Pieces of Paper Protecting the Land
Duckworth, Carolyn
Pieces of Paper Protecting the Land HOW FIELD NOTES SAVED MONTANA OPEN SPACE by Carolyn Duckworth With just paper and pen, people who are passionate about a place may be as well equipped as...
...Black adults, they were alternating flapping with soaring...
...He spent more than 500 hours visiting the islands at least five days a week, stopping for an hour each time he bicycled by on his way to or from work...
...I'm doing so much that it's hard to focus on something that's not my main job, not a source of income—to keep it organized the way I'd like...
...Instead of scattering myself, I pick a focus and become an expert with that," he explains...
...The program was also presented to the major private landowner in the Rattlesnake Mountains, the Montana Power Company...
...And he knows that field notes change the history of a place...
...He has similar lists for his backyard, his neighborhood, and for the parts of the city through which he regularly rides his bike...
...They also succeeded in limiting human access to Jumbo during the critical winter months...
...Jumbo is already divided from its geological neighbor, Mount Sentinel, by a river and two highways...
...Will used his field notes when he testified before the city council, and the council subsequently recommended that the islands be protected as a wildlife sanctuary and an environmental education area...
...In addition to this state's more familiar wild places, Montana does have large cities— and Missoula is one...
...The people of western Montana know this is true, for the evidence is in view...
...I feel this is definitely because of human activity, which includes dogs...
...Will Kerling notices people who notice Jumbo...
...Soaring on flat wings...
...He also leads field trips through the grasses and thickets of Missoula's beloved mountain...
...I bring back what is there and I think that is good enough...
...a friend asked...
...She is using her own field notes to write a book about living in Gardiner, Montana, amid the Yellowstone buffalo slaughter of 1997...
...His notes are especially helpful to the conservation groups working to protect land...
...In 1980, the Rattlesnake Wilderness and National Recreation Area was established...
...Will's notes were key to this success...
...40-50 elk over horizon at 5:30 p.m...
...Thanks in large part to Will Kerling, Mount Jumbo's natural values will endure...
...From that account he extracts lists of the birds, mammals, butterflies, and reptiles...
...You may ask...
...Will documented 82 species of birds on the islands...
...I keep dedicating myself to the field work...
...Carolyn Duckworth met Will Kerling while writing her master's paper on the power of field journals...
...His journals are jammed with maps that show where he has seen elk, alongside descriptions of them eating, resting, running...
...I grow personally and enjoy the hell out of it...
...My journals have been disorganized ever since day one," Will said with a laugh as he looked for examples of his field notes...
...Saw it and another fly by shortly heading toward Sanders Lake area...
...7, the elk are coming out progressively later after dark and going back before daylight...
...The Rattlesnake was my best friend," Will explains, "so I thought I could go there and document a vision of what a unique place it is and how crucial it is that we do something special with it...
...Elk incite Will to action—sometimes even before dawn...
...In Montana...
...If you stand beside a certain hedged-in white cottage on Locust Street in Missoula, Montana, your peripheral vision fills with Mount Jumbo...
...Life's a trade-off," he says, "I spend a lot of time settling on what is important to me in the outdoors and how to share it with people...
...So I went for it...
...Even if a project is not successful, people will know what they've lost...
...the mountain has been his passion for more than 25 years...
...Will's "pieces of paper" have been the start of multiple records for each site...
...I'm educating myself, surprising some conservationists, and anguishing some business people by what I'm discovering, because the downtown area is teeming with wildlife...
...Will's field notes and photos helped convince the company that its holdings should be included in the wilderness and recreation area being considered by Congress...
...In 1994, he learned from a friend that a proposed bridge expansion would change the natural qualities of several small islands in the section of the Clark Fork River that flows through Missoula's downtown...
...He enrolled in a few classes, discussed his ideas with one of the professors, and concluded that maybe he didn't need that advanced degree after ail...
