holistic Healing on Trial - Poems: Steve Knauth - Mythic Places - The Ulaena's Talc Crystal Magic - "Drcamspcalcing" ISSUE THIRTEEN - FALL 1986 Center FOi' Awakening - Elizabeth Ca.llari - A Gentle Death - Hospice - Ernest Morgan - Dealing Creatively with Death - Horne Burial Box - The Wake . The Raven Mocker - Woodslore & Wildwoods Wisdom - Good Medicine: The Sweat Lodge ISSUE FOURTEEN· WINTER 1986-87 Lloyd Carl Owle - Boogers and Mummers - AU Species Day · Cabin Fever University - Homeless in Katunh - Homemade H01 Water • Stovemaker's Narrative - Good Medicine: lnl.Cl$p0Cies Communication ISSUE FIFfEEN • SPRING 1987 Coverlets - Woman Forester - Susie McMahan: Midwife • Alternative Contraception - Bioscituality • Bioregionalism and Women - Good Medicine: Mmrinrchal Culture - Ptarl We 11ave limited numbers of particular back issues. Order back issues soo11 to i11s11re availabilitlJ, TI1cre are no more entire sets of Katt,ah Jounral available. Tlte ,rear complete sets of back issues will be di111i11isl1i11g as limited copies sell out. ISSUE SIXTEEN· SUMMER 1987 Helen Waite - Poem: Visions in a Garden - Vision Quest - Fust Flow - lnitia1ion • Learning in the Wilderness - Cherokee Challenge - "Valuing Trees· ISSUE EIGHTEEN· WINTER 1987-88 Vernacular Architeclure - Dreams in Wood and Stone - Mountain Home - Eanh Energies - Eanh-Sheltcred Living - Membrane Houses - Brush Shelier . Poems: Octobu Dusk • Good Medicine: · shelier" ISSUE NINETEEN - SPRING 1988 Perelandra Garden· Spring Tonics - Bl11Cberries • Wildflower Gardens - Granny Herbalist - Flower Essences: - "The Origin of the Animals:" Story Good Medicine: "Power" - Be A Tree ISSUE 1WENTY • SUMMER 1988 Preserve Appalachian Wilderness - Highlands of Roan - Celo Commllllity - I.and Trust - Arthur Morgan School - Zoning Issue • "The Ridge" • Farmers and the Farm Bill • Good Medicine: "Land" - Acid Raio - Duke's Power Play • Cherokee Microhydro Project ISSUE TWENTY-TWO-WINTER 1988-89 Global Warming - rll'C This Time. Thomas Berry on "Bioregions· - Earth Exercise - Kort Loy McWhiner - An Abundance of Emptiness - LETS • Chrooicles of Floyd - Darry Wood • The Bear Clan ISSUE 1WBNTY-THREE - SPRING 1989 Pisgah Village - Planet Alt - Green City - Poplar Appeal· "Clear Sky" • •A New Eanh". Black Swan - Wild Lovely Days - Reviews: Sacred lllnd Sacred Sa, let Age - Poem: ·sudden Tendrils" ISSUE lWENTY-FOUR • SUMMER 1989 Deep Llsiening - Life in Atomic City - Direct Action! - Tree of Peace - Community Building Peacemakers - Ethnic Survival - Pairing Project · "Baulcsong" - Growing Peace in Cultures • Review: The Chalice and 1lu: Bfodt ISSUE TWENTY-SIX - WINTER, 1989-90 The Ecozoic Era - Kids Saving RainfOl'est - Kids Trcecycling Company - Conflict Rcsolul.ion Developing Creative Spirit - Birth Power - Magic of Puppetry - Home Schooling • Naming Ceremony Mother Earth's Classroom - Gardening for Children ISSUE TWENTY-SEVEN· SPRING, 1990 Transformation - Healing Power - Peace l0 Their Ashes - Healing in Kaulah • Poem: "When Ldt to Grow· - Poems: Stephen Wing - The Belly · Food from the Ancient Forest ISSUE TWENTY-NINE -FALL/WINTER 1990 From the Mountains to the Sea - Profde of The Liu!c Tennessee River . Headwaters Ecology - •11 AU Comes Down 10 Water Quality" - Ware Power. Action for Aquatic Hnbil1llS - Dawn Watehcrs - Good Medicine: The Long Humnn Being - The Nonh Shore Road • Kattlah Sells Out • Waiershed Map of the Katuah Province ISSUE nnRTY • SPRING 1991 Economy/Ecology • Ways to a Regenerative &onOl'ny • "Money is the Lowest Form or Wealth" • Clarksville Miracle - The Village - Food Movers. Lifework • Good Medicine; "Village l!conomy• Shelton Lawe! • LETS ISSUE nnRTY-ON'E - SUMMER 1991 Dowsing • Responsibilities of Dowsing • Elecuical Life of the Earth - Katiiah and the Earth Grid • Call of the Ancient Ones - Good Medicine: "On Aggression• - Time to Take the T!Dlc to Take the Time - Whole Science - Tuning In ISSUE nnRTY-TWO • FALL 1991 Bringing back the Fire - A Bit or Mountain Levity . Climax Never Came - "Talking Leaves": Sequoyah Walking Distance· Good