Another Surprise from Nature

In a year that has already had more than its share of surprises from the natural world, namely the tremendously exciting rediscovery of the believed-extinct ivory-billed woodpecker (my most recent post on that here), another exciting discovery has come to light.

In the 43,000-acre Whiskeytown National Recreation Area of northern California, a three-tiered, 400-foot waterfall has been "found," a waterfall that was unknown even to park managers until recently. The Associated Press has a story up about the falls, which includes some quotes from the astounded park management about the fact that very few knew the feature was even there.

This kind of thing always gives me a little bit of a rush, and is a great reminder that no matter how much we think we know about what's out there, there's always something new to discover. I hope that the park officials at Whiskeytown will be able to develop a system that will make the waterfall available for hikers to visit, but still protect the semi-pristine state of the area for the future.

I suppose this post is an appropiate place to insert a quote from one of my heroes - as president in late August, 1910, Theodore Roosevelt made a speech in Osawatomie, Kansas in which he said:

"... Of all the questions which can come before the 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 descendents than it is for us, and training them into a better race to inhabit the land and pass it on. Conservation is a great moral issue, for it involves the patriotic duty of insuring the safety and continuance of the nation. Let me add that the health and vitality of our people are at least as worth conserving as their forests, waters, lands, and minerals, and in this great work the national government must bear a most important part."

Roosevelt's Republican successors, particularly the current occupant of the White House, have far too often failed to embrace these words. It is well past time to bring them back into the GOP lexicon in full - if we ignore them, we do so at our peril.