...Will encourages people to keep field notes about the places they cherish...
...It will always be there, a shining gold symbol of the power of people and pieces of paper...
...From his notes: Common raven: Sept...
...Will Kerling records the beauty and diversity of life on Mount Jumbo...
...From those notes and his stack of slides, Will developed a powerful new tool in the campaign to have the Rattlesnake designated as wilderness: a slide presentation entitled "Timeless Journey...
...Will and other open-space advocates have been working for years to secure that saddle and all of Jumbo for wildlife...
...Census Bureau definition (more than 50,000 people), recognizable as a city by the grim trio of pollution, traffic jams, and crime...
...His hundreds of pages of field notes helped save this piece of urban wild for the elk, bear, deer, birds, and butterflies that live there...
...Missoula's fast-growing population is pushing hard against the boundaries of undeveloped land...
...Others—mergansers, yellow warblers, blackbirds— nest on the islands...
...He photographed everything he saw and kept detailed field notes— especially about the birds...
...Imagining what evidence he might need to convince the skeptics, he began carrying a camera and notebook...
...At one time Will considered entering a master's degree program in environmental studies...
...Call was a cr-r-ruck...
...When Will was younger, he earned a degree in science education and taught high school math and science for a year...
...Pieces of Paper Protecting the Land HOW FIELD NOTES SAVED MONTANA OPEN SPACE by Carolyn Duckworth With just paper and pen, people who are passionate about a place may be as well equipped as anyone to protect it...
...For the last 25 years, Will has used his field notes and observations to turn skeptical neighbors and politicians toward enthusiastic preservation of Missoula's open space...
...When the local group, the Five Valleys Land Trust, wants to protect a piece of property, it usually commissions a baseline report from a scientist or naturalist who documents what species are present on the property...
...I have enough background to claim I'm a scientist, but I don't speak as a scientist and I've gone as far as I want that way," he says...
...But it would be another three years before Will Kerling could relax with the knowledge that Mount Jumbo, indeed, would be protected from further development...
...Will spent a year studying the Rattlesnake Mountains...
...Will believed the Rattlesnake would sell itself through the images...
...The reporter...
...Sherry Devlin, opened the article with a description of Will's field journal: "In an 80-sheet spiral notebook stained by the seasons he chronicles...
...Jan...
...An archivist would simultaneously be enthralled and appalled at the plastic binders and their contents—hundreds of notes in blue ball-point ink on inexpensive lined paper...
...One December morning he awoke to the sound of a bull elk bugling from the slopes of Jumbo...
...A quiet man may rise from tending his herbs, walk over to the fence, and begin a conversation with you...
...6: No elk in morning...
...He writes a column about butterflies for WOW, a children's magazine, and contributes seasonal articles to The Missoulian...
...Houses have already been built on the slopes of the low, broad saddle that provides a safe migration route for the elk and mule deer that descend from the Rattlesnake to Jumbo's sunny slopes for the winter...
...Will didn't file away his notes or leave them tucked in notebooks...
...I know how powerfully it works," he says, "There's a strong sense of place that comes from keeping field notes...
...Recently, Will began using a computer to organize his notes...
...I had a sense that the community in Missoula was special, that they would understand...
...Urban...
...Their goals were reached, and Will stepped back...
...he could be an effective advocate without it...
...Whether taken by a conservation biologist or a neophyte naturalist, the resulting field notes become powerful tools for conserving open space and wild places...
...Its sensuous ridgeline remains home to elk, bear, deer, birds, and butterflies...
...Will decided to document the wildlife in preparation for a public hearing...
...1, 1992: 30+ elk at daybreak, went for timber between 9-9:30 a.m...
...observed them from 8:55-11:15 a.m...
...All of my notes are being shared," he said, "with the engineering firm that's studying the bridge project, the environmental subcontractor that's writing the environmental assessment, and also at informational public meetings...
...He rolled out of bed and walked down the dark alley in his pajamas and clogs to hear this ethereal mating call more clearly...
