Witnesses to the Wild

Sculpture by Peter Woytuk, Ghost Ranch, Santa Fe
Picture by Susan Steinberg

"I want to cocreate and inhabit a nation of watchers, of naturalists-in-progress, none of us perfect, all sharing in the effort of watching, knowing, understanding, protecting and living well alongside the wild life with whom we share our cities, our neighborhoods, our households, our yards, our ecosystems, our earth,"  writes Lyanda Lynn Haupt in her compelling and beautifully written book, Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness. 


As there is one crow for every five to ten humans, or about one crow per family, the crow is our most accessible link to native wild life, Haupt says. Whether we like it or not, crows offer us an opportunity to watch and learn and change--to be attentive to our "inevitable continuity with life on earth, and the gorgeous knowledge this entails."

I have never thought of crows as a link to the natural world, but of course Haupt is right. I read her book on the way to New Mexico a few days ago, and now I see crows everywhere. There are crows in the trees outside my window and crows hopping around in the parking lot of the main post office across the street.  I presume there are crows in the canyons north of Santa Fe (I hope to find out this week during my stay at Casa del Sol), as Georgia O'Keefe titled one of her paintings, "Canyon with Crows."  In the sculpture garden outside the place I'm staying, Ghost Ranch Santa Fe, the artist placed huge metal crows all around--surely inspired by the real thing.

I was so taken by Haupt's argument that developing as a naturalist is one of the most critical tasks for modern humans, last night I went to a talk by Con Slobodchikoff, who has written an in-depth study of prairie dogs. To my surprise, the room was packed. A man running for New Mexico's Land Commissioner went around the room introducing himself to everyone, including out-of-state guests like me; this was an educational event and  a political event. First Dr. Slobodchikoff made us say his last name together, then he went on to tell us about his fascinating and sobering research. I had no idea how endangered prairie dogs are, how smart they are, how cruel human beings have been to them and how little we understand them.

Like our relationship with crows, our relationship with prairie dogs is a microcosm of larger problems in humanity's relationship with the wild. And an opportunity. Dr. Slobodchikoff is hopeful we can change. So is Lynn Haupt.  We live in a kairos moment, she says, a time of crisis that is also an opportune time--a time brimming with meaning and creative response.

Stand in a lineage, with a sense of purpose, Haupt encourages us. Be a witness to the wild, like so many who have gone before us, from Aristotle to Rachel Carson. Cultivate questions, carry a notebook, be patient, take binoculars but not much more. You don't need a lot of special gadgetry to be a naturalist--just a good portion of curiosity and a commitment to be transformed by watching.