How Many Glaciers Are In Glacier National Park?

Glacier National Park

Eleven thousand years ago, the Pleistocene Epoch,

Huge ice sheets covered much of the earth;

It was the remnants of this ice age, 150 glaciers,

That gave Glacier National Park its birth.

The U.S. Congress, protecting one million acres,

Created Glacier May 11, 1910;

Today 25 glaciers, none by 2030,

Climate change creating "Remember When?"

© F.W. Heaton May, 2017

In one sense, this recent May 11th was the celebration of Happy 107th Birthday for Glacier National Park!  From another perspective, however, the birthday might be considered more ominous.  Scientists estimate that, due to forecasted accelerating global warming exacerbated by human caused greenhouse gasses, Glacier's remaining 25 glaciers will be but a memory in thirteen short years!

An estimated sixty-eight percent of the world's fresh water is locked up in the world's fast-melting ice caps and glaciers.  The world's population by some estimates is at 7.5 billion and will reach 9.7 billion by 2050—just thirty-three years from now.  All of these people are and will be in need of fresh water!  It is a mystery to Mary & me why people follow “leaders” who deny climate change and stand in the way of mitigating its effects.

For our part, Mary & I are doing what we can to visit the parks, enjoy their gifts, and encourage their protection through writing and speaking.  In July, 2007, we had the good fortune to visit Glacier, then celebrating its 97th birthday.  Its pristine beauty defies description.  The two mountain ranges that dominate the landscape involve 1.6 billion years of earth’s geologic history, reach 10,400 feet into azure blue sky, are accented by wildflowers of every color and description in summer, provide glacier-carved bowls for 130 lakes of pristine glacier-fed fresh water run-off, and invite you to hike, taking in its glory in splendorous awe.

We chose to be on foot for our visit. We stayed in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada, just north of Glacier National Park, U.S., and the northern half of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park—the park a combination of an international peace park, a biosphere reserve and a world heritage site.  It is a truly inspiring example of international cooperation.  We reserved the last two spots in a group of 36 to hike from Waterton Lakes NP into Glacier NP, the group led by an American NPS Park Ranger leading and a Canadian Park Ranger in the sweep position, making sure none of us fell off the cliff from the often-narrow trail carved into the mountainside.  Spectacular is too mild a word to summarize this all-day hiking experience.

So, dear readers, we write this to encourage your exploration of the parks and activism in their protection. We’d like to end by saying Happy Birthday but instead we will say Hopeful Birthday, dear Glacier National Park!

America's Public Lands.

America’s public lands, about to be undone?

Per Wilderness Society, we hope you click “None”.

© F.W. HeatonMay 20, 2017

Help!  The pillars of America's public lands may be about to be demolished--not by an outside force but by our own government!  

 Whereas we are making every attempt to write our blog posts from the political center with strong moral values, recent occurrences are causing us to speak out.  We understand some may not agree with our position, but we feel the stakes are too high for future generations for us to remain silent.

 We're writing to ask for your urgent help!  Yesterday, a friend forwarded to us an email from the Wilderness Society advising their readers of a new White House “survey” asking Americans which agencies they'd like to eliminate.  Among the choices: the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other critical environmental departments.  The stated purpose of this initiative on the part of the administration and many Republicans in the House and Senate is "streamlining government".  Yes, there is always need to improve the efficiency of government.  However, the anti-environmental, anti-science, anti-future generations approach of this administration and many in Congress, in Mary's and my minds along with the minds of activist organizations, has nothing to do with governmental efficiency and everything to do with defunding/emasculating agencies with whom they disagree and turning over federal lands to state and local officials heavily influenced by powerful interests including oil and gas drilling, mining, lumbering and development/commercialization.

 For those of you willing to get involved, the Wilderness Society's email provides information to help you speak out.  See the email in it's entirety below.  Also below is a link to the government’s “survey”.  As you will see when you watch the administration’s short video, this approach is well-crafted to achieve their objectives.  We hope you see through the smoke to the real issues.  Thank You for caring and speaking out!

 We hope you click NONE!

