Pleasant Valley Conservancy State Natural Area. Madison Audubon photo
At every level and in every aspect of life, COVID-19 is teaching us lessons. If any good is to come from this plague, we had better learn them.
A set of lessons is of particular concern to conservationists and policymakers in Wisconsin. We can't help but see how important the outdoors are to everyone at a time of crisis, worry, and misery. As the plague started, people wanted to be outside. While some pursued favorite activities like birding or fishing, many just wanted to be outside walking and surrounded by Nature's variety and beauty. These walks and outings became a consistent and safe consolation. Backyards, neighborhoods, and small municipal parks were certainly important for folks, but a huge number of us hungered for bigger, more varied, and more beautiful places. Places we could—at least temporarily—lose ourselves and the burdensome consciousness of all that was going wrong and might get worse.
Here are the top 6 lessons I think we as a nature-loving community have learned or should learn through our rollercoaster experience with COVID-19.
Rocky Run Oak Savanna State Natural Area. Madison Audubon photo
LESSON 1: WE LOVE AND NEED OUR PUBLIC LANDS.
Wide open spaces became and remain our refuges, including state parks, natural areas, hunting and fishing areas, trails, county parks, federal lands, and the numerous sanctuaries and reserves operated by Madison Audubon, other Audubon chapters, The Prairie Enthusiasts, Groundswell Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy, and others. They are a glorious reprieve and recharge station. They remind us of the expansiveness of life. They are showcases of hard work and teamwork.
LESSON 2: WE NEED MORE PUBLIC LANDS, AND THEY NEED MORE FROM US.
The State of Wisconsin feared those properties could not safely sustain the crowds and shut many down. Dane County (dang near heroically, if you ask me) kept its public lands open. Today, most have opened and are seeing record crowds. I haven't spoken to DNR staff but Dane County staff tell me that almost everyone is being careful and respectful of the land and one another. I'd hope and expect that's true across the state.
Many hands of many colors make for equitable benefit and sustainable work. Madison Audubon photo
LESSON 3: PUBLIC LANDS MUST INCLUDE AND INVITE OUR BLACK AND BROWN NEIGHBORS.
As coronavirus persists and grows, a more chronic and deadly disease flares up again in the public eye: systemic racism in one of its ugliest forms, the murder of black people by police. The ensuing protests provide many hard but necessary lessons. White America, particularly those of us who care for the ecosystem, need to take the time to reflect, learn, listen, and change the ways our conservation is done to make these wonderful places accessible and safe for everyone.
LESSON 4. STEWARDSHIP MATTERS.
Lands and waters that are close to cities, close to many modes of transportation, and full of a variety of habitats and wildlife are getting swallowed up by development at a shocking pace. Those lands and waters that aren’t yet paved over still exist but we need to act quickly before they are used for other purposes. In Wisconsin, we must renew the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program in order to acquire more land and water, and to better care for what we have an should obtain.
Nothing quite documents the love for nature like a smile like this! Photo by Hannah Sigg
LESSON 5. LEGISLATORS SEE OUR LOVE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT.
An observer might think there's an easy Lesson 5: That our legislators see the public’s great need and affection for our land and water and resolve to work together to renew and strengthen Stewardship. That same observer will note the recent and incredibly strong, bi-partisan vote in the United States Senate to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The cause of conserving and restoring our nation's public resources and making them available to the public is so popular that the two most endangered Republican Senators facing election in November were among the principal sponsors of the bill. That’s incredible, and a direct result of constituents sharing their support for this work.
LESSON 6. LEGISLATORS NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU.
Many Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature are hostile or skeptical of Stewardship, a puzzling consideration in a state so enamored of hunting, fishing, camping, and hanging around outside. Some wonderful land purchases have been stopped or delayed because of this opposition. The COVID-19 budget choas and recession provide a reason to debate the pace and scope of Stewardship funding but can also become an excuse to end the program.
Public lands and waters promote tourism and property values, traditional Republican concerns — on the latter point, check out real estate ads for recreational property and note how often they stress a property's nearness to public lands. Purchasing lands from willing sellers is a wonderfully direct and non-regulatory promotion of conservation.
You might worry — where is this heading? Into the unruly jungles of partisanship? Are we going to be told we have to vote Democratic to be considered conservationists?
The answer is no. Wisconsin will almost certainly be equally divided between Democrats and Republicans for the foreseeable future, with mixed control of the Legislature or very thin margins for the majority party. Conservation and the care of our lands and waters will only prosper if a number of Republican legislators have those values and join like-minded Democratic lawmakers in passing laws like a new and expanded Stewardship program.
So what can we do? Madison Audubon will be one of many conservation organizations who will work to renew the Stewardship program in the next legislative session. We'll have to look hard at creating different funding sources for Stewardship in addition to the traditional bonding. As noted, we'll have to face budgetary and economic problems in recommending short term funding levels for Stewardship.
We have to ask candidates specific and direct questions about their support of Stewardship and respectfully demand specific and direct answers. Legislators have been discussing Stewardship for several years. Any serious candidate for the Legislature should have a position on re-authorization and state it.
A legislator is most persuadable when she or he runs for office. For those of us who usually support Republicans, please ask those candidates to support Stewardship. That could be especially important in Republican primaries.
COVID-19 is teaching us a lot about ourselves and our society. The disparities of death and serious illness across our nation vividly demonstrate the effects of inequality and should motivate us to to address those. It has also revealed our fundamental need to be outside in the variety and beauty of nature. We should act on that knowledge and make such goodness more available to all of us.
Written by Topf Wells, Madison Audubon board member and advocacy committee chair
