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Conservation Commission

Conservation and More

              by Bruce B. Beckley

Issue #86, July, 2000
Abundance

Summer is a time of abundance. And Amherst is blessed by that abundance. A flowering season that started with the witch hazel last winter continues with bee-drawing blossoms on the linden this week. Fragrances abound with mixtures of milkweed sweetness blending with the scent of cut grasses. The colors of the fields and roadsides are expanded upon in gardens across the town. The blues of chicory and ageratum, the whites of Queen Ann's lace and zinnias, the yellows of daisies and potentilla link the cultivated with the abundant natural setting.

Wildlife, too, enriches us with its abundance. There seem to be more birds around our yard and woods this year and yet, we are also picking more wild blueberries than in recent years. More deer, moose and now bear are showing up with the coyotes who arrived a few years ago. In a way these species add to the feeling of a rural setting but also they are here because urban areas provide food and sheltered spots too restricted for hunters to effect control over expanding populations.

The measures of abundance could go on: the white pine on which our local forest industry is based, stone fences defining once-upon-a-time pastures long since grown back to woods, concerned citizens quietly doing what needs to be done to keep our town special, a base of long-term residents who can recall different times in history now mixed with an influx of educated and rewarded new families who will learn and appreciate our abundance and what makes it so.

Sir Winston Churchill said, "We shape our dwellings, and afterwards, our dwellings shape us". This can be true of our land and of our town, as well.

Do we shape a town of tree-lined pavement in which the trees give a false impression that open space is being preserved? Or, will we shape the inevitable expansion in Amherst to maintain a viable complex of natural spaces, wetlands, acquifer recharge areas with provisions for personal recharge of mind, soul and body.

We have all had an abundance this summer of judges and judiciary but in this case you, yes you, are the judges. The Planning Board and the ACC recommend plans and actions but you are the ones who go behind the red, white and blue curtains and say "Yes" we want to provide greater protection to our wetlands and acquifers. "Yes", we want to have an exemplary effort to preserve open spaces. "Yes", we enjoy and respect the abundance given to us.

To close these ramblings, an extract from a recent worship service giving thanks for the abundance given us. You may supply whatever responses and action to the litany that seem right to you.

For the beauty of the earth, brilliant in design, exquisite in detail,
For the reliable patterns of sun and shadow, warmth and cold,
For the wonder of birth and the reverent return of all things to the earth,
For the blossoming abundance by which we are fed, clothed and sheltered,
For sparkling waters and refreshing rain,
For places of wildness and solitude that restore our souls,
For challenging heights, hidden depths and mysteries that motivate us to search and to stretch our abilities,
For pure light, clear colors, striking contrasts,
For all the beckoning paths and the hope of tomorrow,
We give thanks and praise, now and forever.

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