---

Wilderness Society Email
Thursday, May 18, 2017

New Trump web page asks Americans if they want to ax National Park Service, other key land agencies

A new White House web page asks Americans which agencies they'd like to dismantle. Among the choices: the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other critical environmental departments. Here's how we should respond.

The Trump administration has again shifted its war on conservation, this time taking aim at the pillars of America's public lands: the National Park Service and other agencies.

Lost amid the furor over the White House's attacks on national monuments, the EPA and the Arctic, a recent executive order asks the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to "eliminate unnecessary agencies" in the name of streamlining government.

Shockingly, the White House's first step is simply...asking people which agencies they want to get rid of. Rarely do we see attacks on lands, waters and wildlife in such a stark and unmediated light. But sure enough, the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management and numerous others are among those you can select to "eliminate" through a new whitehouse.gov portal between now and June 12.

This survey is in keeping with the worldview of an administration that has previously advised starvation-diet funding for conservation agencies and programs, even though they are considered to provide a great return on taxpayer investment.

As Americans we need to get involved in this survey and let the Trump administration know that we would never want to eliminate any of the critical agencies that protect our wildlands and our clean air and water.

Eliminating our environmental agencies goes hand-in-hand with Trump and Congress' agenda to give more of our public lands away to fossil fuel companies and other developers. Anti-conservation members of Congress are already working with Trump to undo protections for wildlands across the nation. These efforts have included shutting the public out of decisions about drilling, mining and logging on our public lands; and opening the Arctic Ocean to drilling.

Among many other consequences, if land agencies are eliminated or severely cut, it could...

- Make understaffed parks vulnerable to crime and vandalism.
- Further hamper the ability of the Forest Service to fight wildfires while still running crucial conservation programs.
- Starve recovery efforts for endangered species in national wildlife refuges.
- Leave trails and roads in a state of disrepair

The Trump administration keeps moving the goalposts on what is considered extreme behavior, but we can't afford to let outrageous anti-public lands attacks become the new normal. Please take a minute to tell the White House you REJECT its attack on public land agencies.

Leave a comment for the Trump White House: Don't kill our land agencies

1) Go to this White House page* and select "-NONE-" for which agencies to cut or eliminate.

2) When you're asked for your reasoning or other comments or ideas, select "-NA-" and let the Trump administration know that they should not only keep our land agencies whole—but give them much-needed and long-delayed funding to do the critical conservation work our public lands need.

National Monuments, Antiquities Act of 1906

Dismantle the Antiquities Act of 1906?

1906: “Create national monuments from Federal lands,

To protect natural, cultural, scientific features.”

2017: With no thought to the future, not create but destroy,

Threatening the land, and humans, all creatures.

© F.W. HeatonMay 18, 2017

As cautious as Mary & I are regarding protecting/strengthening issues relating to our core values, we did not believe Federal protection for our currently federally protected lands would be withdrawn by a U.S. President.  Similarly, we did not believe the legislation enacted by Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 under the title, Antiquities Act, would be dismantled by a U.S. President.  This law gives the President of the U.S. the authority to, by presidential proclamation, “create national monuments from federal lands to protect significant natural, cultural or scientific features.”  The Act has been used over one hundred times to create national monuments, many of which went on to become national parks.  Not once, in the history of our country, has a president removed from this federal protection even one area given this protection by a previous president.  Not until now.  Now, one hundred twenty days into the current administration, both the removal of federal protection for at least 27 national monuments and the dismantling of the 1906 Antiquities Act appear quite possible.

With respect to the Interior Department’s current “Review” of 27 National Monuments, the public has been given VERY little time to comment (only until 26May in the case of Bears Ears National Monument—8 days from this writing).  And, the process for the public to comment has been made difficult to understand and time consuming.  It is clear the administration is not seeking informed public comment (although they profess otherwise).  Mary & I devoted this past Tuesday night and Wednesday morning to learning about Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke, drafting/revising our cease and desist letter, and getting it successfully communicated at noon Wednesday to Interior.  We copied by email on their websites our two U.S. Senators and U.S. Congressperson.

