Opinion

We live in very cold times, and the forecast is for an even chillier future. Certainly we have been blessed with some warm breaks in our Central Oregon winter. And in the longer term, it appears that 21st-century consumption is driving up average global temperatures. Yet in a deeper sense, our way of life is increasingly frigid. Despite signs to the contrary, we live in an age which is characterized by a lack of fire-as in the energy of heart, connection, community and transformation. This kind of fire is at the core of most, if not all, spiritual traditions.
For many eons, our ancestors regularly gathered around the fire. Here they shared the big stories that gave life meaning. Around the fire, they laughed, danced and reaffirmed their bonds to one another. Here they encountered the Great Mystery. Through heart and fire, they found their connection to the deep wisdom of those who came before them. This state of grace is celebrated in the story of Genesis as the Garden of Eden before the Fall.

The Friends of the Badlands Wilderness Study Area were racing against time. Monday, March 30 had dawned, bright and crisp. The day had already promised to brighten further, as we had received word the President was going to sign the newly passed Omnibus Wilderness Bill, passing full wilderness protection to the Badlands Wilderness Study Area.
After he signed the bill, no further vehicular access was permitted in any wilderness area, for, according to the provisions of the 1964 Wilderness Act, the wording in part reads: "A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain."
Working from a suggestion received from our colleagues at the Oregon Natural Desert Association, who had worked hard to ensure the passage of the Omnibus Bill, Friends of the Badlands had set ourselves the task of removing old weathered juniper fence posts, from which we had over the last year removed 3 miles and 3 tons of obsolete barbed wire.