Tracking
My brother, Tom, who lives in Seattle, is a volunteer wild-animal tracker in the Cascade Mountains. I am not sure how he heard about this volunteer opportunity but initially he didn’t think he could do it.
Washington State was a unique place to grow up in. State law requires Pacific Northwest (PNW) Indian curricula, even in private colleges. Unlike many other tribes in the continental U.S., who spent most of their time hunting and migrating, the PNW Indians had it relatively easy. In western Washington, there are no poisonous animals and food grows abundantly. They had a rich diet of salmon, trout, berries, roots, mushrooms, apples, rabbit, and elk. The abundant food sources and the extremely low danger of being poisoned, eaten or invaded, allowed the indigenous people to spend time creating art. If you are ever in the Northwest, I would highly recommend spending a day at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia (Canada) which is the world’s foremost center of history of the First Nations people of the Northwest. The art the indigenous people created is stunningly beautiful and tells a story of their relationship with the land and dependence on nature. They would create elaborate plays and performances that were equal parts worship and education. Everything the indigenous people created for shelter, comfort and warmth was art. They had no separation of art and utility.
Back to my brother, we were taught that the indigenous people could track every animal species in the region (including whales). Tom thought that because he wasn’t taught how to track as a child, he wouldn’t be able to do now. But, surprise; he can, especially in snow! He is a part of a volunteer team that tracks migrating patterns of various species who live in the Cascade Mountain range. In 1956, Interstate 90 cut a line through the Cascades and inadvertently blocked migratory patterns. I-90 is the longest interstate freeway in the U.S. It connects Seattle to Chicago, Cleveland, Rochester and Boston. On Snoqualmie Pass, migratory animals used to cross the two-lane highway at night with ease. Nowadays, it is a major freeway that is one of the most important trucking routes in the world. (Seattle is the primary shipping port to the Asian Pacific) There are no longer any safe times to cross I-90.
Tom’s group is tracking migratory animals and where they would prefer, and attempt to, cross I-90. The plan is for the department of transportation to create over/underpasses on Snoqualmie Pass so elk, deer, bears, wolves, coyotes, small mammals, frogs and even bobcats can safely cross where they want to and not where humans think they should.
This project gives me hope. Like the Everglades restoration act that is reversing the effects of Hwy 41, this project is restoring habitats as well as allowing for human progress and achievement. It’s not where environmentalists win and commerce loses (or vice-versa), it is a volunteer project to help all involved. The over/underpass projects also include art. Like the native people of the land that have no separation of art and utility, the projects blend the natural beauty of the land so that it is pleasing to those driving and natural for migrating animals.
I track Jesus through my life, the lives of our parishioners and in our community. I look for his footsteps to see where he has traveled and where he prefers to cross. My hope is to help build bridges or underpasses so that his life and grace may flow freely through my life, your life, and the life of our community. And, in the case of I-90, it’s not that one group wins at another group’s loss. When we track Jesus through our lives, it is not at the loss of independence or freewill, rather, it is following where he wants us to go in love and forgiveness for ourselves and others. Like the Easter lily, that is both pleasing to the eye and has a fragrant smell, the art and utility of tracking Jesus is full of beauty and the sweet-smelling fragrance of grace.
-Rev. Dave
Video: Connecting Wildlife Habitat Under and Over I-90
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