Like a Mountain

Like a Mountain

            When I was in High School I had the class Outdoor Adventures, and in this class we read from Aldo Leopold’s book The Sand county Almanac. One of the stories we read from his book was Thinking Like a Mountain, which talked about the wolf and how we truly did not understand them, nor what their role was in ecology. Leopold makes the great comment, “only a mountain has lived long enough to listen objectively to the howl of a wolf. During the time that he wrote this it was believed that wolves were a varmint that needed to be killed off.

            Not long after reading Leopold’s book I got introduced to another great author and one that has truly fed my wanderlust of the north. Sigurd Olson has many books on his journeys in the BWCA and further into the Canadian Shield. He has also written a story about the wolf, called A Mountain Listens, he talks about the significance of the wolf, and how they are a party of the ecosystem. Olson also lived during the time when wolfs were being hunted to extinction. He wrote that at the time he lived there were only 500 total left in the lower forty-eight states. Sigurd Olson explained something that had stuck with me since, he said, “when the howl of one is heard, it always means the old terrain.” This comment means that it is an area that is healthy and has been around for a long time, without man impacting it much.

            Now I find it is my turn to write about these great and mysterious creatures. Finally after years of study and conservation the wolf is making a healthy comeback. Where once there were only 500 left and at one time even less, there are now over 5000 in Minnesota alone, with many more in the surrounding states. In twenty six years I have now seen over ten wolves and most of them in the past few years. The wolf population is healthy and strong.

            Since the wolf population is healthy in 2013 Minnesota opened up its first wolf hunt. This hunt seems to have been done for a number of reasons. I believe part of it was to draw new revenue, but not only that it appeases the farmers that believe the wolves are killing their livestock, it also draws hunters to a new prey, and helps keep the population under control. This hunt though has also draw a lot of negative criticism, with many people fighting to end the hunt, believing that it is inhumane, and that the wolves should be left alone.

            I find interesting that now after all these years of conservation, with men like Leopold and Olson fighting to protect a vital creature of the North American Wilds, that finally we have started to listen objectively like the mountains to the howl of the wolf. We have now finally started to understand the wolf’s role and that the howl of a wolf means old terrain.

            As Christians these topics like that of the wolf should be important to us. We were called to be stewards of the earth, and given authority over it. We should want to take care of the earth out of love for God, and his love for his creation. Like a gardener we should spend time in and among the wonders of the earth, helping keep it healthy and with in balance, looking at things objectively like the mountain. We should be slow to make a judgment and spend time learning as much as we can before we make a decision that could have an impact for hundreds of years after. The wolf may be a success story, and yet one that is not done unfolding, but there are many other creatures out there we must start carrying about. The one place we can start, and with everything we should always start with is prayer. It is time we start praying for the planet and all of God’s good creatures in it.