...Through the newspaper, and through workshops that winter, Will and other activists were able to help Missoulians understand that their recreational behavior could place stress on Jumbo's animals...
...Describing how he uses his notes, Will says, "I write up what I see each day on these pieces of paper that are falling out of this tablet and at the same time I have an overview from my observations that I keep up to date—a summary of different things I think are important...
...His years of patience and persistence paid off...
...She quoted Will and cited his observations throughout the article...
...Perhaps they will list what they see, sketch maps of animal movement, record their emotions, or ask a chain of questions about what they observe...
...He even documented what few biologists thought possible—elk calving on this dry, exposed hill...
...I try to balance using the computer with keeping field notes like I always have...
...a sensuous, fertile, reclining nude of a mountain that bears the name of a circus elephant...
...24, 1991: 12+ elk grazing toward far horizon...
...There, a mountain shines gold against charcoal skies...
...He is also experimenting with entering his daily observations directly on the machine...
...As of Jan...
...Their efforts have been closely monitored by the local paper, The Missoulian, which published several articles describing the human impact on Jumbo after Will documented that elk were altering their behavior as human presence increased...
...For Mount Jumbo, he maintains a bound journal describing each outing...
...I don't go in thinking it would be nice to find certain mammals or birds...
...On the second page, she featured excerpts from his notes such as, "50-plus elk bedded in forest island near top...at 1:05 p.m., saw the last 21 of the elk going back into the heavy timber to the north on Jumbo...
...Mount Jumbo is one of two rounded mountains that form the eastern entrance to the city...
...Is he the guy that I see in a big floppy hat down around the river all the time...
...I've always been consistent with my field notes and my politics," he says...
...Jan...
...by recording his observations regularly, he had established evidence of the disturbance, evidence that the decision makers could not ignore...
...From his field notes: Dec...
...During the following year, Will and many other volunteers worked tirelessly to raise additional funds to purchase private land still at risk...
...1, 1977—heard one nearby from the air back of base camp...voice was changing locations, another indication of being airborne...
...I'm caught up with getting information organized now, but I don't want to depersonalize field journaling...
...It was good enough...
...More than 10,000 Missoulians attended Will's presentations during the next year, witnessing the presence of wolverine and mountain goats and grizzlies in a wild land so close to their home...
...Real-estate development threatens to separate Jumbo from the Rattlesnake Wilderness and National Recreation Area...
...In addition to Jumbo, he has been engaged in efforts related to two other significant areas: The Rattlesnake Mountains and a cluster of islands in the Clark Fork River...
...7:10 p.m., 40-50 of them near lone large pine...
...It's a metropolitan area by the U.S...
...He was especially careful to describe animals he was unfamiliar with or those that displayed unusual behavior—some he simply described as "mystery mammals...
...Then, in 1995, Missoulians passed a historic open-space bond that helped protect Mount Jumbo...
...To prepare the report, the consultant may visit the property two or three times, and interview the landowner...
...Flipping through the notebook pages, each labeled with a species' name, he would record his daily observations, including time, location, and what the bird was doing...
...Duplicating Will's detailed, long-term observations would cost thousands of dollars...
...Indeed, it was Will...
...In April 1993, The Missoulian devoted two color pages to Mount Jumbo, explaining its geologic history and its significance to wildlife and native plant communities...
...He continues to enjoy Mount Jumbo and other wild places through his photography, writing, and teaching...
...5: 10 hikers on face of Jumbo at 4. Elk not out by 5:45...
...One of those mystery animals turned out to be a wolverine—a documentation that proved significant in the fight for the Rattlesnake...
...Some of them— such as red-necked grebes and yellowlegs—pass through on migration...
...These lists are used by university students, scientists, and anyone else who wants to learn about wildlife on Jumbo...
...His balance and focus have helped Will succeed...
Vol. 2 • June 1998 • No. 3