Bear's Ears National Monument, NM. by Bob Wick, BLM

As we write this, we keep top of mind Republican President, Theodore Roosevelt's, quote: "Of all of the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us."  Please, each of you who hold these values core as do Mary & I, take the time to write to Secretary Zinke, your two U.S. Senators and your U.S. Congressperson and ask them to STOP this give-away of public lands to the states and ultimately to oil and gas drilling, lumbering, mining, and development/commercialization.

For more information, please visit the websites of well-informed/activist organizations including the Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Wilderness Society.

National Parks Conservation Association (npca.org)

Please, America, come together,

Let your voice be heard;

It is our duty: leave land better,

Our Vote, Our Promise, Our Word!

© F.W. Heaton May, 2017

This is our first blog post since launching our new Heaton Publications website.  Welcome to the site and thanks to all who have subscribed to our blog; we’ll try to keep it interesting and fresh.  We are currently writing the blog to support both the poetry book and the national parks book; today’s post is on the parks.

Many of you have written asking for more information on the National Parks Conservation Association: who they are, what work do they do, and why did we chose their organization as opposed to another to whom to donate profits from sales of our eBook, The National Park Service Turns One Hundred.  In our judgment, those desiring to support our U.S. National Park System get the biggest bang for their buck donating to the NPCA for the following reasons:

-  Exclusive focus on the parks and programs of the National Park Service.

-  Staff has frequent contact with NPS employees.

-  Large national membership with regional representatives.

-  Willing to litigate important NPS issues.

Another good way to answer those questions is for us to blog about NPCA's blog, using their May, 2017 blog post, “Sometimes You Need A Little Hubris” by Joseph Goldstein, as an example.  We hope you find the information helpful and feel good that such a highly qualified organization has the back of all individuals with a passion for our parks.  We believe you’ll find this NPCA blog post powerful:

Apogee

As a metaphor, it's hard to beat,

Comparing us to ancient Crete;

Like the Aegean society,

Unaware of its apogee.

© F.W. Heaton  May, 2017

Apogee?  Due to unprecedented political polarization, it may not be seen by at least half of the current U.S. population that we may be at our nation’s apogee regarding caring for all peoples of the world and for our natural and cultural heritage—a condition from which we might not recover.  Mary & I are neither Republican nor Democrat; we are registered as Independents and work toward governance from the center with strong moral values.  We feel there is good reason so many are upset from both the left and the right and that the situation demands intelligent bipartisanship.  We feel the U.S. should continue to be a beacon for freedom in the world and a shining example in world leadership on global issues.  We see the current situation as an issue of moral values vs. politics.  We are, thus, striving with our writing, traveling, speaking to make a difference, to promote caring for all people, to encourage the sensitivity of poets, to encourage protection, conservation and education for our natural and cultural heritage.  We approach this life purpose with a sense of urgency before our nation slides over the apogee into irretrievable catastrophe.

Current Administration.  The current administration led by Donald J. Trump, 45th U.S. President and the Republican majority in the U.S. House and Senate, took office slightly more than 100 days ago, January 20, 2017.  The administration’s first 100-days boasts include: Administration/Congress/special interest groups joining to dismantle the laws protecting National Park locations, overturning the ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling, the Environmental Protection Agency (now led by an arch-opponent of the agency) purging its website of scientifically-supported climate change information, an all-out effort to dismantle the Clean Power Plan, a House-passed bill that would have made it easier for states to take over public lands, a House bill introduced in February that would have sold off 3.3 million acres of public land in 10 western states, an executive order paving the way for stripping protections for any of America’s national monuments designated since 1996.  This list will go on until the U.S. House and Senate members feel these positions may cause them to lose their jobs in the next election(s).  

Theodore Roosevelt.  In contrast, the administration of Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), 26th President of the U.S., with the assistance of the U.S. House and Senate, achieved the establishment of federal protection for 230 million acres of land and the creation of 150 national forests, 51 federal bird reservations, 5 national parks, and 18 national monuments.  This quote well-summarizes Roosevelt’s prescient approach to national leadership: "Of all of the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us."

National Park Week: What and when is it, and what might it mean to you?

Desiring less frazzle?  Inspiration you seek?

Search nps.gov; click National Park Week!

16-23 April, two thousand-seventeen,

Your heritage celebrated!  Be part of the scene!