Medicine: "Serving the Great Life" - The Granola Journal - Paintings: "Mountain Stories"- Songs of the Wilderness ISSUE THIRTY-Tl-lREE • WINTER 1991-92 Fire's Power - What ls Natural • Fire and Forge The rlfSI rll'C - Hearth and Fire in the Mountains Good Medicine: "The Ancient Red" - Midwinter rlf'CS: poems by Jeffery Beam - Litmus Lichens ISSUE nnRTY-FOUR - SPRING 1992 Paradise Gardening - Community Sponsored Agriculwre - Eating Close 10 Home - Native Foods - Cover Crops - Kalunh Cultivars - The Web or Life: A Kalll3h Almanac - Good Medicine "Medicine Training• - Poems by AUison Sutherland ISSUE nnRTY-FlVE - SUMMER 1992 Consensus - Problems with Consensus - Tribal Council · Elda - The State of Franklin - Regional Rainbow - Steve Moon: Shell Engravings • Good Medicine "Medicine Training ll" - A Look Back ISSUE 1HIRTY-SIX • FALL 1992 Using Wood • Appalachian Logging - Old Logging Days - Working the Woodhlnds - Logging with Horses - Invasion of the Giants - From Industry io Endeavor - Ecological Forestry - The Chair in the Tree - Reading the Grove Back Issues: Issue# _ @ $3.00 = $_ __ Issue# __@ $3.00 = $_ __ rssue # __@ $3.00 = $._ _ _ Issue# __@ $3.00 = $._ __ Name postage paid $ _ __ Address Chy Near Complete Set: State Zip (4-10, 13-16, 18-20, 22-24, 26-27, 29-36) postage paid @ $50.00 =$ _ __ Ka tuah Journal Rt. 8, Box 323 Lenoir, NC Ka tuoh Province 28645 • (704) 754-6097 lvLnter, 1992- 93 Xati1nn Journal p<llJ& 3 S � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records Description An account of the resource <em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal</em>,&nbsp;was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. <br /><br /><span>The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name,&nbsp;</span><em>Katúah</em><span>, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant.&nbsp;</span><br /><span><br />The <em>Katúah Journal</em> was co-founded by Marnie Muller, David Wheeler, Thomas Rain Crowe, Martha Tree and others who served as co-publishers and co-editors. Other key team members included Chip Smith, David Reed, Jay Mackey, Rob Messick and many others.</span><br /><br />This digital collection is only a portion of the <em>Katúah</em>-related materials in the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection in Special Collections at Appalachian State University. The items in AC.870 Katúah Journal records cover the production history of the <em>Katúah Journal</em>. Contained within the records are correspondence, publication information, article submissions, and financial information. The editorial layouts for issues 12 through 39 are included as are a full run of the Journal spanning nearly a decade. Also included are photographs of events related to the Journal and a film on the publication. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived This resource is part of the&nbsp;<em>Katúah Journal Records </em>collection. For a description of the entire collection, see <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Katúah Journal Records (AC. 870)</a>. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The images and information in this collection are protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. C.) and are intended only for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes, provided proper citation is used – i.e., Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians Records, 1980-2013 (AC.870), W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC. Researchers are responsible for securing permissions from the copyright holder for any reproduction, publication, or commercial use of these materials. