This somewhat tragic story of a family’s relations with government is as much confusion around ‘natural’ ecosystems as it is about breaking a contract.
It is a confusion Philosophy professor Dr. Alston Chase, in his book In a Dark Wood (2001) warns us about:
"From America’s long-term infatuation with primitive wilderness the [environmental] movement derived the notions that preservation meant “restoring” these prehistoric “conditions” by leaving nature alone. From preservationists such as Thoreau and Muir it inherited a Calvinistic certainty in the righteousness of its cause which justified moral exclusion of those deemed to be damned.
"Borrowing from European ideas, it transformed ecology from a promising science into a highly political one. From thinkers such as Hegel and Naess it derived a monistic metaphysics justifying activism and absolutism, and a belief that nature was the source of political truth. The vision of all things as interconnected led to the idea that all things were equally valuable. Positing ecosystem health as the supreme value diminished the standing of individuals.
"Out of this odd coupling of mystical American ideals with systematic European philosophies rose a doctrine that was neither fascist nor entirely home-grown but something new—biocentrism, which held that the best way to preserve nature was to leave it alone, and that the supreme good to which society should dedicate itself is not human happiness, but the health of nature. The ecosystem became the model for culture, and global survival was deemed to depend on promoting “diversity” by social engineering or by force." (p. 412)
An excerpt.
Island Strife
Santa Rosa Island is battlefield for debate over fate of deer, elk that have roamed wild for a century.
By Laura Mecoy - Bee Los Angeles BureauPublished 12:00 am PDT Monday, September 11, 2006
Stepping onto these shores is like taking a step back in time.
There's none of Southern California's smog or sprawl -- just empty stretches of sandy beaches, rugged grass-covered hills and the rather odd sight of grazing elk and deer.
The island's former owners brought Roosevelt elk and Kaibab mule deer here nearly 100 years ago, leaving them to run wild on this windswept island 40 miles west of Ventura.
If the National Park Service gets its way, the animals' run could soon be over.
The park service has already killed off rats, feral pigs and other non-native species on the four other islands that make up the Channel Islands National Park as part of its plan to restore these remote outposts to their natural state.
An added benefit of getting rid of the deer and the elk would be an end to the annual hunt that closes most of the island to the public for nearly five months a year.
But the 1,100 deer and elk on Santa Rosa have defenders in Congress and California.
The House and Senate could vote as early as this week on a resolution to keep the herd here so disabled veterans can hunt them for about two weeks a year.
And the heirs to the families that imported the deer and elk have launched their own separate campaign to save the herd -- without any guarantee of hunting the animals.
Will Woolley, whose great-grandfather first brought the animals here, said the deer and elk should be left on the island because they represent the last remnants of the Vail & Vickers ranching business his relatives reluctantly gave up in 1998.
"When the ranch was shut down, the park (service) shut down an entire culture of cowboys," Woolley said. "It was a piece of my family for 90 years and well over 150 years with other families. These animals are the last tie to that."
Russell Galipeau, Channel Islands National Park superintendent, said restoring Santa Rosa to its natural state doesn't include maintaining "exotic species" like deer and elk. Only a legal agreement has kept them here this long.
When Vail & Vickers sold the island to the federal government in 1986, it retained the right to keep its herd on the island and hunt the animals until 2011.
At a cost of up to $17,000, hunters come here in the fall and spring, seeking trophies and forcing the closure of most of the island to the public for nearly five months a year. Ending the hunt would open the entire island to the public year-round.
In the meantime, Vail & Vickers must begin reducing the herd by 25 percent per year in 2008. All the animals must be gone by 2011.
The families could ship the herd to the mainland. But that is expensive and potentially harmful to the animals.
Woolley said about half the deer would likely die from the stress, and all the animals would be exposed to mainland diseases for which they have no immunity. Killing them may be the only practical solution.
"We are not advocating our hunting operation continue," said Nita Vail, a granddaughter of the original owner and executive director of California Rangeland Trust in Sacramento. "We want to discuss what options there are so we don't have to slaughter a herd that has been here nearly 100 years."