©  Forrest W. Heaton  April, 2017

Did you know that on National Park Week weekends, every park will give you FREE ADMISSION?  Did you know that kids of all ages earned JUNIOR RANGER BADGES in parks all across the country on April 15, Junior Ranger Day?  Do you have your plans set to CELEBRATE EARTH DAY, April 22?  If you answered "No" to any of these questions, go to www.nps.gov to find countless exciting park visitation ideas--all guaranteed to reduce your frazzle, find your inspiration, celebrate your heritage, be part of the scene!

Check out this funny video from 2016. We know it's out of date but had to share it with you anyhow! Enjoy!

How can you add years to your life and life to your years? Consider this thought:

How do Parks & Poetry reside side-by-side?

What do they share together?

They penetrate with peace, in permanence they abide,

They can refresh your mind forever!

©  Forrest W. Heaton  April, 2017

Studies provide overwhelming evidence that poetry can and usually does stick in your mind more easily and longer than prose--witness the nursery rhymes and songs that you learned as a kid that still seem as fresh and fun as the day you learned them.  Studies also provide overwhelming evidence that the mind is refreshed by being near or in nature--nurturing peace and well-being.  When mixed with each other, parks and poetry can add years to your life and life to your years!

Example: Imagine Wendell Berry, standing in the midst of a National Park or a place of wild things, writing his stunning poem below:

“The Peace of Wild Things”

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

 Wendell Berry

Yes, most assuredly, Parks & Poetry can live wonderfully side-by-side . . . adding years to your life and life to your years!

National Parks: Teach Your Children

Do you remember Crosby, Stills & Nash’s Teach Your Children?  We sang it to our kids when they were young.  They could well sing it to us now.

You, who are on the road, must have a code, that you can live by,
And so, become yourself, because the past, is just a good-bye.
Teach, your children well, their parent's hell, did slowly go by,
And feed, them on your dreams, the one they picks, the one you'll know by.
Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry,
So just look at them and sigh, and know they love you.

That's the way it is when teaching values to young children.  They will usually value what they see their parents valuing. When they get older, quite often they retain and expand those values.

The value we are discussing here is our National Parks.  The photos below were taken just outside a National Park near us and just inside the same park.  Contrasting the stark difference, wouldn't it be a shame if there were no nature to value--only urban sprawl for yourselves, for your children, for their children.  If that land is turned over to state or local governing officials, quite often it ends up in commercial hands or governing hands heavily influenced by powerful commercial interests—mining, lumbering, development, signage.  That value, once lost, is lost forever.

Take your kids and grandkids to the parks!  Feed them on your dreams!

Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Forest River. Img Via: gsmnp.com

Mixing Poetry and Art.

A friend, preparing for our community's upcoming Poetry Group meeting, sent this New Yorker cartoon to me, asking if I would write a poem about the cartoon. He wanted to share it with the Poetry Group. In Mary's and my opinion, it's always fun to mix poetry and art. Here's my effort:

Thievery

One can learn from thievery,

What is a dog's priority;

Of all the things that the thieves stole,

The most treasured was his bowl.

©  Forrest W. Heaton  April, 2017

Using Poetry as a Thank You Card

On the occasion of Beth & Harris Cooper, neighbors in Fearrington Village, NC, having given Mary & me a gift of a batch of their famous cookies they create and bake for friends (and themselves), yours truly having written the poem below as thanks for their kindness, the photograph and poem commemorating the occasion, April, 2017.

My own Burma-Shave-style advertisement.

Too many meetings?
Congestion on the street?
Come on out,
To where the air is sweet!
National Parks!

Burma-Shave Poetry

Anyone remember Burma-Shave signs? (Just us, huh!?) Well, they looked like this:

The Burma-Vita Company promoted their brushless shaving cream by posting a set of signs together along roadsides—all fun to read, the campaign hugely successful! This started in 1925 (just nine years following Congress’ creation of the National Park Service, we might add) and ended in the mid-1960’s.

I will share with you here on my blog a few of my own Burma-Shave style poems. Here is my first! 

Recognize this pattern?
Fun on trips they gave!
Signs by the roadside,
On last sign they’d rave . . .
Burma-Shave!