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1983-1993 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource journals (periodicals) Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>Katúah Journal</em>, Issue 37, Winter 1992-1993 Description An account of the resource The thirty-seventh issue of the <em>Katúah Journal</em> is dedicated to creative works that represent bioregionalism and biovisions: stories, essays, drawings, and local legends. An announcement explains that, while the publication is coming to an end in 1993, there are plans to continue the Katúah Organization which will focus on bioregional projects. Authors and artists in this issue include: Dennis K. Frederick, Rob Messick, Will Ashe Bason, James Rhea, Barbara Wickersham, Fran Freudenberger, Lucile Morgan, Bob Johnson, "Pegi", Charlotte Homsher, Doug Elliott, Michael Thompson, Gerald George, and Rhea Ormond. <br /><br /><em>Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</em>, later simplified to <em>Katúah Journal</em>, was published from 1983 to 1993. A quarterly publication, it was focused on the bioregion of former Cherokee land in Appalachia. The early issues of the journal explain the meaning of the Cherokee name, Katúah, and why the editors wanted to view the world through a bioregional lens, rather than political boundaries. A volunteer production, the editors took a holistic view in tackling social, environmental, mental, spiritual, and emotional topics of the day, many of which are still relevant. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1992-1993 Table Of Contents A list of subunits of the resource. In The Morning by Dennis Frederick.......1<br /><br />Green Man and Green Woman by Rob Messick.......4<br /><br />Floyd 2020 by Will Ashe Bason.......7<br /><br />Ecology by Rob Messick.......8<br /><br />Drawing of Sequoyah by James Rhea.......9<br /><br />The Legend of James Whitehead by Barbara Wickersham.......10<br /><br />Raven! by Fran Freudenberger........11<br /><br />Kid's Page.......12<br /><br />Rhea's Fairies.......13<br /><br />Drawings by Lucile Morgan........14<br /><br />Drawing by Bob Johnson.......15<br /><br />Drawings by Pegi.......16<br /><br />The Solitary Tree by Charlotte Homsher.......17<br /><br />Wildwoods Wisdom by Doug Elliott.......18<br /><br />Natural World News.......20<br /><br />Mandalas by Rob Messick........22<br /><br />Gourds by Michael Thompson.......23<br /><br />Poem: A View from Hawk's Nest by Gerald George.......24<br /><br />Economy by Rob Messick.......25<br /><br />Drumming.......26<br /><br />Reviews: Beyond the Beauty Strip | Reshaping Modern Culture by Rob Messick.......31<br /><br />Events.......32<br /><br />Webworking.......33<br /><br /><em>Note: This table of contents corresponds to the original document, not the Document Viewer.</em> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available <em>Katúah Journal</em>, printed by The <em>Waynesville&nbsp;Mountaineer</em>&nbsp;Press Subject The topic of the resource Bioregionalism--Appalachian Region, Southern Sustainable living--Appalachian Region, Southern Human ecology--Appalachian Region, Southern Appalachian Region, Southern--Social life and customs--Miscellanea Legends--Tennessee--Roan Mountain Floyd County (Va.)--Fiction North Carolina, Western Blue Ridge Mountains Appalachian Region, Southern North Carolina--Periodicals Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/937"> AC.870 Katúah Journal records</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a title="In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted" href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/?language=en 8" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted </a> Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. <a title="Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians" href="https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/collections/show/79" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians </a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Journals (Periodicals) Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1990s Appalachian Mountains Appalachian Studies Book Reviews Children's Page Community Earth Energies Ecological Peril Folklore and Ceremony Forest Issues Habitat Katúah Katúah Organization Pigeon River Poems South PAW (Preserve Appalachian Wilderness) Stories Transportation Issues Turtle Island Villages Water Quality Western North Carolina Alliance