1 50 5 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 Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians, later simplified to Katúah Journal, 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.  The Katúah Journal 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. This digital collection is only a portion of the Katúah-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 Katúah Journal. 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 Katúah Journal Records 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 Katúah Journal Index, 1983-1993 Description An account of the resource This document is a topical index to all 38 issues of <a href="https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/items/browse?collection=79" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians</a>.   Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians,  later simplified to  Katúah Journal, 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. 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/c82c3f935775ed3110b8fcfeafafa78d.pdf 1202447159c8ecfad77b920b89467f66 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 Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians, later simplified to Katúah Journal, 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.  The Katúah Journal 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. This digital collection is only a portion of the Katúah-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 Katúah Journal. 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 Katúah Journal Records 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 Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians, Issue 6, Winter 1984-1985 Description An account of the resource The sixth issue of the Katúah Journal focuses on topics such as Cherokee mythology and art, Winter Solstice ceremonies, log cabin history, mountain farming, and the Horsepasture River. Authors and artists in this issue include: Steve Nelson, Barbara Reimensnyder, Martha Tree, Drew Langsner, Thomas Rain Crowe, William Taylor, Gogisgi/Carroll Arnett, J.Ed Sharpe, B. Oldham, Chuck Marsh, Marilou Awiakta, Chip Smith, and David Liden. Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians, later simplified to Katúah Journal, 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 1984-1985 Table Of Contents A list of subunits of the resource. Wintertide by Steve Nelson.......1 Closer to the Fire by Barbara Reimensnyder.......3 Creation of the Moon and Sun: A Story by David Wheeler.......4 Winter Solstice Earth Ceremony by Amy Hannon.......5 European Roots of the Appalachian Log Cabin by Drew Langsner.......7 The Mind and Work of William Taylor.......8 The Old Man Said: A Poem by Carroll Arnett.......10 Soaring Bird, Eagle Killer: A Story by J. Ed Sharpe.......11 Mountain Agriculture by Chuck Marsh.......12 The Coming of the Light.......15 Prayer of the Poet Hunter: A Poem by Marilou Awiskta.......15 Turning Our Differences into Strength.......18 Children's Page.......19 Environmentally Speaking (Horsepasture River) by Chip Smith.......20 The Future of the Forests by David Liden.......21 Note: This table of contents corresponds to the original document, not the Document Viewer. 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 Cherokee mythology Winter festivals--Appalachian Region Cherokee art Hill farming--Appalachian Region Water quality--North Carolina--Horsepasture River Log cabins--Appalachian Region--History 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 Definitions Cherokees Children's Page European Immigration Fire Folklore and Ceremony Forest Issues Good Medicine Katúah Permaculture Poems Stories Turtle Island Water Quality Western North Carolina Alliance 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 Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians, later simplified to Katúah Journal, 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.  The Katúah Journal 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. This digital collection is only a portion of the Katúah-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 Katúah Journal. 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 Katúah Journal Records 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 Katúah Journal, Issue 32, Fall 1991 Description An account of the resource The thirty-second issue of the Katúah Journal 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. Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians, later simplified to Katúah Journal, 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. Bringing Back the Fire by David Wheeler.......1 A Bit of Mountain Levity by Barbara Wickersham.......5 Climax Never Came by Henry Wender.......7 Is the Southern Appalachian Ecosystem Endangered? by John A. Freeman.......9 "Talking Leaves": Sequoyah by Tom Underwood.......10 Green Spirits: Seed Saving by Lee Barnes.......12 Walking Distance by Will Ashe Bason.......13 Angle: Environment by Ivo Ballentine.......13 Good Medicine.......14 Poem: "A Rotting Log" by Brownie Newman.......15 THE GRANOLA JOURNAL.......16 Livin' By Their Wits, recorded by Rob Messick An Old Family Tale by Bess Harbison The Slide by Rob Messick How Can You Lose Anything as Big as This Ego? by Maxim Didget Paintings: "Mountain Stories" by Robert Johnson.......18 Natural World News.......20 Dying Soils, Dying Waters by Emmett Greendigger.......22 Songs in the Wilderness by Charlotte Homsher.......24 Save James Bay.......25 Drumming.......26 Off the Grid: Solar Ovens by Dennis Scanlin.......29 Events........32 Webworking........34 Katúah Konfusion.......35 Note: This table of contents corresponds to the original document, not the Document Viewer. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Katúah Journal, printed by The Waynesville Mountaineer 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 Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians, later simplified to Katúah Journal, 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.  The Katúah Journal 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. This digital collection is only a portion of the Katúah-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 Katúah Journal. 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 Katúah Journal Records 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 Katúah Journal, Issue 33, Winter 1991-1992 Description An account of the resource The thirty-third issue of the Katúah Journal 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. Katúah: Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians, later simplified to Katúah Journal, 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 What Is Natural? by David Wheeler.......5 Do Clearcuts Mimic Fire?.......6 Smokey and the Red Wolves.......7 Fire in Jeffreys Hell by Vic Weals.......8 Poems by Barbara J. Sands.......9 Fire and Forge by Jan Davdison and David Brewin.......11 The First Fire: A Cherokee Legend.......12 Hearth and Fire in the Mountains by Barbara Wickersham.......14 Good Medicine.......15 Midwinter Fires: Poems by Jeffery Beam.......18 Natural World News.......20 Who Will Have the Power? by Veronica Nicholas.......22 Litmus Lichens by Rob Messick.......24 Reading the Inner Tree by Charlotte Homsher.......25 Review: Where the Ravens Roost.......25 Around the Fire by Lee Barnes.......26 Drumming.......27 Poem: "Sky Mangler" by Mike Wilber.......29 Review: The Sound of Light.......31 Events.......33 Webworking........34 Note: This table of contents corresponds to the original document, not the Document Viewer. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Katúah Journal, printed by The Waynesville Mountaineer 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/0430dc17b243e3fac3c84fd8837e87c9.pdf 5d1334aac9a12c058803445addd77fcc 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 Kirby and Eller Family Letters Description An account of the resource The Kirby and Eller Family Letters contain correspondence between the Kirby and Eller families of Ashe County, North Carolina. The letters focus mainly on day-to-day events such as planting and harvesting crops, health and illness, and household tasks, but also include references to the Civil War. The original letters of Collection 495 Kirby and Eller Family Letters, 1826-1938 are in the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection. <div class="subnote "> Elizabeth “Bettie” Kirby (1851-1925) was born on February 15th, 1851 in Meadow Creek, Virginia, to parents Joel Kirby and Frances Roberts. Millard F. Kirby, Samuel J. Kirby, Emory T. Kirby, and Ada B. Kirby were her siblings. She married Joseph Lafayette Eller on September 22, 1875 in Ashe County, NC, where she lived until her death on December 9, 1925. Luke Eller (1806-1883) was born on June 8, 1806 in Ashe Co., NC. He was married to Sarah King on March 27, 1829 in Ashe Co. He is the father of Joseph Lafayette Eller (Elizabeth’s husband), Hansford Eller, and Aswell Eller. Luke Eller lived in Ashe Co. until his death on December 6, 1883. <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/165#" class="expander">See less</a></div> Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/165">AC.495 Kirby and Eller Family Letters</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> 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 Letter from Lillian to Elizabeth Eller, 28 November 1891 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1891-11-28 Extent The size or duration of the resource. 6 pages Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Letter_11_28_1891.pdf Description An account of the resource This letter from Lillian to her Aunt, Elizabeth Eller, talks about life in Baltimore, and how Lillian is trying to adapt to the big city life. She talks about the price of clothing, a fire she saw, and her concern with her aging. Language A language of the resource English Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/165">AC.495 Kirby and Eller Family Letters</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> Subject The topic of the resource Maryland--Baltimore Is Part Of A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included. <a title=" Kirby and Eller Family Letters" href="https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/collections/show/17" target="_blank"> Kirby and Eller Family Letters </a> Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. https://www.geonames.org/4453028/ashe-county.html Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Letters (Correspondence) Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Ashe County (N.C.) Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1890s Aging Baltimore Maryland Clifton North Carolina Elizabeth Eller Eller family family letter Fire Jones & Young letter Lillian Young Staley Young